THE SPELLING RULES OF VERB PLUS -ING

1. Most verbs take an -ing suffix:

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
look	looking	cook	cooking
sleep	sleeping	keep	keeping
start	starting	speak	speaking
walk	walking	talk	talking
count	counting	paint	painting
chant	chanting	heat	heating
cheat	cheating	work	working
show	showing	chant	chanting

2. Verbs ending in –e, drop the –e and takes an –ing suffix.

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
write	writing	date	dating
bite	biting	save	saving
make	making	erase	erasing

3. Verbs ending in a consonant + y, change the y to ies.

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
study	studying	carry	carrying
worry	worrying	draw	drawing
cry	crying	dry	drying
marry	marrying	retry	retrying
fly	flying	destroy	destroying

         

4. Verbs ending in a vowel + y/w, take an -ing suffix

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
stay	staying	pay	paying
lay	laying	slay	slaying
say	saying	show	showing
follow	following	buy	buying
bow	bowing	vow	vowing
grow	growing	mow	mowing

5. Verbs ending in one stressed vowel between two consonants double the last consonant and take the -ing suffix.

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
plan	planning	sit	sitting
get	getting	split	splitting
swim	swimming	kid	kidding
hit	hitting	stop	stopping
run	running	knit	knitting
star	starring	pat	patting

6. Verbs ending in -l, double the -l and take the -ing suffix

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
travel	travelling	cancel	cancelling

7. Verbs ending in -ie, drop the -ie and take the -y+ing

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
tie	tying	die	dying
lie	lying	-	-

8. Verbs ending in -ee or -i, just add the -ing suffix

Base Form	Verb + -ing	Base Form	Verb + -ing
see	seeing	agree	agreeing
disagree	disagreeing	ski	skiing