Active Voice

(Tenses)
Nurul Fitriyah Almunawaroh, M.Pd.
 Forming ed in past tense
1. Add -d to the base form.
This happens when the base form ends in a vowel
and one or more consonants plus e:
• ached, baked, blamed, breathed, cared, cached,
chased. diced, dozed, dyed, edged, fiddled, filed,
glared, grated, hated, hoped, joked, lived,
mired, noted, paced, pasted, raced, raised,
sliced, spared, surprised, tasted, typed, whined.
• This also happens when the base form ends in ue,
oe, or ie:
• glued, rued, sued, hoed, toed, died, lied, tied
2. Change -y to -i and add -ed.

This happens when a verb ends in a consonant

and y:
• apply / applied; bully / bullied; bury / buried;
carry / carried; copy / copied; cry / cried;
dry / dried; ferry / ferried; fry / fried;
hurry / hurried; marry / married;
parry / parried; pry / pried; query / queried;
rely / relied; tarry / tarried; tidy / tidied;
try / tried; vary / varied; worry / worried
• This does not happen when a verb ends in a vowel
and y:
• annoy / annoyed; bray / brayed; destroy / destroyed;
employ / employed; enjoy / enjoyed;
fray / frayed; gray / grayed; obey / obeyed;
play / played; pray / prayed; prey / preyed;
stay / stayed; stray / strayed; sway / swayed;
toy / toyed
• Compare fray / frayed with fry / fried;
pray / prayed , prey / preyed and parry / parried
with pry / pried.
3. Double the final consonant and add -ed
if there is a single stressed vowel before
the final consonant.
• ban / banned; can / canned; hem / hemmed;
mop / mopped; pin / pinned; sip / sipped;
trap / trapped; wad / wadded; whip / whipped;
compél / compélled; confér / conférred;
prefér / preférred; refér / reférred
• Note:
• Compare cane / caned and can / canned;
mope / moped and mop / mopped;
pine / pined and pin / pinned;
wade / waded and wad / wadded.

• Also compare óffer / óffered and confér / conférred;

trável / tráveled and compél / compélled.
4. Add -ed to the base forms of all other
regular verbs.
 Forming ‘ing‘ in present progressive

1. Usually we add ing

work working
stand standing
learn learning
2. When the verb ends in an e, we drop the e
and add ing

come coming
have having
write writing
3. If a one syllable (with only one vowel sound)
verb ends in one consonant (for example p, t,
r) that follows one vowel (for example a, o, e),
we double the consonant.

Swim swimming
get getting
stop stopping
4. Some verbs have irregular ing form

lie lying
Die dying
Travel Br. travelling
Am. traveling
Forming “s/es” in present tense
1. Add - s to the base form.
This is the most common spelling for the -S form and
is the spelling used for most verbs.

Notice, especially, that - s is added when the base form

ends in one or more consonants + e:
aches, bakes, breathes, cares, caches, dives,
edges, fiddles, files, glares, hates, hopes, jokes,
lives, makes, notes, pastes, races, spares, surprises,
tastes, types, writes
Notice that - s is also added when the base form ends
in one or more consonants (but without e):
adds, bets, beats, calls, claps, cheats, cleans, digs,
drops, eats, fills, finds, fits, gets, grabs, hops, kills,
knits, links, lists, means, needs, opens, puts, quits,
robs, rings, rips, sends, stops, tells, trusts, voids,
wants, works, zips
In addition, notice this spelling is used with the small
number of verbs ending in two vowels (including - ie):
agrees, argues, boos, coos, flees, glues, moos,
sees, shoos, shoes, tees, woos
dies, lies, ties, vies
• 2. Add - es to the base form.
This happens in two situations:
a. when the base form ends in the vowel o:
does, goes, soloes
b. when the base form ends in ss, sh,
(t)ch, zz, and x:
• assesses, blesses, caresses, fusses,
kisses, misses, passes, tosses;
• blushes, dashes, flashes, gnashes,
hushes, lashes, mashes, pushes, rushes,
splashes, stashes, washes, wishes;
• catches, ditches, etches, flinches,
hitches, itches, marches, mooches,
patches, reaches, searches,
scratches, teaches, touches, watches;
• buzzes, fizzes;
• boxes, coaxes, faxes, fixes,
relaxes, vexes, waxes.
 3. Change y to i and add - es.
This happens when a verb ends in a
consonant + y:
• apply / applies; bury / buries;
carry / carries; copy / copies; cry / cries;
dry / dries; fly / flies; fry / fries;
hurry / hurries; marry / marries; pity / pities;
ply / plies; pry / pries; tidy / tidies; try / tries;
worry / worries.
Verbs that end in a vowel + y do not change the y
to i and then add - es, however:
• buy / buys; employs / employs; enjoy / enjoys;
flay / flays; lay / lays; pay / pays; play / plays;
say / says; slay / slays; spray / sprays; stay / stays;
sway / sways;
Important:
• Compare flay / flays, play / plays, and pray / prays
with fly / flies, ply / plies, and pry / pries to see
how these spelling rules work for verbs ending in
s.