Affixes

Strong verbs indicate their past tenses by a change of vowel within the stem (as sing has past tense sang and past participle sung). Some of them mark their past participles by adding ‑en. Examples include broken, chosen, frozen, spoken, stolen, sunken, taken, and woven. American English retains gotten as the past participle of get. A number have lost the e from the ending following a final r in the stem: born, shorn, sworn. These forms can be used as adjectives, as can some whose participial use is now rare or archaic, such as proven and drunken; however, the second of these has the restricted sense of having drunk too much alcohol.