You can bring, but not brang; you can go, but not goed — welcome to the linguistic asylum.
The Traditional Rule:
Verbs follow predictable conjugation rules: add -ed for past tense, -ing for continuous, etc. That’s what they tell you — until you meet English.
Why It’s Broken:
English verbs are an unpredictable zoo of exceptions. The “regular” rule (just add -ed) applies… until it doesn’t. Worse, many so-called irregular verbs don’t even follow each other. You say “sang” for “sing” but “bring” becomes “brought,” not “brang.” You can “go” but never “goed.” You “run” but also “ran.” You “hang” a coat but are “hanged” for a crime? Madness.
Absurdities and Contradictions:
I dive, I dove (US) / I dived (UK) — Choose your grammar allegiance.
I sneak, I sneaked… no, I snuck. Actually, both are now accepted.
I dream, I dreamed (correct) or dreamt (dreamier?).
I shine the shoes (shined), but the sun shone.
I learn, I learned… unless I learnt.
I hang my jacket (hung), but I hang a man (hanged).
I wake, I woke, I have woken — but nobody wakens anymore.
Real-World Examples:
“He had went there” — Common mistake, but logically mirrors “He had sent.”
“She drunk too much” — Non-standard but intuitive from “drink/drank/drunk.”
“They brung it over” — Used in dialects, and arguably more consistent than “bring/brought.”
“He was supposed to have knew that.” — Broken, but rhythmically natural in speech.
British vs. American Variants:
“Gotten” (US) vs. “Got” (UK). Americans preserve the older form.
“Burnt,” “learnt,” “spelt” are common in UK English; Americans prefer “burned,” “learned,” “spelled.”
Brits may say “lit the fire”; Americans increasingly say “lighted.”
The Reform Proposal:
Regularize irregulars: All verbs should follow the simple -ed past rule unless functionally necessary.
Allow alternate past forms in casual registers (e.g., “snuck,” “brung”) but encourage one standard in formal contexts.
Remove case-specific exceptions (“hung” vs. “hanged”) that serve no communicative clarity.
Teach pattern-based groupings instead of random memorization.
How It Would Work in Practice:
I go → I goed ✅
I sing → I singed ✅ (or, at minimum, “I sanged”)
I bring → I brang ✅
I run → I runned ✅
I eat → I eated ✅
I have went → ✅ if we accept “sent”
Final Word: Fix the Timeline.
Tense should tell time, not tie tongues. The idea that children must memorize hundreds of disconnected, illogical verb shifts is linguistic cruelty. English deserves a clean timeline. Let verbs evolve like the people using them.