Consonant-Vowel-Consonant

If a verb ends in consonant-vowel-consonant and the last syllable of the word is stressed, double the last letter before adding a suffix (an ending) to the word (-ing or -ed).

begin - beginning
The word "begin" ends with a consonant, vowel, consonant, and the last syllable is stressed (begin).
stop - stopping - stopped
The word "stop" ends with a consonant, vowel, consonant, and is a single syllable (so the last syllable is the stressed one).
open - opening - opened
The word "open" ends with a consonant, vowel, consonant, but the last syllable is not the stressed one (open). That's why it is not written with a double "n".

The exception to this rule is the letter w.

blow - blowing
Although the word "blow" ends with a consonant, vowel, consonant, the last letter is not doubled because it ends with w.

* In British English (but not in American English), the last l is doubled even if the last syllable is not stressed.

Verb	British	American
cancel	cancelled	canceled
travel	travelled	traveled

Exercise - Words with consonant-vowel-consonant pattern

Change the verb to the present participle (-ing) form.

example
shop
(If the word has more than one syllable, the bold letters indicate which syllable is pronounced more strongly.)

Dictation

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