Rules For Doubling the Consonant Before Adding -ING to Verbs

Quick Take

This final article in the series sets out the consonant doubling rule when adding -ing to verbs in English.

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Learn how to spell the progressive (or continuous) form of verbs. 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 4: Double Consonants after Short Vowels

In verbs ending with consonant + vowel + consonant, you should double the final consonant before adding -ing.

Examples:

run - Hurry up! We’re running out of time.
hop - She’s hopping on one leg.
beg - I’m begging you to come home.
swim - Let’s go swimming tomorrow.
ship - The marines are shipping out next week.

Note also the doubling in the verb put, even though the vowel is not short:

put - Isn’t that sweet? He’s putting his arm around his mother.

QU as a Consonant

Verbs ending with qu + vowel + consonant follow the same rule. This is because the u is acting for the consonant sound /w/ in the verb.

Examples:

quit - He says he’s quitting his job next month.
equip - The coach is equipping the team with a new strip.
squat - We found them squatting behind the bushes.

Exceptions

1. Verbs of more than one syllable do not double the consonant if the stress is not on the final syllable.

admit: The stress is on the final syllable, so we double the consonant. After admitting to the crime, the man was taken into custody.
visit: The stress is on the first syllable, so the consonant is not doubled. She’s visiting her aunt on Sunday.

2. The letters h,w, x and y are never doubled.