Chapter 21 Spelling
1. Monosyllables ending -l, with a single vowel before it, have -11 at the close:
- fill,
- well,
- tell,
- till,
- full.
2. Monosyllables ending in-l, with a double vowel before it, have only one-l at the close:
- Tail,
- Well,
- Feel
3. Monosyllables ending in-ll drop the final-l only before suffixes beginning with a consonant (except-ness), but not before those beginning with vowels:
- Well —Welcome;
- Full—Fulfill, Fulsome;
- But Ill—Illness;
- Still—Stillness;
- Will-—Willing;
- Fill— Filling-,
- Hill —Hillock.
Read And Learn More WBBSE Class 9 English Functional Grammar
4. Monosyllables ending in-ll drop the final-l when they are used as suffixes:
- Roll —Enroll;
- Fill—Fulfill.
Exceptions: A few monosyllables retain the-ll;
- Call: roll-call.
- Fall: rainfall, downfall.
- Well: farewell, unwell.
5. The final is dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel:
- Leave—Leaving;
- Give—Giving;
- Cure—Curable;
- Move—Movable.
But, move—movement; tire tiresome.
Exceptions:—But the finale is retained :
In words ending in-ce, -ge before suffixes beginning with a, o, u, if the soft sound is to be retained :
- Service —serviceable;
- Marriage—marriageable;
- Courage—courageous.
- But practice—practicable.
We, however, write singeing and swingeing to distinguish the words from singing, and swinging.
– In words ending in -ee, -oe, -ye:
- Agree—agreeable,
- Agreeing; hoe—hoeing;
- Dye—dyeing; eye—eyeing.
- But free—freer.
Monosyllables ending in-ie, change -ie into y before-mg:
In many words
- Die—dying;
- Lie—lying.
s before-able to show that the root vowel has a long sound: sale —saleable.
6. The finale is retained before suffixes beginning with a consonant:
- Care —careful,
- Dare—darkness,
- Incite—incitement,
- Free—freedom.
But the finale is dropped in words ending in -age, -le, -ue, -we: judge—judgment, whole—wholly, true—truly, awe—awful.
7. Monosyllables ending in a consonant, with a single vowel before it double the consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel:
- Get—getting;
- Sin—sinner; hit—hitting;
- God—goddess.
- But good—goodness;
- Sin—sinful; god—godlike;
- Troop—trooper;
- Sleep—sleepy.
- We, however, have wool—woolen.
8. Words of more than one syllable ending in a consonant with a single vowel before it doubles the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel if the accent is on the last
syllable:
- Commit —committee;
- Refer—referring;
- Omit—omitting;
- Repel—repelled.
Many words ending in-l, though not accented on the last syllable, double the final-l:
- Travel—traveler, traveled;
- Jewel—jeweler.
But, unparalleled, worshipper, worshipped, etc.
9. Words ending in-y changeÿ into-i before all suffixes except-ous, only when they is
- Preceded by a consonant:
- Dry—dried (but, dryness);
- Deny—denial;
- Hoary—hoariness-,
- Gloomy—gloomier, gloominess;
- Beauty —beautiful (but, beauteous).
- But boy—boyhood, boyish;
- Valley;—valleys.