The Complete Guide to English Spelling Rules (46 page)

C
HAPTER 49

Using
et
and
ette

T
he French influence on the English language is still very strong. It shows itself not only in the roots of many of our words but also in present-day pronunciation and spelling. French spellings often lead to problems.

With the suffixes
et
and
ette
, the problem is when do we pronounce the
t
and when do we pronounce
et
as
ay
? We must wonder what the rules are when we pronounce the
t
in
billet
and
ballot
but not in
ballet
. Similarly, we pronounce the
t
in
banquet
but not in
bouquet
.

Traditionally, the
et
ending is pronounced
ay
as in
ballet
,
croquet,
and
crochet,
and the
ette
ending is pronounced
et,
as in
cassette
and
gazette
. There are over three hundred English words that end in
et
and all, except about twenty, are pronounced
et
. Many of these words are of French origin.

The following are some of the words that retain the
ay
sound.

As for the
ette
ending, there are fewer than two dozen commonly used English words that are still spelled that way. A number of these are in the process of changing to the simple
et
ending.

Clearly, the English language has enthusiastically adopted the diminutive suffix
ette,
but just as clearly the shorter
et
is preferred over the cumbersome
ette,
no matter how it was used in the original French. Following the healthy tradition of
adopt
and
adapt,
it has now been anglicized.

There are times when the French spelling and/or pronunciation must be retained in order to differentiate between homophones. When the
t
is pronounced in
fillet
, it has a number of meanings in woodwork, dressmaking, and metal work. When the ending is pronounced
ay
, it usually refers to meat or fish, but even this difference is slowly disappearing. The word
pallet
likewise has numerous meanings ranging from a straw bed to a wooden support for freight. The paint board used by an artist, however, is spelled
palette.
The words
kitchenette
and
dinette
are purely 20th-century American inventions.

C
HAPTER 50

Using
less
and
ness

T
he suffixes
less
and
ness
are extremely popular and deserve some attention because the spelling rules that apply to them are remarkably similar.

Off
and
of
should never be used together.

Less
is primarily a comparative and is most commonly used as an adjective suffix indicating a lack of something.
Ness,
on the other hand, is a suffix used to form abstract nouns.

Spelling rule #1: The suffix
less
is added to a word without any changes. If the root has a silent
e
it will be retained. If the root ends in
l
, the silent
e
is retained. Change the
y
to
i
.

Spelling rule #2: The suffix
ness
is added to a word without any changes. If the root has a silent
e
, it is retained. If the root ends in an
n
, it is retained. Change the
y
to
i
.

Unlike
full
, these two suffixes do not drop the extra consonant. The double
s
is retained, even when both suffixes are used with the same root word.

When used as a separate word before a noun,
less
modifies only singular nouns of quantity. Plural nouns must use the word
fewer
.

C
HAPTER 51

Using
fore
and
for

T
he prefixes
fore
and
for
should not be confused with the preposition
for
nor with the number
four.
Also, not all the words that begin with
for
or
fore
have prefixes.