English Grammar in Use Fifth Edition

Katherine’s 
going out tonight.  (= Katherine 
is
)
My best friend’s
 just got married.  (= My best friend 
has
)
You cannot use 
’m 
/ 
’s
 / 
’re
 / 
’ve
 / 
’ll 
/ 
’d 
at the end of a sentence (because the verb is stressed in this 
position):
‘Are you tired?’  ‘Yes, I 
am
.’ (
not
 Yes, I’m.)
Do you know where she 
is
? (
not
 Do you know where she’s?)
5.3
  Negative short forms
isn’t
aren’t
wasn’t
weren’t
(= is not)
(= are not)
(= was not)
(= were not)
don’t
doesn’t
didn’t
(= do not)
(= does not)
(= did not)
haven’t
hasn’t
hadn’t
(= have not)
(= has not)
(= had not)
can’t
won’t
shan’t
(= cannot)
(= will not)
(= shall not)
couldn’t
wouldn’t
shouldn’t
(=
 
could not)
(= would not)
(= should not)
mustn’t
needn’t
daren’t
(= must not)
(= need not)
(= dare not)
Negative short forms for 
is
 and 
are
 can be:
  he 
isn’t
 / she 
isn’t 
/ it 
isn’t
 
or    
he
’s not
 / she
’s not
 / it
’s not
  you 
aren’t
 / we 
aren’t
 / they 
aren’t
    
or    
you
’re not
 / we
’re not
 / they
’re not
297

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Appendix 6
Spelling
6.1
  Nouns, verbs and adjectives can have the following endings:
noun + -
s
/-
es
 
(plural)
verb + -
s
/-
es
 (after 
he
/
she
/
it
)
verb + -
ing
verb + -
ed
adjective + -
er
 
(comparative)
adjective + -
est
 
(superlative)
adjective + -
ly
 
(adverb)
book
s
work
s
work
ing
work
ed
cheap
er
cheap
est
cheap
ly
idea
s
enjoy
s
enjoy
ing
enjoy
ed
quick
er
quick
est
quick
ly
match
es
wash
es
wash
ing
wash
ed
bright
er
bright
est
bright
ly
When we use these endings, there are sometimes changes in spelling.  These changes are listed below.
6.2
  Nouns and verbs + -
s
/-
es
The ending is -
es
 when the word ends in -
s
/-
ss
/-
sh
/-
ch
/-
x
:
bu
s
/bus
es
 mi
ss
/miss
es
wa
sh
/wash
es
mat
ch
/match
es
 sear
ch
/search
es
bo
x
/box
es
Note also:
potato/potato
es
tomato/tomato
es
do/do
es
go/go
es
6.3
  Words ending in -
y
 (bab
y
, carr
y
, eas
y
 etc.)
If a word ends in a 
consonant* 
+ 
y
 (-
by
/-
ry
/-
sy
/-
vy
 etc.)
y 
changes to 
ie 
before the ending -
s
:
bab
y
/bab
ies 
stor
y
/stor
ies 
countr
y
/countr
ies 
secretar
y
/secretar
ies
hurr
y
/hurr
ies 
stud
y
/stud
ies 
appl
y
/appl
ies 
tr
y
/tr
ies
y 
changes to 
i 
before the ending -
ed
:
hurr
y
/hurr
ied 
stud
y
/stud
ied 
appl
y
/appl
ied 
tr
y
/tr
ied
y 
changes to 
i 
before the endings -
er 
and -
est
:
eas
y
/eas
ier
/eas
iest 
heav
y
/heav
ier
/heav
iest 
luck
y
/luck
ier
/luck
iest
y 
changes to 
i 
before the ending -
ly
:
eas
y
/eas
ily 
heav
y
/heav
ily 
temporar
y
/temporar
ily
y
 does 
not 
change before -
ing
:
hurry
ing
  study
ing
  apply
ing
  try
ing
y
 does 
not 
change if the word ends in a 
vowel* 
+ 
y
 (-
ay
/-
ey
/-
oy
/-
uy
):
pl
ay
/pl
ays
/pl
ayed
  monk
ey
/monk
eys
  enj
oy
/enj
oys
/enj
oyed
  b
uy
/b
uys
An exception is: d
ay
/d
aily
Note also: p
ay
/p
aid
  l
ay
/l
aid
  s
ay
/s
aid
6.4
  Verbs ending in -
ie
 (d
ie
, l
ie
, t
ie
)
If a verb ends in -
ie
, 
ie
 changes to 
y
 before the ending -
ing
:
d
ie
/d
ying
  l
ie
/l
ying
  t
ie
/t
ying
* 
a  e  i  o  u
  are 
vowel
 letters.
The other letters (
b  c  d  f  g
  etc.) are 
consonant
 letters.
298

