Adding -ed and -ing
Most words just take -ed or -ing on the end; the three that change are words ending in silent e (hope becomes hoping), words ending in a consonant plus y (carry becomes carried), and short words that double their last letter (hop becomes hopping).
Year 2-3 / 2nd grade · usually taught with the 2nd grade word list
Practice these words
These words drill the rule and its exceptions together, which is the only way the exceptions stick. SpellCrush reads each one aloud, uses it in a sentence, and gives a hint if your child stalls.
One honest caveat. Practice is word-by-word: there is no mode yet that shows a sentence with a gap and asks which spelling fits. Everything else is the real session — each word read aloud, its picture, its definition, a hint, three attempts and instant feedback.
The rule as it is taught
Add -ed or -ing straight onto the word, unless it ends in a silent e (drop the e), or a consonant plus y (change y to i before -ed).
How much you can trust it
High. Three changes cover almost every regular verb. The real difficulty is not the rule but the irregular past tenses sitting alongside it, which the rule never touches.
The version that actually works
Work through it in the same order every time. Does it end in silent e? Drop the e and add the ending: bake, baking, baked. Does it end in a consonant plus y? Keep the y for -ing (carrying) but swap it to i for -ed (carried). Is it a short word ending in one vowel plus one consonant? Double the consonant. Otherwise just add the ending.
Words that follow the rule
- jump to jumped and jumping
- bake to baked and baking
- hope to hoped and hoping
- carry to carried and carrying
- hop to hopped and hopping
- play to played and playing
Words that break it
- go to went, run to ran, and the rest of the irregular past tenses, which take no -ed at all
- see to seeing and agree to agreeing keep both e's
- die to dying and lie to lying swap ie for y
- dye to dyeing keeps its e, to stay apart from dying
- picnic to picnicking adds a k so the c stays hard
What to tell a child
The y rule confuses children because it applies to -ed and not to -ing. The reason is simply that English does not like two i's in a row: carryied would need one, so the y stays put in carrying.
A vowel in front of the y means no change at all: play becomes played, not plaied.
The irregular past tenses are not exceptions to this rule so much as a different system underneath it. They are older words, and there are about 180 of them. They have to be learned one at a time.
Related pages
Doubling the Final Consonant
Hop becomes hopping, hope becomes hoping. The full test has three parts, including the stress rule that explains beginning against opening.
Silent E Rule
A silent e reaches back over one consonant and makes the vowel say its name: hop becomes hope. Plus the everyday words - have, come, love - that ignore it.
Plural Rules
Add -s, use -es after s, x, z, ch and sh, and turn consonant plus y into -ies. Then the irregulars - children, mice, feet - which no rule generates.
Frequently asked
What is the adding -ed and -ing rule?
Add -ed or -ing straight onto the word, unless it ends in a silent e (drop the e), or a consonant plus y (change y to i before -ed). Most words just take -ed or -ing on the end; the three that change are words ending in silent e (hope becomes hoping), words ending in a consonant plus y (carry becomes carried), and short words that double their last letter (hop becomes hopping).
Does the adding -ed and -ing rule always work?
High. Three changes cover almost every regular verb. The real difficulty is not the rule but the irregular past tenses sitting alongside it, which the rule never touches. The exceptions worth knowing are: go to went, run to ran, and the rest of the irregular past tenses, which take no -ed at all; see to seeing and agree to agreeing keep both e's; die to dying and lie to lying swap ie for y; dye to dyeing keeps its e, to stay apart from dying; picnic to picnicking adds a k so the c stays hard.
When is this taught?
Year 2-3 / 2nd grade. It is usually introduced alongside the 2nd grade spelling list, and revisited whenever a new ending is added to a word.