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Doubling consonants rules


Doubling the final consonant before adding –ed or –ing

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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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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.

Learn more