《A corpus-based learning list of irregular verbs in English》.pdf

ICAME Journal No. 19 A corpus-based learning list of irregular verbs in English Eva Grabowski and Dieter Mindt Freie Universität Berlin Abstract : For learners of English, irregular verbs represent one of the most difficult aspects of the language. They are normally presented in the form of alphabetical lists. Alphabetical lists do not, however, take into account the actual occurrence of these verbs. The article presents a new corpus-based learning list, in which the verbs are ranked in their order of frequency in authentic English. The new list ensures that the learner has encountered the most important verbs, no matter when the learning process ends. For the author of teaching materials and the teacher, the new list supplies an empirical basis for the selection and gradation of irregular verbs in language courses.1 1. Problem and goal Irregular verbs haunt learners of English from the beginning to the end of their studies. Full mastery of irregular verbs seems to be very rarely achieved. There are very few verbless sentences in English and irregular verbs belong to the core of English. In all types of texts, forms of irregular verbs outnumber those of regular verbs. The learning of irregular verbs is normally based on the well-known alphabetical lists which range from ABIDE to WRITE (Quirk et al. 1985: 115ff.), from ARISE to WRITE ( Collins COBUILD English