Category:Quirk class 4

This category contains verbs belonging to the class of Irregular verbs identified in Quirk 1985 as Class 4. It is identified by the following characteristics:

• The past tense and participle suffix differ. "In practically all cases, the latter has a nasal suffix (break ~ broke ~broken)": that is, the past participle mostly ends in '-n'.
• The vowel of the base form and those of the past forms are different There is a range of vowel changes - the sub-classes are arranged according to the pattern of vowels in the different columns ('base form', 'past tense' and '-ed participle'), and their relationship with each other. (These sub-classes are labelled with a capital letter. Each of them is further sub-divided according to which vowel is involved in those relationships: these sub-sub-classes are labelled with a lower case letter. They are not currently awarded separate categories in AWE)
  • In 4 A, both the past forms have the same vowel which is different from that of the base form. There are 17 verbs in this category, grouped by their vowels: Category:Quirk class 4 A lists them.
  • In 4 B, the base form and the -ed participle have the same vowel, but the past tense has a different one: the 14 verbs are listed in Category:Quirk class 4 B.
  • In 4 C, all three forms have different vowels.
  • 4 D, which only has one member (beat), has the same vowel throughout.
  • 4 E has different vowels in variant alternative forms. (It only has three members.)