Past Continuous Spelling Exercises

Adding -ing to verbs is not always straightforward — several spelling rules apply. For verbs ending in a silent "e", drop the "e" before adding -ing: make → making, write → writing, dance → dancing. For short verbs ending in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC), double the final consonant: sit → sitting, run → running, stop → stopping. For verbs ending in "ie", change "ie" to "y": lie → lying, die → dying, tie → tying.

Some verbs do not follow the doubling rule because the final syllable is not stressed: "visit" becomes "visiting" (not "visitting") and "open" becomes "opening." Verbs ending in "w," "x," or "y" also do not double: snow → snowing, fix → fixing, play → playing. These spelling patterns apply to all continuous tenses, not just the past continuous, so mastering them now helps with present continuous and future continuous as well. A useful test for the doubling rule: say the verb aloud — if the stress falls on the last syllable and it ends in CVC, double the consonant. This is frequently tested in Cambridge A2 Key writing tasks.