Everyday Grammar TV: Past Tense -ed with Taylor Swift

Faith: Hi John! Have you heard the Taylor Swift song called “Cardigan?”
John: Hi Faith, I don’t really listen to music.
Faith: Come on, you’re more boring than a two hundred year old grammar book.
John: I love old books!
Faith: Well, in any case, “Cardigan” has many examples of the past tense forms of verbs. These verbs bring up an interesting point of connection between grammar and pronunciation.
John: Right! There are a few general ways that English speakers pronounce the –ed ending of past tense verbs.
Faith: Exactly. And when Taylor Swift sang:
To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed
Why did she pronounce the –ed ending in needed as /Id/?
John: That’s a good question. In general, if a regular verb ends in a “t” or “d” sound, we pronounce the –ed ending as /Id/. This creates a separate syllable at the end of the word.
Faith: This is why we pronounce the past form of verbs such as “want” or “decide” as ”wanted” (/Id/) or ”decided” (/Id/)
John: We have a couple other general ways of pronouncing past tense endings. One of them is this: If the last letter of the regular verb ends in a voiced consonant or a vowel sound, pronounce the –ed ending as just /d/.
Faith: This is why Taylor Swift sang
I knew you
Tried to change the ending
Faith: And that’s Everyday Grammar TV.
Originally published at - https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/7025997.html