First Grade English: Base Words & Inflectional Endings (-s, -es, -ed, -ing)
Words in the English language are flexible and alive! A base word (also called a root word) is a complete, standalone word that holds a core meaning, such as "jump," "box," or "play." By adding special endings called inflectional endings to the tail of a base word, you can change how many items you are talking about or show exactly when an action happened. In this chapter, you will master four crucial inflectional endings: -s, -es, -ed, and -ing.
What Are Base Words and Inflectional Endings?
An inflectional ending is a letter or group of letters attached to the end of a base word that modifies its grammatical role without changing its basic fundamental meaning.
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| ANATOMY OF AN INFLECTED WORD |
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| |
| [ BASE WORD ] + [ ENDING ] |
| "play" + "-ing" |
| |
| ===> "PLAYING" |
| |
| Meaning: The action of playing is happening right now! |
| |
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The Unchanging Base Word
When reading a word with an ending, always search for the base word first. If you cover the ending "-ing" in "singing," you clearly see the base word "sing." Recognizing the base word makes the entire word easy to decode.
Plural Endings: -S and -ES
When you want to show that there is more than one person, place, or thing, you attach the plural ending -s or -es to a noun.
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| CHOOSING -S VS. -ES |
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| Base Ending Sound | Rule: Add -ES |
| ------------------------+----------------------------------|
| Ends in: s, ss, x, | Must add -ES to create an extra |
| ch, or sh | spoken syllable! |
| | bus -> buses, box -> boxes |
| | dish -> dishes, church -> churches|
| ------------------------+----------------------------------|
| All other regular nouns | Simply add -S! |
| | cat -> cats, dog -> dogs |
| | tree -> trees, book -> books |
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The Hissing Sound Rule for -ES
Why do we add -es instead of just -s to words like "fox" and "bush"? Try adding a single s to "fox": "foxs." It is impossible to pronounce without getting your tongue stuck! The ending -es adds a gentle vowel syllable (/ez/) that makes words like "foxes," "busses," and "wishes" easy to speak clearly.
Action Endings: -ED and -ING
Action verbs change their endings to signal when an action occurs in time (tense).
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| ACTION TENSE ENDINGS |
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| Ending | When Action Happens | Examples |
| -------+---------------------+-----------------------------|
| -ing | Happening RIGHT NOW | jumping, running, singing |
| -ed | Happened in the PAST| walked, jumped, melted |
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The Present Continuous: -ING
The ending -ing always sounds like /ing/. When you say "I am reading," the ending tells the listener that the action is unfolding at this very instant.
The Three Sounds of -ED
Here is one of the most exciting secrets in first-grade English: the past-tense ending -ed can make THREE different sounds depending on the final sound of the base word!
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| THE THREE SOUNDS OF -ED |
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| Sound Heard | Base Word Ends In | Examples |
| ------------+---------------------+------------------------|
| /t/ | Unvoiced consonant | jump -> jumped (/t/) |
| | (p, k, s, ch, sh) | walk -> walked (/t/) |
| ------------+---------------------+------------------------|
| /d/ | Voiced consonant | play -> played (/d/) |
| | or vowel sound | clean -> cleaned (/d/) |
| ------------+---------------------+------------------------|
| /id/ | Letter t or d | hunt -> hunted (/id/) |
| | (adds extra beat!) | land -> landed (/id/) |
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Testing the Three Sounds
Say "jumped." Listen to your mouth at the very end: it makes a crisp /t/ sound ("jumpt")! Say "played." Your mouth ends with a gentle /d/ sound ("playd")! Say "shouted." Your mouth adds a full extra syllable: /id/ ("shout-ed")! Even though they sound different, all three are spelled with the exact same past-tense letters: -ed!
Practice Exercises
Exercise 1: Read the following words and identify the base word and the inflectional ending for each: boxes, walking, planted, frogs, helped, singing.
Exercise 2: State which sound the ending -ed makes (/t/, /d/, or /id/) in each of these past-tense words: kicked, rested, smiled, yelled, hopped, melted.
Exercise Solutions
Solution to Exercise 1: In "boxes", the base word is "box" and the ending is "-es". In "walking", the base word is "walk" and the ending is "-ing". In "planted", the base word is "plant" and the ending is "-ed". In "frogs", the base word is "frog" and the ending is "-s". In "helped", the base word is "help" and the ending is "-ed". In "singing", the base word is "sing" and the ending is "-ing".
Solution to Exercise 2: In "kicked", -ed sounds like /t/. In "rested", -ed sounds like /id/. In "smiled", -ed sounds like /d/. In "yelled", -ed sounds like /d/. In "hopped", -ed sounds like /t/. In "melted", -ed sounds like /id/.