---

Appendix 6
6.5
  Words ending in -
e
 (hop
e
, danc
e
, wid
e
 etc.)
Verbs
If a verb ends in -
e
, we leave out 
e 
before the ending -
ing
:
hop
e
/hop
ing 
smil
e
/smil
ing 
danc
e
/danc
ing 
confus
e
/confus
ing
Exceptions are 
be
/
being 
and
 verbs ending in -
ee
:
s
ee
/see
ing 
agr
ee
/agree
ing
If a verb ends in -
e
, we add -
d
 for the past (of regular verbs):
hop
e
/hop
ed 
smil
e
/smil
ed 
danc
e
/danc
ed 
confus
e
/confus
ed
Adjectives and adverbs
If an adjective ends in -
e
, we add -
r
 and -
st
 for the comparative and superlative:
wid
e
/wid
er
/wid
est
 lat
e
/lat
er
/lat
est 
larg
e
/larg
er
/larg
est
If an adjective ends in -
e
, we 
keep
 
e
 before -
ly
 in the adverb:
polit
e
/polit
ely 
extrem
e
/extrem
ely
  
absolut
e
/absolut
ely
If an adjective ends in -
le
 (simp
le
, terrib
le
 etc.), the adverb ending is -
ply
, -
bly
 etc. :
sim
ple
/sim
ply 
terri
ble
/terri
bly 
reasona
ble
/reasona
bly
6.6
  Doubling consonants (
stop
/
stopping
/
stopped
,
 wet
/
wetter
/
wettest
 etc.)
Sometimes a word ends in 
vowel 
+ 
consonant.  
For example:
st
op
  pl
an
  r
ub
  b
ig
  w
et
  th
in
  pref
er
  regr
et
Before the endings -
ing
/-
ed
/-
er
/-
est
, we double the consonant at the end.  So 
p
 
→
 
pp
,
 n
 
→
 
nn
 etc.  
For example:
sto
p
pla
n
ru
b
bi
g
we
t
thi
n
p 
→
 
pp
n 
→
 
nn
b 
→
 
bb
g 
→
 gg
t 
→
 
tt
n 
→
 
nn
sto
pp
ing
pla
nn
ing
ru
bb
ing
bi
gg
er
we
tt
er
thi
nn
er
sto
pp
ed
pla
nn
ed
ru
bb
ed
bi
gg
est
we
tt
est
thi
nn
est
If the word has more than one syllable (
prefer
,
 begin
 etc.), we double the consonant at the end 
only if 
the final syllable is stressed
:
preFER / prefe
rr
ing / prefe
rr
ed 
perMIT / permi
tt
ing / permi
tt
ed
reGRET / regre
tt
ing / regre
tt
ed 
beGIN / begi
nn
ing
If the final syllable is not stressed, we do 
not 
double the final consonant:
VISit / visi
t
ing / visi
t
ed 
deVELop / develo
p
ing / develo
p
ed
HAPpen / happe
n
ing / happe
n
ed 
reMEMber / remembe
r
ing / remembe
r
ed
In British English, verbs ending in -
l
 have -
ll
- before -
ing
 and -
ed
 whether the final syllable is stressed  
or not:
trave
l
 / trave
ll
ing / trave
ll
ed cance
l
 / cance
ll
ing / cance
ll
ed
For American spelling, see Appendix 7.
Note that
we do 
not 
double the final consonant if the word ends in 
two 
consonants (-
rt
,
 
-
lp
,
 
-
ng
 etc.):
sta
rt
 / star
t
ing / star
t
ed he
lp
 / hel
p
ing / hel
p
ed lo
ng
 / lon
g
er / lon
g
est
we do 
not 
double the final consonant if there are 
two 
vowel letters before it (-
oil
,
 
-
eed
 etc.):
b
oil
 / boi
l
ing / boi
l
ed n
eed
 / nee
d
ing / nee
d
ed expl
ain
 / explai
n
ing / explai
n
ed
ch
eap
 / chea
p
er / chea
p
est l
oud 
/ lou
d
er / lou
d
est
qu
iet
 / quie
t
er / quie
t
est
we do 
not 
double 
y
 or 
w
 at the end of words.  (At the end of words 
y
 and