Appendix 6

Spelling

6.1 Nouns, verbs and adjectives can have the following endings:

noun + ~s/es (plural): books ideas matches

verb + ~s/~es (after he/she/it): works enjoys washes

verb + ~ing: working enjoying washing

verb + ~ed: worked enjoyed washed

adjective + ~er (comparative): cheaper quicker brighter

adjective + ~est (superlative): cheapest quickest brightest

adjective + ~ly (adverb): cheaply quickly brightly

When we use these endings, there are sometimes changes in spelling. These changes are listed below.

6.2 Nouns and verbs + ~s/~es

The ending is ~es when the word ends in ~s/~ss/~sh/~ch/~x:

match/matches, wash/washes, bus/buses, miss/misses, box/boxes, search/searches

Note also:

potato/potatoes, do/does, tomato/tomatoes, go/goes

6.3 Words ending in ~y (baby, carry, easy etc.)

If a word ends in a consonant + y (~by/~ry/~sy/~vy etc.):

y changes to ie before the ending ~s:

baby/babies lorry/lorries hurry/hurries study/studies country/countries apply/applies secretary/secretaries try/tries

y changes to i before the ending ~ed:

hurry/hurried study/studied apply/applied try/tried

y changes to i before the endings ~er and -est:

easy/easier/easiest heavy/heavier/heaviest lucky/luckier/luckiest

y changes to i before the ending ~ly:

easy/easily heavy/heavily temporary/temporarily

y does not change before ~ing:

hurrying, studying, applying, trying

y does not change if the word ends in a vowel + y (~ay/~ey/~oy/~uy):

play/plays/played enjoy/enjoys/enjoyed buy/buys, monkey/monkeys

An exception is: day/daily

Note also: pay/paid, lay/laid, say/said

6.4 Verbs ending in ~ie (die, lie, tie)

If a verb ends in ~ie, ie changes to y before the ending ~ing: die/dying lie/lying tie/tying

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