base form
past form
-ed participle
878 | Appendix: Irregular verbs
Cambridge Grammar of English
sew
shake
shed
shine
shoe
shoot
show
shrink
shut
sing
sink
sit
slay
sleep
slide
sling
slink
sow
speak
spend
spin
spill
spread
speed
spring
stand
steal
stick
sting
stink
strew
stride
strike
sewed
shook
shed
shone
shod
shot
showed
shrank
shut
sang
sank
sat
slew
slept
slid
slung
slunk
sowed
spoke
spent
spun
spilt/spilled
spread
sped
sprang
stood
stole
stuck
stung
stank
strewed
strode
struck
sewn
shaken
shed
shone
shod
shot
shown
shrunk
shut
sung
sunk
sat
slain
slept
slid
slung
slunk
sown
spoken
spent
spun
spilt/spilled
spread
sped
sprung
stood
stolen
stuck
stung
stunk
strewn
stridden
struck
Û
539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms
Appendix: Irregular verbs | 879
string
strive
swear
sweep
swim
swing
take
teach
tear
tell
think
throw
thrust
tread
understand
wake
wear
weep
win
wind
wring
write
strung
strove
swore
swept
swam
swung
took
taught
tore
told
thought
threw
thrust
trod
understood
woke
wore
wept
won
wound
wrung
wrote
strung
striven
sworn
swept
swum
swung
taken
taught
torn
told
thought
thrown
thrust
trodden
understood
woken
worn
wept
won
wound
wrung
written
base form
past form
-ed participle
880 |
Appendix: North American English grammar
INTRODUCTION
530
The basic grammar of English speech and writing as used in North America is,
in almost all respects, the same as that in use across the islands of Britain and
Ireland. What marks American English out as different from the European variety
are mostly differences in pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary. Written grammar
displays fewer differences between American and British usage than spoken
grammar. However, North America is a vast continent which is home to many
different regional and social dialects of English, often reflected in distinct spoken
grammatical usage; we cannot hope to cover all this diversity within the limits of
one book. Across the islands of Britain and Ireland there are also differences in
usage, but this grammar has focussed on what is shared among the widest range of
speakers. This appendix therefore discusses those aspects of standard North
American spoken usage which are notably different from the spoken description as
presented in this book. The differences are usually differences of degree rather than
of kind: there seem to be very few forms that are the exclusive domain of one
variety, but there are often quite striking differences in frequency of use of everyday
items between the varieties. It must also be noted that American influence on the
grammar of Britain and Ireland is considerable, and changes in usage can often be
attributed to the influence of American popular culture, for example the use of
like
as a marker of direct speech reporting (
Û
501e and
A–Z
49 Like
). For
convenience, the spoken grammar presented in the main chapters of this book will
be referred to as BrE, and references to standard North American English will be
abbreviated to AmE. The spoken North American segment of the Cambridge
International Corpus (CIC) was consulted in the preparation of this appendix.
MODAL VERBS AND OTHER MODAL EXPRESSIONS
531
Some modal verbs and other modal expressions are more frequent in BrE than
AmE, and vice-versa.
Shall
531a
Although quite frequent in BrE, shall is relatively infrequent in AmE. BrE usage
allows shall in first person declaratives about the future:
I
shall be in the office till five thirty. (BrE)
AmE prefers will or be going to in such situations. However, AmE does allow
shall
in first person interrogatives, especially those functioning as suggestions and
in semi-fixed expressions such as How shall I say it?:
Let’s try to use words that are in the dictionary next time,
shall we?
(AmE)
[talking about whether to go to the cinema to see films or to wait till they are
available on video]
You know, and you have to start thinking about, is it, is it worth spending the
money to go see it, or
shall I just wait?
(AmE)
Frequency of shall (per 1 million words) in spoken AmE and BrE
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
AmE
BrE
Must
531b
Must
is overall much more frequent in BrE than in AmE. Although obligation and
predictive meanings occur in both varieties, the majority of uses of must in AmE
are predictive, and AmE tends to prefer have to for expressing obligation:
Something
must’ve been on her mind. (AmE)
Everybody says I don’t need to lose weight, but I feel I
must. (AmE)
Frequency of must (per 1 million words) in spoken AmE and BrE
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
AmE
BrE
Û
539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms
Appendix: North American English grammar | 881
Have got to and have to
531c
Modal have got to is almost twice as frequent in spoken BrE compared with AmE.
Have to
(without got) is 50% more frequent in AmE than in BrE:
I’ve got to go and meet my mum for lunch.
(preferred spoken form BrE)
I have to meet my advisor at one.
(preferred spoken form AmE)
Had better
531d
Had better
is almost six times more frequent in BrE than in AmE, though it is used
in both varieties:
You
’d better move your car, Pete.
(BrE)
I guess we
’d better get back to work.
(AmE)
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