About this activity
Twelve verbs grouped by how the -ed actually sounds: walk, jump, wash and cook take a /t/; play, clean, call and open take a /d/; want, paint, plant and wait add a whole syllable. One spelling, three pronunciations — and students who have been taught -ed as a single ending find this genuinely confusing rather than obvious.
How to use it in a session
Sort by sound, not by spelling. Say the three groups aloud and ask what the base verbs have in common — the /t/ group all end in a voiceless sound, the /d/ group in a voiced one, and the syllable group all end in a /t/ or /d/ already. Naming that turns twelve facts into one rule the ear can check. Eight minutes covers the twelve.
What to listen for
Listen for an added syllable where none belongs. Walk-ed rather than walkt is the characteristic over-regularisation, and it usually appears in students who have been taught the spelling before the sound. Watch the /ɪd/ group, which is the only one that adds a syllable and is the group students most often get right by accident.
Carrying it home
Past tense comes up whenever a child is asked what they did. Recasting rather than correcting — oh, you walked there — supplies the correct form in a real sentence and does not stop the story.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through third, and older students learning English as an additional language.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve verbs play with no account.
- Why does -ed sound different in different words?
- It assimilates to the sound before it. After a voiceless sound it is a /t/, after a voiced sound a /d/, and after a /t/ or /d/ it adds a syllable — one spelling, three pronunciations.