Draw, Drew, Drawn: The -ew and -own Verb Pattern

See the Pattern First

Watch the middle column: every past form has that “oo” sound.

• I draw a picture. I drew one yesterday. I have drawn many.
• Birds fly south. They flew last week. They have flown already.
• I know the answer. I knew it then. I have known it for years.
• She grows tomatoes. She grew some last year. They have grown well.

The past always sounds like “oo” and the participle always ends in -n. Two sounds, and the whole family is covered.

The Full List

Notice how regular the shape is once you see them together.

The Sew Exception

Sew almost fits: the participle is sewn, exactly as the pattern predicts. But its past tense is the regular sewed, not “sew” — there is no “sewed/sew” alternative.

That mixture — a regular past with an irregular participle — is rare in English, which is why “sew” catches people out. Learn it as: sewed yesterday, have sewn since.

A Sound-Alike Warning

Three of these have twins that sound the same but mean something else:

• Threw (past of throw) and through (a preposition) sound identical.
• Blew (past of blow) and blue (the colour) sound identical.
• Knew (past of know) and new (not old) sound identical.

Spell-checkers will not catch these because both words are real. Read your writing aloud to spot them.

More Verbs Like Draw, Drew, Drawn

Two more verbs with the same -ew and -own pattern, plus show, which is regular in the past (showed) but still ends in -own in the third form (shown). Take them one at a time.

Step 1: Blow, Blew, Blown

Examples:

• The wind blows hard in winter. (now — present)
• The wind blew hard last night. (past)
• The wind has blown the fence down. (with have/has/had)

How to remember: Think of “blow, blew, blown” like “know, knew, known” and “throw, threw, thrown.” They all follow the same pattern! If you can remember one set, you know them all.

Step 2: Grow, Grew, Grown

Examples:

• The children grow taller every year. (now — it happens again and again)
• My little brother grew five inches last year. (finished — it happened in the past)
• The tree has grown so tall since we planted it. (started before and still matters now)

How to remember: Think of the word “have” as a key. When the key (have/has/had) is there, it unlocks grown. When there is no key, you use grew.

Step 3: Show, Showed, Shown

Examples:

• I show photos to my friends every day. (now — it happens often)
• She showed me the way to the station. (past — it is finished)
• He has shown great progress this year. (past with “has”)

How to remember: Think of know, knew, known. It follows a similar pattern — the past form with a helping word ends in -own: shown, known, grown.

Mistakes Learners Make (You Are Not Alone)

Two error types dominate here:

• ✗ I have drew it → ✓ I have drawn it (after have, use the -n form)
• ✗ the bird has flew away → ✓ the bird has flown away
• ✗ I throwed the ball → ✓ I threw the ball

Same lesson as the last group: the moment you see have, has or had, switch to the -n form.

Your Turn — Quick Quiz

Five questions. Take your time — the table above is still there if you need it.

Keep Going

You now handle a family of seven verbs with two sounds.

The next group is the biggest of all — verbs where the vowel changes and the participle adds -en. Take, took, taken. Write, wrote, written. It is the pattern behind dozens of English verbs.

Next lesson: Take, took, taken: the -en participle family

Sources

• Cambridge Dictionary — Nouns: plural forms
• Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries

Khamis Maiouf

I’m Khamis Maiouf. I’m studying Health and Social Care and have completed Functional Skills Level 2 in English and Level 3 Hairdressing. I have taught ESOL in my community and helped students with GCSE English. I run English Teacher Site to help people learn and practise English.