A word ending carries grammar: time (-ed), number (-s), manner (-ly). Wrong endings appear in almost every ESL writing task, in emails, articles and reports. This lesson shows how to check each ending against the words around it.
It belongs to spelling, punctuation and proofreading, and it is the first check in the routine you will build.
How do you check an ending in context?
An ending is correct only if it fits the sentence. So you ask a short question of each word.
- Verb ending: what time is this sentence about? Past time needs -ed or an irregular past form. A third person singular subject in the present needs -s.
- Noun ending: is there one or more than one? Words such as “two”, “both” or “several” need a plural noun.
- Adverb ending: does the word describe a verb? “Spoke clear” is wrong; “spoke clearly” is right.
- Spelling change: before -ing or -ed, drop a silent e (hope, hoping, hoped), double a final consonant after one short vowel (run, running), and change y to i after a consonant (study, studied).
Worked example
Fix the endings in this draft.
Last Saturday, my cousin Hafiz visit our school and talk to the drama club. He explain how he prepare for his first role. Two of the student ask him questions, and he answered them honest.
Step 1, find the time. “Last Saturday” means past time. So the verbs need past forms: visited, talked, explained, prepared, asked.
Step 2, check the subject. “He explain” is wrong in any tense. Past time needs “explained”.
Step 3, check plurals. “Two of the student” needs “students”.
Step 4, check adverbs. “answered them honest” describes how he answered, so it should be “honestly”.
Step 5, check spelling changes. “prepare” plus -ed gives “prepared” (one e is shared). “ask” plus -ed gives “asked”.
Corrected:
Last Saturday, my cousin Hafiz visited our school and talked to the drama club. He explained how he prepared for his first role. Two of the students asked him questions, and he answered them honestly.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to add an ending but leave the spelling rule unapplied.
Mistaken: The students were planing their project and stoped to check the time.
The writer knows -ing and -ed are needed, but forgets that “plan” and “stop” double the last letter. The correct forms are “planning” and “stopped”.
Before you add an ending, say the base word and ask: one short vowel and one final consonant? If yes, double it.
Check yourself
Correct the endings in each sentence.
1. Yesterday the team practice hard and score three goals.
Show answer
“Yesterday” means past time, so practised (or “practiced” in American spelling) and scored. “Hard” is correct as it is. Corrected: Yesterday the team practised hard and scored three goals.
2. She was hopeing to win, but the judge were carefull.
Show answer
“hope” drops the e: hoping. A singular judge takes was. The suffix has one l: careful. Corrected: She was hoping to win, but the judge was careful.
3. Both of my brother plays football very good.
Show answer
“Both” needs a plural noun: brothers. A plural subject needs play. “very good” describes the verb, so well. Corrected: Both of my brothers play football very well.
Where this leads next
Endings fix the words. The next lesson fixes the joins between ideas: use punctuation to separate complete ideas. You can log the endings you miss in the mistake log and retest queue.
If you understand each rule but still miss endings in timed writing, our teachers can look at your drafts in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition.