I teach English as a Second Language (ESL), and I love to clarify verb usage for people. I am thankful to have this opportunity to help with two irregular verbs, such as set and set. Let me begin by giving a definition of a verb. A verb is the part of speech denoting action, existence, or state of being. An example would be: Frank laughed. Frank cried. Laughed and cried are verbs.

When discussing irregular verbs, we learn the definition is the following. An irregular verb is one that does not take the -ed ending for the past simple and past participle forms. Some irregular verbs do not change such as put, put, put, while others change completely such as buy, bought, bought.

There are actually five forms of irregular verbs:

1. Base Form.

2. Past Simple.

3. Past Participle.

B. The Past Participle

4. Third Person Singular.

I have written about irregular verbs so you will understand that "sit" and "set" are included in this form of verb. Now let me get down to business explaining the difference between "sit" and "set".

The verb sit, in the "present" simply means to be seated or come to a resting place. In the "past tense", you would say, "I sat in my favorite chair". In the Past Participle, you would say, "I have sat in my favorite chair".

When we work with set in the "present", set would mean to put or place like "I set the table". The "past tense", you would say, "I set my glass on the table yesterday". For the "past participle", you would say, "She has set her books on my desk".

A final example would be: Let's set the table before we sit down. I know you will now be able to determine the difference with these two words.

Dave