Collins Cobuild English Grammar (200 page)

abet

abhor

acquit

admit

allot

commit

compel

confer

control

defer

deter

distil

embed

emit

enrol

enthral

equip

excel

expel

incur

instil

occur

omit

outwit

patrol

propel

rebel

rebut

recap

recur

refer

regret

remit

repel

submit

transfer

transmit

~

handicap

Note that verbs such as
re-equip
and
unclog
, which consist of a prefix and one of the above verbs, also have their final consonant letter doubled.

R69
    Here is a list of verbs whose final consonant letter is doubled before
ing
and
ed
in British English but not always in American English:

bedevil

cancel

channel

chisel

dial

duel

enamel

enrol

enthral

equal

fuel

funnel

gambol

grovel

hiccup

initial

kidnap

label

level

libel

marshal

marvel

model

panel

pedal

pencil

program

pummel

quarrel

refuel

revel

rival

shovel

shrivel

snivel

spiral

stencil

swivel

total

travel

tunnel

unravel

worship

yodel

R70
    With verbs ending in
c
,
king
and
ked
are usually added instead of
ing
and
ed
.

mimic		mimicking		mimicked
panic		panicking		panicked

R71
    A large number of verbs have irregular forms, which are not formed by adding
ed
to the base form.

With regular verbs, the
-ed
participle is the same as the past form. However, with some irregular verbs, the two forms are different.

R72
    The table opposite gives a list of irregular verbs and their forms.

Note that the past form and
-ed
participle of
read
appear the same as the base form but are pronounced differently. The base form is pronounced
/ri
d/
and the past form and
-ed
participle
/red/
. See a Cobuild dictionary for the pronunciation of irregular forms of verbs.

R73
    Some verbs have more than one past form or
-ed
participle form. For example, the past form and
-ed
participle of
spell
can be either
spelled
or
spelt
, and the
-ed
participle of
prove
can be either
proved
or
proven
.

He
burned
several letters.
He
burnt
all his papers.

His foot had
swelled
to three times normal size.
His wrist had
swollen
up and become huge.

R74
    Some verbs have two forms that can be used as the past form and the
-ed
participle. Here is a list of these verbs. The regular form is given first, although it may not be the more common one.

     All of the irregular forms ending in
t
are far more common in British English than in American English, which generally uses the regular form for these verbs.

burn		burned, burnt
bust		busted, bust
dream		dreamed, dreamt
dwell		dwelled, dwelt
fit		fitted, fit
hang		hanged, hung
kneel		kneeled, knelt
lean		leaned, leant
leap		leaped, leapt
light		lighted, lit
smell		smelled, smelt
speed		speeded, sped
spell		spelled, spelt
spill		spilled, spilt