Spelling of Verb Forms

1. Present tense 3^rd. person form

With most verbs, we add –s to the verb in the 3^rd. person, and make no other changes:

I/you/we/they   run

he/she/it runs

With verbs that end in -o, -ch, -ss, -sh, and -x, we add –es:

I/you/we/they   go	he/she/it goes
I/you/we/they   teach	he/she/it   teaches
I/you/we/they   miss	he/she/it misses
I/you/we/they   rush	he/she/it rushes
I/you/we/they   fix	he/she/it fixes

 With verbs that end in a consonant + y, we remove the –y and add –ies:

I/you/we/they   try

he/she/it tries

2. Nouns

The same rules apply for adding –s to nouns to make plural forms:

quango	quangoes
match	matches
class	classes
dish	dishes
box	boxes
party	parties

Nouns ending in the letter –o preceded by a vowel form the plural by adding the letter –s

one radio

two radios

Most nouns ending with the letter –o preceded by a consonant add the letter –s to form the plural:

one piano

two pianos

Some nouns ending in the letter –o preceded by a consonant add –es to form the plural:

potato	potatoes
hero	heroes
tomato	tomatoes

Some nouns ending with the letter –o preceded by a consonant can form the plural in two ways

zero	zeros or zeroes
buffalo	buffalos or buffaloes
cargo	cargos or cargoes
mosquito	mosquitos or mosquitoes

3. -ing form

With most verbs, we add –ing to the verb and make no other changes:

build	building
try	trying

With one-syllable verbs that have a short vowel sound, and end in a consonant, we double the consonant and add -ing:

sit	sitting
run	running

If the vowel sound is long, we do not double the consonant:

read	reading
speak	speaking

If the verb ends in a silent -e, we delete the –ing:

take	taking
drive	driving

4. Past tense, regular verbs

With most regular verbs, we add –ed to form the past tense:

look	looked
stay	stayed

If the verb ends in a silent –e, we just add -d:

like	liked
behave	behaved

If the verb ends in a consonant + y, we remove the -y and add -ied:

try	tried
deny	denied

If the verb has a short vowel sound and ends in a consonant, we double the consonant:

stop	stopped
ban	banned