English/Language Arts Help: Add -ING to Verbs by Dropping IE or Adding a K
As we have seen in the first article (ING-lish: Spelling the -ing Form of Verbs Correctly, Rule 1), forming continuous verbs is,
unfortunately, not a simple matter of attaching -ing to the basic verb. These rules will help you to pick up on the “awkward” verbs and learn to spell these forms correctly.
Rule 2: Drop the IE
Verbs ending in -ie
With these verbs, drop the -ie, replace it with -y and add -ing.
Examples
- die: He is thought to be dying of a broken heart.
- lie: She was lying about her unfinished homework.
- tie: You’re tying up that parcel too tightly.
This rule may seem confusing to learners as it is almost the opposite of the rule for forming the plurals of nouns ending in -y: For example, the singular cherry has the plural cherries.
Think about the reasons for this rule: If the -ie ending did not change, we would have words with three vowels together: dieing, lieing, etc. While English has a few words with three vowels in a row - for example, courageous - this pattern looks clumsy and is generally to be avoided.
Rule 3: Add a K
Verbs ending in -c
These verbs add the letter k before the -ing ending.
Examples
- picnic: There are many people picnicking in the park.
- traffic: A special unit was set up to combat the trafficking of drugs.
- panic: Calm down! Panicking won’t help.
The reason for this rule has to do with pronunciation. The letter c has two sounds: soft /s/ and hard /k/, the pronunciation depending on which letter follows the c. (See separate article ESL Tip: The Sounds of The C for further details and examples.) The letter c at the end of a word always has the hard /k/ sound, whereas the c+i combination has the soft /s/ sound. To keep the /k/ sound intact, a “k” must be added before the -ing ending.
Additional resources
Forming the Present Participle of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation
This post is part of the series: ING-lish: Correct Spelling of Continuous Forms of Verbs
This series explains the spelling rules for adding -ing to verbs to create the continuous forms. It is split into three articles and four rules.
