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, 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

With 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

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:

chat lap suit step

cheat leap sit steep

rot train sop trot

root trim soap 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 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 ei, ei 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 c you spy,
Put the e 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 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 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 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,

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