Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > English

Some rules of spelling: Rule 4

<< < (2/2)

Shampa Iftakhar:
Final E


Words ending in 'ge' and 'ce' do NOT drop the final 'e'

encourage - encouragement
embrace - embraceable

Shampa Iftakhar:
'IE' and 'EI'

This is a common spelling problem, even for native English speakers. Probably the best thing to do is remember this rhyme:

I before E except after C

relief
thief
believe

BUT

perceive
receipt

Shampa Iftakhar:
'Y' and 'I'

When adding an ending to a word that finishes in 'y', the 'y' usually changes to 'i':

    Most nouns and verbs that end in 'y' have plural or third person singular conjugations that change to 'i'.

    party - parties
    hurry - She hurries to work.

Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/words/tp/spellrules.htm

Shampa Iftakhar:
'Y' and 'I'

When changing the word form (for example from adjective to adverb)

happy - happily
lazy - lazily
easy - easier

Do NOT change the final 'y' to 'i' when 'y' is preceded by a vowel

stay - stays
enjoy - enjoyed

EXCEPTIONS:

say, lay, pay - said, laid, paid
Do NOT change the final 'y' to 'i' when followed by '-ing', '-ism', '-ish'.

boy - boyish
try - trying

Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/words/tp/spellrules.htm

Shampa Iftakhar:
IE' to 'Y'

When a word ends in 'ie' change to 'y' before adding '-ing'

die - dying
lie - lying

Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/words/tp/spellrules.htm

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page