2. Some verbs in -nd and -ld form their past tense by changing this d to t.
Examples:
- bend, bent;
- send, sent;
- lend, lent;
- rend, rent;
- spend, spent;
- build, built.
3. A few verbs add d or t in the past and also change the vowel of the present. Thus,—
| sell | sold |
| tell | told |
| shoe | shod |
| say | said (pronounced sed) |
| hear | heard (pronounced herd) |
| bring | brought |
| buy | bought |
| catch | caught |
| seek | sought |
| beseech | besought |
| teach | taught |
| methinks | methought |
Work has an old past tense wrought, common in poetry; its usual past is worked. For must, would, etc., see [p. 299].
4. Some verbs that have a long vowel sound in the present have in the past a short vowel sound before the ending t.
Examples:
- creep, crept;
- keep, kept;
- sleep, slept;
- sweep, swept;
- weep, wept;
- feel, felt;
- deal, dealt (pronounced delt);
- mean, meant (pronounced ment);
- lose, lost;
- leave, left.[30]
5. Some verbs in d or t preceded by a long vowel sound have a short vowel in the past but add no ending.