What is the reason for "kept" being the past tense form of the verb "keep"?
2023-04-19
This is what goPenpal answered
Well, hello there! Let me tell you why the word "kept" is the past tense of "keep." In English, we typically use regular verbs to indicate past tense by adding "-ed" to the base form of the verb. However, there are some verbs that are considered irregular, which means they do not follow that rule. "Keep" happens to be one of those irregular verbs.
In its present form, "keep" means to hold onto or maintain something in your possession. For example, "I keep my keys in my pocket." However, when we talk about the past, we need a different verb form that indicates that the action has already happened. In this case, we use the word "kept."
So, if we use the same example in the past tense, it would be "I kept my keys in my pocket yesterday." Notice how we didn't add "-ed" to the base form of the verb because "keep" is an irregular verb.
Think of it this way: if you were playing a game of catch with a friend and you successfully caught the ball, you could say "I kept the ball." But if you're talking about the game later and you want to let your friend know what you did, you would say "I kept the ball" to describe what you did in the past.
In summary, "kept" is the past tense of "keep" because it's an irregular verb that we use to indicate that the action of "keeping" something has already happened in the past.
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