Past Progressive/Continuous - Spelling
- Past Progressive/Continuous
- Summary
- Use
- Signal words
- Form of affirmative, negative sentences and questions
- Spelling
- Special verbs
- Diagram
- Long forms and short forms
- Exercises - Past Progressive
Past Progressive - Spelling
Be careful with some words when adding -ing to the infinitive.
1) consonant after a short, stressed vowel at the end of the word
Double the consonant.
sit – he was sitting
put - he was putting
If the consonant is not stressed, we do not double it:
benefit - benefiting (Here we stress the first 'e', not the 'i'.)
In British English we double one -l at the end of the word:
travel - travelling
2) one -e at the end of the word
Leave out the -e.
write – he was writing
take – he was taking
BUT:
double –e: add -ing
see – he was seeing
3) verbs ending in -ie
Change 'ie' to 'y'.
lie - he was lying
4) verbs ending in -c
Change 'c' to 'ck'.
picnic - he was picnicking
