English

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Letters

A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z

The names of the letters, as now commonly spoken and written in American English, are: Ay, Bee, Cee, Dee, Ee, Ef, Jee, Aytch, I, Jay, Kay, El, Em, En, O, Pee, Cue, Ar, Es, Tee, Yew, Vee, Double-yew, Ex, Wy, Zee (Or Zed in British English).

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A vowel is a letter which forms a perfect sound when pronounced alone. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y. All the other letters are consonants. A consonant is a letter which cannot be perfectly pronounced until joined to a vowel; for example, b, c, and d. W and y are consonants when they precedes a vowel heard in the same syllable, as in "wine", "twine", "whine", "year", "yet", and "youth"; in all other cases, these letters are vowels, as in "Yssel", "Ystadt", "yttria", "newly", "dewy", and "eyebrow".

A semivowel is a consonant which can be imperfectly sounded without a vowel, so that at the end of a syllable its sound may be protracted; for example, l, n, and z, in "al", "an", and "az". The semivowels are: f, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, w, x, y, z, and soft c and g; but w or y at the end of a syllable are vowels, and the sounds of c, f, g, h, j, s, and x can be protracted only as an aspirate, or strong breath. Four of the semivowels—l, m, n, and r—are termed liquids, on account of the fluency of their sounds; and four others—v, w, y, and z—are likewise more vocal than the aspirates.

A mute is a consonant which cannot be sounded at all without a vowel, and which at the end of a syllable suddenly stops the breath; for example, k, p, and t, in "ak", "ap", and "at". The mutes are eight: b, d, k, p, q, t, and hard c and g; three of these—k, q, and hard c—sound exactly alike, and b, d, and hard g stop the voice less suddenly than the rest.

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Powers of the letters

The powers of the letters are properly those elementary sounds which their figures are used to represent; but letters formed into words, are capable of communicating thought independently of sound. The simple elementary sounds of any language are few, commonly not more than thirty-six; but they may be variously combined, so as to form words innumerable. Different vowel sounds, or vocal elements, are produced by opening the mouth differently, and placing the tongue in a peculiar manner for each; but the voice may vary in loudness, pitch, or time, and still utter the same vowel power.

The vowel sounds which form the basis of the English language, and which ought therefore to be perfectly familiar to every one who speaks it, are those which are heard at the beginning of the words, ate, at, ah, all, eel, ell, isle, ill, old, on, ooze, use, us, and that of u in bull.

In the formation of syllables, some of these fourteen primary sounds may be joined together, as in ay, oil, out, owl; and all of them may be preceded or followed by certain motions and positions of the lips and tongue, which will severally convert them into other terms in speech. Thus the same essential sounds may be changed into a new series of words by an f; as, fate, fat, far, fall, feel, fell, file, fill, fold, fond, fool, fuse, fuss, full. Again, into as many more with a p; as, pate, pat, par, pall, peel, pell, pile, pill, pole, pond, pool, pule, purl, pull. Each of the vowel sounds may be variously expressed by letters. About half of them are sometimes words: the rest are seldom, if ever, used alone even to form syllables. But the reader may easily learn to utter them all, separately, according to the foregoing series. Let us note them as plainly as possible: eigh, ~a, ah, awe, =eh, ~e, eye, ~i, oh, ~o, oo, yew, ~u, u. Thus the eight long sounds, eigh, ah, awe, eh, eye, oh, ooh, yew, are, or may be, words; but the six less vocal, called the short vowel sounds, as in at, et, it, ot, ut, put, are commonly heard only in connexion with consonants; except the first, which is perhaps the most frequent sound of the vowel A or a-a sound sometimes given to the word a, perhaps most generally; as in the phrase, "twice ~a day."

The simple consonant sounds in English are twenty-two: they are marked by b, d, f, g hard, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, sh, t, th sharp, th flat, v, w, y, z, and zh. But zh is written only to show the sound of other letters; as of s in pleasure, or z in azure.

All these sounds are heard distinctly in the following words: buy, die, fie, guy, high, kie, lie, my, nigh, eying, pie, rye, sigh, shy, tie, thigh, thy, vie, we, ye, zebra, seizure. Again: most of them may be repeated in the same word, if not in the same syllable; as in bibber, diddle, fifty, giggle, high-hung, cackle, lily, mimic, ninny, singing, pippin, mirror, hissest, flesh-brush, tittle, thinketh, thither, vivid, witwal, union, dizzies, vision.

With us, the consonants J and X represent, not simple, but complex sounds: hence they are never doubled. J is equivalent to dzh; and X, either to ks or to gz. The former ends no English word, and the latter begins none. To the initial X of foreign words, we always give the simple sound of Z; as in Xerxes, xebec.

