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: