The spelling of endings
A Plural nouns
We add s to a noun to form the plural.
a car —> two cars a name —> some names
After 's', 'sh', 'ch' and 'x' we add es /iz/.
glass —> glasses dish —> dishes
match —> matches box —> boxes
A few nouns ending in 'o' have es.
heroes potatoes tomatoes
But most have s.
discos kilos photos pianos
radios stereos studios zoos
When a noun ends in a 'consonant + y', the 'y' changes to ies.
penny —> pennies story —> stories
We do not change y after a vowel.
day —> days journey —> journeys
B The present simple s ending
In the third person singular, a present simple verb ends in s.
I know —> he knows I work —> she works
After 's', 'sh', 'ch' and 'x' we add es /iz/.
pass —> passes wash —> washes
catch —> catches mix —> mixes
Some verbs ending in 'o' have es.
go —> goes do —> does
When a verb ends in a 'consonant + y', the 'y' changes to ies.
hurry --> hurries copy —> copies
We do not change y after a vowel.
stay —> stays enjoy —> enjoys
C The 'ed' ending
Most verbs have ed in the past tense. Most past participles also end in ed.
look --> looked call -> called
If the verb ends in 'e', we add d
hope —> hoped save —> saved
When a verb ends in a 'consonant + y', the 'y' changes to ied.
hurry —> hurried copy —> copied
Sometimes we double a final consonant. This happens when a one-syllable verb ends with one vowel and one consonant, e.g. beg, plan.
beg —> begged plan —> planned
D The ing-form
We normally leave out 'e' when we add ing to a verb.
take —> taking drive —> driving
But we keep a double 'e' before ing.
see —> seeing agree —> agreeing
When a verb ends in 'ie', it changes to ying.
die —> dying lie —> lying
But 'y' does not change.
hurry —> hurrying
Sometimes we double a final consonant. This happens when a one-syllable verb ends with one vowel and one consonant, e.g. win, put.
win —> winning put --> putting
E Adverbs
We form many adverbs from an adjective + ly.
slow —> slowly calm —> calmly
We do not leave out 'e' before 'ly'.
safe —> safely strange --> strangely
But there are a few exceptions.
due —> duly true —> truly whole —> wholly
When an adjective ends in a 'consonant + y', the 'y' changes to ily.
angry —> angrily happy —> happily
An exception is
shy --> shyly.
When an adjective ends in a 'consonant + le', the 'e' changes to y.
probable —> probably sensible —> sensibly
When an adjective ends in 'ic', we add ally.
automatic —> automatically romantic --> romantically
But there is one exception.
public —> publicly
F The comparison of adjectives
We form the comparative and superlative of short adjectives with er and est.
old —> older, oldest quick —> quicker, quickest
If the adjective ends in 'e', we add r and st.
late —> later, latest fine —> finer, finest
When an adjective ends in a 'consonant + y', the 'y' changes to ier or iest.
heavy —> heavier, heaviest lucky —> luckier, luckiest
Sometimes we double a final consonant. This happens when a 'one-syllable adjective' ends with one vowel and one consonant, e.g. big, flat.
big —> bigger, biggest flat —> flatter, flattest
G The doubling of consonants
When we add ed, ing, er or est to a word, we sometimes double a final consonant. This happens when a 'one-syllable word ends with one vowel and one consonant', e.g. stop, get, thin, sad.
stop —> stopped get —> getting
thin —> thinner sad —> saddest
We do not double 'y', 'w' or 'x.'
play —> played new —> newest fax —> faxing
We do not double when there are 'two consonants'.
ask —> asking short —> shortest rich —> richer
And we do not double when there are two vowels.
seem —> seemed shout—> shouting fair —> fairest
The rule about doubling is also true for words of more than one syllable (e.g. permit = per + mit), but only if the last syllable is stressed.
per'mit —> per'mitted prefer —> preferring
We do not usually double a consonant when the syllable is unstressed.
'open —> opened 'enter—> entering
An exception is that in British English 'L' is usually doubled, even if the syllable is unstressed.
travel ~> travelled (US: traveled)