Spelling of verbs in the Present Perfect
How to spell regular and irregular verbs in the Present Perfect
You have to know all forms of the irregular verbs very well. For the Present Perfect you need the form of the verb which can be found in the 3rd column of the table of the irregular verbs.
go → went → gone
Add -ed with regular verbs:
regular verbs → infinitive + -ed
Sometimes the are exceptions in spelling when adding -ed:
1. Adding -ed
1.1. consonant after a short, stressed vowel at the end of the word
Double the consonant.
stop – stopped
swap – swapped
We do not double the consonant if the vowel is not stressed:
benefit – benefited (Here we stress the first e, not the i.)
In Britsh English we double one -l at the end of the word:
travel – travelled
1.2. one -e at the end of the word
Only add -d.
love – loved
save – saved
1.3. verbs ending in -y
Change -y to -i after a consonant. Then add -ed.
worry – worried
Add -ed with verbs ending in -y preceded by a vowel (a, e, i, o, u):
play – played