Spelling ING Ending
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Look at the following words. Each is a verb with an ING ending, but they all have different spellings
Spelling, texting, making, winning, lying Why do we spell them in such different ways
Well, there are five basic principles. We'll look at each one individually
1. ING alone 2. With silent E 3. Doubling consonants 4. IE endings
5. Special cases 1. ING alone To make the gerund form of many verbs, we just add ING to the main verb and that's it
Verb plus ING working, spending, calling, watching, going, playing, eating, raining
To simplify things, we're going to call the ING form of the verb the gerund form
What are the principles for using ING alone? Do you notice any pattern
There are generally four principles for this. First, look at the endings of the main verb
A. Consonant, consonant 4. Consonant, consonant, consonant spending, calling, watching
B. Vowel, vowel, consonant eating, reading, raining C. Vowel, vowel, seeing, playing, snowing
D. Vowel, vowel, going, being, flying Seeing double? No trouble. Let's look at each case separately
When you see double, vowels or consonants, just add ING. 2 consonants CC
At the end of verbs, signal that we don't have to change the verb at all
By double here, we mean two. They can be the same consonant or not
call, fill, send, watch With watch, there are actually three or triple consonants
B. Double vowel before final consonant When you see two vowels before a final consonant, you can just add ING to the verb
raining, reading, roaming, keeping Two vowels usually, but not always, signal a long vowel sound, so the consonant doesn't need to be doubled
B. Vowel, vowel, consonant Example It's raining, but I'm not complaining. I'm staying home, eating, reading, and sleuthing
C. Double vowel When a verb ends in two vowels, just add ING
seeing, agreeing, cooing, booing The letters Y and W can function as vowels at the ends of words
playing, saying, knowing, towing C. Double vowel. Examples
Do you agree with the following statement? Seeing is believing. Saying is playing. Knowing is showing
Actually, these are not considered verbs here, but they use the gerund form, verb ING, nonetheless
V. Single vowel Finally, when a verb ends in a single vowel, we can simply add ING to make the gerund form
There are only a few words like this. going, being, doing, undoing, seeing, trying, applying, applying
In this case, the Y is used as a vowel. V. Single vowel endings. Examples
What are you doing, Julius? You're going to burp that. Be careful
I am being careful, Mom. Oops! 2. Silent E
At the end of some verbs, you will see a silent E. Silent E can affect the pronunciation of the previous vowel, making it long
The I in ING performs the same function, so silent E is no longer needed
When a verb ends in a silent E, you can drop it before adding ING
make, make, being, making ride, ride, being, riding
cope, cope, being, coping 2. Silent E examples
Reading and writing is fine, but reading and driving is not. 3. Silent E
Occasionally, you will see a word with a silent E in which the pronunciation principle does not seem to apply
However, the spelling principle still does. live, living. This one has a short I sound
have, having. This one has a short A sound. move, moving. The O is used as oo
taste, tasting. There is a long A and two consonants. In each of these words, you will need to drop the silent E before adding ING
3. Doubling Consonants When a verb ends in a short vowel before a final consonant, you need to double the final consonant before adding ING
The double consonant protects the short vowel from changing its sound. For example, cut, cutting
swim, swimming win, winning wrap, wrapping sit, sitting
hug, hugging 4. Doubled Consonants Note these examples. Silent E vs. Doubled Consonants
hope, hoping Long O with silent E hop, hopping Short O with doubled consonant
win, winning Short I with doubled consonant wine, whining Long I with silent E
whining, as in the expression whining and dining Think of the doubled consonant as protecting the short vowel sound. Remember the bulldogs
They're like doubled consonants protecting the short vowel sound. jogging, planning kidding, betting
Notice how it all fits together. clean, cleaning Long vowel sound, no doubled consonant
spin, spinning Short vowel sound, doubled consonant wait, waiting Long vowel sound, no doubled consonant
hit, hitting Short vowel sound, doubled consonant Double Consonants and Stressed Syllables
Sometimes, in words with more than one syllable, double consonants are used after the last syllable of the verb, if it is stressed, but not if the syllable is unstressed
For example, control, controlling stressed final syllable travel, traveling unstressed final syllable
open, opening unstressed final syllable forget, forgetting stressed final syllable
4. Verbs Ending in IE Luckily, there are only a few of these
When a verb ends in IE, we change the IE to Y before adding ING
lie, lying die, dying tie, tying untie, untying
5. Special Cases Actually, these verbs follow some of the rules above, but they still seem strange
hoe, hoeing 2 vowels, silent E is not dropped. die, dying 2 vowels, silent E is not dropped
eye, eyeing 3 vowels Sometimes, you see it written eyeing, that's also OK
age, aging This is the difference between British and American English. Dying here is not the same as dying as in approaching death
Dying, D-Y-E-I-N-G, means coloring. Want to test your knowledge
Indicate whether the following words are spelled correctly or not. Take your time
Take your time
If you need more time, pause the video. Let's check the answers
The words in red are incorrect
Actually, planning can be a word, but planning is commonly misspelled like this
Answers and Pronunciation See, Read and Repeat Seeing, Skiing, Hitting, Biting, Planning, Dying, Coming, Raining, Riding, Beginning
Wishing, Smiling, Changing, Talking, Making, Speaking, Tying, Closing, Losing, Listening, Looking, Dropping, Typing, Facing
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