Succumb past tense
Meaning of succumb
to yield or give in to a superior force or to an overwhelming desire or emotion.
Infinitive
- 1. When faced with overwhelming pressure, some people succumb to bad habits as a form of escape.
- 2. Despite their best efforts, many small businesses eventually succumb to the competitive pressures of the market.
- 3. Plants often succumb to disease if not properly cared for in their growing environment.
Past Simple
- 1. Despite her strong will, she finally succumbed to the temptation of the decadent chocolate cake.
- 2. The small town succumbed to the powerful hurricane, leaving many homes in ruins.
- 3. After resisting for hours, the exhausted hiker succumbed to fatigue and had to be rescued from the mountain trail.
Past Participle
- 1. The village had finally succumbed to the powerful forces of the invading army.
- 2. By the time help arrived, he had already succumbed to his injuries.
- 3. The ancient structure has succumbed to the ravages of time and weather.
Learn more words on the go
Master verb forms with Promova!
Bare infinitive
- General truths or habitual actionsExample. She never succumbs to pressure in challenging situations.Example. He succumbs to the new policy starting next Monday.
- Scheduled events in the near future (mainly in formal use)Example. He succumbs to the new policy starting next Monday.
Past Simple
- Actions or situations that were completed in the pastExample. The city finally succumbed to the invader's forces last year.
- Habitual action or general truth in the pastExample. He often succumbed to his cravings when he was stressed.
Past Participle
- (Used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect aspects and passive voice) Present perfect aspect, indicating an action at an unspecified time before nowExample. She has already succumbed to the charms of the new city.
- Past perfect aspect, indicating an action that occurred before another action in the pastExample. They had already succumbed to fatigue before the rescue team arrived.
- Future perfect aspect, indicating an action that will have been completed before a specified future timeExample. By the end of the month, I will have succumbed to the temptation of eating sweets.
- Passive voice, indicating the subject is acted uponExample. The fortress was finally succumbed by the rebels after a long siege.
Common mistakes
— 01
Confusing forms
A common mistake is mixing up the past simple form 'succumbed' with the past participle 'succumbed.' Although in the case of 'succumb,' both forms look the same, the confusion usually lies in their application within sentences. The past simple is used for actions completed in the past (He succumbed to his injuries last night), while the past participle is often used in perfect tenses and passive voice (He has succumbed to his injuries).
— 02
Adding -ed
Some learners mistakenly believe that by simply adding -ed to the end of any verb, they can form the past tense. This leads to errors such as succumbeded, which is incorrect. The correct past simple and past participle form of 'succumb' is 'succumbed,' following the rule for regular verbs even though 'succumb' sounds like it could be irregular to those learning English.
— 03
Omitting auxiliaries
A frequent error is omitting auxiliary verbs such as 'to be' or 'have' when using the past participle 'succumbed' in sentences. For example, saying He succumbed to his injuries when meaning to use the present perfect tense (He has succumbed to his injuries) or in passive constructions (He was succumbed by his injuries), which is also a misuse because 'succumb' doesn't appropriately fit passive voice structures due to its intransitive nature.
Past tense quiz
Check your skills and find areas for improvement