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a.) Add –ing to the base form of the verb.
read - reading, stand - standing, jump - jumping

b.) If a verb ends in a silent –e, drop the final -e and add –ing.
leave - leaving, take - taking, receive - receiving

c.) In a one-syllable word, if the last three letters are consonant-vowel-consonant combination (CVC), double
the last consonant before adding –ing.
sit - sitting, run - running, hop - hopping

However, do not double the last consonant in word that end in w, x, or y.
sew - sewing, fix - fixing, enjoy - enjoying

d.) In words of two or more syllables that end in a consonant-vowel-consonant combination, double the last
consonant only if the last syllable is stressed.
admit - admitting, regret - regretting

e.) If a verb ends in –ie, change the –ie to y before adding -ing.
die - dying

a.) Add –s for most verbs
work - works, buy - buys, ride - rides, return - returns

b.) Add –es for words that end in –ch, -s , -sh, -x, or –z.
watch - watches, pass - passes, rush - rushes, relax - relaxes, buzz - buzzes

c.) Change the –y to –i and add –es when the base form ends in a consonant +y.
study - studies, hurry - hurries, dry - dries

d.) A few verbs have irregular forms.
be - is, do - does, go- goes, have - has

a.) If the verb ends in a consonant, add –ed.
return - returned, help - helped, cook - cooked

b.) If the verb ends in –e, add –d.
live - lived, create - created, die - died

c.) In one-syllable words, if the verb ends in a consonant-vowel-consonant combination (CVC), double the
last consonant and add -ed.
hop - hopped, rub - rubbed

However, do not double one-syllable words ending in –w, -x, or –y.

d.) In words of two or more syllables that end in consonant-vowel-consonant combination, double the last
consonant only if the last syllable is stressed.
prefer - preferred (The last syllable is stressed.) visit - visited (The last syllable isn’t stressed)

e.) If the verb ends in a consonant, + y, change the -y to -i and –ed.
worry - worried, copy - copied

f.) If the verb ends in a vowel +y, add -ed. (Do not change the –y to –i.)
play - played, annoy - annoyed

a.) Add –er to one-syllable adjectives to form the comparative. Add -est to one-syllable adjectives to form the superlative.
cheap - cheaper - cheapest, bright - brighter - brightest

b.) If the adjective ends in –e, add –r or –st.
nice - nicer - nicest

c.) If the adjective ends in a consonant +y, change to y to i before you add –er or –est.
pretty - prettier - prettiest. Exception: shy - shyer - shyest

d.) If the adjective ends in a consonant-vowel-consonant combination (CVC), double the final consonant
before adding –er or –est.
big - bigger - biggest

However, do not double the consonant in words ending in –w or –y.

 5.) SPELLING RULES FOR ADVERBS

a.) Add –ly to the corresponding adjectives
nice - nicely, quiet - quietly, quick - quickly, beautiful - beautifully

2. If the adjective ends in consonant +y, change the y to i before adding –ly
   easy - easily
3. If the adjective ends in –le, drop the -e and add –y.
   possible - possibly

However, do not drop the –e for other adjectives ending in –e.
extreme - extremely, Exception: true - truly

d.) If the adjective ends in –ic, add -ally.
basic - basically, fantastic - fantastically, terrific - terrifically

Capitalization rules apply to proper nouns. Proper nouns are the names of people and cities such as San Francisco. You need to capitalize all letters of an acronym (an abbreviation formed from the first letters of other words) such as DUI. For example: A San Francisco DUI attorney is a lawyer located in San Francisco who represents a person accused of driving under the influence.

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