Ten most used verbs in English?

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Here are the ten most heavily used verbs in the English language: 
  • be
  • have
  • do
  • say
  • make
  • go
  • take
  • come
  • see
  • get 

What do these verbs have in common?

All ten are irregular. Unlike the vast majority of verbs, they do not follow a standard inflection pattern: I paint, I painted, he painted etc. To know, for example, is irregular: know becomes knew rather than knowed.

There are around 180 irregular verbs in English . These are 
vastly outnumbered by the thousands of standard ones. The inflection pattern of regular verbs is so instinctive that young children and English language learners often regularize irregulars: I knowed that. 

Though only a tiny fraction of the verbs available, irregulars punch way above their weight. 70% of the verbs in everyday use are irregular.

So how have these tricky customers evolved? And why are they so central to English?



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