Spelling

1. Adding –s to nouns

Most nouns simply add an –s to form the plural

book → books,

computer → computers,

cat → cats, edge → edges

The exceptions are:

Add –es to nouns ending in:

–s or –ss: bus → buses, business → businesses

–x: tax → taxes, fox → foxes, box → boxes

–ch: church → churches, match → matches except: stomach → stomachs

–sh: leash → leashes, dish → dishes

Nouns ending in –o can add either –s or –es

zero → zero s, studio → studios, potato → potatoes, tomato → tomatoes

But: ghetto → ghettos/ghettoes, flamingo → flamingos/flamingoes

Nouns that end in a consonant + -y change the –y to –ies

baby → bab ies, story → stories, country → countries 

Nouns that end in a vowel + -y (-ay/-ey/ -oy/ –uy) only add –s

monkey → monkey s, tray → trays, toy → toys, day → days

Nouns that end in –f or –fe change to –ves

knife → kni ves, half → halves

2. Adding –s to verbs

Most verbs simply add an –s to form the third person

eat → eat s, treat → treats, sleep → sleeps, work → works

The exceptions are:

Add –es to verbs ending in

–ss: miss → misses, pass → passes

–zz: buzz → buzzes

–x: mix – mixes, tax → taxes

–ch: catch – catches, watch → watches, touch → touches

–sh: push – pushes, wash → washes

–o: do → does, go → goes, echo → echoes

Verbs that end in a consonant + -y change the –y to –ies

carry → carr ies, try → tries, study → studies

Verbs that end in a vowel + -y only add –s

pay → pay s, say → says, play → plays

3. Adding –ing to verbs

Most verbs simply add an –ing to the verb

eat → eating, treat → treating, sleep → sleeping, work → working

The exceptions are:

Verbs that end in an –e, lose the –e

use → using, smoke → smoking, write → writing

Verbs that end in –ee, keep the –ee

agree → agreeing, see → seeing

Verbs that end in –ic change to –ick

picnic → picnicking, traffic → trafficking

Verbs that end in –ie, change to –y

lie → lying, tie → tying

We double the last consonant if:

The verb has one syllable and ends in a vowel + consonant

sit → sitting, stop → stopping, →plan → planning

except: play → playing, show → showing

The verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed

begin → beginning, admit → admitting but differ → differing

The verbs ends in a vowel + l

travel → travelling, equal → equallinge

4. Adjectives and adverbs ending in -e

The adjective ends in -e + r/st (comparative and superlative forms)

Fine → finer, finest

late  → later, latest

– The adjective ends in -e + ly (making an adverb)

nice → nicely, close → closely

– The adjective ends in -le + ply / bly, etc. (making an adverb)

simple  → simply, possible → possibly

5. Doubling the final consonant

We saw in a previous point above that if a verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed, as well as if verbs ends in a vowel + l, we double the final consonant. However, there are other situations when we have to double the final consonant:

– Word ends in vowel + consonant + –ing/-ed/-er/-est:

Stop → stopped, stopping, stopper

put → putting

big → bigger, biggest

run → runner, running

set → setter, setting

6. Adding –ed to verbs

Most verbs simply add an –ed to the verb

help → help ed, treat → treated, work → worked

The exceptions are:

– Verbs that end in an –e, add –d

use → used, smoke → smoked, like → liked

– Verbs that end in –ee, keep the –ee

agree → agreed, free → freed

– Verbs that end in –ic change to –ick

picnic → picnicked, traffic → trafficked

– Verbs that end in a consonant + y, change to –ie

try → tr ied, fry → fried, reply → replied

– We double the last consonant if:

– The verb has one syllable and ends in a vowel + consonant

slam → slammed, stop → stopped, →plan → planned

except: play → played, show → showed

– The verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed

regret → regretted, admit → admitted but happen → happened

– The verbs end in a vowel + l

travel → travelled, equal → equalled

7. Possessive ‘s

Most nouns simply add an ‘s to the noun.

Flat → flat’s, cat → cat’s

The Exceptions are:

• Regular Plural nouns add only an ’ (apostrophe)
  • Boys → boys’, cats → cats’, people → people’s
• Singular proper nouns (names) ending in –s can add ‘s or ‘
  • Jones → Jones’s or Jones’ , The Smiths → The Smits’s or The Smiths’
• Irregular plural nouns (not ending in –s) add ‘s
  • Men → men’s, children → children’s
• Words like somebody, anybody, one, each other, add an ‘s
  • One → one’s, somebody → somebody’s

8. –ise or –ize

Most words in British English can be spelt with both –ise and –ize. However, American English prefers –ize.

British: realise, organise, hypothesise

American: realize, organize, hypothesize

Exceptions:

exercise, devise, improvise, surprise, advise, supervise, etc.

Some words are spelt with –yse in British English and –yze in American English:

British: Analyse, paralyse

American: analyse, paralyze