Literacy homework (yr5) - I'm confused!

[HHH3]

DS has brought his literacy homework home today and I'm not sure whether there's a mistake in it or if I'm wrong.

He has a list of verbs which he has to add -ing and -ed to and then make sentences using the words. They're all words that end in y - enjoy, cry, hurry etc. The first word is fly. All of the other words you'd change the y to an i and add -ed. But is there such a word as flied? I'd use flew and would say that flied isn't a word but I'm doubting myself now!

I would make a point with fly and make sure he uses Flew!

How about " he flied with Ryanair"
Doesn't look right does it?

That's exactly what I was thinking! I just wanted to check I hadn't got this completely wrong.

Do I write something in his homework to explain that or just do it and see what happens?

I was sure I was right and then suddenly had a moment of doubt Will use fly/flew as a lesson in exceptions to the rule!

maybe the point is that fly breaks the rules? Actually, there is once sense in which flied is right - in regard to baseball! here is a C and P

The past participle and past-tense form of the verb fly is usually flew. The only exception comes in baseball and softball, where a fly out (two words) is an out recorded when a batted ball is caught in the outfield. For example, if a batter hits a ball that gets caught by the right fielder deep in the outfield, later we would say the batter flied out to right.

This might sound incorrect to anyone who doesn’t follow baseball, but the argument over whether flied is correct was settled long ago. In baseball, there is no controversy over the issue. In fact, many baseball fans would hear flew out in this context as incorrect.

'My mother flew into a panic when she saw I had to add 'ied' to fly in a sentence'

Fly is an irregular verb - as is to buy. Adding 'ing' works but past tense is irregular. English has a lot of irregular verbs and we all learn them by osmosis, absorbing them as children. Most toddlers would say "It flied" or "He fighted him" but most soon learn the correct form without ever realising it. So, although you can apply rules, you have to recognise when it won't work.

"He flew into Boston to watch a baseball game in which the opening batter for the Red Sox flied out to right."

Covers all your bases.

Is it a sheet manufactured from a scheme? Or a list compiled by the teacher? If it's the latter, it's more likely that it's just an oversight. If I were teaching this rule I'd make sure that irregular verbs were in a separate section of their own, for special 'one-off' attention.

Generally speaking, the rule is that if the y is preceded by a vowel, you just add -s. If there's a consonant, you switch the -y to an -i and add -es (or -ed).

I'm learning stuff here

It's a sheet written by the teacher so I'm sure it's just an oversight. Think I'll skip the explanation on baseball though - I'll confuse DS even more!

clam - is fly and exception when you add an s as well? I'd spell it flies even though the y is preceded by a consonant. Is that wrong? Should it be flys?

Ha! I got that totally wrong didn't I? The y is preceded by a consonant so it's ies so I was right

Surely 'enjoy' is the same too, it becomes enjoyed not enjoied?

No, enjoy - the 'y' is preceded by a vowel so it's enjoyed. Like stay, play and toy.

Teacher was probably focusing so closely on the concept she was trying to teach she overlooked the fact it was irregular. Now if she'd used "try", she'd have been in the clear...

Found another one while we were doing the homework today. Enjoy - you don't change the y to and i when you add -ed!

No - enjoy is not irregular. The 'y' is preceded by 'o', a vowel, so it's enjoyed. In verbs such as try, where the 'y' is preceded by a consonant, the y' changes to an 'i'.

I'd suggest the sentence "There is no such word as flied."