Weather
Primary 6 · English
Weather
Lesson 5 of 5
35 min
Why is sunny spelled with two n's, but rainy with only one? Why does run become running, but snow becomes snowing? It isn't luck. English has a rule.
Today's fable, about a quarrel between the Wind and the Sun, is full of examples. Listen to it, read it, and then learn the rule.
This is one of Aesop's fables, from the book The Aesop for Children (1919). Listen to it on LibriVox (read by Jacki Horn). It is the last of the four fables on that recording.
The North Wind and the Sun had a quarrel about which of them was the stronger. While they were arguing with much heat and bluster, a traveller passed along the road, wrapped in a cloak.
“Let us agree,” said the Sun, “that the stronger is the one who can strip that traveller of his cloak.”
“Very well,” growled the North Wind, and at once he sent a cold, howling blast against the traveller.
With the first gust of wind, the ends of the cloak whipped about the traveller's body. But he immediately wrapped it closely around him, and the harder the Wind blew, the tighter he held it to him. The North Wind tore angrily at the cloak, but all his efforts were in vain.
Then the Sun began to shine. At first his beams were gentle, and in the pleasant warmth after the bitter cold of the North Wind, the traveller unfastened his cloak and let it hang loosely from his shoulders. The Sun's rays grew warmer and warmer. The man took off his cap and mopped his brow. At last he became so hot that he pulled off his cloak and, to escape the blazing sunshine, threw himself down in the welcome shade of a tree by the roadside.
Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.
Answer each question in your head or in your exercise book first. Then tap Show answer to check.
What did the Wind and the Sun quarrel about?
Which of them was the stronger.
What did the traveller do when the Wind blew harder?
He wrapped his cloak around him and held it tighter.
Why did the traveller take off his cloak in the end?
The Sun made him so hot that he wanted to escape the heat.
What does the moral mean, in your own words?
Being gentle and kind makes people do things more easily than pushing or shouting at them.
Look at three verbs from the fable: wrap → wrapped, whip → whipped, mop → mopped. Each one doubled its last letter. Here is why.
If a word has 1 syllable, 1 vowel and ends in 1 consonant, double that consonant before an ending that starts with a vowel (-ing, -ed, -er, -est, -y):
| Word | + ending | New word |
|---|---|---|
| run | -ing | running |
| stop | -ed | stopped |
| sun | -y | sunny |
| fog | -y | foggy |
| wet | -er | wetter |
| hot | -est | hottest |
| drip | -ing | dripping |
Words with two syllables double only if you stress the last syllable: beGIN → beginning, forGET → forgetting. But VISit → visited, Open → opening.
Watch out: British English, which Rwandan schools use, also doubles a final l after one vowel: travel → traveller, travelling. That is why the fable says traveller.
Tip
Count 1-1-1. One syllable, one vowel, one last consonant? Double it before -ing, -ed, -er, -est or -y.
Sun is 1-1-1, so sunny. Rain has two vowels, so rainy.
Write your answers in your exercise book, then check.
Add -ing to: run, rain, snow.
Answer: running, raining, snowing
Add -y to: fog, wind, sun.
Answer: foggy, windy, sunny
Add -er to: hot, cold, wet.
Answer: hotter, colder, wetter
Find three past verbs in the fable that doubled their last letter.
Answer: wrapped, whipped, mopped
Why doesn't blow become blowwing?
Answer: Words that end in w never double the w: blowing.
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