Double consonant ing

Spelling rules: doubling up

There are so many spelling rules and it can be difficult to remember them all when you are learning English (and even if you do remember the rule, sometimes it doesn’t always apply, for instance the ‘I before E rule’). However, the doubling rule, or the 1-1-1 rule works in every instance.

The spelling rule

The spelling rule is: if the word has 1 syllable (a word with one vowel sound), 1 vowel and it ends in 1 consonant, you double the final consonant before you add ‘ing’, ‘ed’, ‘er’, ‘est’ (also known as a suffixal vowel). You don’t double the consonant if the word ends in ‘tion’ (also known as a suffixal consonant).

So, if the word has:

-          1 syllable

-          1 vowel

-          1 consonant, which follows the vowel

You double up the last consonant, to make a suffixal vowel (running/ runner, jogging, stopping/stopped).

For example: The word ‘run’

-          It has 1 syllable

-          It has 1 vowel – ‘u’

-          And it has 1 consonant that follows the vowel – ‘n’

In this instance, you double the last consonant to make the word ‘running’.

More examples:

• Run = Running
• Stop = Stopping/Stopped
• Big = Bigger
• Quiz = Quizzes
• Fat = Fatter/ Fattest

Words that have more than one consonant after the vowel don’t double, e.g. ‘lift’ has two consonants ‘f’ and ‘t’, so you don’t double the last consonant, instead you just add the suffixal vowel: ‘lifting’.

For words that have a long ‘e’ vowel on the end, for example grade, slide, hate, you drop the ‘e’ before adding ‘ing’ or ‘ed’, without doubling the last consonant. E.g. Grade becomes ‘grading’ or ‘graded’.

Words with more than one syllable

The doubling rule can also be used for words with more than one syllable, however these words must end in a single consonant and the primary stress must be on the final syllable.

So, if the word has:

-          More than 1 syllable

-          Ends in 1 consonant

-          The final consonant follows a vowel, and that vowel is bearing primary stress

You double up the last consonant, to make a suffixal vowel. Just like with a single syllable word, you don’t double the last consonant for a suffixal consonant.

For example: The word ‘begin’

-          It has more than 1 syllable (2 syallables – be-gin)

-          It has 1 vowel  that bears the primary stress – ‘i’

-          And it has 1 consonant that follows the primary stress bearing vowel, in this instance – ‘n’

In this instance, you double the last consonant to make the word ‘beginning’.

More examples:

• Control = Controlling/Controlled
• Regret = Regretting/Regretted

However, if the primary stress is not on the last syllable then you do not double the consonant. E.g. ‘open’ becomes ‘opening’. 

Doubling the final consonant before adding –ed or –ing

Ask the Editor

Question

When do you double the consonant at the end of a verb, before adding –ed or –ing?  — Pasam G, Tanzania

Answer

SPELLING RULES FOR VERBS WITH -ING AND -ED ENDINGS

When a verb ends in a consonant, sometimes the consonant is doubled before adding the –ed or –ing ending, like this:

stop --> stopped, stopping         

• Lucy stopped the car.
• Why was Lucy stopping the car?

And sometimes the final consonant is not doubled, like this:

shift --> shifted, shifting             

• Sandy shifted the gears.
• Sandy was shifting the gears too much. 

To know when to double the final consonant, follow the rules below. 

RULES

1. In a word with 1 syllable, double the final consonant ONLY if the word ends in 1 vowel + 1 consonant. 
2. In a word with 2 or more syllables, double the final consonant ONLY if the word ends in 1 vowel + 1 consonant AND the final syllable is stressed. 
3. At the end of a word, don’t count w, x, or y as a consonant.

APPLYING THE RULES

These verbs get a doubled final consonant:

• tip / He tipped the waiter. /He isn't tipping the waiter. 
• cram / The students crammed for the test. /The students were cramming for the test.  
• regret / Carl regretted the things he had said. /Carl was regretting the things he had said.

These verbs do not get a doubled final consonant:

• vote --> voted, voting (vote ends in a vowel)
• instruct --> instructed, instructing (instruct ends in 2 consonants)
• listen --> listened, listening (listen has 2 syllables and the final syllable is not stressed)

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English ending ing

WAR

All dictatorships create external enemies and repression to sit on the throne forever.

If you can't tell the truth from a clever lie, then think about laws, about freedom of speech, how often and where power has changed.

CNN News BBC News Telegram Wikipedia

The ending - ing for verbs serves to form some forms of the participle (Participle), which is also used as the verb form of the Continuous, and the form of Gerund. nine0011 -Ing can also act as a suffix to form nouns and adjectives. After adding the ending - ing , the meaning of the word changes from the answer to the question " What to do ?" to " What's ? Which ? How is ?

When adding the ending - ing to verbs, there are several special cases, which are listed below. If the verb does not fall under any of these rules, then simply add - ing to the first form of the verb without any transformations.

Unpronounceable "e"

If the verb ends with the unpronounceable letter " e ", then it drops out. If the sound [ e ] is pronounced, then the letter " e " remains.

The ending -ie changes to -y

If the verb ends with a combination of letters “ ie ”, then when adding - ing , the suffix - ie changes to the letter “ y ”.

• to die → dying
• to lie → lying
• to tie → tying

The letter "y" is retained

If the verb ends with the letter "9"0011 y ", then it does not change when adding the ending - ing , in contrast to adding the ending -ed.

• to carry → carrying
• to study → studying
• to play → playing
• to try → trying
• to say → saying
• to worry → worrying

Doubling consonants

Doubling occurs when adding - ing if the verb ends with one consonant, before which is the stressed vowel .

• to get → getting
• to hit → hitting
• to run → running
• to occur → occurring
• to refer → referring to
• to begin → beginning
• to stop → stopping
• to forget → forgetting

When adding - ing , doubling of consonants does not occur if the stress is not on the upcoming vowel sound, or the upcoming one is a long vowel sound (digraph).

The final letter " x " is not doubled, because this letter conveys two sounds at once [ ks ] or [ gz ]. Also, the final letter " w " is not doubled.

• snow → snowing
• blow → blowing
• show → showing

Doubling -l in British English

According to British grammar rules , when adding the ending - ing to verbs, the final letter " l " is always doubled, even if the stress is not on the last syllable.

However, US there is no doubling of the consonant letter " l " if the stress is not on the upcoming vowel or if the upcoming sound is a long vowel.

If the verb ends with one consonant " l " preceded by a short stressed vowel, doubling occurs anyway.

Ending -ic

If the verb ends with a combination of letters “ ic ”, then when adding - ing , the suffix is ​​ ic changes to - ick .

• traffic → trafficking
• mimic → mimicking
• panic → panicking

Ending - ing is used to form nouns (as well as adjectives) from verbs.

Ending - ing is used in the formation of the Present Participle, which is used in tenses Continuous , Perfect Continuous , Continuous Infinitive and Perfect Continuous Infinitive, which can be used as a definition or circumstance.

• I'm working at the moment, I can't help you. I'm working now, I can't help you. nine0033
• We have been living in this town since 1980. - We have been living in this town since 1980.
• I would be nice to be traveling overseas right now. It would be nice to travel abroad now.
• You seem to have been crying all night long. What has happened? You look like you've been crying all night. What happened?
• This smiling girl is so cute! This smiling girl is so cute! nine0033
• Walking in the park I met my old friend. Walking in the park, I met my old friend.