[Final e before a Suffix Beginning with a Vowel]
76. Words that end in silent e usually drop the e in derivatives or before a suffix beginning with a vowel.
Examples: bride, bridal; guide, guidance; please, pleasure; fleece, fleecy; force, forcible; argue, arguing; arrive, arrival; conceive, conceivable; college, collegiate; write, writing; use, using; change, changing; judge, judging; believe, believing.
[Note 1.]—Of the exceptions some retain the e to prevent confusion with other words. Exceptions: dyeing, singeing, mileage, acreage, hoeing, shoeing, agreeing, eyeing. The exceptions cause comparatively little trouble. One rarely sees hoing or shoing; he often sees hopeing and inviteing.
[Note 2.]—After c or g and before a suffix beginning with a or o the e is retained. The purpose of this retention is to preserve the soft sound of the c or g. (Observe that c and g have the hard sound in cable, gable, cold, go.)
Examples: peaceable, changeable, noticeable, serviceable, outrageous, courageous, advantageous.
Exercise:
- Write the present participle of the following words: use, love, change, judge, shake, hope, shine, have, seize, slope, strike, dine, come, place, argue, achieve, emerge, arrange, abide, oblige, subdue.
- Write the present participle of the following words: singe, tinge, dye, agree, eye.
- Write the -ous or -able form of the following words: trace, love, blame, move, conceive, courage, service, advantage, umbrage.
- Write the adjectives which correspond to the following nouns: force, sphere, vice, sense, fleece, college, hygiene.
- Write the nouns which correspond to the following verbs: please, guide, grieve, arrive, oblige, prepare, inspire.
[Plurals]
[77a.] Most nouns add s or es to form the plural. Examples: word, words; fire, fires, negro, negroes; Eskimo, Eskimos; leaf, leaves (f changes to v for the sake of euphony); knife, knives.