Orthography
It would be quite impossible within our limits to give anything like a treatise on this subject, but the following short and simple rules, if duly followed, will avoid many mistakes, and prevent many doubts:—
Rule.—Monosyllables ending with f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant; as staff, mill, pass, &c. The only exceptions are, of, is, has, was, yes, his, this, us, and thus.
Rule II.—Monosyllables ending with any consonant but f, l, or s, and preceded by a single vowel, never double the final consonant; excepting only, add, ebb, butt, egg, odd, err, inn, bunn, purr, and buzz.
Rule III.—Words ending with y, preceded by a consonant, form the plural of nouns, the persons of verbs, verbal nouns, past participles, comparatives, and superlatives, by changing y into i; as spy, spies; I carry, thou carriest; he carrieth or carries; carrier, carried; happy, happier, happiest.
The present participle in ing, retains the y, that i may not be doubled; as, carry, carrying; bury, burying, &c.
But y, preceded by a vowel, in such instances as the above, is not changed; as, boy, boys; I cloy, he cloys, cloyed, &c.; except in lay, pay, and say; from which are formed laid, paid, said and their com-pounds, unlaid, unpaid, unsaid, &c.
Rule IV.—Words ending with y, preceded by a consonant, upon assuming an additional syllable beginning with a consonant, commonly change y into i; as happy, happily, happiness. But when y is preceded by a vowel, it is very rarely changed in the additional syllable; as, coy, coyly; boy, boyish, boyhood; annoy, annoyed, annoyance; joy, joyless, joyful, &c.
Rule V.—Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, ending with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double that consonant, when they take another syllable beginning with a vowel; as wit, witty; thin, thinnish; to abet, an abettor; to begin; a beginner.
But if a dipthong precedes, or the accent is on the preceding syl-lable, the consonant remains single; as, to toil, toiling; to offer, an offering; maid, maiden, &c.
Rule VI.—Words ending with any double letter but l, and taking ness, less, ly, or ful, after them, preserve the letter double; as harm-lessness, carelessness, carelessly, stiffly, successful, distressful, &c. But those words which end with double l, and take ness, less, or ful, after them, generally omit one l, as, fulness, skilless, fully, skilful, &c.
Rule VII.—Ness, less, ly, and ful, added to words ending with silent e, do not cut it off; as, paleness, guileless, closely, peaceful; except in a few words; as, duly, truly, awful.
Rule VIII.—Ment, added to words ending with silent e, generally preserves the e from elision; as, abatement, chastisement, incitement, &c. The words judgment, abridgment, acknowledgment, are deviations from the rule.
Like other terminations it changes y into i, when preceded by a consonant; as, accompany, accompaniment; merry, merriment.
Rule IX.—Able and ible, when incorporated into words ending with silent e, almost always cut it off; as, blame, blamable; cure, curable; sense, sensible, &c.; but if c or g soft comes before e in the original word, the e is then preserved in words compounded with able; as change, changeable; peace, peaceable, &c.
Rule X.—When ing or ish is added to words ending with silent e, the e is almost universally omitted; as place, placing; lodge lodging; slave, slavish; prude, prudish.
Rule XI.—Words taken into composition, often drop those letters which are superfluous in their simples; as handful, dunghil, withal; also, chilblain, fortel.
Orthography
The art or mode of spelling words. It would be quite impossible within our limits to give anything like a treatise on this subject, but the following short and simple rules, if duly followed, will avoid some mistakes, and prevent a few doubts:—
Rule.—Monosyllables ending with f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant; as staff, mill, pass, &c. The only exceptions are, of, is, has, was, yes, his, this, us, and thus.
Rule II.—Monosyllables ending with any consonant but f, l, or s, and preceded by a single vowel, never double the final consonant; excepting only, add, ebb, butt, egg, odd, err, inn, bunn, purr, and buzz.
Rule III.—Words ending with y, preceded by a consonant, form the plural of nouns, the persons of verbs, verbal nouns, past participles, comparatives, and superlatives, by changing y into i; as spy, spies; I carry, thou carriest; he carrieth or carries; carrier, carried; happy, happier, happiest.
The present participle in ing, retains the y, that i may not be doubled; as, carry, carrying; bury, burying, &c.
But y, preceded by a vowel, in such instances as the above, is not changed; as, boy, boys; I cloy, he cloys, cloyed, &c.; except in lay, pay, and say; from which are formed laid, paid, said and their com-pounds, unlaid, unpaid, unsaid, &c.
Rule IV.—Words ending with y, preceded by a consonant, upon assuming an additional syllable beginning with a consonant, commonly change y into i; as happy, happily, happiness. But when y is preceded by a vowel, it is very rarely changed in the additional syllable; as, coy, coyly; boy, boyish, boyhood; annoy, annoyed, annoyance; joy, joyless, joyful, &c.
Rule V.—Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, ending with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double that consonant, when they take another syllable beginning with a vowel; as wit, witty; thin, thinnish; to abet, an abettor; to begin; a beginner.
But if a dipthong precedes, or the accent is on the preceding syl-lable, the consonant remains single; as, to toil, toiling; to offer, an offering; maid, maiden, &c.
Rule VI.—Words ending with any double letter but l, and taking ness, less, ly, or ful, after them, preserve the letter double; as harm-lessness, carelessness, carelessly, stiffly, successful, distressful, &c. But those words which end with double l, and take ness, less, or ful, after them, generally omit one l, as, fulness, skilless, fully, skilful, &c.
Rule VII.—Ness, less, ly, and ful, added to words ending with silent e, do not cut it off; as, paleness, guileless, closely, peaceful; except in a few words; as, duly, truly, awful.
Rule VIII.—Ment, added to words ending with silent e, generally preserves the e from elision; as, abatement, chastisement, incitement, &c. The words judgment, abridgment, acknowledgment, are deviations from the rule.
Like other terminations it changes y into i, when preceded by a consonant; as, accompany, accompaniment; merry, merriment.
Rule IX.—Able and ible, when incorporated into words ending with silent e, almost always cut it off; as, blame, blamable; cure, curable; sense, sensible, &c.; but if c or g soft comes before e in the original word, the e is then preserved in words compounded with able; as change, changeable; peace, peaceable, &c.
Rule X.—When ing or ish is added to words ending with silent e, the e is almost universally omitted; as place, placing; lodge lodging; slave, slavish; prude, prudish.
Rule XI.—Words taken into composition, often drop those letters which are superfluous in their simples; as handful, dunghil, withal; also, chilblain, fortel.