Developing Skills: Spelling
1 a The three verbs in italics below illustrate one kind of spelling change that can occur when you
add -ing or -ed to the stem of a verb. What is the spelling change?
Today is Cancelled!
... only one bus in ten was
running The snow trapped
burglars
There are also a few other possible changes. Try the
exercise below to see how accurate you are in this area of
spelling.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Beating
Blinded
aging
benefiting
occurring
travelled
enterring
developping
b Not all the verbs below are spelt correctly. Underline and
correct those which are wrongly spelt.
8. raiding
9. clearing
10.controlling
11.refering
12.fitted
13.swimming
14.dying
15.enjoied
How do you know when to double the
final consonant? Discuss in pairs
What other rules can you see examples of here?
16.Panicked
17.admitted
18.signalled
19.happenning
20.fulfiled
21.forgeting
22.sweeping
23.kidnapped
Punctuation
The following sentences may contain some missing commas. Add any commas necessary
then discuss with your partner when we use commas in English. What rules are there
concerning when we use commas in lists, to separate adjectives, to separate clauses, before
conjunctions and between subjects and objects?
For questions 4 and 5, what is the difference in meaning between the two sentences?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
I went to the shop and bought some apples some oranges a grapefruit and an orang-utan.
He wore a green, woolly hat.
He was an annoying inquisitive student.
The rocks which came from Mars were red.
The rocks, which came from Mars, were red.
If you do not listen during lessons you will never obtain your zápočet.
You will never obtain your zápočet if you do not listen during lessons.
Burglars broke into our house and ate all our food and the baby woke up.
Correct any mistakes in the use of apostrophes
 The greengrocer’s sells tomatoe’s
When do we use apostrophes?
What’s the difference between these two sentences?
1. The student’s mistakes
2. The students’ mistakes
2 Forming participles
2.1 Doubling consonants
The final consonant is doubled in verbs:
1. which have only one syllable and which have one vowel followed by one consonant.
e.g. stop — stopping
run, trap, swim, fit, clap
Exceptions: Final -w, -x and -y are never doubled.
2 which have more than one syllable but where the final syllable is stressed and has one vowel followed by one consonant.
e.g. regret — regretting
begin, admit, refer, occur, forget
Exceptions: There are a few verbs where the final consonant is doubled even though the stress is on the first syllable:
e.g. worship, kidnap, handicap
3 which end in -l after one vowel.
travel*, cancel*, control, signal*, fulfil
e.g. quarrel — quarrelling
Note that in American English there are some verbs where the final -l is not doubled. Examples are shown with a *.
The final consonant is therefore not doubled in verbs:
a where there are two vowels followed by a consonant e.g. sweep — sweeping (Rule 2.1.1)
b where there are two final consonants
e.g. warn — warning (Rule 2. 1. 1)
c where the stress is on the first of two syllables e.g. limit — limiting (Rule 2.1.2)
d where final -1 follows two vowels
e.g. steal — stealing (Rule 2.1.3)