Unit 28: Dodgy dating
Intensifiers: so, such, enough, too
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- 1 Pop-ups
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- 3 Can't buy me love
- 4 Travellers' tales
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- 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
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- 17 Endangered animals
- 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19 I'm really sorry...
- 20 Telling stories
- 21 Fakes and phrasals
- 22 Looking to the future
- 23 Becoming familiar with things
- 24 From rags to riches
- 25 Against the odds
- 26 Our future on Mars?
- 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28 Dodgy dating
- 29 Annoying advice
- 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks
Session 1
Break, broke, broken... We look at verbs that don't behave themselves, with the help of a mysterious story
Activity 1
6 Minute Vocabulary
Sing, sang, sung…
... begin, began, begun.
Learning irregular verbs can be difficult. But thankfully, many of them follow patterns which can help you to remember the different forms. Listen to Finn and Catherine talking about these patterns in 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Listen to the audio and complete the activity

Finn
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Finn.
Catherine
And I’m Catherine.
Finn
In today’s programme we’re talking about irregular verbs.
Catherine
Yes, and as you know, there are lots of irregular verbs in English.
Finn
Lots and lots. Some, like write, have different forms for the past simple and past participle: wrote and written.
Catherine
Yes and it's not always easy to remember all those different forms!
Finn
It's not. Today, though, we’re going to explain how some of these verbs can be grouped into patterns to help remember the different forms.
Catherine
We’ll give you lots of examples…
Finn
We’ll have a quiz…
Catherine
…and we’ll leave you with a top tip for learning vocabulary.
Finn
But first, let’s hear my interview with singer-songwriter Andrea.
Catherine
While you listen, think about this question: Who hasn’t spoken to Andrea for a long time?
INSERT
Finn
Hi, Andrea. Now, tell us: when did you begin to sing?
Andrea
I sang in the school choir and I began to sing in bands when I was just ten.
Finn
Oh, wow. So how many songs have you written
Andrea
Over a hundred. I wrote one just before I drove here.
Finn
Right. And Andrea, I'm sure you have broken many men’s hearts. Tell us, who was the first?
Andrea
Oh, he was a boy called Marcus. I knew him at school. We grew up on the same street. He’s not spoken to me since we broke up.
Finn
Since you broke up, that sounds bad. Thank you for coming and speaking to us today, Andrea.
Andrea
Thanks for having me.
STING
Finn
And there we are. So, we asked you: Who hasn’t spoken to Andrea for a long time?
Catherine
And the answer is: Marcus. They haven’t spoken since they broke up.
Finn
Broke is the past simple of the verb break and it belongs to our first group of verbs. It has the pattern break, broke, broken.
Catherine
That's right, the past simple is broke and the past participle is broken.
Finn
Listen to this clip. Can you hear another verb with the same pattern? Here’s a clue. The word rhymes with broken.
INSERT CLIP 1
Andrea
Oh, he was a boy called Marcus. I knew him at school. We grew up on the same street. He’s not spoken to me since we broke up.
Catherine
OK, and spoken rhymes with broken. The verb speak forms its past simple and past participle in the same way as break.
Finn
So it’s speak, spoke, spoken…
Catherine
And speak and break are pronounced differently although they both have e-a-k at the end.
Finn
They do. Now, another verb with the same pattern is wake.
Catherine
… so it’s wake, woke, woken.
Finn
… although we spell wake, w-a-k-e. It's not spelt e-a-k at the end. Now, in the interview, we had two other verbs with a different pattern.
Catherine
That's right, we had the past forms knew and grew. Andrea knew Marcus at school and she grew up on the same street.
Finn
Yes. These are the past simple forms of know and grow.
Catherine
So, it’s know, knew, known…
Finn
Grow, grew, grown…
Catherine
Another verb with this pattern is blow.
Finn
So it’s blow, blew, blown.
Catherine
So we've got two groups. The first one is verbs like speak, spoke, spoken…
Finn
And we have in our second group, verbs like grow, grew, grown. Listen to this second clip and see if you can spot two more patterns. Here’s a clue: listen to words that rhyme or have similar pronunciations.
INSERT CLIP 2
Finn
When did you begin to sing
Andrea
I sang in the school choir and I began to sing in bands when I was just ten.
Finn
Oh, wow. How many songs have you written?
Andrea
Over a hundred. I wrote one just before I drove here.
Catherine
Did you hear the patterns begin… began and sing… sang?
Finn
So, this pattern is begin, began, begun…
Catherine
Exactly, and we've got sing, sang, sung…
Finn
In the clip, we also had another pattern - wrote… written. So, that's the past simple and the past participle of write.
Catherine
We heard another verb with this pattern… drove, which is the past simple of drive.
Finn
And the past participle is…
Finn
… driven. So that's drive, drove, driven.
IDENT
6 Minute Vocabulary from BBC Learning English
Catherine
And now for a quiz. I’ll give you two parts of a verb. You have to complete the pattern. Ready? Number one: swim, swam, ______.
Finn
…swum.
Catherine
Well done if you got that right. Number two: speak, ______, spoken.
Finn
…spoke.
Catherine
Correct. Number three: ______, wrote, written.
Finn
…write.
Catherine
And that’s the end of the quiz. Well done if you got them right.
Finn
And now, today’s top tip for learning vocabulary: combine irregular verbs with the same pattern in a short rhyme or story. The pattern of the rhyme will help you remember the different forms.
Catherine
There’s more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.
Both
Bye!
Download
You can download 6 Minute Vocabulary from our Unit 28 Downloads page. Remember, you can also subscribe to the podcast version.
Next
Now you've heard 6 Minute Vocabulary why not take the time to read more about this topic and try some quizzes? Join us in Activities 2 and 3.
Session Vocabulary
Group 1
begin, began, begun
sing, sang, sung
Group 2
break, broke, broken
speak, spoke, spoken
wake, woke, woken
Group 3
blow, blew, blown
grow, grew, grown
know, knew, known
Group 4
drive, drove, driven
write, wrote, written