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Double trouble
By Joanne O'Donnell
EuroLogos.com
www.eurologos.com
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Spelling, here it comes around again. English
is just one of those languages (not unlike French),
where the spelling often has very little to
do with the actual pronunciation of the word
and where the few concrete rules that exist
can be difficult to spot.
This short article tackles one of the trickiest
issues: double letters.
When I say double letters, I don't mean the
-tt- in butter, or the -pp- in appear,
rather rules governing when the consonants at
the end of words should be doubled before endings
beginning with vowels, such as in begin
- beginning as we have just seen. The
most commonly found vowel endings are -able,
-ed, -en, -er, -est,
-ible, -ing, -ous.
Here are some handy hints in the form of a
list.
The final consonant should be doubled for:
- words with only one syllable and
a short vowel, e.g.
big - bigger, biggest;
fit - fitted or again cut
- cutting
By the same token, there is no need to double
when the vowel is long, such as in look
- looking.
- words with more than one syllable, where
the stress falls on the final syllable, e.g.
refer - referral, referred
This rule is also useful for determining when
you should not resort to doubling. Pronounce
the word aloud to determine where the stress
falls and your spell checker will never catch
you out again for those common mistakes such
as benefited, targeted.
There are, of course, as with any language,
exceptions to this rule, the best known being
handicap, kidnap and worship which
all require doubling at the end.
Consonants that are already double require
no further doubling (!) and w, x and y at the
end of words are never doubled, thus withdraw
- withdrawing.
Some special rules exist for words ending in
-l:
- a single -l following a single vowel
when written should always be doubled, regardless
of the emphasis when saying the word out loud,
e.g.:
cancel - cancellation, fulfil
- fulfilled.
Thus all adjectives ending in -ful
convert to adverbs ending -fully.
Note that parallel - paralleled
is an exception to this rule.
- a single -l not preceded by a single
vowel when written is not doubled, such as
in
fool - fooling or curl
- curled
Again we see common exceptions in wool
- woollen and dial - dialling,
dialled
- endings that begin with a consonant have
no effect on the single -l, e.g.:
rival - rivalry, but rivalling,
fulfil - fulfilment
In the case of a final -y, the -l should be
doubled:
loyal - loyally with the exception
of oil - oily
Differences do exist in this area between American
and British English spellings. As a native Scot,
I have based my advice on the British spelling
system, but any good dictionary will always
offer you both.
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