Irregular verbs like to go do not. So if you know the verb forms of to walk for example - I walk/We walked etc - you have the key to the most English verbs.
In contrast to go has verb forms not replicated elsewhere: I go/he went etc. For second language learners this means they must be memorised rather than learned by a standard rule
There are around 180 irregular verbs in English . These are vastly outnumbered by the thousands of standard ones.
Patterns
The inflection pattern of regular verbs is so instinctive that young children and English language learners often regularize irregulars: I knowed that.
Though only a tiny fraction of the verbs available, irregulars make up 70% of the verbs in everyday use.
So how have these tricky customers evolved? And why are they so central to English?
So how have these tricky customers evolved? And why are they so central to English?
Adapted from my post for the Oxford University Press English Language Teaching Global Blog