Crawl past tense
Meaning of crawl
to move slowly or with difficulty, especially with the body stretched out along the ground or on hands and knees.
Infinitive
- 1. Babies often crawl before they learn to walk.
- 2. Spiders crawl up the wall silently.
- 3. Ants crawl in a line to gather food.
Past Simple
- 1. She crawled under the table to retrieve her fallen earring.
- 2. The baby crawled across the living room floor for the first time.
- 3. As we explored the cave, we crawled through narrow passages to reach the other side.
Past Participle
- 1. The dark, narrow hallway had been crawled by countless curious children looking for hidden treasures.
- 2. By the time we arrived, the entire length of the garden was already being crawled by the enthusiastic puppy.
- 3. The spooky attic floor was slowly crawled by the cat, whose every step released a cloud of dust into the sunbeams.
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Bare infinitive
- To describe habits or routines.Example. I crawl into bed each night after 11 PM.Example. Babies usually crawl before they walk.Example. Spiders crawl with ease across walls and ceilings.
- To state facts.Example. I crawl into bed each night after 11 PM.Example. Babies usually crawl before they walk.Example. Spiders crawl with ease across walls and ceilings.
- To express general truths.Example. I crawl into bed each night after 11 PM.Example. Babies usually crawl before they walk.Example. Spiders crawl with ease across walls and ceilings.
Past Simple
- To talk about a completed action at a specific time in the past.Example. He crawled through the small window last night during the game.Example. The baby crawled for the first time, and then she tried to stand up.
- To describe a sequence of past events.Example. He crawled through the small window last night during the game.Example. The baby crawled for the first time, and then she tried to stand up.
Past Participle
- To form present perfect tense, describing an action that happened at an unspecified time before now.Example. The children have already crawled through the play tunnel.Example. The troops had crawled to safety before the enemy spotted them.Example. The course was crawled by hundreds of participants during the challenge.
- To form past perfect tense, describing an action that happened before another action in the past.Example. The children have already crawled through the play tunnel.Example. The troops had crawled to safety before the enemy spotted them.Example. The course was crawled by hundreds of participants during the challenge.
- To form passive voice sentences.Example. The children have already crawled through the play tunnel.Example. The troops had crawled to safety before the enemy spotted them.Example. The course was crawled by hundreds of participants during the challenge.
Common mistakes
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Confusing Forms
One common mistake is assuming that 'crawl' follows an irregular conjugation pattern in its past simple and past participle forms. Unlike irregular verbs like 'sing,' which changes to 'sang' (past simple) and 'sung' (past participle), 'crawl' is a regular verb. This means its past simple and past participle forms are created by simply adding -ed to the base form. The correct past simple and past participle form is 'crawled,' not 'crowl' or 'crown,' which are errors stemming from misapplying the patterns of irregular verbs.
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Incorrect Spelling
Another mistake involves misspelling the past simple and past participle forms of 'crawl.' Since 'crawl' ends in a consonant followed by a vowel followed by another consonant (l), there's sometimes confusion, leading to incorrect doubling of the final 'l' when adding -ed. However, 'crawl' does not require the final consonant to be doubled before adding -ed. Therefore, 'crawled' is correct, whereas 'crawll' or 'crawleded' are incorrect forms that mistakenly appear due to overgeneralization of spelling rules.
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Misuse in Compound Tenses
A further error occurs when using 'crawl' in compound tenses, such as the present perfect or past perfect. Some might mistakenly use the base form or the past simple form instead of the past participle form. The correct way to use 'crawl' in these tenses involves the past participle 'crawled.' For instance, 'I have crawled' is correct for present perfect, while 'I had crawled' is correct for past perfect. Using 'I have crawl' or 'I had crawl' are common mistakes that fail to convey the action correctly in these compound tenses.
Past tense quiz
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