Learn English | A new lesson every week
Book your course now

Present continuous spelling rules

Average: 3.7 (181 votes)

continuous verbs

To make continuous verbs add -ing to the base verb:

do becomes doing
ask becomes asking

silent 'e'

When the verb ends with a silent e, drop the e and add -ing:

make becomes making
take becomes taking

one-syllable verbs

For short, one-syllable verbs, that end with consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC), we must double the last consonant and then add -ing:

swim becomes swimming
run becomes running

w, x and y

For words that end w, x and y, do not double the last consonant; just add -ing:

enjoy becomes enjoying
study becomes studying

two-syllable words

When words have two or more syllables ending in CVC, you must double the last consonant if the last syllable is stressed. When the last syllable is not stressed, just add -ing.

The last syllable is stressed:
commit becomes committing

The last syllable is not stressed:
whisper becomes whispering

-ie verbs

For verbs that end in -ie, change the ie to y before adding -ing:

die becomes dying

Word order lesson

  • making



  • sking



  • refuseing



  • liking



  • stopping



  • boxing



  • useing