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The Spelling

The Rules of Spelling

English - one great agglomeration ...

“Of all the languages of the earth English, in its vocabulary, is the most heterogeneous. Almost every nation has contributed to it until words from the Hebrew, Celtic, Latin, Greek, Saxon, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Hindu, Maori, Hawaiian, Russian, Turkish, and even American-Indian may be found in one great agglomeration.” —F. H. Vizetelly, Essentials of English Speech and Literature, Funk and Wagnalls NY and London, 1915

Consult the list of rules below but don't try to memorize the rules all at once. Over time you will learn these rules by conversing, reading and writing, (and turning on spellcheck). Here is something the rules don't tell you but Merriam Webster does — every letter can be silent sometimesexternal link.

This list of rules was compiled using the Primary School Dictionary, English Language, by Noah Webster LLD, published in 1880 and found at The Internet Archivesexternal link

  1. Doubling f and l at the end of a one syllable word (monosyllable).
  2. Doubling s at the end of a monosyllable.
  3. Sometimes double these consonants at the end of a one syllable word.
  4. Never double the last consonant in a monosyllable with two vowels.
  5. Ending a word in c or ck.
  6. Adding k after c before extending a word.
  7. Doubling last consonant when adding an ending starting with a vowel.
  8. When not to double last consonant with ending starting with a vowel.
  9. To double or not to double the last consonant when extending.
  10. Dropping a silent e with endings that start with a consonant.
  11. Dropping a silent e with endings that start with a vowel.
  12. Extending words that end in ie.
  13. Extending words that end in a double consonant.
  14. Extending words that end in a y.
  15. Extending words that end in a vowel followed by y.
  16. Extending words that end in a vowel when the ending begins in a vowel.
  17. Adding a prefix to a word ending in a double consonant.
  18. Forming compound words.
  19. Noun plurals ending in s or es.
  20. When to change a y to i and add es to form a plural.
  21. Changing f or fe to ves to form a plural.
  22. Changing a vowel sound to form the plural, as in man, men.
  23. Forming plurals by adding en.
  24. Words having more than one plural form.
  25. Words whose singular and plural forms are the same.
  26. The plural form of some foreign language words.
  27. The plural form of compound words.
  28. The same word spelled with in or en at the beginning.
  29. The same word spelled with er or re at the end.
  30. The convention for using ize or ise at the end of words.
  31. The same word spelled with or or our at the end.

R1 Doubling f and l at the end of a one syllable word (monosyllable).

When

As in spell,

Exceptions



R2 Doubling s at the end of a monosyllable.

When

As in

Exceptions



R3 Sometimes double these consonants at the end of a one syllable word.

Sometimes consonants b, d, g, n, r, t and z are doubled at the end of a monosyllable with one vowel.  These occurrences are like exceptions because more often these letters are not doubled.

As in

Show/Hide words from Datamuse ending with

R4 Never double the last consonant in a monosyllable with two vowels.

Never double the last consonant if the monosyllable has two vowels. The words ail, peat, haul, goof, leaf, door, and maim, are examples.

R5 Ending a word in c or ck

The letter c at the end of a word is usually a hard c which has the sound of k.  Over time, a convention has developed which adds the letter k to the end of the word to leave no doubt about the intended pronunciation.

K is added to monosyllables, as in

The convention is not applied to all words, many of which are related to science, so there are exceptions, as in

When the word has more than one syllable and the final c is not proceeded by i or ia, k is often added, as in

There are noteworthy exceptions, as in

Words of more than one syllable which end in c proceeded by i or ia, do not have k added, as in



R6 Adding k after c before extending a word

Words ending in c may have k added before attaching a word ending which begins with the vowels e, i, or y to prevent the pronunciation from changing to a soft c, thus keeping the k sound.

K is added before —

R7 Doubling last consonant when adding an ending that starts with a vowel

When

R8 When not to double last consonant with an ending that starts with a vowel

If the accent does not fall on the last syllable, or there is more than one vowel at the end — do not double the last consonant before adding ending, as in

R9 To double or not to double the last consonant when extending the word

There is a large class of words where the convention of doubling the last letter before an ending beginning with a vowel varies by region so you can only memorize what is considered correct in your region. These words are chiefly those ending in l, with also a few of other terminations.

The following list, the words in which are chiefly verbs, includes the most important of those in regard to which usage varies, namely,

Let's have a look at quarrel as described by several online dictionaries:

R10 Dropping a silent e with endings that start with a consonant

Keep the e if the ending begins with a consonant as, pale, paleness; hate, hateful; chaste, chastely, chasteness; move, movement; abridge, abridgement.

