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ING-lish: Spelling Rules for Adding -ing to English Verbs

written by: Gillian Hendrie edited by: Rebecca Scudder updated: 7/28/2012
Learn how to spell the progressive (or continuous) form of verbs. This series explains the rules to help you add -ing to verbs correctly.

Are you often confused about when to add letters and when to take them away in the -ing form of English verbs? You are not alone: There are some tricky words just waiting to trip up native speakers of English too! Hopefully this series will clearly demonstrate the four simple rules to help you get your spelling right every time.

A Note on Tenses
As its name suggests, the continuous (or progressive) form of a verb is used with ongoing actions. These could be past, present or even future actions; the -ing ending can be added in each of these cases. Examples

PAST: She was eating her breakfast when I saw her at 7 a.m. PRESENT: Now she is walking to school. FUTURE: She will be going to bed at 10 p.m. tonight.

Obviously, the same spelling rules for the -ing form will apply in each case.

Rule 1: Drop the E

Verbs ending in -e (which is usually silent) lose this letter before adding -ing.

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Examples

write: The student is writing his essay tonight. take: She said she was taking the dog for a walk. close: When is closing time? concede: I think the wrestler is conceding defeat. prune: Your father is pruning the roses.

As usual in English, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule, as outlined below.

First Exception
Verbs which end in an /i:/ ("ee") sound do not drop the final e. Examples

be: She's being very secretive these days. see: Are you seeing things? agree: Sometimes the best policy is agreeing to disagree.

Second Exception
Some verbs ending in -nge Where the g has a soft sound (like "j" in jam), some verbs do not drop the final e. Examples singe: Harry is singeing his eyebrows with the candle! binge:After fasting all day, she spent the evening bingeing on chocolate. (Note, however, hinge - hinging, cring - cringing, lunge - lunging, fringe - fringing. Consult a dictionary when you come across any new -nge verbs for the spelling of the continuous form.)

Third Exception
The verb "dye". Example She said she will be dyeing her hair next week.

Additional resources
Forming the Present Participle of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation

ING-LISH: CORRECT SPELLING OF CONTINUOUS FORMS OF VERBS

This series explains the spelling rules for adding -ing to verbs to create the continuous forms. It is split into three articles and four rules. 1. ING-lish: Spelling Rules for Adding -ing to English Verbs 2. 3.

Drop the IE and Add a K: Rules 2 and 3 for Adding -ing to English Verbs ING-lish: Rule 4 for Adding -ing to Verbs in English

Spelling of Verb + ING

For many verbs we make the ING form by simply adding -ING to end of the verb.

eat - eating speak - speaking cook - cooking start - starting do - doing stay - staying fix - fixing try - trying

Verbs ending with -e (with the exception of verbs ending in -ee and -ie)
Drop the -e and add ING

hope - hoping ride - riding make - making write - writing

Verbs ending with -ee

Just add -ING

agree - agreeing flee - fleeing see - seeing

Verbs ending with -ie

Change the -ie to -y and add -ING

die - dying tie - tying lie - lying

Verbs ending with one vowel and one consonant (with the exception of w, x, and y)
For one syllable verbs
double the consonant and add -ING

jog - jogging sit - sitting run - running stop - stopping

For two syllable verbs

If the 1st syllable is stressed, just add ING

answer - answering offer - offering listen - listening visit - visiting If the 2nd syllable is stressed , double the consonant and add ING

admit - admitting prefer - preferring begin - begining