Images de page
PDF
ePub

391. Prefixes. When the English words in the lists of Latin

and Greek roots and stems have prefixes, study these prefixes in their proper lists (§§ 405, 408). See how many other prefixes you can attach to the same roots and stems to form English words. For example, from the Latin root duc-, lead (§ 407), and its compounds are derived such English words as ab-duct, ad-duce, con-duce, con-duct, con-ductivity, con-ductor, deduct, e-duce, in-duce, intro-duce, pro-duce, pro-duct, pro-duction, re-duce, se-duce, se-ductive, tra-duce; the root fac- (§ 407) is used in forming several hundred words; the prefix com- (§ 405) occurs thousands of times. When you do not understand fully the meaning of a word, consult the dictionary.

392. Spelling. The spelling of many English words must be learned from the dictionary. Words borrowed from Latin and Greek usually follow the original spelling, so that a knowledge of Latin and Greek roots and stems is of assistance in spelling thousands of words borrowed from these languages. The Greek diphthong ei in proper names is an exception, being represented by ei, e, or i; as, Poseidon, Medea, Chiron.

393. Final consonant doubled. Before a suffix beginning with a vowel, if a single final consonant (except h or x) is preceded by a single accented vowel, the single final consonant is doubled, usually to preserve the short sound of the single accented vowel preceding it (but control, controlled, and a few others have a long vowel); otherwise the final consonant need not be doubled, since the vowel before it is not affected:

Bag, baggage; beg, begged, begging; bus, busses (but, om'nibus, omnibuses); god, goddess; hot, hotter, hottest; stop, stopped, stopping.

Acquit, acquitted, acquitting; admit, admitted, admitting; begin, beginner; compel, compelled, compelling; confer, conferred, conferring; occur, occurrence; permit, permitted, permitting; regret, regretted, regretting; transfer, transferred, transferring.

But, act, actor, acted; brief, briefer; daub, daubed, daubing; moan, moaned, moaning; need, needed, needing; perform, performance; prefer', preference (see exceptions, below); travel, traveled, traveling (see note, below).

EXCEPTIONS. The most important exceptions are infer, inferable; transfer, transferable; and derivatives in which the accent is thrown back to another syllable, such as preference (from prefer'). Humbugged and humbugging (from humbug) have gg to preserve the hard sound of g. The words chancellor, tranquillity, and derivatives of crystal and metal (for example, crystallize, metallurgy) are from Latin and Greek words having II, and hence are. not exceptions; but tranquilize is better with one 1, being a derivative of tranquil.

NOTE. Some words having a single final consonant not preceded by a single accented vowel (chiefly verbs ending in 1) are frequently, but needlessly, written with the final consonant doubled before a suffix beginning with a vowel:

Cancel (cancelled, cancelling), counsel, empanel, enamel, equal, imperil, kidnap (kid'nap', having a secondary accent on the ultima, commonly has kidnapped), label, level, libel, marshal, marvel, model, parallel, parcel, pencil, quarrel, ravel, revel, rival, shovel, shrivel, snivel, travel, unravel, worship.

394. Silent final e retained. Silent final e is generally retained before a suffix beginning with a consonant :

Hope, hopeful, hopeless; false, falsehood; move, movement; name, namely.

EXCEPTION. In many words ending in silent e preceded by another vowel except e, the silent e is omitted before a suffix beginning with a consonant:

Due, duly; true, truly; awe, awful (w is silent). But, flee, fleeing; see, seeing.

The following important words are exceptions also (e is properly retained after g to show the soft sound of g; see c and g, § 402): abridge, abridgment (or abridgement); acknowledge, acknowledgment (or acknowledgement); judge, judgment (or judgement); whole, wholly; wise, wisdom.

COMPOUNDS OF ALL, FULL, WELL 181

395. Silent final e omitted. Silent final e is generally omitted before a suffix beginning with a vowel :

Hope, hoping; move, movable; name, naming. EXCEPTION. To prevent mispronunciation, or confusion of words, silent final e is sometimes retained before a suffix beginning with a vowel; it is also retained in words ending in ce and ge, to preserve the soft sound of c and g (see c and g, § 402):

Hoe, hoeing; shoe, shoeing; toe, toeing; dye, dyeing (compare die, dying); singe, singeing (compare sing, singing).

