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What is the past tense of the verb 'Give'?
A. Gived
B. Gave
C. Given
D. Giving
Correct Answer Is Option = Gave
Notes / Explanation
The past tense of the verb give is gave, and this is an example of an irregular verb in the English language, an understanding of which is essential for using the language correctly and for performing well in competitive examinations. In English, verbs change their form to show the time of an action, and the past tense is the form used to describe an action that has already happened. Most verbs form their past tense in a regular way by adding a standard ending to the base form of the verb, so that the verb walk becomes walked. However, a large number of common verbs do not follow this regular pattern, and these are called irregular verbs, because their past tense forms are made in special ways that must be learnt individually. The verb give is one of these irregular verbs, and its past tense is gave, formed by a change in the word rather than by adding the usual ending, so that give becomes gave in the past tense. It is worth noting that the verb give has three main forms that must be distinguished: the base form give, used in the present; the simple past form gave, used for an action that happened in the past; and the past participle, which for this verb is given, used together with helping verbs in certain constructions, so that one says that a person gives today, gave yesterday, and has given before. Thus the simple past is gave, while the past participle is given, and these two forms should not be confused. Many other common English verbs are irregular and have distinct forms for the simple past and the past participle in this way, such as the verb take, which becomes took in the past and taken as the past participle, and the verb write, which becomes wrote and written. Because these irregular forms do not follow the regular rule, learners must memorise them. A common mistake is to apply the regular pattern and produce an incorrect form such as gived instead of gave. For PPSC and other competitive examinations, the key points to remember are that the past tense of give is gave, that this is an irregular verb whose past tense is formed by a change in the word rather than by adding the usual ending, that the verb has the base form give, the simple past form gave, and the past participle given, which should not be confused, and that other verbs such as take and write are similarly irregular, becoming took and taken, and wrote and written.