Literacy

Look carefully at these two words: tap and tape. Say them aloud. Can you hear the difference in the vowel sounds? Try these: hop and hope. You should hear a short vowel sound in one of the words, and a long vowel sound in the other.

Now look what happens to the same words when the suffix ing is added. How does the vowel sound affect what happens?

tap	becomes	tapping
tape	becomes	taping
hop	becomes	hopping
hope	becomes	hoping

These words also have short vowels - look carefully at how the suffix ing is added.

camp	becomes	camping
catch	becomes	catching
help	becomes	helping
post	becomes	posting

Why isn't the last letter doubled?

Can you think of a rule which will help you to decide how to add ing to the words below? Write it in this box:

Write your rule here:

Now add ing to each of these words to check your rule. When you have finished, click on the "Finished" button to see how you scored.

1. hum
2. drop
3. stop
4. mope
5. mop
6. like
7. blast		(Leave checkbox empty)
8. go
9. hug
10. grin
Now that you have come up with a rule for adding ing, test it to see if it still applies when you add different suffixes, for example: er, ed and est. Created using Testmaker fromThe Big Bus- www.thebigbus.com