I. 4. Spelling of “-ing”, “-ed” and “-(e)s” Verb-forms.

Pronunciation of “-ed” and “-(e)s” Verb-forms.

V + -ing – Participle I and Gerund Verb-forms

Before adding “-ing”

1) The mute “-e” is dropped

E.g. “skate – skating”

N.B. By way of exception the rule does not apply to the verbs “dye – dyeing” and “singe – singeing” so as to differentiate them from the ing-forms of “die – dying” and “sing – singing”.

2) The final single consonant letter is doubled if it is preceded by a single vowel letter of a stressed syllable.

E.g. “stop – stopping”, “nod – nodding”, “permit – permitting”, “refer – referring”.

But “look – looking”, “limit – limiting”.

N.B. In British English the final “-l” and, in some words, “-p” are always doubled after a single vowel letter, whereas in American English they stay single. Keep in mind that Microsoft Office programmes stick to the rules of American English spelling.

E.g. “travel – travelling (Br. E.) / traveling (Am. E.),

“worship – worshipping (Br. E.) / worshiping (Am. E.).

3) The final “-ie” changes into “-y”

E.g. “lie – lying”, “die – dying”.

V + -ed – Participle II Verb-form

The inflexion “-ed” is added to the stem of the verb, but one should mind the following:

1) Only “-d” is added to stems ending in “-e”

E.g. “skate – skated”, “free – freed”

2) The final “-y” changes into “i” if preceded by a consonant but remains unchanged when it follows a vowel.

E.g. “cry – cried”, “reply – replied”, “play – played”, “stay – stayed”.

3) The final single consonant letter is doubled if it is preceded by a single vowel letter of a stressed syllable.

E.g. “stop – stopped”, “admit – admitted”

But “looked”, “limited”.

N.B. In British English the final “-l” and, in some words, “-p” are always doubled after a single vowel letter, whereas in American English they stay single.

E.g. “travel – travelled (Br. E.) / traveled (Am. E.),

“worship – worshipped (Br. E.) / worshiped (Am. E.).

The suffix “-ed” is pronounced in three ways:

1) [ɪd] when the stem of the verb ends in the dental consonants [d] or [t].

E.g. “skate – skated ['skeɪtɪd]”, “decide – decided [dɪ'saɪdɪd].

2) [d] when the stem ends in

a voiced consonant (except [d]), e.g. “live – lived ['lɪvd]”,

a sonant (sonorant) – [w, r, j, l, m, n, ŋ], e.g. “travel – traveled ['træv(ə)ld],

or a vowel, e.g. “stay – stayed [steɪd].

3) [t] when the stem ends in a voiceless consonant (except [d]).

E.g. “talk – talked [tɔ:kt]”, “stop – stopped [stɔpt]”.

V + -(e)s – The 3^rd person singular Present Simple Tense Verb-Form

There are spelling and pronunciation rules for the “-(e)s” forms of verbs.

“-s” is added in the majority of cases, e.g. “speak–speaks”, “bring–brings”, “define–defines”, and is pronounced [-s] after voiceless consonants and [-z] after voiced consonants, sonants (sonorants) and vowels.

“-es” is added:

1) if the inflexion is pronounced as a separate syllable, which is necessary when the marker of plurality “-s” is to be dissociated from the preceding sibilant (the consonants [t∫, dʒ, ∫, ʒ, s, z] by means of [ɪ]: “fetch – fetches [fet∫ – 'fet∫ɪz]”, “rush – rushes [rʌ∫ – 'rʌ∫ɪz]”.

However, if a verb already ends in an “-e”, only “-s” is added in spelling: “lose – loses [lu:z – 'lu:zɪz]”, “catch – catches [kæt∫ – 'kæt∫ɪz]”.

2) if the verb-stem ends in “-y” preceded by a consonant, “-y” changes to “-i” and the suffix “-es” is added: “worry – worries”, “marry – marries”, “fly – flies”, “try – tries”.

But if the stem of the verb ends in “-y” preceded by a vowel, there is no changing of “-y” and only “-s” is added: “play – plays”.

3) if the stem of the verb ends in “-o”: “go – goes [gəʊ – gəʊz]”, “do – does [du: - dʌz]”.