Add Suffixes to Words Ending in a Single Consonant

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make a new word.

For example:

train    trainer

dig    digging

It is often hard to know whether or not to double the final letter of a word before adding a suffix, but there are rules to help.

The word chop has a short vowel sound ('o') just before the final consonant, so the 'p' must be doubled before adding a suffix.

chop    chopped    chopping

The word sleep has a long vowel sound ('ee') just before the final consonant, so the 'p' is not doubled.

sleep    sleepy    sleeping

The final consonant is not doubled if the letter just before it is also a consonant.

help    helper    helping

Let's practise this in some questions.