Introduction
The ending to regular past simple verbs in English is ‘ed’ (e.g. viewed, ended, looked etc). These ed endings can be pronounced in 3 different ways depending on the ending sound of the verb stem.
/ id / (did)
/ t / (went)
/ d / (send)
1. / id / sound
We use this sound when the verb stem ends with a ‘t‘ or a ‘d‘.
example words:- vented, worded, tempted
2. / t / sound
We use this sound when the verb stem ends with a voiceless sound (s, k, p sounds)
example words:- helped, looked, forced
3. / d / sound
We use this sound when the verb ends with a voiced sound (z, g, b sounds)
example words:- confused, plugged, bombed
Practice exercise
Now try this method out on the list of words below that contain ed endings.
- Does the simple present verb have a t / d, voiced or voiceless ending?
- Should the -ed ending verb have an / id /, / d / or / t / ending?
- How should the word be pronounced?
- Talked
- Wished
- Thanked
- Mended
- Sniffed
- Traded
- Walked
- Faded
- Videoed
- Allowed
- Jumped
- Sailed
- Emptied
- Waited
- Tinted