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Web AppThere are only three English verbs that follow the pattern -eave /iːv/ → -eft /ɛft/, namely (listed as infinitive – past tense – past participle):
bereave – bereft or bereaved – bereft or bereaved (see below!)
cleave – cleft, cleaved, clove, or clave – cleft, cleaved, or cloven (see below!)
Bereave means “to deprive of; to take away by death or force”. The past tense is usually “bereaved” when referring to the loss of a beloved person, and in this sense it is usually used in the passive as a (nominalized) adjective:
When used in another meaning, the customary past tense is “bereft”:
Cleave is a formal word meaning “to split something in two using a sharp tool or weapon” or “to move something quickly through something”. The past-tense form “clave” /kleɪv/ is now considered obsolete, although we can still find it in literature in biblical references. Also note that “clove(n)” is pronounced /ˈkləʊv(n)/ in the UK and /ˈkloʊv(n)/ in the US.
One relatively common expression with “cleave” used in historical contexts is “cleft in twain” (“twain” being an archaic form of “two”), as in:
