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Final consonant doubled
(a) A word ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel generally doubles the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel, if it is a word of one syllable or if the accent falls on the final syllable of the original word: plan, planning, planned; refer, referring, referred; bid, bidding, bidden; acquit, acquitting, acquitted; commit, committing, committed.
Exceptions: devil, devilish; benefit, benefited.
(b) When a word ends in L, the final consonant is usually doubled before a suffix: cancel, cancellation.
NOTE: Words ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel do not double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel if a shift of accent results from addition of the suffix: prefer, preference; confer, conference.
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Final E
(a) Words ending in a silent E usually drop the E before a suffix beginning with a vowel; dine, dining; trouble, troubling, subdue, subduing; desire, desirable.
Exceptions: dyeing, singeing (to distinguish from dying and singing); shoeing
(b) Words ending in silent E generally retain E before a suffix beginning with a consonant: complete, completeness; enforce, enforcement; vague, vagueness; manage, management, engage, engagement; use, useful; care, careful.
Exceptions: argument, truly, ninth
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Final Y
(a) Words ending in Y preceded by a consonant, change Y to I before a suffix: heavy, heaviest; lively, livelihood; salary, salaried; necessary, necessarily.
(b) Words ending in Y preceded by a vowel generally retain Y before a suffix: annoy, annoyance, annoying; journey, journeyed; gay, gayest.
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Final C
Words ending in C with the hard sound of K ? add K before I, Y or E;
Picnic, picnicking; panic, panicky; traffic, trafficking; mimic, mimicked.
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Final N
Words ending in N retain the N before the suffix ? ness;
Sudden, suddenness; clean, cleanness; keen, keenness.
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Words with IE and EI
An easy way to remember the rule for IE and EI is to learn the following rhyme:
I before E
Except after C
Or when sounded like A
As in neighbour and weigh
e.g. believe, reprieve, receive
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Words with ABLE and IBLE
In writing the adjectival form of certain words there are no definite rules but the following guides may be helpful.
Words ending in ?ation, usually take the suffix ABLE; duration, durable; adaptation, adaptable; words ending in ?sion or ?tion usually take the suffix IBLE; division, divisible; permission, permissible; destruction, destructible.
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Words prefixed by DIS or MIS
When the prefix DIS or MIS is added, no change is made in the original word. A double S occurs only where the original word begins with S: disappear, misdirect, dissatisfied, disrobe, misbelieve, misspelled.
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Plurals
(a) When a noun ends in Y preceded by a consonant, the plural is formed by changing Y to I and adding ES (to the singular): variety, varieties; monopoly, monopolies.
(b) When a noun ends in Y preceded by a vowel, the plural is formed by adding S to the singular: holiday, holidays; journey, journeys; attorney, attorneys.
(c) When a noun ends in O, the plural in most cases is formed by adding S to the singular: piano, pianos; ratio, ratios. Sometimes the plural is formed by adding ES to the singular: potato, potatoes; veto, vetoes.
(d) When a noun ends in F or FE the plural in most cases is formed by adding S to the singular: sheriff, sheriffs; plaintiff, plaintiffs; staff, staffs; safe safes. Sometimes the plural is formed by changing F or FE to V and adding ES: knife, knives; shelf, shelves.
(e) The plural is formed in some nouns by a vowel change instead of by the addition of a suffix: goose, geese; man, men; mouse, mice, foot, feet.
(f) Some words retain their original Greek or Latin plural forms.
The singular and plural forms are given here: analysis, analyses; basis, bases;
Phenomenon, phenomena; parenthesis, parentheses; hypotheses, hypotheses. Certain Latin words are almost always used in the plural such as data and incunabula.
(g) Some nouns are rarely if ever used in the singular:annals,athletics,clothes,nuptials,scissors.
(h) In compound nouns the plural is usually added to the last member, but sometimes the first member: passerby, passersby; son-in-law, sons-in-law; coat of arms, coats of arms; court martial, courts martial.
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Alternative Spelling
In competition, spellings that are thought to be "Alternative" will be accepted so long as they are recognized in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (Second Edition) and the Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation
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A Note Regarding the Words in this Manual
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Word Selection:
Oxford University Press Lexicographers were responsible for the selection of words for this manual and various tiebreaking lists. The correct spelling of each word was verified by reference to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary
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PARTICIPANTS:
For each word, this manual provides alternative spelling(s), pronunciation(s), the part of speech, one or more definitions and a sentence to show the use of the word. In competition, however, contestants will be tested only on the spelling and need know only one form; the additional information is given only to help the contestant learn the word
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ABBREVIATIONS:
adj. adjective adv. adverb n. noun
v. verb prep. preposition
interj. interjection
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