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 |