English Spelling Rules

Spelling rule #1: S or ES?

Spelling rule #1:  S or ES?

The normal rule to make regular plurals in English, or to change a regular verb to the he/she/it form (also known as the third person singular), is to add S to the end of the word.

For example:

• One dog --> Lots of dogs
• I work --> She works
• A car --> Some cars
• You like tea --> She likes coffee

But sometimes we need to add ES instead. When the word ends in: CH, SH, X, SS (and ZZ but this isn't common), then we have to add ES.

For example:

• I watch TV every night. --> He watches TV at the weekend.
• I have one wish. --> The genie gave him three wishes.
• Can you fix this? --> A mechanic fixes cars.
• Give me a kiss! --> She gave her daughter lots of kisses.

Spelling rule #2: doubling consonants

Spelling rule #2: doubling consonants

Some words which end in consonants double the last letter when suffixes (extra letters) are added to the end of the word.

For example:

• hot --> hotter
• swim --> swimming

However, this doesn't always happen.

So what's the rule?

If a word ends in a consonant that has one vowel before it, then the last consonant is doubled.

For example:

• travel --> traveller (British English spelling)
• big --> biggest

This does not usually happen with words with more than one syllable ending in ER, or OR. (Of course, there are exceptions!)

For example:

• fur / furry / furred / furring
• plot / plotted /plotter

But

• miser / misery / miserly
• target / targeted
• bigot / bigoted
• travel / traveler (American English spelling)

Be careful!

If a word has two vowels before the last consonant, or there are two consonants at the end, the last letter isn't doubled.

For example:

• old --> oldest
• shoot --> shooter

Spelling rule #3: the disappearing E

If a verb ends in E, then the E is removed before adding ING to the end of the word.

For example:

• make --> making
• come --> coming