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2.2.9: Spelling Rules for Verbs in the Present and Past Tenses (and Nouns)

  • Page ID
    121866
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    Spelling Rules for Nouns

    When a singular noun ends in a consonant letter and a y, change the y to i and add es to make it plural.

    baby      babies           fly   flies               library   libraries      party     parties

    army      armies          lady ladies            country  countries    family    families

    When a singular noun ends in a vowel letter and a y, add an s to make it plural.

    day        days              key keys              boy boys      toy  toys

    monkey monkeys        way ways             tray trays      play plays

    When a singular noun ends in an s, sh, ch, x, or z, add es to the end of the noun to make it plural.

    dish                 dishes       rash          rashes       kiss       kisses     fox  foxes      waltz     waltzes

    brush               brushes     watch       watches     bus       buses     tax  taxes      patch     patches

    Sometimes, when a noun ends in an f or an fe, we change the f to V and add es.  There are many exceptions to this “rule.”

    life         lives             wife       wives           knife      knives           loaf        loaves

    shelf      shelves         leaf        leaves          thief       thieves          wolf       wolves

    Exceptions to this “rule”:

    roof roofs             chief      chiefs           chef       chefs             cliff       cliffs

    puff puffs             cuff       cuffs             gaffe      gaffes            whiff     whiffs

    There are also many irregular plural nouns in English or nouns with no singular form.

    man     men     woman    women     child       children        foot       feet     tooth      teeth

    mouse  mice    deer        deer          sheep     sheep          louse      lice     ox          oxen

    person persons/people             ----- police    ------      clothes   ------ pants  fish       fish(es) 

    Forming the plural with nouns ending in “O”  (Good Luck!)

    1.  When nouns end in “o” preceded by a vowel, add “s” only.

    Examples:

    studio    studios          radio         radios           rodeo         rodeos          patio      patios

    bio         bios              ratio         ratios            kangaroo      kangaroos     zoo         zoos      

     

    2.  Musical terms ending in “o” also end in “s.”  These are exceptions to rule # 1.

    piano     pianos           alto       altos             solo solos             cello      cellos

     

    3.  Some nouns ending in an “o” preceded by a consonant, however, also add “s”only; others add an “es.”  (This is an awful rule.)

    Examples:

    (“S” only)   kimono     kimonos      zero  zeros        two        twos             ratio       ratios    

                      silo         silos              solo   solos        tango     tangos

     

    (“ES”)         potato        potatoes              hero       heroes           Negro    Negroes

                      mango       mangoes

     

    4.  Some nouns ending in “o” can form the plural by add an “s” or an “es.”  Both are correct.  (This is also an awful rule.)

    Examples:

    halo halos      haloes           cargo     cargos    cargoes  motto     mottos   mottoes

    lasso      lassos    lassoes

     

           Basically, when a noun ends in an “o” and you want to know how to make it plural, look up the spelling of the word in a dictionary … because that is what I had to do.

     

    Exercise 9:  Fill in the blanks with the plural form of the nouns, please.

    1. coat _______________            2.  woman _______________

    3.  baby _______________          4.  day _______________

    5.  hour _______________           6.  hero _______________

    7.  dress _______________          8.  city _______________

    9.  knife _______________          10.  foot _______________

    11.  punch _______________       12.  patio _______________­

    13.  caress _______________       14.  sandwich _______________

    15.  lady _______________         16.  toy _______________

    17.  tooth _______________        18.  penny _______________

    19.  rash _______________         20.  fax _______________

    21.  snake _______________       22.  patch _______________

    23.  wish _______________         24. tax _______________

    25. waltz _______________         26.  wheeze _______________

    27.  bus _______________          28.  shelf _______________

    29.  watch _______________      30. radio _______________

    31.  person _______________     32. fish _______________

    33.  nanny _______________      34. nickel _______________

    35.  clock _______________        36.  piano ______________

    37.  window _______________     38.  box _______________

    39.  thief _______________         40.  attorney _______________

     

    Spelling Rules for Verbs in the Present and Past Tenses (and Nouns)

    The “ES” Rule

    In the third person (he, she, it) in the present tense, when a verb ends in an s, sh, ch, x, or z, add es to the verb.  (The same is true for nouns ending in s, sh, ch, x, and z.)

     

    Push  pushes, reach reaches, wash washes, fix fixes, buzz buzzes, kiss kisses, miss misses, tax taxes, fizz fizzes, pitch pitches, box boxes, bless blesses, crash crashes

     

    The “Y” Rules

    1.     When a verb ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to i and add es or ed.

    Study studies studied, hurry hurries hurried, copy copies copied, try tries tried,
    party parties partied, marry marries married, bury buries buried, worry worries worried

    2.     When a verb ends in a vowel plus y, simply add an s or ed.

    Play plays played, enjoy enjoys enjoyed, stay stays stayed, buy buys …..,

    The Double Consonant Rule

    When a verb ends in one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant and add ing or ed.

    Plan planning planned, stop stopping stopped, run running ….., hit hitting …..,
    win winning ….., begin beginning ….., swim swimming ….., rob robbing, robbed

    Never double the following letters in English:

    ww, xx, and yy.  These letters are NEVER doubled in English.  Also, en at the end of a word is almost never doubled.  Examples:  flowing, fixing, staying, listening, showing, taxing, playing, happening

    The Final “E” Rule

    When a verb ends in a final e, drop the e and add ing or just add a d to form the past tense.  If a verb ends in a double e (ee), don’t drop the e.  Examples:  seeing, freeing, fleeing, peeing

    Live living lived, type typing typed, smoke smoking smoked, bake baking baked 

    Exceptions:

    The verbs “do, go, and have” are exceptions to the rules.   They have irregular “S” forms (does, goes, has).

    Exercise 10:  Please give the S Form and the ING Form for each of the following verbs.

    Base Form            S Form                    ING Form                            

    1.  move           

    2.  listen

    3.  watch

    4.  study

    5.  use

    6.  finish

    7.  put

    8.  begin

    9.  waltz

    10.  explain

    11.  chop

    12.  argue

    13.  sort

    14.  mix

    15.  get

    16.  work

    17.  borrow

    18.  lengthen

    19.  hurt

     

    Base Form            S Form                    Present Participle

    20.  buy

    21.  mend

    22.  enjoy

    23.  trip

    24.  play

    25.  have

    26.  punch

    27.  spy

    28.  halt

    29.  party

    30.  spin

    31.  burst

    32.  employ

    33.  estimate

    34.  go

    35.  show

    36.  do

    37.  plug

    38.  complete

    39.  flex

    40.  flip

    41.  pass


    This page titled 2.2.9: Spelling Rules for Verbs in the Present and Past Tenses (and Nouns) is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Don Bissonnette.

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