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The Wallaby10/29/202620 min read

The Past Tense of Have: Had for Both Forms, and the 'd Your Ear Keeps Missing

The simple past of have is had, and the past participle is had too. The hard part isn't the spelling — it's hearing 've, 's, 'd when they're reduced to just one consonant.

The Wallaby10/29/202618 min read

Fly, Flew, Flown: The Past Tense of Fly and Its Sound-Alikes

The simple past of fly is flew, the past participle is flown. The tricky part: flew sounds exactly like flu, and flown gets lost in a whole crowded family of rhymes.

The Wallaby10/29/202619 min read

The Past Tense of Feel Is Felt — And the Fine Line Between Felt, Fell, and Fill

The simple past and past participle of feel are both felt. The tricky part is that felt drops its final sound and ends up sounding just like fell — a completely different verb.

The Wallaby10/28/202619 min read

The Past Tense of Bring Is Brought, Not Brang

The simple past and past participle of bring are both brought. The tricky part is that brought is only one /r/ sound away from bought, and choosing between bring and take.

The Wallaby10/28/202618 min read

The Past Tense of Wear: Wore, Worn, and 4 Words That Sound Identical in a Sentence

The simple past of wear is wore, the past participle is worn. The hard part: all three forms have a homophone waiting right in the same sentence.

The Wallaby10/28/202619 min read

The Past Tense of Think Is Thought — Here's Why Your Ear Hears Taught

The simple past and past participle of think are both thought. The hard part isn't the conjugation table — it's telling thought apart from taught when you're listening.

Took or Taken? Cracking the Past Tense of Take by Ear

The simple past of take is took, the past participle is taken. The tricky part: took loses its final consonant, and taken sounds almost like taking when the sentence runs fast.

The Past Tense of 'Read': Same Spelling, Sounds Like 'Red'

The past tense of read is still spelled read, just pronounced /red/. The hard part isn't the conjugation table — it's telling it apart from the word red when you hear it.

The Past Tense of Hold Is Held — and Why It Gets Misheard as Helped

The simple past of hold is held, and the past participle is held too. The catch: held sounds almost identical to helped, and the "organize" meaning almost always shows up in the passive voice.

The Past Tense of Help Is Helped — And You Can Barely Hear It

Help is a regular verb, so its past tense is helped — but the t at the end drops in most sentences, and the tense has to be carried by something else.

The Past Tense of Tell Is Told — and the D Disappears Right When You Need It

The simple past of tell is told, and the past participle is told too. The hardest part is the structure that always needs a receiver, and the final d drops out the moment the sentence speeds up.

The Past Tense of Leave Is Left, But Left Plays Four Roles in a Sentence

The simple past of leave is left. The participle is left too. The hard part is one word, left, carrying four jobs, and the final t drops the moment the sentence speeds up.

Fall's Past Tense Is Fell — and Three Sound-Alikes Keep Pulling It Astray

The simple past of fall is fell, the past participle is fallen. The tricky part is that fell is boxed in by feel, fail, and felt — three words that sound almost identical in fast speech.

Put's Past Tense Is Still Put: Where Does the Tense Hide?

All three forms of put are spelled exactly the same, so the sentence's tense gets pushed onto the thinnest sounds: has, had, will, and the third-person s.

The Wallaby10/25/202619 min read

Meet Becomes Met: One Vowel Carries the Whole Sentence's Tense

The simple past of meet is met, and the past participle is met too. The hard part isn't the conjugation table — it's catching a short vowel in the middle of fast speech.

The Wallaby10/25/202618 min read

Go's Past Tense: Went or Gone — And How to Hear Them in Real Speech

The simple past of go is went, the past participle is gone. The hard part isn't the conjugation table — it's hearing the difference between the two in real speech.

The Wallaby10/25/202629 min read

Hotel & Restaurant English: Vocabulary, a Three-Stage Study Plan, and Listening Resources

Front desk, housekeeping and table service vocabulary, plus a three-stage study plan — from reading SOPs to handling complaints — and real self-study resources from the hospitality industry.

The Wallaby10/24/202625 min read

Kitchen English: How to Keep Up With Line Calls, Plus a Self-Study Roadmap

Kitchen vocabulary drawn from real shifts, a table of rush-hour line calls, a three-stage roadmap for line cooks, and self-study resources with both audio and transcripts.