CD RegInflections

centre 34 S T U D Y PA G E S
Regular inflections
Inflections are the way that the ending of a word changes when you use the word in
different ways. For example, you say I read but he reads.
The inflections of some words are irregular, especially the past tense of common
verbs (e.g. buy changes to bought in the past tense). With irregular inflections, you
cannot simply work them out . You just have to learn them. All of these irregular
inflections are shown in the dictionary next to the word that you are looking up.
The two pages here show you what happens with inflections that are not irregular.
There are easy rules for regular inflections and you can use these rules to work out
how a particular word changes.
The following tables show you how nouns, adjectives and verbs change their endings.
Nouns
Most nouns form their plural by adding -s.
chair chairs, plate plates
Nouns which end in -s, -ss, -ch, -x and -z make their plurals by adding es
mass masses, match matches
Nouns which end in a consonant (e.g. m, t, p) + y form their plurals by taking away
the -y and adding -ies
baby babies, university universities
Nouns which end in a vowel (e.g. a, e, o) + y form their plurals by adding -s
tray trays, toy toys
Adjectives
Comparative this is used to show that someone you can either add -er
form of or something has more of a to the end of the adjective,
adjectives particular quality than someone or use the word more
or something else before it (see below)
Superlative this is used to show that someone you can either add -est to
form of or something has more of a the end of the adjective,
adjectives particular quality than anyone or use the word most
or anything else before it (see below)
One-syllable these adjectives usually form their small, smaller, smallest

adjectives comparative and superlative with
-er and -est
Two-syllable these adjectives can all form their complex, more complex,
adjectives comparative and superlative with most complex
more and most
Three-syllable these adjectives usually form their beautiful, more beautiful,
adjectives comparative and superlative with most beautiful
more and most
S T U D Y PA G E S centre 35
Regular inflections (continued)

Note: Some two-syllable adjectives can form the comparative and superlative with
-er and -est too. The most common of these are:
adjectives ending in -y and -ow
happy happier, happiest
noisy noisier, noisiest
shallow shallower, shallowest
adjectives ending in -le
able abler, ablest
noble nobler, noblest
simple simpler, simplest
some other common two-syllable adjectives which can take -er and -est
common, cruel, handsome, pleasant, polite, quiet, wicked
When you are using the -er, -est forms, if the adjective ends in -e, take away
the -e before adding the ending: pale, paler, palest
If the adjective ends in -y, change this to -i before adding the ending:
happy, happier, happiest
Verbs
For regular verbs add the following endings:
3rd person singular add -s pack packs
Present participle add -ing pack packing
Past tense and the add -ed pack packed
past participle
Note: For verbs ending in -s, -ss, -ch, -x, or -z you need to add -es for the third
person singular ending (e.g. reach, reaches), but the present participle, past
tense and past participle are the same as other regular verbs: reach,
reaches, reaching, reached
For verbs ending in -e, take away the -e before adding the present participle,
past tense, and past participle endings: hate, hates, hating, hated
For verbs ending in a consonant followed by -y, for the present participle
take away the -y and add -ies, and for the past tense and past participle take
away the -y and add -ied: cry, cries, crying, cried
Verbs ending in a vowel followed by -y are regular: play, plays, playing,
played
SUMMARY
If a word has irregular inflections these are shown in the dictionary next to
the word.
You can work out all regular inflections by using these pages.
You need to look at the last letters of nouns and verbs to be sure that you have
got the right rules for producing their regular inflections.

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centre 34 S T U D Y PA G E S

One-syllable these adjectives usually form their small, smaller, smallest

Regular inflections (continued)

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