RULES FOR SPELLING

I. Formation of Possessives

1. The following list is made up of words in the singular number. To form the possessive, add an apostrophe and "s."

horse's head
man's coat
girl's dress
boy's shoes
soldier's uniform
child's laugh
sheep's wool
sister's hat

2. The following list is made up of plural nouns that do not end in "s." To form the possessive, add an apostrophe and "s."

children's clothes
men's shirts
women's praise
gentlemen's plans

3. The following list is made up of plural nouns ending in "s."

To form the possessive, add only an apostrophe.

miles' walk
girls' clothing
years' word
pupils' attention

II. Treatment of the final consonant before a suffix

1. The following list contains words of one syllable. Notice that each word ends in a consonant, and that in every word there is a single short vowel preceding it. In all such words, the final consonant is doubled before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.

big—bigg (er) (est)
drop—dropp(ed) (ing)
stop—stopp(ed) (ing)
plan—plann(ed) (ing)
begin—beginn(er) (ing)

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