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SPELLING RULESby@rosebuhlig
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SPELLING RULES

by Rose BuhligOctober 23rd, 2023
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The usual way of forming the plural of English nouns is illustrated by the words in column (b) above. What is it? If you add s to the singular form dress, could you distinguish the pronunciation of the plural from the pronunciation of the singular? Does this suggest a reason for adding es to form the plural? How many syllables must you use to pronounce the plural of fox? Does this suggest another reason for adding es to form the plural? Every word that ends in a sibilant or hissing sound (ch, s, sh, ss, x, z) forms its plural like fox. Give several illustrations. Rule 1.—Nouns regularly form the plural by adding s, but those ending in a sibilant must addes.\Exercise 30 (a) lady, ladies (b) valley, valleys ally, allies alley, alleys soliloquy, soliloquies journey, journeys Name five words belonging to group (a) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case? Name other words belonging to the group (b) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case? **Rule 2.—Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant (and nouns ending in quy) form the plural by changing y to i and adding es.\Exercise 31—Words ending in o
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Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. SPELLING RULES

SPELLING RULES

Exercise 29—Plurals of Nouns

(a)

dress, dresses

(b)

chair, chairs


splash, splashes


wave, waves


business, businesses


book, books


church, churches


pencil, pencils


fox, foxes


paper, papers


The usual way of forming the plural of English nouns is illustrated by the words in column (b) above. What is it?


If you add s to the singular form dress, could you distinguish the pronunciation of the plural from the pronunciation of the singular? Does this suggest a reason for adding es to form the plural?


How many syllables must you use to pronounce the plural of fox? Does this suggest another reason for adding es to form the plural?


Every word that ends in a sibilant or hissing sound (chsshssxz) forms its plural like fox. Give several illustrations.


Rule 1.—Nouns regularly form the plural by adding s, but those ending in a sibilant must addes.\Exercise 30

(a)

lady, ladies

(b)

valley, valleys


ally, allies


alley, alleys


soliloquy, soliloquies


journey, journeys


Name five words belonging to group (a) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?


Name other words belonging to the group (b) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?


**Rule 2.—Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant (and nouns ending in quy) form the plural by changing y to i and adding es.\Exercise 31—Words ending in o

(a)



potato, potatoes

hero, heroes

mulatto, mulattoes

tomato, tomatoes

buffalo, buffaloes

cargo, cargoes

negro, negroes

echo, echoes

motto, mottoes




(b)



solo, solos

piano, pianos

memento, mementos

halo, halos

lasso, lassos

canto, cantos

zero, zeros

quarto, quartos

soprano, sopranos


stilletto, stillettos



The older English words ending in o form the plural by adding es, as in potatoes; those more recently taken into the language form the plural by adding s, as in quartos.


Exercise 32—Nouns in f and fe

leaf, leaves

calf, calves

wife, wives

loaf, loaves

sheaf, sheaves

shelf, shelves

half, halves

wolf, wolves

elf, elves

life, lives

beef, beeves

wharf, wharves (or wharfs)

self, selves

knife, knives



ith the exception of the words given above, nouns ending in an f sound form the plural in the regular way; as,

hoof, hoofs

scarf, scarfs

beliefs, beliefs

chief, chiefs

reef, reefs

grief, griefs


Exercise 33—Irregular Plurals

Some nouns form their plural by a change of vowel; as,

man

men

foot

feet

woman

women

tooth

teeth

goose

geese

mouse

mice


A few words retain the old time plural en; as,




brother    brethren

child

children

ox

oxen


A few words are the same in both singular and plural; as,

sheep, trout, deer

Some nouns have two plurals which differ in meaning; as,


Singular

Plural

brother

brothers

brethren

penny

pennies

pence

pea

peas

pease

die

dies

dice

Consult a dictionary for the difference in meaning between the two plurals of each word.


**Exercise 34—Compound Nouns

Singular

Plural

brother-in-law

brothers-in-law

father-in-law

fathers-in-law

court-martial

courts-martial

commander-in-chief

commanders-in-chief

man-of-war

men-of-war

major general

major generals

goose quill

goose quills

bill of fare

bills of fare

spoonful

spoonfuls

cupful

cupfuls

Rule 3.—Compound nouns usually add the sign of the plural to the fundamental part of the word.

Note.—In spoonfuls the thought is of one spoon many times full.


Plural of Letters and Figures

Rule 4.—Letters and figures form the plural by adding the apostrophe (') and s; as,

a

a's

3

3's

w

w's

5

5's

The same rule applies to the plural of words which ordinarily have no plural; as,

Don't use so many and's and if's.


