Present Continuous Spelling Rules – Learn useful spelling rules (-ING rules) for the Present Continuous tense in English with examples.
Present Continuous Spelling Rules
Basically, the Present Continuous tense is formed by adding -ing to the base verb.
- Most verbs add -ing
-ING Rules Examples:
Eat – eating
Speak – speaking
Cook – cooking
Start – starting
Do – doing
Stay – staying
Fix – fixing
- Most verbs ended with -y, add -ing
Examples:
Buy – buying
Enjoy – enjoying
Play – playing
Say – saying
Try – trying
- Verbs that ended with -e, drop the -e and add -ing
Examples:
Make – making
Write – writing
Drive – driving
Take – taking
Have – having
Shave – shaving
Share – sharing
Shake – shaking
- Verbs that ended with -ee, add -ing
Examples:
See – seeing
Agree – agreeing
Present Continuous Spelling Examples:
Swim – swimming
Run – running
Get – getting
Stop – stopping
Sit – sitting
Put – putting
Skip – skipping
Travel – travelling
Regret – regretting
- Do not double the letter if the words ends in two consonants
Examples:
Help – helping
Talk – talking
Work – working
- Two-syllable verbs: the last consonant is doubled when the last syllable is stressed
Examples:
Forget – forgetting
Upset – upsetting
Prefer – preferring
- Do not double the letter if the word has two or more syllables and the last part is not stressed.
Examples:
Visit (first part is stressed) – visiting
Benefit (first part is stressed) – benefiting
- Do not double the letter if the word ends in -y or -w
Examples:
Buy – buying
Enjoy – enjoying
Snow – snowing
- Verbs ended with -ie, change -ie to -y, add -ing
Examples:
Lie – lying
Die – dying
- Verbs ended with -c, change -c to -ck
-ING Rules Examples:
Picnic – picnicking
- Exceptions:
Age – ageing
Dye – dyeing
Singe – singeing
Budget – budgeting
Enter – entering
Present Continuous Spelling Rules | Picture
All Tenses in English
Learn all (12) tenses in English with useful grammar rules, examples and ESL worksheets.
- Present Simple Tense
- Present Continuous Tense
- Present Perfect Tense
- Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- Past Simple Tense
- Past Continuous Tense
- Past Perfect Tense
- Past Perfect Continuous Tense
- Simple Future Tense
- Future Continuous Tense
- Future Perfect Tense
- Future Perfect Continuous
Last Updated on January 5, 2021
I will be your friend
Hi. I found your listing of the spelling rules of preent participle very concise and user friendly.
Any ideas on why we use words like “studies” or ” cries” in the 3rd person singular present simple buy why when the root word is changed to a present participle it is: studying, crying?
How do you explain to your students why the “y” in the present participle doesn’t change in this form and does for present simple?
The reason why the spelling of the present participle changes in some cases is due to the spelling rules for adding “-ing” to verbs. When the verb ends in a consonant followed by a “y”, the “y” is changed to an “i” before adding “-ing”. This is because the “y” is considered a vowel sound in this context. For example, “study” becomes “studying” and “cry” becomes “crying”.
However, in the third person singular present simple, the spelling of the verb changes in some cases due to a different spelling rule. When the verb ends in a consonant followed by a “y”, the “y” is changed to an “ie” before adding “-s”. This is because the “y” is considered a consonant sound in this context. For example, “study” becomes “studies” and “cry” becomes “cries”.