Preparing to teach students about inflected endings? In this post you will find information about five types of inflections including lots of examples of each type, the rules for adding inflected endings to base words, what common spelling mistakes to expect from students, and ideas for how to teach students about inflectional endings in fun and engaging ways.

What are inflected endings? 

Inflected endings are suffixes that are added to the end of a root word, changing or clarifying its meaning. Inflected endings can be added to nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs to help indicate tense, number, show possession, or degrees of comparison.

The nine types of inflectional endings include -ing, -ed, -s, -es, -’s, -s’, -est, -er, -en. The inflected endings that are covered in the beginning stages of Syllables and Affixes stage are -ing, -ed, -s, -es. Comparative inflected endings -er and -est are covered in the late stages of Syllables and Affixes.

What are the rules for inflected endings?

When adding -ing to a base word:

• When a base word follows the CVC pattern, double the final consonant before adding -ing in words like run → running, shut → shutting, and skip → skipping

• When a base word follows the CVCe pattern, drop the final e before adding -ing in words like trade → trading, skate → skating, and use → using

• When a base word follows the CVCC,  CVVC, or CV pattern, do nothing to the base words except add -ing in words like pass → passing, dream → dreaming, and jump → jumping

• If a base word ends in x, it is never doubled before adding -ing in words like box → boxing, mix → mixing, and fix → fixing

• If a base word ends in a consonant and a y, nothing needs to be done before adding -ing in words like fry → frying, stay → staying, cry → crying, and play → playing

When adding -ed to a base word:

• When a base word follows the CVC pattern, double the final consonant before adding -ed in words like plan → planned, drop → dropped, and nod → nodded

• When a base word follows the CVCe pattern, drop the final e before adding -ed in words like save → saved, score → scored, and live → lived

• When a base word follows the CVCC or  CVVC pattern, do nothing to the base words except add -ed in words like act → acted, seem → seemed, and shout → shouted

• When a base word ends in a consonant and a  y, change the y to i before adding -ed in words like fry → fried, cry → cried, and spy → spied

When adding -s or -es to a base word:

• When a base word ends in -ch, -sh, -x, or -s, add -es to make the word plural in words like bench → benches, tax → taxes, splash → splashes, and guess → guesses

• When a base word ends in anything else, simply add -s to make the word plural in words like chair → chairs, book → books, change → changes, and place → places

• Sometimes when a base word ends in f, change the f to v and add -es to make the word plural in words like wife → wives, loaf → loaves, and wolf → wolves

• When a base word ends in a consonant and a y, change the y to i before adding -s in words like fry → fries, cry → cries, and spy → spies.

* Note: I've linked each of these inflected ending examples to resources that can be used to teach these skills. You can find the bundle for teaching Inflected Endings here.

Are inflected endings suffixes? 

The short answer is yes, but there is an important distinction to be made. Suffixes are also known as bound morphemes, they are not stand alone words, however they attach to the end of a root word to change its meaning and usually the part of speech as well. Inflectional morphemes (another term for inflectional endings) are also bound morphemes but they are slightly different from other suffixes in that they do not change the root word’s part of speech, only its meaning.

In what grade-level are Inflected Endings taught?

Students are usually introduced to some of the nine different inflectional endings as early as first grade, typically starting with -ed, -s, and -es.  In order to apply all the spelling rules associated with adding inflected endings, students must have a strong understanding of consonant and vowel patterns in a base word.

In the Words Their Way continuum, students are introduced to inflected endings (only -ed, -es, and -s) at the end of the Within Word Pattern stage (see teaching resources here) and then go into more depth (-ed, -ing, -es, and -s) at the beginning of the Syllables and Affixes stage (more resources here). At the end of the Syllables and Affixes stage students are then introduced to two more inflected endings, -er and -est (teaching resources here).

What are some common mistakes students make when writing words with inflectional endings?

#1: Probably the most common mistake students make when adding inflected endings is not knowing when or how the root word needs to change before the inflected ending is added. This is typically most evident when students are adding inflected endings to root words following the CVCe pattern (when the e needs to be dropped before adding the inflected ending).

Example → When students are trying to add -ing or -ed to CVCe words, they often forget to drop the e in the root word before adding the inflected ending. When trying to add -ing or -ed to the words write, close, or wave they may write writeing, closeed, or waveing.

#2: Another very common mistake students make is not knowing when to use -s or -es when trying to make a root word plural.

Example → When trying to make the words bench, chair, fox, or leash plural, students may write benchs, chaires, foxs, or leashs because they don’t know or can’t remember when to choose -s versus -es.

#3: Finally, there are almost always exceptions to spelling rules and inflected endings are no different. Students must learn that not all verbs form the past tense by adding -ed and not all plurals are formed simply by tacking on an -s or -es. 

Example → When trying to form the past tense for the words sleep, drive, or throw students often add an -ed and write sleeped, drived, and throwed instead of slept, drove, and threw. Also, when trying to make some words plural such as wife, foot, knife, or goose students often attempt to add a -s and write wifes, foots, knifes, or gooses instead of wives, feet, knives, or geese.

How do you teach inflected endings?

Because there are many straightforward spelling rules surrounding adding inflectional endings, students simply need time and practice to familiarize themselves with the rules and be able to apply them across a variety of words. I like to provide students with a large assortment of activities in order keep them engaged and help them solidify the inflected ending rules.

I’ve created word searches and various word study notebook activities centering around inflected endings, but my students’ favorite way to practice spelling words with various inflected endings is by playing games. Go figure! 😉

One of their favorites to practice adding inflected endings to CVCe and CVVC words is the partner game Growing Words. Players take turns drawing spelling pattern cards, finding a base word that matches, and adding a new inflected ending to it. After each move, players record the word they covered with its new inflected ending on their recording sheet, sorting it under the appropriate spelling pattern. When all the words on the game board have been covered, players count the number of words collected on their recording sheet to determine who wins the game.

This game requires students to focus on the spelling pattern of a base word in order to know whether to drop the final e before adding -ing or simply add -ing to the base word without making any other changes. 

I also love the game Doubling, Dropping, or Do Nothing to review the overall rules for adding -ing.

Students take turns drawing game cards and moving their pawn to a space on the game board path that meets the criteria of the card they drew. After each move, students write the word depicted by the picture they landed on or the word on their recording sheet and add -ing, using their knowledge of inflected ending rules. Game play continues until both players have reached the finish space. At that time, the player that has the most words recorded on their recording sheet wins the game.

Doubling, Dropping, or Do Nothing helps students identify and practice applying the appropriate rule when adding –ing to CVC, CVCe, CVVC, CVCC, and CV/CVV words so that they can apply the rules to new words when encountering them during reading and writing.​

You can find all the games and activities I incorporate into our word study routine when students are learning about inflected endings in the Inflectional Endings -ING, -ED, -S, -ES Syllables and Affixes Games and Activities Bundle.

YOU’VE GOT THIS! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK IN TEACHING YOUR STUDENTS THIS SKILL!

When it comes to teaching inflected endings, I believe that the more exposure and practice students get, the stronger readers and spellers they become! Not only does incorporating game play into our word study routine provide an additional opportunity for students to practice and apply what is being taught, but adding games and play-based activities adds some much needed variety and engagement to our word study block.

Looking for more Syllables and Affixes resources?

You can get all of the Syllables and Affixes Stage games and activities in a time-saving , money saving bundle!