Why do you have to add an extra letter before adding -ed for the past tense for certain words? Stop, becomes stopped
In: 6
Because in many cases, having two consonants (those hard sounds like “k”, “p”, “s”, “t”, etc.) next to each other makes the vowel (open mouth sounds of a, e, i, o, u) a *short* sound instead of a *long* sound.
“Stoped” would not sound like “stopped” does, it would sound like “stoh-ped” (rhyming with “soaped”). To maintain that “ah” sound, they add the second p.
To my understanding, it’s to make it clear you aren’t using the past tense of a different but similar word. In your case of stopped, stoped could be the past tense of either stop or stope (don’t think that’s a word but play with me here). A better example is hoped or hopped. One consonant between a vowel and ‘e’ makes that vowel long, but put two consonants and that property goes away.
Because “stoped” would typically be pronounced with a long O as in stove. The double letter ending maintains the original pronunciation of the vowel.
What’s the past tense of lop?
And is “loped” the same as “lopped”?
Thats why
You don’t always.
Asked. Belonged. Canceled. Guessed. Needed.
When you do, it’s because other grammar rules apply. For example, “stoped” would rhyme with sloped.
It’s not used any more, but there was a time when “stopt” was the past tense of stop.
Historically, the -e- in “-ed” used to be pronounced. Stopped used to be pronounced as something like “stop-ped” with two syllables. English just hasn’t significantly updated its spelling system since about the late 15th century or so.
Latest Answers