Definition of principal parts in US English:
principal parts
plural nounˈprɪnsəpəl pɑrts
Grammar The forms of a verb from which all other inflected forms can be deduced, for example swim, swam, swum.
Example sentencesExamples
- The stronger the principal parts of speech, the stronger the writing,’ ASNE judge Cunningham said.
- Better grammars (like Smyth) will give you that sort of information in their full discussion of the morphology of verbs; they will also give you lists of principal parts of most irregular verbs.
- To sum up, to use any verb fully, you must know two things: (1) all the principal parts of the verb, and (2) the rules governing the conjugation of English verbs.
- Asked to recite the principal parts of the verb ‘to eat’, the irrepressible Hyman Kaplan suggested the following: ‘eat, ate, full.’