Notice, noticeable (but, noticing, c being soft before i, § 402); manage, management. The word mortgagor (mor-ga-jor') from mortgage is an exception.

NOTE. In words formed with the suffix able usage varies :
Use, usable (or useable); sale, salable (or saleable).

396. Final ie before ing. When ing is to be added to a word ending in ie, e is generally dropped, and i is changed to y: Die, dying; lie, lying; tie, tying; vie, vying.

397. Final y. Final y preceded by a vowel is generally retained before a suffix; final y preceded by a consonant is generally changed to i (unless the suffix begins with i: pity, pitying):

Delay, delays, delayed, delaying; gay, gayly (or gaily), gayety (or gaiety); stay, stayed (or staid). The words daily (from day), laid, paid, said, and staid are exceptions.

Pity, pitiful, pitiless (but, pitying); edify, edifies, edified (but, edifying); happy, happiness; lovely, loveliness.

398. Compounds of all, full, well. Observe the following compounds of all, full, and well:

All-pervading, all-wise; but almighty, almost (§ 417), already (§ 417), although, altogether (§ 417), always. (See all right, § 417.) Full-grown, full-length, full-rigged; but, fulfill (or fulfil), awful, cheerful, teaspoonful.

Well-being, well-doer, well-nigh, farewell; but, welcome, welfare. 399. Words with cei and lie. To spell words containing cei and lie, remember that c is followed by e (the vowel which rimes with it), and I by the other vowel (i), as in Celia :

[blocks in formation]

A good many common

400. Words ending in el and le.

words end in el; many others end in le (a mantel is a shelf, and

[blocks in formation]

401. Words frequently misspelled. Master the spelling

and the meaning of the following words; mark those that you

do not know, and consult the dictionary :

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

ar-rive', ar-riv'al

as-cent', as-sent'

ath'lete, ath-let'ics
at-tend'ant, de-pend'ent
au'di-ble, au'di-ence
a while, a-while'
bach'e-lor, bound'a-ry
born, borne
breath, breathe

bus'y, business
cal'en-dar, cal'en-der
cap'i-tal, cap'i-tol

cas'u-al, cas'u-al-ties change'a-ble, chang'ing

choose, chose

coarse, course

com-mand', com-mend' com'ple-ment, com'pli-ment con-cede', con-ces'sion con'science, con-sci-en'tious con-ven'ience, con-ven'ient

coun'cil, coun'sel
de-cease', dis-ease'
de'cent, de-scent'

depth, height
de-scribe', de-scription
des'ert, des-sert'

de-spair', des'per-ate

de-velop, en've-lope
de-vice', de-vise'
dif'fer-ence, diffi-dence
dis-ap-pear', dis-ap-poinť
dis-ap-prove', dis-pel

el'i-gi-ble, el-lip'sis

em-bar'rass, em'bas-sy ex-ag'ger-ate, ex-hil'a-rate ex-ist'ence, ex-ist'ent ex-plain', ex-pla-na'tion fa-mil'iar, sim'i-lar fare-well', welfare Feb'ru-a-ry, Wednesday fi-an-cé', fi-an-cée' fi'nal-ly, fi-na'le fir, fur

for'ci-ble, for'ci-bly for mal-ly, for'mer-ly forth, fourth

ge-ol'o-gy, gen-e-al'o-gy gov'ern, gov'ern-ment grieve, sieve guard, guard'i-an im-pas'sa-ble, im-pos'si-ble in-gen'ious, in-gen'u-ous in'tel-lect, in-tel'li-gent in-ter-cede', in-ter-rupt' in-trigue', in-triguing ir-rel'e-vant, ir-rep'a-ra-ble its, it's (= it is)

knowledge, priv'i-lege la'bor, lab'o-ra-to-ry

la'ter, lat'ter
lead, led

les'sen, les'son
light'en-ing, lightning

loose, lose

Ma-cau'lay, Ni-ag'a-ra

« PrécédentContinuer »