The Complete Guide to English Spelling Rules (11 page)

Spelling rule #7: When adding the suffix
ing
to words ending in
ie
, we drop the
e
and change the
i
to
y
to avoid producing a double
i:

Note that at times, the pronunciation changes when a suffix is added and this causes a spelling change:

But there are some words that do not follow the rules:

Many problems can be traced to an understandable impulse to retain the silent
e
in order to protect the preceding vowel. When it is not obviously needed, the silent
e
should be dropped. The following words do not follow the rules:

Note that
aweful
(“full of awe”) and
awful
may now be considered two separate words with quite different meanings.

C
HAPTER 7

The Letter
v

T
he letter
v
may appear anywhere in a word except at the end. No commonly used English word ever ends in a
v
, and this explains a large inconsistency that students are quick to notice.

The silent
e
is used to modify the vowel that precedes it, but the silent
e
must be added to any word that should logically end in
v
. Therefore, we get
have
instead of
hav
and
active
instead of
activ,
and we spell
sleeve
with a superfluous
e
. There are many other examples.

From this point of view, the rule is illogical. But it does have the virtue of uniformity. Some of our spelling rules leave us with strange anomalies, but this rule is so simple that there are almost no exceptions.

Note that one English word ends in a
v
sound but is spelled with an
f
. The word
of
is the only word ending in an
f
that has the soft
v
sound.

C
HAPTER 8

Comparatives and Superlatives

T
he comparative words are not a major spelling problem. The only difficulty that students may encounter is when to double the consonant and when to leave it alone. The general rule for doubling consonants is covered in another chapter.

Spelling rule #1: The suffix
er
is used with single syllable words:

When we are forming superlatives, the suffix
est
is used with single syllable words. The word must be preceded by
the:

Spelling rule #2: Words of three or more syllables are preceded by
more
(comparative) and
the most
(superlative):

Spelling rule #3: With words of two syllables, one group uses
er
and
est,
but the others must use
more
and
the most
.

Adjectives that end in
y
simply change the
y
to
i
and add
er
or
est:

Words ending in
ous
use
more
and
the most:

Words ending in
ful
use
more
and
the most: