Spelling Other

1. Adjectives and adverbs ending in -e

- The adjective ends in -e + r/st (comparative and superlative forms)

 Fine → finer, finest

 late → later, latest

- The adjective ends in -e + ly (making an adverb)

 nice → nicely, close →​​ closely

- The adjective ends in -le + ply / bly, etc. (making an adverb)

 simple → simply, possible → possibly

2. Doubling the final consonant

We saw in a previous point above that if a verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed, as well as if verbs ends in a vowel + l, we double the final consonant. However, there are other situations when we have to double the final consonant:

- Word ends in vowel + consonant + -ing/-ed/-er/-est:

 stop → stopped, stopping, stopper

 put → putting

 big → bigger, biggest

 run → runner, running

 set → setter, setting

3. Possessive ‘s

Most nouns simply add an ’s​​ to the noun.

 flat​​ →​​ flat’s, cat​​ →​​ cat’s

The Exceptions are:

• Regular Plural nouns add only an ‘ (apostrophe)

  • boys​​ → boys’, cats → cats’,​​ people → people’s​​ 

• Singular proper nouns (names) ending in –s can add ‘s or ‘

  • Jones​​ → Jones’s or Jones’, The Smiths → The Smiths’s or The Smiths’​​ 

• Irregular plural nouns (not ending in –s) add ‘s

  • men → men’s, children → children’s

• Words like somebody, anybody, one, each other, add an ‘s

  • one​​ → one’s, somebody → somebody’s

4. –ise or -ize

Most words in British English can be spelt with both​​ –ise​​ and​​ –ize. However, American English prefers –ize.

British: realise, organise, hypothesise

American: realize, organize, hypothesize

Exceptions:

exercise, devise, improvise, surprise, advise, supervise, etc.

Some words are spelt with​​ –yse​​ in British English and​​ -yze​​ in American English:

British: Analyse, paralyse

American: analyse, paralyze