At its best, English spelling can be perplexing, especially for non-native speakers and writers. The following rules and suggestions are offered as aids. You will always be able to find exceptions to these rules, but most writers find them helpful. | At its best, English spelling can be perplexing, especially for non-native speakers and writers. The following rules and suggestions are offered as aids. You will always be able to find exceptions to these rules, but most writers find them helpful. i before e, except after c . . . . achieve, believe, bier, brief, hygiene, grief, thief, friend, grieve, chief, fiend, patience, pierce, priest ceiling, conceive, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive, deceit, conceit . . . and in words that rhyme with hay. . . neighbor, freight, beige, sleigh, weight, vein, and weigh . . . and some other exceptions. . . . either, neither, feint, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, weird, seize A final y changes to i when an ending is added . supply becomes supplies worry becomes worried merry becomes merrier . . . except when that ending is -ing. . . crying, studying . . . And when the y is preceded by a vowel. . . . obeyed, saying A silent e is dropped when adding an ending that begins with a vowel . . . . | At its best, English spelling can be perplexing, especially for non-native speakers and writers. The following rules and suggestions are offered as aids. You will always be able to find exceptions to these rules, but most writers find them helpful. i before e, except after c . . . . achieve, believe, bier, brief, hygiene, grief, thief, friend, grieve, chief, fiend, patience, pierce, priest ceiling, conceive, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive, deceit, conceit . . . and in words that rhyme with hay. . . neighbor, freight, beige, sleigh, weight, vein, and weigh . . . and some other exceptions. . . . either, neither, feint, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, weird, seize A final y changes to i when an ending is added . supply becomes supplies worry becomes worried merry becomes merrier . . . except when that ending is -ing. . . crying, studying . . . And when the y is preceded by a vowel. . . . obeyed, saying A silent e is dropped when adding an ending that begins with a vowel . . . advance + -ing = advancing surprise + -ing = surprising . . . but kept when the ending begins with a consonant . . . advancement, likeness . . . unless the e is preceded by a vowel. . . . argue + -ment = argument true + -ly = truly Adding a prefix seldom changes the spelling of a word. misspelled unnecessary dissatisfied disinterested misinform We form plurals in English by adding -s or -es. shoes porches boxes bushes blitzes For words ending in a consonant plus -y, change the -y to -i and add -es. For proper nouns, keep the -y. toys companies Kennedys When adding an ending to a word that ends in a consonant, we double that consonant when the ending begins with a vowel and the last syllable of the word is accented and that syllable ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant. Now that’s a mouthful! Let’s look at some examples. . . . ADMIT + -ed = ADMITTED When adding an ending to a word that ends in a consonant, we double that consonant when the ending begins with a vowel and .