Exercise 35—Foreign Plurals

Some nouns derived from foreign languages retain their original plural. The following are in common use.


Consult a dictionary for their pronunciation and definition.

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

crisis

crises

stratum

strata

thesis

theses

radius

radii

hypothesis

hypotheses

parenthesis

parentheses

focus

foci

synopsis

synopses

datum

data

basis

bases

alumnus

alumni

automaton

automata

alumna

alumnae

analysis

analyses

oasis

oases

nucleus

nuclei

axis

axes

phenomenon

phenomena

genus

genera



Some words admit of two plurals, one the foreign plural, and one the regular English plural; as,


Singular

Plural

beau

beaux

beaus

formula

formulae

formulas

vertex

vertices

vertexes

index

indices

indexes

cherub

cherubim

cherubs

seraph

seraphim

seraphs

bandit

banditti

bandits

Consult a dictionary to see whether there is any difference of meaning between the two plurals of these words.


**Exercise 36—The Formation of Participles

Raprappingrapped

Reapreapingreaped

Rap is a monosyllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel. The final consonant in such words is doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel is added.

In reap the final consonant is not doubled because it is preceded by two vowels.

Make the participles of the following verbs:

chat

lap

suit

step

cheat

leap

sit

steep

rot

train

sop

trot

root

trim

soap

treat


Traptrappingtrapped

Tracktrackingtracked


Why is the final consonant in trap doubled before ing or ed is added?

The final consonant in track is not doubled because track ends with two consonants.


Pinpinning

Pinepining

Pine drops the silent e because the tendency in English is to drop endings that are not needed for pronunciation before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.

Form the participles of the following verbs:

knot

rob

flop



note

robe

elope

deal

swim

quit

(u is not here a vowel)

clap

strike

crawl

(w is here a vowel)

stop

oil

wax

(x equals cks)

peal

rush

bow

(w is here a vowel)


Exercise 37

Exercise 36 applies also to words of more than one syllable accented on the last syllable, if they retain the accent on the same syllable after the suffix is added. Thus we have


Rule 5.—Monosyllables or words accented on the last syllable, ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.


Form participles from the following words that are accented on the last syllable:

prefer

intervene

escape

expel

refer

reveal

acquire

contain

occur

repeal

secure

forbid

permit

pursue

conceal

incur

interfere

erase

arrange

forget

retain

control

acquit

repel

Form participles from the following words not accented on the last syllable:

benefit

travel

marvel

shelter

revel

answer

exhibit

render

quarrel

profit

shovel

limit

Words in which the accent changes do not double the final consonant before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel; as,

confer

conference

infer

inference

refer

reference

prefer

preferable

Explain why the final consonant is not doubled in each of the following words:

neglect

neglecting

lean

leaning

prefer

preference

select

selecting

creep

creeping

receipt

receipting

wonder

wondering

answer

answering


Exercise 38

Rule 6.—In forming the present participle of verbs ending in y, retain the y before adding ing; as,

study

studying

obey

obeying

carry

carrying

convey

conveying

pity

pitying



In forming the perfect participle, if in the present tense the y is preceded by a consonant, the y is changed to i and ed added; if the y is preceded by a vowel, the y is retained; as,

study

studied

carry

carried

pity

pitied


but

obey

obeyed

convey

conveyed

Compare with Rule 2.


Exercise 39

Rule 7.—In words containing a long e sound spelled either ie or eiei follows c; ie follows one of the other consonants; as,


ei

ie

deceive

relieve

siege

perceive

believe

yield

receive

belief

grief

conceive

chief

field

conceit

priest

piece

receipt

niece

wield


reprieve

lien

Exceptions.—Either, neither, weird, seize, leisure.


The following couplet may help in remembering when to write ie and when to write ei:

When the letter cyou spy,
Put thee before the i.

Exercise 40—The Pronunciation of c and g


The letter c is pronounced sometimes like s and sometimes like k.


What sound does c have before a? Illustrate.


Before e? Illustrate.


Before i? Illustrate.


Before o? Illustrate.


Before u? Illustrate.


Before y? Illustrate.


If c is pronounced like k, it is called hard and is marked [\c].


If c is pronounced like s, it is called soft and is marked ç. The mark used to indicate the soft c is called the cedilla.


Make a statement telling when c is hard and when it is soft.


What sound does g have before each of the vowels, as in gamegonegymnasiumGunthergentle?


Rule 8.—C and g usually are soft before ei, and y.\Exercise 41


Words ending in silent e, according to Rule 5, drop the e before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Exceptions occur when the e is needed to preserve the soft sound of c and g. Tell why e is dropped in encouraging and retained in courageous.


