There are around 400 English verbs that have an irregular simple past tense or past participle and even more that manifest some form of irregularity in the present tense。 Most books on irregular verbs simply list all irregular verbs in alphabetical order， with all their forms and a few examples of use。

This book takes a different approach， which is more suitable for people who want to read a book from cover to cover。 Verbs are grouped together according to common patterns， such as a -d that becomes a -t in the past tense （e。g。 bend， send）， the pattern “-⁠ink， -ank， -unk” （e。g。 drink， sink）， verbs that do not change at all （e。g。 cut， put）， and many others。