Verb Inflections

Verb Inflections: ‘-s’.

The –s (-es, -ies) inflection indicates the PRESENT TENSE in affirmative statement and also this verb ending indicates 3º PERSON singular (she, he, it):

1. If the verb ends in -s, -z, -x, -o, -sh, and -ch, add -es ending:
   * pass/passes, buzz/buzzes, coax/coaxes, do/does, wash/washes, watch/watches.
2. If the base form ends in –y preceded by a consonant, change the -y to –ies:
   * carry/carries, try/tries, fly/flies.
3. If the verb does not end in –s, -z, -x, -sh, -ch or -y preceded by a consonant, adds just –s ending:
   *travel/travels, dance/dances, sing/sings.

Verb Inflections: ‘-ing’.

This verb inflection is used in PROGRESSIVE ASPECT:

1. If the base form ends -e, changed the -e to -ing:
   * create/creating, type/typing, bake/baking.
2. Following a vowel or preceding -ing, the -y remains:
   * stay/staying, toy/toying, try/trying, carry/carrying.
3. If the base form ends in -c, change the -c to –ck:
   * panic/panicking, picnic/picnicking.
4. There are exceptions with some verbs ending in -l, -m, and –p:
   * Travel: traveling or travelling, program: programing or programming, worship: worshiping or worshipping.
5. If the base form ends in -ie, change the -ie to -y before –ing:
   * die/dying, lie/lying, tie/tying.
6. For monosyllabic verbs ending in -ye, -oe, or -nge, keep the final -e before –ing:
   * Dye/dyeing, hoe/hoeing, singe/singeing.
7. If the base form ends in a single consonant and the preceding vowel is stressed and spelled with only one letter, double the consonant before adding –ing:
   * occur/occurring, swim/swimming, ship/shipping.
8. If the preceding vowel is unstressed or spelled with two vowels, do not double the consonant:
   * enter/entering, visit/visiting, develop/developing, dread/dreading, appeal/appealing, shout/shouting.

Verb Inflections: ‘-ed’.

This verb inflection is used for making past tense in regular verbs:

1. If the base form ends in a consonant, adds –ed infection:
   * Answer/answered, ask/asked, clean/cleaned, borrow/borrowed.
2. If the base form ends in an unpronounced -e, add –d inflection:
   * create/created, type/typed, bake/baked, love/loved.
3. If the base form ends in a single consonant and the preceding vowel is stressed and spelled with only one letter, double the consonant before adding –ed:
   * occur/occurred, ship/shipped.
4. If the preceding vowel is unstressed or spelled with two vowels, do not double the consonant:
   * enter/entered, visit/visited, develop/developed, dread/dreaded, appeal/appealed, shout/shouted.