When, however, the e is immediately preceded by another vowel (except e), it is often dropped from the derivative as, due, duly; argue, argument; true, truly; awe, and awful. 

Exceptions: wholly, nursling, wisdom.

There is a number of words where the convention varies by region or writer as in:

Although both spellings are accepted the prevailing spelling drops the e even though that spelling is an exception.

R11 Dropping a silent e with endings that start with a vowel

In derivatives formed from words ending with silent e, when the termination begins with a vowel, the e is generally omitted:

As in

Don't drop the e if by doing so one word turns into another word or the pronunciation changes undesirably, as in:

R12 Extending words that end in ie

When adding ing to words ending in ie, drop the e and change the i to a y, as in

R13 Extending words that end in a double consonant

Normally you just add the ending without any adjustments, as in

If adding an ending that starts with l to a word that ends in double l, one l is dropped, as in:

Exceptions

R14 Extending words that end in a y

If the ending begins with a consonant as in — ness, ly, ful — we change the y to i and add the ending, as in:

To make a word ending with y plural, change the y to i and add es, as in

Exceptions

Monosyllables ending with y usually keep the y, as in:

Archaic derivatives formed by adding the termination ship, as secretaryship, suretyship, ladyship, and the like, also retain the y. The words babyhood and ladykin, are likewise exceptions.

R15 Extending words that end in a vowel followed by y

Derivatives formed by affixing a termination to words ending in y, preceded by a vowel, generally retain the y unchanged, as in

Exceptions

The words daily, laid, paid, said, saith, slain, and staid (from day, lay, pay, say, slay, and stay), with their compounds, are exceptions. Staid, however, is sometimes written stayed.

R16 Extending words that end in a vowel when the ending begins in a vowel

Derivatives formed by appending a syllable beginning with a vowel to words ending with a vowel sound, generally retain the letter or letters representing such sound ; as, huzza, huzzaed ; agree, agreeable, agreeing ; echo, echoed ; bow, bowed ; beau, beauish.

If the word ends in silent e and the ending begins with e drop the silent e as in:

R17 Adding a prefix to a word ending in a double consonant

Derivatives formed by prefixing one or more syllables to words ending in a double consonant commonly retain both consonants : as, befall, enthrall, disenthrall, foretell, tindersell, fulfill, enroll, emboss (from fall, thrall, tell, sell, fill, roll, boss).

The word until is an exception.

The words distill and instill should be written with the I doubled, though the spelling varies and they are often written distil and instil, with only one I.

R18 Forming compound words

Compound words formed by joining two or more words commonly retain all the letters of the simple words: as, stiff-necked, well-bred, dull-eyed, save-all, wide-mouthed.

There are numerous exceptions to this rule, many of them compounds which by long use have acquired the force of single words. They are the following : namely, some compounds of all and well; as, almighty, almost, alone, already, also, although, altogether, always, withal, therewithal, wherewithal, welcome, welfare; — compounds of mass; as, Candlemas, Christmas, Lammas, Michaehmas, &c. ; — words of which the second part is the adjective full; as, artful, hateful, rueful, woeful; — also, the words chilblain, fulfill, namesake, neckerchief, numskull, pastime, standish, and wherever.

R19 Noun plurals ending in s or es

The plural of nouns regularly ends in s, or, in certain classes of words, in es.

When the noun in the singular ends with such a sound that the sound of s can unite with it, and be pronounced without forming a separate syllable, s only is added in forming the plural • as, sea, seas ; tree, trees ; canto, cantos; claw, claws; cab, cabs; bead, beads; chief , chiefs ; lock, locks; bell, bells; cup, cups; act, acts.

A few plurals from nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant, end in es ; as, echo, echoes ; cargo, cargoes; embargo, embargoes; motto, mottoes; potato, potatoes.

When the noun in the singular ends with such a sound (as that of ch, sh, j, s, x, or z) that the sound of s can not unite with it in pronunciation, but must form a separate syllable, e is inserted before s in forming the plural, unless the word ends with silent e, in which case the latter serves to form a separate syllable with s, as, church, churches ; rush, rushes; age, ages ; lace, laces ; -gas, gases ; case , cases ; loss, losses ; box, boxes ; maze, mazes.

To express the plural of a letter, figure, or any character or sign, or of a word mentioned without regard to its meaning, the letter s, generally preceded by the apostrophe, is appended, as in the phrases, ” The two I’s in all”;  “the two 0’s in 400”; “The why’s and wherefore’s of the question.”

