Chapter III: Part 3

2. The following list contains verbs of more than one syllable. Each verb is accented on the last syllable, and ends in a single consonant preceded by a single short vowel. In such verbs, the final consonant is doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel.

beginn(ing)
referr(ed) (ing)
occurr(ed)
forgott(en)
remitt(ance)

=III. Adding suffixes to words ending in "e"=

1. A word ending in silent "e" drops the "e" before a vowel, as:

come--coming
hope--hoping
serve--serving
appreciate--appreciating
vote--voting

2. When a suffix beginning with a consonant is added to a word ending in "e," the "e" is kept.

announce--announce-ment
hope--hope-ful
late--late-ly
care--care-less
lone--lone-some

3. "E" is retained to keep the soft sound of "c" and "g" before "a" and "o" as in notice--notice-able, and advantage--advantage-ous.

=Exceptions:=

Of the words commonly used in writing letters the following exceptions are to be made:

a. When a suffix beginning with a consonant is added to a word ending in "e":

(1) Only three words drop "e" before adding "ment": judgment, acknowledgment, argument.

(2) Only one word drops "e" before adding "ful": awful.

(3) Only three words drop "e" before adding "ly":

true--truly
due--duly
whole--wholly

b. When the last syllable of a word ends in "le," "ly" does not make a new syllable, as: probable---probably, possible--possibly, simple--simply.

(When "ly" is added to words ending in "l," both "l's" are retained, as: practical--practically, careful--carefully.)

=IV. Treatment of the final "y"=

1. To form the plural of a noun ending in "y" preceded by a consonant, change the "y" to "i" and add "es."

lady--ladies
quantity--quantities
quality--qualities

2. When a verb ends in "y" preceded by a consonant, change the "y" to "i" and add "es" to form the third person singular of the verb. To form the past tense of the verb, change the "y" to "i" and add "ed."

fry--fries
cry--cries
bury--buried
carry--carried

3. When a word ends in "y" preceded by a vowel, form the plural by adding "s."

turkey--turkeys
chimney--chimneys
valley--valleys

4. When "y" is preceded by a consonant, change it to "i" before a suffix which does not begin with "i," as in business, readily, happiness, etc.

Retain "y" in such words as: hurrying, crying, flying, etc.

=V. Treatment and use of the apostrophe=

1. Put the apostrophe in the place of the absent letter or letters: aren't, don't, didn't, can't, I'll, etc.

2. Possessives of personal pronouns have no apostrophe, as: its, hers, ours, yours, etc.

=VI. Irregular Plurals=

Some words ending in "f" or "fe" form their plurals by changing the "f" or "fe" to "v" and adding "es."

half--halves
knife--knives
life--lives
leaf--leaves
calf--calves
wife--wives

=VII. Confusion of "ei" and "ie"=

NOTE TO TEACHER:--Experimental evidence does not seem to show
that this rule is very effective, but if it is taught, the
following presentation is recommended.

Whenever "i" and "e" occur together in one syllable, and are pronounced as "[=e]" or "[)e]," it is always "i" before "e" except after "c" (see). When sounded like "[=a]" it is always "e" before "i." Some have used the following jingle to help fix the rule:

"i" before "e"
Except after "c"
Or when sounded like "a"
As in neighbor or weigh.

Four of the words most commonly used in writing letters are exceptions to these rules: neither, leisure, foreign, height.

Transcriber's Note:

* Text enclosed between equal signs was in bold face in the
original (=bold=).

* Punctuation errors have been corrected.

* All misprinted reference pages throughout the book have been
corrected (vii-xvi).

* Pg 17 Added missing "opening quotation" before "Remember" in "Remember
that the purpose of this test ..."

* Pg 97 Removed ")" after "I didn't see him.")" and added "("
before "Fitzgerald".

* Pg 97 Corrected spelling of "kindom" to "kingdom" in "... gone
to kindom come"

* Pg 103 Corrected spelling of "expecially" to "especially" in
"... expecially since they are in ..."

* Pg 109 Corrected spelling of "occassionally" to "occasionally"
in "... there is occassionally found ..."

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