Came across this super cool chart that’s a godsend for those of us who have trouble spelling:

  • Verbs that end in a consonant & “e” (hope)
    • ING – drop the “e” and add “ing” (hoping)
    • ED – add “d” (hoped)
  • Verbs that end in a vowel and consonant AND are one-syllable (stop):
    • ING – duplicate the consonant and add “ing” (stopping)
    • ED – duplicate the consonant and add “d” (stopped)
  • Verbs that end in two vowels and consonant AND are one-syllable (rain):
    • ING – add “ing” (raining)
    • ED – add “d” (rained)
  • Verbs that end in two consonants (start):
    • ING – add “ing” (starting)
    • ED – add “d” (started)
  • Verbs that end in “y” and a vowel is before the “y” (pray):
    • ING – add “ing” (praying)
    • ED – add “d” (prayed)
  • Verbs that end in “y” and a consonant is before the “y” (study):
    • ING – add “ing” (studying)
    • ED – change the “y” to an “ie” and add “d” (studied)
  • Verbs that end in “ie” (lie):
    • ING – change “ie” to “y” and add “ing” (lying)
    • ED –  add “d” (lied)

This is going to take some time to memorize, but as a chart/list, it all seems so easy and makes sense…