Spelling

Nouns, verbs, and adjectives can have the following endings.

noun + -s/es (plural) verb + -s/es (after he/she/it) verb + -ing verb + -ed adjective + -er (comparative) adjective + -est (superlative) adjective + -ly (adverb)

books works working worked cheaper cheapest cheaply

ideas enjoys enjoying enjoyed quicker quickest quickly

matches washes washing washed brighter brightest brightly

When we use these endings, there are sometimes changes in spelling. These changes are listed below.

Vowels and consonants a  e  i  o  u are vowel letters. The other letters (b  c  d  f etc.) are consonants.

Nouns and verbs + -s/-es

The ending is -es when the word ends in -s/-ss/-sh/-ch/-x.

match/matches   bus/buses   box/boxes

wash/washes     miss/misses    search/searches

Note also:

potato/potatoes       tomato/tomatoes

do/does                  go/goes

Words ending in -y (baby, carry, easy, etc.)

If a word ends in a consonant + y (-by/-ry/-sy, etc.)

y changes to ie before -s: baby/babies   family/families   country/countries    secretary/secretaries hurry/hurries  study/studies     apply/applies           try/tries y changes to i before -ed: hurry/hurried    study/studied     apply/applied     try/tried y changes to i before -er and -est: easy/easier/easiest    heavy/heavier/heaviest    lucky/luckier/luckiest y changes to i before -ly: easy/easily    heavy/heavily    temporary/temporarily

y does not change before -ing

hurrying    studying    applying    trying

y does not change if the word ends  in  a vowel + y (-ay/-ey/-oy/0uy)

play/plays/played   enjoy/enjoys/enjoyed   monkey/monkeys

exception: day/daily

Note also: pay/paid    lay/laid     say/said

Verbs ending in -ie (die, lie, tie)

If a verb ends in -ie, ie changes to y before -ing

lie/lying      die/dying       tie/tying

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