Chapter III

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 (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

(a)

potato, potatoeshero, heroesmulatto, mulattoes

tomato, tomatoes buffalo, buffaloes cargo, cargoes

negro, negroesecho, echoesmotto, mottoes

(b)

solo, solospiano, pianosmemento, mementos

halo, haloslasso, lassoscanto, cantos

zero, zerosquarto, 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, leavescalf, calveswife, wives

loaf, loaves sheaf, sheaves shelf, shelves

half, halveswolf, wolveself, elves

life, livesbeef, beeveswharf, wharves (or wharfs)

self, selves knife, knives

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

hoof, hoofsscarf, scarfs beliefs, beliefs

chief, chiefs reef, reefsgrief, griefs

Exercise 33—Irregular Plurals

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

manmenfootfeet

woman women tooth teeth

goosegeese 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 brothersbrethren

pennypennies pence

peapeaspease

diediesdice

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

Exercise 34—Compound Nouns

Singular Plural

brother-in-lawbrothers-in-law

father-in-lawfathers-in-law

court-martialcourts-martial

commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief

man-of-warmen-of-war

major generalmajor generals

goose quillgoose quills

bill of farebills of fare

spoonfulspoonfuls

cupfulcupfuls

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 33's

ww's5 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.

SingularPlural Singular Plural

crisiscrisesstratumstrata

thesisthesesradiusradii

hypothesis hypotheses parenthesis parentheses

focusfocisynopsissynopses

datumdatabasisbases

alumnusalumniautomatonautomata

alumnaalumnaeanalysisanalyses

oasisoasesnucleusnuclei

axisaxesphenomenon phenomena

genusgenera

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

Singular Plural

beaubeauxbeaus

formula formulaeformulas

vertexverticesvertexes

indexindicesindexes

cherubcherubim cherubs

seraphseraphimseraphs

banditbandittibandits

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

Rap, rapping, rapped Reap, reaping, reaped

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:

chatlapsuitstep

cheat leapsitsteep

rottrain soptrot

roottrimsoap treat

Trap, trapping, trapped Track, tracking, tracked

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.

Pin, pinning Pine, pining

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 robflop

noterobeelope

dealswimquit(u is not here a vowel)

clapstrike crawl(w is here a vowel)

stopoilwax(x equals cks)

pealrushbow(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:

preferintervene escapeexpel

referrevealacquirecontain

occurrepealsecureforbid

permitpursueconceal incur

interfere erasearrangeforget

retaincontrolacquitrepel

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

benefit travelmarvelshelter

revelanswer exhibit render

quarrelprofitshovellimit

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

confer conference inferinference

referreferenceprefer preferable

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

neglect neglectingleanleaning

preferpreference selectselecting

creepcreepingreceipt receipting

wonderwonderingansweranswering

Exercise 38

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

studystudyingobeyobeying

carry carrying convey conveying

pitypitying

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 ei, ei follows c; ie follows one of the other consonants; as,

ei ie

deceiverelievesiege

perceivebelieve yield

receivebeliefgrief

conceive chieffield

conceitpriestpiece

receiptniecewield

reprievelien

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

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

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 game, gone, gymnasium, Gunther, gentle?

Rule 8.—C and g usually are soft before e, i, 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 peaceableserviceablemanageable

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

managingcurableerasure

besieging admirablerealization

receivingobligingprecedence

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 e, i, 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,

movemovementdisgrace disgraceful

defensedefenseless fatefateful

arrange arrangementfiercefiercely

noisenoiselessmanagemanagement

severeseverelyruderudeness

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 boxesadmittance

mimickingpiecelibraries occurrence

arrangementreceiptkeysacquittal

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, IdahoNew 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 classdoz., dozen

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

acct., accountea., each

adv., advertisement e.g., for example

agt., agentetc., and so forth

a.m., forenoonexch., exchange

amt., amountft., foot

app., appendixf.o.b., free on board

atty., attorneygal., gallon

av., averagei.e., that is

avoir., avoirdupoisimp., imported

bal., balancein., inches

bbl., barrelinst., this month (instant)

B/L, bill of ladingJr., junior

bldg., buildingkg., keg

B/S, bill of salelb., pound

bu., bushelltd., limited

C.B., cash bookmdse., merchandise

C., hundredmem., memorandum

coll., collection, collector mo., month

Co., companyM.S. (MSS)., manuscript

C.O.D., cash on deliverymtg., mortgage

cr., creditorN.B., take notice

cwt., hundredweightno., number

D., five hundredO.K., all right

dept., departmentper, by

disc., discountp.m., afternoon

do., ditto%, per cent

dr., debtor, debitSt., street

pkg., packagestr., steamer

pp., pagesult., last month

pr., pairU.S.M., United States Mail

pc., pieceviz., namely

pk., peckvol., volume

prox., next monthW/B, way bill

pt., pintwt., weight

Sr., senior