Spelling Rules for -ing forms

The present continuous tense is –ing. When we add –ing to some verbs, their spellings get changed. 

• Have - Having
• Ride - Riding
• Swim - Swimming
• Run - Running

Therefore, there are some spelling rules for –ing forms. These are:

- If a verb ends in silent e, we remove it and add –ing

• Ride - Riding
• Write - Writing
• Dance - Dancing
• Come - Coming
• Smile - Smiling
• Ride - Riding
• Have - Having

- If the verb is one-syllable ends with a vowel + a consonant, the final consonant gets doubled before adding –ing

• Swim – Swimming
• Stop – Stopping
• Tap – Tapping
• Sob – Sobbing

- If the verb is two-syllable and ends with a single vowel + a consonant and the stress is on the last syllable, then the final consonant will be doubled before adding –ing

• Admit – Admitting
• Commit – Committing
• Refer – Referring

- The two –syllable verb ending with a vowel + a consonant and the stress is not on the last syllable, the final consonant do not need to be doubled while adding –ing

• Visit – Visiting
• Target – Targeting
• Open – Opening
• Inherit – Inheriting

- If the verb has a –c in its end, then a –k will be added before adding –ing

• Traffic – Trafficking
• Picnic – Picnicking
• Mimic – Mimicking

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'Did' in Past Tense Negatives And Questions

In Past tense, we use 'did' in negatives and questions.

Examples:

I	worked
We	wrote
You	came
They	went
He	watched
She	did
It	rained

Negative Forms: 

I	did not (didn't)	work
We	did not (didn't)	write
You	did not (didn't)	come
They	did not (didn't)	go
He	did not (didn't)	watch
She	did not (didn't)	do
It	did not (didn't)	rain

Question Forms:

Did	Subject	Verb
Did	I	work?
Did	we	write?
Did	you	come?
Did	they	go?
Did	he	watch?
Did	she	do?
Did	it	rain?

* With did/didn't, we use the base form (work, come, go, watch, do, rain) not the past tense form (worked, came, went, watched, did, rained).

Examples:
I didn't work (not I didn't worked)
We didn't write (not We didn't wrote)
He didn't watch (not He didn't watched)
Did she do the project? ( not Did she does the project)
Did they go? (Not Did they went?)

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Past Simple Forms with Regular and Irregular Verbs

The past simple form is often made by adding -ed to most verbs. These are called regular verbs. Some of these are:

Infinitive	Past Tense
Accept	Accepted
Achieve	Achieved
Add	Added
Behave	Behaved
Boil	Boiled
Borrow	Borrowed
Call	Called
Change	Changed
Chase	Chased
Chew	Chewed
Dance	Danced
Deliver	Delivered
Destroy	Destroyed
Drag	Dragged
Earn	Earned
Employ	Employed
Establish	Established
Fry	Fried

But there are irregular verbs whose past tense is not -ed. Here are some common irregular verbs:

Become	Became
Begin	Began
Bite	Bit
Break	Broke
Bring	Brought
Build	Built
Burn	Burnt
Buy	Bought
Catch	Caught
Choose	Chose
Come	Came
Do	Did
Drink	Drank
Drive	Drove
Eat	Ate
Fall	Fell
Feed	Fed
Feel	Felt
Fight	Fought
Find	Found
Fly	Flew
Forget	Forgot
Forgive	Forgave
Get	Got
Give	Gave
Go	Went
Grow	Grew
Have	Had
Hear	Heard
Hold	Held
Keep	Kept
Know	Knew
Learn	Learnt
Leave	Left
Lend	Lent
Lose	Lost
Make	Made
Mean	Meant
Pay	Paid
Ring	Rang
Say	Said
Sell	Sold
Send	Sent
Shine	Shone
Shoot	Shot
Smell	Smelt
Spend	Spent
Stand	Stood
Swim	Swam
Teach	Taught
Tell	Told

 Past Tense says about something that happened once in the past:

I went to Gujarat when I was in college.
We had pet dogs and cats once but now we haven't any.

Past Tense also says about something that happened again and again in the past:

When I was a child, I played every evening with friends.
He always enjoyed coming to our house.

Past Tense is used to express something that was true for sometime in the past:

We lived in Bombay for six years.
I participated in sports when I was a teenager.

Exercises with Simple Past:

I got up late yesterday.
She went to shopping last Sunday.
We often went for the cinema when I was in hostel.
The programme started at 8.00 and finished at 11 o'clock.
We stayed at a very nice resort during our trip to Kerela.


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