R20 When to change a y to i and add es to form a plural

Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant form their plural by adding es and changing y into i as in: mercy, mercies; lady, ladies; sky, skies; army, armies; pity, pities.

This rule includes words ending in quy, in which u, being pronounced like w, is strictly a consonant : as colloquy, colloquies.

The plural of proper nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, is formed by changing y into ies, according to the rule : as, ” The three Ruths.”

When the singular of a noun ends in y preceded by a vowel (except u having the power of w), the plural is regularly formed by adding s only : as, day, days ; key, keys ; money, moneys ; alloy, alloys; guy, guys.

R21 Changing f or fe to ves to form a plural

The plurals of a few nouns ending in f or fe are irregularly formed by changing for fe into ves.

The following words, with their compounds, are the principal examples: life, lives; sheaf, sheaves ; calf, calves ; self, selves ; wolf, wolves.

The plural of staff is sometimes written staffs, but more commonly staves, except when it means a corps of officers, either military or civil, in which sense it is always written staff’s.

The plural of wharf is generally written wharfs in England; in the United States it is more commonly written wharves.

R22 Changing a vowel sound to form the plural as in man, men

In the following nouns, the plural is distinguished from the singular only by a change of the vowel or vowel sound of the word, as in man, men; woman, women; goose, geese; foot, feet; tooth, teeth; brother, brethren; louse, lice; mouse, mice.

R23 Forming plurals by adding en

A few plurals end in en: namely, brother, brethren; child, children; ox, oxen.

R24 Words having more than one plural form

The words brother, pea, and penny, have each two plurals of different forms and with different significations.

Brother

Pea

Penny

R25 Words whose singular and plural forms are the same

A few words, mostly names of animals, have the same form in the plural as in the singular ; as, deer, sheep, trout, and the like.

R26 The plural form of some foreign language words

Many words adopted from foreign languages retain their original plurals; as, datum, data ; genus, genera ; larva, larvae: ; crisis, crises ; focus, foci; monsieur messieurs.

Many words of this class, while retaining the original plurals, have also a second, formed alter the analogy of English words of similar termination : as, formula, formula or formulas; beau, beaux or beaus ; index, indices or indexes; stratum, strata or stratums; bandit, banditti or bandits ; cherub, cherubim or cherubs ; seraph, seraphim or seraphs.

R27 The plural form of compound words

In certain loose compounds consisting of a noun followed by an adjective or other qualifying expression, the plural is commonly formed by making the same change in the noun as when it stands alone; as, court-martial, courts-martial; cousin-german, cousins-german; son-in-law, sons-in-law.

When, however, the adjective is so closely joined to the noun that the compound has the force of a simple word, the plural of the compound is commonly formed like that of any other word of the same termination : as, cupful, cupfuls ; handful, handfuls.

R28 The same word spelled with in or en at the beginning

There is a class of words beginning with en or in — as, enclose or inclose, enquire, or inquire, ensure, or insure, and those like – many of which take either form of the prefix indifferently. They are chiefly derived from the Latin, either directly or through the French, the prefix in belonging to the former language, and en to the latter. In some of these words, en is to be preferred; in others in; in many of them, either may be used indifferently.

R29 The same word spelled with er or re at the end

There is a class of words ending in er, some of which are written by most authors with the termination re — as, center, meter, theater, &c. — which are often written centre, metre, theatre, &c. Acre, chancre, lucre, nacre, massacre, and ogre, retain the termination re, in order to preserve the hard sound of the c and g.

R30 The convention for using ize or ise at the end of words

There is a class of words ending, as pronounced, with the sound of long i, followed by z, some of which are differently written, by different authors, with either ise or ize to represent this sound : as, criticize, or criticise. ; civilize, or civilise ; naturalize or naturalise ; patronize or patronise.

The following are the principal English verbs ending in ise : namely, advertise, advise, affranchise, apprise, catechise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, criticise, demise, despise, devise, disenfranchise, disfranchise, disguise, divertise, emprise, enfranchise, enterprise, exercise, franchise, manumise, misprise, premise, reprise, revise, supervise, surmise, surprise.

R31 The same word spelled with or or our at the end

There is a numerous class of words, almost universally written, in the United States, with the termination or, many of which are written, in England, with the termination our: as candor, favor, honor, labor, rumor, vigor. English usage, however, is not uniform with respect to these words, many of them being written either way.