43a. Spelling rules

43aBecome familiar with the major spelling rules.

i before e except after c

In general, use i before e except after c and except when sounded like ay, as in neighbor and weigh.

i before e relieve, believe, sieve, niece, fierce, frieze
e before i receive, deceive, sleigh, freight, eight
exceptions seize, either, weird, height, foreign, leisure

Suffixes

Final silent –e Generally, drop a final silent -e when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel. Keep the final -e if the suffix begins with a consonant.

combine, combination achieve, achievement
desire, desiring care, careful
prude, prudish entire, entirety
remove, removable gentle, gentleness

Words such as changeable, judgment, argument, and truly are exceptions.

Final –y When adding -s or -d to words ending in -y, ordinarily change -y to -ie when the -y is preceded by a consonant but not when it is preceded by a vowel.

comedy, comedies monkey, monkeys
dry, dried play, played

With proper names ending in -y, however, do not change the -y to -ie even if it is preceded by a consonant: the Doughertys.

Final consonants If a final consonant is preceded by a single vowel and the consonant ends a one-syllable word or a stressed syllable, double the consonant when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.

bet, betting occur, occurrence
commit, committed

Plurals

-s or –es Add -s to form the plural of most nouns; add -es to singular nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, and -x.

table, tables church, churches
paper, papers dish, dishes

Ordinarily add -s to nouns ending in -o when the -o is preceded by a vowel. Add -es when it is preceded by a consonant.

radio, radios hero, heroes
video, videos tomato, tomatoes

Other plurals To form the plural of a hyphenated compound word, add -s to the chief word even if it does not appear at the end.

mother-in-law, mothers-in-law

English words derived from other languages such as Latin, Greek, or French sometimes form the plural as they would in their original language.

medium, media chateau, chateaux
criterion, criteria

Multilingual

Spelling varies slightly among English-speaking countries. Variations can be confusing for some multilingual students in the United States. Following is a list of some common words with different American and British spellings. Consult a dictionary for others.

AMERICAN BRITISH
canceled, traveled cancelled, travelled
color, humor colour, humour
judgment judgement
check cheque
realize, apologize realise, apologise
defense defence
anemia, anesthetic anaemia, anaesthetic
theater, center theatre, centre
fetus foetus
mold, smolder mould, smoulder
civilization civilisation
connection, inflection connexion, inflexion
licorice liquorice