Scribd
Upload
75 views5 pages

Words Ending in - y (Baby, Carry, Easy Etc.)

1. Words ending in a consonant + 'y' change the 'y' to 'i' before certain suffixes such as '-s', '-ed', '-er', and '-est', but the 'y' remains unchanged before suffixes like '-ing' and '-ly'. 2. Consonants are doubled before suffixes like '-ing', '-ed', '-er', and '-est' if the word ends in a vowel + consonant, unless the final syllable is unstressed or there are already two consonants or vowels before the ending consonant. 3. Exceptions include words ending in 'y' or 'w', which do not double the final letter before suffixes.

Uploaded by

Taras Khaletsky
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
75 views5 pages

Words Ending in - y (Baby, Carry, Easy Etc.)

1. Words ending in a consonant + 'y' change the 'y' to 'i' before certain suffixes such as '-s', '-ed', '-er', and '-est', but the 'y' remains unchanged before suffixes like '-ing' and '-ly'. 2. Consonants are doubled before suffixes like '-ing', '-ed', '-er', and '-est' if the word ends in a vowel + consonant, unless the final syllable is unstressed or there are already two consonants or vowels before the ending consonant. 3. Exceptions include words ending in 'y' or 'w', which do not double the final letter before suffixes.

Uploaded by

Taras Khaletsky
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Words ending in -y (baby, carry, easy etc.

If a word ends in a consonant* + у (-by/-ry/-sy/-vy etc.)

1.  у changes to ie before the ending -s:

1.  baby/babies

2. story/stories

3. country/countries

4. secretary/secretaries

5. hurry/hurries

6. study/studies

7. apply/applies

8. try/tries

2.  у changes to i before the ending -ed:

1.  hurry/hurried

2. study/studied

3. apply/applied

4. try/tried

3.  у changes to i before the endings -er and -est:

1.  easy/easier/easiest

2. heavy/heavier/heaviest

3. lucky/luckier/luckiest

4.  у changes to i before the ending -ly:
1.  easy/easily

2. heavy/heavily

3. temporary/temporarily

5.  у does not change before -ing:

1. hurrying

2. studying

3. applying

4. trying

6.  у does not change if the word ends in a vowel* + у (-ay/-ey/-oy/-uy):

1.  play/plays/played

2. monkey/monkeys

3. enjoy/enjoys/enjoyed

4. buy/buys

7. An exception is: day/daily

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

Read the rules

Doubling consonants (stop/stopping/stopped, wet/wetter/wette
stetc.)
Sometimes a word ends in vowel + consonant. For example:

stop, plan, rub, big, wet, thin, prefer, regret

Before the endings -ing/-ed/-er/-est, we double the consonant at the end. S

op → pp, n → nn etc. For example:
sto p → p stopping stopped

p p

pla n → n planning planned

n n

rub b → b rubbing rubbed

big g → g bigger biggest

wet t → tt wetter wettest

thin n → n thinner thinnest

1.  If the word has more than one syllable (prefer, begin etc.), we double t

heconsonant at the end only if the final syllable is stressed:

1.  preFER / preferring / preferred

2. perMIT / permitting / permitted
3. reGRET / regretting / regretted

4. beGIN / beginning

2.  If the final syllable is not stressed, we do not double the final consonant

1.  VISit / visiting / visited

2. deVELop / developing / developed

3. HAPpen / happening / happened

4. reMEMber / remembering / remembered

3.  In British English, verbs ending in -I have -II- before -ing and -ed wheth

er thefinal syllable stressed or not:

1.  travel / travelling / travelled

2. cancel / cancelling / cancelled
Note that

 we do not double the final consonant if the word ends in two consonants 

(-rt, -Ip, -ng etc.): 

start / starting / started, help / helping / helped, long / longer / longest

 we do not double the final consonant if there are two vowel letters befor

e it(-oil, -eed etc.): 

boil / boiling / boiled, need / needing / needed, explain / explaining / ex

plained, cheap / cheaper / cheapest, loud / louder / loudest, quiet / quie

ter / quietest

 we do not double у or w at the end of words. (At the end of words у and 

ware not consonants.) 

stay / staying / stayed, grow / growing, new / newer / newest

You might also like