Top 40 Irregular Verbs with Examples from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Top 40 Irregular Verbs with Examples from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
25 Sep 2024
Chad Jones
0:17 h read
Irregular verbs are an essential part of mastering English grammar, as they do not follow the standard rules for verb conjugation in the past tense. This article presents the top 40 most commonly used irregular verbs, accompanied by examples from Lewis Carroll’s classic novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Through real, context-driven sentences from the book, readers will gain a better understanding of how these verbs are used in various situations. Whether you're learning English or looking to refine your grammar skills, this guide will offer valuable insights into the use of irregular verbs in everyday and literary contexts.
1. Be
Present: am/is/are
Past: was/were
Example: “Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank.”
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank,
Example: “By the time she had caught the flamingo and brought it back, ”
By the time she had caught the flamingo and brought it back, the fight was over, and both the hedgehogs were out of sight: “but it doesn’t matter much,” thought Alice, “as all the arches are gone from this side of the ground.”
Example: “The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from: ”
The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn’t going to begin at his time of life.
Example: “She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, “Which way? Which way?”
She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, “Which way? Which way?”, holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
Example: “Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly”
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.
First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this; “for it might end, you know,” said Alice to herself, “in my going out altogether, like a candle.
Example: “she found herself falling down a very deep well”
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.
Example: “she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English”
“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); “now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was!
“She boxed the Queen’s ears — ” the Rabbit began. Alice gave a little scream of laughter. “Oh, hush!” the Rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. “The Queen will hear you! You see, she came rather late, and the Queen said — ”
Poor Alice! It was as much as she could do, lying down on one side, to look through into the garden with one eye; but to get through was more hopeless than ever: she sat down and began to cry again.
Example: “Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.”
(For, with all her knowledge of history, Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened.) So she began again: “Où est ma chatte?” which was the first sentence in her French lesson-book.
“A barrowful of what?” thought Alice; but she had not long to doubt, for the next moment a shower of little pebbles came rattling in at the window, and some of them hit her in the face.
Example: “After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands”
After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.
Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: “Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day!
Alice knew it was the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.
“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose That your eye was as steady as ever; Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose — What made you so awfully clever?”
Example: “Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house”
“Fury said to a mouse, That he met in the house, ‘Let us both go to law: I will prosecute you. — Come, I’ll take no denial; We must have a trial: For really this morning I’ve nothing to do.’ Said the mouse to the cur, ‘Such a trial, dear sir, With no jury or judge, would be wasting our breath.’ ‘I’ll be judge, I’ll be jury,’ Said cunning old Fury: ‘I’ll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.’”
In another minute the whole head appeared, and then Alice put down her flamingo, and began an account of the game, feeling very glad she had someone to listen to her.
Example: “when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her”
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
Example: “How queer it seems,” Alice said to herself”
“How queer it seems,” Alice said to herself, “to be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah’ll be sending me on messages next!” And she began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: “‘Miss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!’
Example: “here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs”
then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.
Example: “but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently”
“Please come back and finish your story!” Alice called after it; and the others all joined in chorus, “Yes, please do!” but the Mouse only shook its head impatiently, and walked a little quicker.
Present: show
Past: showed
Example: “yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah”
“Well, perhaps not,” said Alice in a soothing tone: “don’t be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you’d take a fancy to cats if you could only see her.
Example: “While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song”
While the Duchess sang the second verse of the song, she kept tossing the baby violently up and down, and the poor little thing howled so, that Alice could hardly hear the words:
Example: “So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes”
So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, “I don’t see how he can ever finish, if he doesn’t begin.” But she waited patiently.