In words containing dg, as in judge and lodge, the d gives the g the soft sound, and there is no need to retain the e before adding a suffix, as in judgment.


Rule 9.—Words ending in silent e usually drop the e before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel, unless the e is needed to preserve the pronunciation; as after soft c and g, when the suffix begins with a or o.


Tell why the e is retained before the suffix in the following:

noticeable

damageable

pronounceable

outrageous

courageous

peaceable

serviceable

manageable

Tell why the e is dropped before adding the suffix in the following:

managing

curable

erasure

besieging

admirable

realization

receiving

obliging

precedence


perseverance


The fact that c has two different sounds causes a slight peculiarity in words ending in c. Final c has the sound of k. When words end in c, the letter k is usually added before a suffix beginning with either ei, or y, to show that c is not pronounced like s; as,

frolic       frolicked       frolicking

If the k is not added, the c changes its pronunciation; as,

public       publicity

Exercise 42

It follows by inference from Rule 9 that words ending in silent e retain the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant; as,

move

movement

disgrace

disgraceful

defense

defenseless

fate

fateful

arrange

arrangement

fierce

fiercely

noise

noiseless

manage

management

severe

severely

rude

rudeness

Exceptions.—Truly, duly, wisdom, awful, wholly.

Bring to class a list of twenty words that retain the final e before a suffix beginning with a consonant.


Exercise 43

What spelling rule does each of the following words illustrate?

advantageous

gigantic

boxes

admittance

mimicking

piece

libraries

occurrence

arrangement

receipt

keys

acquittal


Exercise 44—Abbreviations

Write abbreviations for the months of the year. Are there any that should not be abbreviated?


The abbreviations for the states and territories are:

Alabama, Ala.

Maryland, Md.

Arizona, Ariz.

Massachusetts, Mass.

Arkansas, Ark.

Michigan, Mich.

California, Cal.

Minnesota, Minn.

Colorado, Colo.

Mississippi, Miss.

Connecticut, Conn.

Missouri, Mo.

Delaware, Del.

Montana, Mont.

District of Columbia, D.C.

Nebraska, Nebr.

Florida, Fla.

Nevada, Nev.

Georgia, Ga.

New Hampshire, N.H.

Idaho, Idaho

New Mexico, N. Mex.

Illinois, Ill.

New York, N.Y.

Indiana, Ind.

New Jersey, N.J.

Iowa, Ia.

North Carolina, N.C.

Kansas, Kans.

North Dakota, N. Dak.

Kentucky, Ky.

Ohio, O.

Louisiana, La.

Oklahoma, Okla.

Maine, Me.

Oregon, Ore.

Pennsylvania, Pa.

Utah, Utah

Philippine Islands, P.I.

Vermont, Vt.

Porto Rico, P.R.

Virginia, Va.

South Carolina, S.C.

Washington, Wash.

South Dakota, S.D.

Wisconsin, Wis.

Tennessee, Tenn.

West Virginia, W. Va.

Texas, Tex.

Wyoming, Wyo.


Note.—It is much better to write the full name rather than the abbreviation whenever the former would make the address clearer, especially as regards similar abbreviations, such as Cal. and Colo.


Exercise 45—Abbreviations of Commercial Terms

A 1, first class

doz., dozen

@, at

E. & O.E., errors and omissions excepted

acct., account

ea., each

adv., advertisement

e.g., for example

agt., agent

etc., and so forth

a.m., forenoon

exch., exchange

amt., amount

ft., foot

app., appendix

f.o.b., free on board

atty., attorney

gal., gallon

av., average

i.e., that is

avoir., avoirdupois

imp., imported

bal., balance

in., inches

bbl., barrel

inst., this month (instant)

B/L, bill of lading

Jr., junior

bldg., building

kg., keg

B/S, bill of sale

lb., pound

bu., bushel

ltd., limited

C.B., cash book

mdse., merchandise

C., hundred

mem., memorandum

coll., collection, collector

mo., month

Co., company

M.S. (MSS)., manuscript

C.O.D., cash on delivery

mtg., mortgage

cr., creditor

N.B., take notice

cwt., hundredweight

no., number

D., five hundred

O.K., all right

dept., department

per, by

disc., discount

p.m., afternoon

do., ditto

%, per cent

dr., debtor, debit

St., street

pkg., package

str., steamer

pp., pages

ult., last month

pr., pair

U.S.M., United States Mail

pc., piece

viz., namely

pk., peck

vol., volume

prox., next month

W/B, way bill

pt., pint

wt., weight

Sr., senior




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