Have you ever tried to solve a problem and could not solve it--and then found that you understood the answer when you woke up the next morning? 

Or, have you had this experience?  On a test, you couldn't remember the answer for a question.  But right after you walked out of the classroom, you remembered the correct answer. 

This exercise is designed to help you find out what you already know about irregular verbs.  You do part of the work and then put the work aside for a while.  Then return to the work later to see you have remembered in the meantime. 

Do the following steps to remember what you already know about irregular verbs:

1.  Take a sheet of lined paper.
2.  Across the top of the sheet of paper, write the following headings: 

Simple Form          Simple Past Tense              Past Participle                Present Participle
write                      wrote                                  written                            writing

3.  For 3 minutes, write as many irregular verbs as you can remember.  Put each word in the correct column.

4.  Put the piece of paper aside.  Do something else for at least 30 minutes.

5.  Get the piece of paper again.  Now, see how many additional irregular verbs you can add to your list.

6.  At regular intervals, go back to your list to see what new words you can add or what corrections you want to make to the list.