V-ing form

[Belly T]

Could anybody tell me what the other name of "V-ing form" is?
By the way, could anyone give me when to double the last letter in V-ing form, like : Chatting (or chating?)
And in the past tense, when can we double the last letter?
ex:Prefferred

[Humble]

Hi, Belly T,
1. There are 3 -ing things in English: a present participle, a gerund and a noun formed from a verb.
2. Basically, a consonant is doubled in order to keep the stressed syllable closed.
chat - chatting, con - conning, wet - wetted, regret - regretted
If you don't do it, the syllable will get opened and the pronunciation will change
chating: cha-ting [ei]
coning: co-ning [ou]
weted : we-ted [wi:]
So they will be just different words!

Cheers

[Belly T]

You meant, the syllable is the consonant?

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Belly T

Could anybody tell me what the other name of "V-ing form" is?
By the way, could anyone give me when to double the last letter in V-ing form, like : Chatting (or chating?)
And in the past tense, when can we double the last letter?
ex:Prefferred

I only know of two -ing verbals: present participle (used in forming the continuous/progressive form of a verb or used as a modifier) and a gerund (a verbal noun).

In most cases, we double a terminal consonant after a vowel only when the stress is on that syllable and the vowel sound is short. (There are exceptions and there are consonants that never double).

chat = chatting and chatted (vowel is short and accent is on that syllable)
refer = referring and referred (same)
meter = metered and metering (accent is on the first syllable)

[Humble]

No, Belly,
A syllable is a minimum rhythmic unit of the language and has a vowel, eg
re-gret - 2 syllables, un-der-stand -3 syllables.
re - an open syllable
-gret -a closed syllable
The consonant is doubled in stressed syllables that have only one consonant after the vowel. If they have two, there's no need to double it:
split -splitting
sprint - sprinting
Is it clear at all?

[Humble]

Tailgating Mike again... Sorry.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Humble

Tailgating Mike again... Sorry.

No problem. The more the merrier.