Behaviour, Rules and Laws
Primary 6 · English
Behaviour, Rules and Laws
Lesson 6 of 6
35 min
Hop, run, smile, carry, big. Add a few letters to the end and they become hopping, running, smiling, carried, biggest. Look carefully: each word changed its spelling in its own way.
Today's short fable, about two travellers and a purse, will help you learn the four spelling rules for endings.
This is another of Aesop's fables from The Aesop for Children (1919). Listen to it on LibriVox (read by Jill Engle). It is the third of the four fables on that recording.
Two men were travelling together along the road when one of them picked up a purse full of money.
“How lucky I am!” he said. “I have found a purse. Judging by its weight, it must be full of gold.”
“Do not say ‘I have found a purse’,” said his companion. “Say rather ‘we have found a purse’ and ‘how lucky we are’. Travellers ought to share alike the good luck and the bad luck of the road.”
“No, no,” replied the other angrily. “I found it, and I am going to keep it.”
Just then they heard a shout of “Stop, thief!” Looking around, they saw a crowd of people armed with clubs, coming down the road.
The man who had found the purse panicked. “We are lost if they find the purse on us!” he cried.
“No, no,” replied the other. “You would not say ‘we’ before, so now stick to your ‘I’. Say ‘I am lost.’”
We cannot expect anyone to share our bad luck unless we are also willing to share our good luck.
Answer each question in your head or in your exercise book first. Then tap Show answer to check.
What did the first traveller find?
A purse full of money (he thought it was full of gold).
What did his companion want him to say?
“We have found a purse”, so that they would share the luck.
Why did the finder suddenly start saying “we” when the crowd came?
He was afraid, and he wanted his companion to share the danger and the blame.
Was the companion right to refuse? Explain.
Possible answer: Yes. The finder wanted to keep the good luck for himself but share the bad luck. That is not fair.
Words in bold come from the fable.
pick → picked, look → looking, arm → armed, tall → taller, fast → fastest
smile → smiling, smiled · come → coming · judge → judging · late → later, latest
But keep the e before a consonant ending: hope → hopeful, safe → safely.
carry → carried, carries · reply → replied · cry → cried · angry → angrily · happy → happier, happiest
Two exceptions: keep the y before -ing (carrying, crying, replying), and keep the y after a vowel (play → played, enjoy → enjoyed).
You met this rule in the Weather unit. One syllable, one vowel, one last consonant: double it before a vowel ending.
hop → hopping, hopped · run → running · big → bigger, biggest · stop → stopped
In British English, travel also doubles its l: travelling, travellers.
| Word | + ing | + ed |
|---|---|---|
| hop (jump on one foot) | hopping | hopped |
| hope (wish) | hoping | hoped |
Write hoping when you mean hopping, and your reader will think you are wishing, not jumping!
In the fable the man panicked. Why the k? Remember the soft c from Unit 1: c before e says /s/. If we wrote “paniced”, it would sound like “panissed”. The k keeps the c hard: panicked, panicking. The same happens with picnic → picnicked.
Tip
Before you add an ending, ask three questions
1. Does it end in a silent e? Drop the e. 2. Does it end in a consonant + y? Change y to i (but not before -ing). 3. Is it 1-1-1? Double the last letter.
Write your answers in your exercise book, then check.
smile + ing
Answer: smiling (drop the e)
carry + ed · carry + ing
Answer: carried · carrying (keep the y before -ing)
big + est
Answer: biggest (1-1-1: double the g)
hop + ed · hope + ed
Answer: hopped · hoped
happy + ly
Answer: happily (y changes to i)
What you learned today
Sources and credits
Quick check
Match each word and ending to the right spelling.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
