Part 1: The Principal Parts of Verbs
TODAY'S GRAMMAR CHALLENGE
— Mwalimu Joshua Njenga (@JKNjenga) March 10, 2022
(1) The cat has DRUNK the milk.
(2) The cat has DRANK the milk.
Which one is correct?#InMwalimuNjengasClass
To complete this challenge, you must be familiar with the principal parts of verbs. Every verb has three principal parts: (1) the present tense, (2) the past tense, and (3) the past participle.
The present tense, also known as the present infinitive, is the basic form of any verb. Examples of present infinitives are "walk", "eat", and "run".
The past tense and the past participle of a regular verb are formed by appending "-d" or "-ed" to the present infinitive. However, past participles are always preceded by helping verbs such as "have" and "has". Here are examples of the three principal parts of two regular verbs:
| PRESENT TENSE | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| I play. | I played. | I have played. |
| I bake. | I baked. | I have baked. |
The verb in this challenge is an irregular verb.
Irregular verbs are verbs that form the past tense and past participle by changing a vowel and occasionally adding an ending. Here are examples of the three principal parts of two irregular verbs:
| PRESENT TENSE | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| I do. | I did. | I have done. |
| I ride. | I rode. | I have ridden. |
| I drink. | I drank. | I have drunk. |
Therefore, option 1 is the correct answer: “The cat has drunk the milk.”
