English usage is a subject as wide as the English language itself. By far the greater part of usage, however, raises no ontroversies and poses no problems for native speakers of English, just because it is their natural idiom. But there are certain limited areas --particular sounds, spellings, words, and constructions--about which there arises uncertainty, difficulty, or disagreement. The proper aim of a usage guide is to resolve these problems, rather than describe the whole of current usage. | Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy visit for more details The Oxford Guide to English Usage CONTENTS Table of Contents =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Page TITLE Edition Notice EDITION Notices NOTICES Table of Contents CONTENTS Introduction FRONT_1 Grammatical Terms Used in This Book FRONT_2 Abbreviations FRONT_3 Word Formation abbreviations -ability and -ibility -able and -ible ae and oe American spelling ante- and anti- -ant or ant a or an -ative or -ive by- prefix c and ck capital or small initials -cede or -ceed -ce or -se co- prefix doubling of final consonant dropping of silent -e -efy or -ify -ei or -ie- en- or in- -er and -est -erous or -rous final vowels before suffixes for- and fore- f to v -ful suffix hyphens -ified or -yfied in- or un- i to y -ize and -ise l and ll -ly -ness -or and -er -oul- -our or -or Easy PDF Copyright © 1998,2003 Visage Software This document was created with FREE version of Easy visit for more details past of verbs, formation of plural formation possessive case -re or -er re- prefix silent final consonants -s suffix -xion or -ction -y, -ey, or -ie nouns -y or -ey adjectives y or i -yse or -yze y to i Difficult and confusable spellings Pronunciation A. General points of pronunciation a -age American pronunciation -arily -ed -edly, -edness -ein(e) -eity -eur g -gm h -ies -ile ng o ough phth pn-, ps-, pt- r reduced forms s, sh, z and zh stress t th u ul urr wh .
