Page 69 - Improve_Your_Written_English [Marion_Field]
P. 69
C H ECKING Y O U R S PEL LING / 55
brush – brushes
buzz – buzzes
church – churches
duchess – duchesses
fox – foxes
Changing the form of a verb
When a verb ends in ‘y’ and it is necessary to change the
tense by adding other letters, the ‘y’ is changed into an ‘i’
and ‘es’ or ‘ed’ is added.
He will marry her tomorrow.
He was married yesterday.
A dog likes to bury his bone.
A dog always buries his bone.
Using ‘long’ vowels and ‘short’ vowels
There is often a silent ‘e’ at the end of the word if the vowel
is ‘long’:
bite, date, dupe, hope, late.
Each of these words consists of one syllable (one unit of
sound). If another syllable is added, the ‘e’ is removed:
bite – biting
date – dating
hope – hoping