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What is the past tense of the verb 'Run'?
A. Runned
B. Ran
C. Run
D. Running
Correct Answer Is Option = Ran
Notes / Explanation
The past tense of the verb run is ran, 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 and the verb jump becomes jumped. 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 run is one of these irregular verbs, and its past tense is ran, formed by a change in the vowel of the word rather than by adding the usual ending, so that run becomes ran in the past tense. It is worth noting that the verb run has three main forms that must be distinguished: the base form run, used in the present; the simple past form ran, used for an action that happened in the past; and the past participle, which for this verb is again run, used together with helping verbs in certain constructions, so that one says that a person runs today, ran yesterday, and has run before. This means that the base form and the past participle are the same for this verb, both being run, while the simple past is ran. Many other common English verbs are irregular and form their past tense by a change of vowel, such as the verb swim, which becomes swam, the verb sing, which becomes sang, and the verb begin, which becomes began. 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 runned instead of ran. For PPSC and other competitive examinations, the key points to remember are that the past tense of run is ran, that this is an irregular verb whose past tense is formed by a change of vowel rather than by adding the usual ending, that the verb has the base form run, the simple past form ran, and the past participle run, so that the base form and the past participle are the same, and that other verbs such as swim, sing and begin form their past tense in a similar way, becoming swam, sang and began.
