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