The consonants C and Q have no sounds peculiar to themselves. Q has always the power of k. C is hard, like k, before a, o, and u; and soft, like s, before e, i, and y: thus the syllables, ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy, are pronounced, ka, se, si, ko, ku, sy. S before c preserves the former sound, but coalesces with the latter; hence the syllables, sca, sce, sci, sco, scu, scy, are sounded, ska, se, si, sko, sku, sy. Ce and ci have sometimes the sound of sh; as in ocean, social. Ch commonly represents the compound sound of tsh; as in church.

G, as well as C, has different sounds before different vowels. G is always hard, or guttural, before a, o, and u; and generally soft, like j, before e, i, or y: thus the syllables, ga, ge, gi, go, gu, gy, are pronounced ga, je, ji, go, gu, jy.

The possible combinations and mutations of the twenty-six letters of our alphabet, are many millions of millions. But those clusters which are unpronounceable, are useless. Of such as may be easily uttered, there are more than enough for all the purposes of useful writing, or the recording of speech.

Thus it is, that from principles so few and simple as about six or seven and thirty plain elementary sounds, represented by characters still fewer, we derive such a variety of oral and written signs, as may suffice to explain or record all the sentiments and transactions of all men in all ages.

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Forms of the letters

In printed books of the English language, the Roman characters are generally employed; sometimes, the Italic; and occasionally, the (Font change: Old English): but in handwriting, (Font change: Script letters) are used, the forms of which are peculiarly adapted to the pen.

Characters of different sorts or sizes should never be needlessly mixed; because facility of reading, as well as the beauty of a book, depends much upon the regularity of its letters.

In the ordinary forms of the Roman letters, every thick stroke that slants, slants from the left to the right downwards, except the middle stroke in Z; and every thin stroke that slants, slants from the left to the right upwards.

Italics are chiefly used to distinguish emphatic or remarkable words: in the Bible, they show what words were supplied by the translators.

In manuscripts, a single line drawn under a word is meant for Italics; a double line, for small capitals; a triple line, for full capitals.

In every kind of type or character, the letters have severally two forms, by which they are distinguished as capitals and small letters. Small letters constitute the body of every word; and capitals are used for the sake of eminence and distinction. The titles of books, and the heads of their principal divisions, are printed wholly in capitals. Showbills, painted signs, and short inscriptions, commonly appear best in full capitals. Some of these are so copied in books; as,

"I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD."-Acts, xvii, 23.

"And they set up over his head, his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS."-Matt., xxvii, 37.

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Capitals

When particular books are mentioned by their names, the chief words in their titles begin with capitals, and the other letters are small; as,

"Pope's Essay on Man"

"the Book of Common Prayer"

"the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments."

The first word of every distinct sentence, or of any clause separately numbered or paragraphed, should begin with a capital; as,

"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."-1 Thess., v, 16-21.

"14. He has given his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: 15. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: 16. For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for murders: 17. For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: 18. For imposing taxes on us without our consent:" &c. Declaration of American Independence.

All names of the Deity, and sometimes their emphatic substitutes, should begin with capitals; as,

"God, Jehovah, the Almighty, the Supreme Being, Divine Providence, the Messiah, the Comforter, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Lord of Sabaoth."

"The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee."-Moore.

Proper names, of every description, should always begin with capitals; as,

"Saul of Tarsus, Simon Peter, Judas Iscariot, England, London, the Strand, the Thames, the Pyrenees, the Vatican, the Greeks, the Argo and the Argonauts."

Titles of office or honour, and epithets of distinction, applied to persons, begin usually with capitals; as,

"His Majesty William the Fourth, Chief Justice Marshall, Sir Matthew Hale, Dr. Johnson, the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, Lewis the Bold, Charles the Second, James the Less, St. Bartholomew, Pliny the Younger, Noah Webster, Jun., Esq."

Those compound proper names which by analogy incline to a union of their parts without a hyphen, should be so written, and have but one capital: as,

"Eastport, Eastville, Westborough, Westfield, Westtown, Whitehall, Whitechurch, Whitehaven, Whiteplains, Mountmellick, Mountpleasant, Germantown, Germanflats, Blackrock, Redhook, Kinderhook, Newfoundland, Statenland, Newcastle, Northcastle, Southbridge, Fairhaven, Dekalb, Deruyter, Lafayette, Macpherson."

The compounding of a name under one capital should be avoided when the general analogy of other similar terms suggests a separation under two; as,

"The chief mountains of Ross-shire are Ben Chat, Benchasker, Ben Golich, Ben Nore, Ben Foskarg, and Ben Wyvis."-Glasgow Geog., Vol. ii, p. 311.

Write Ben Chasker. So, when the word East, West, North, or South, as part of a name, denotes relative position, or when the word New distinguishes a place by contrast, we have generally separate words and two capitals; as,

"East Greenwich, West Greenwich, North Bridgewater, South Bridgewater, New Jersey, New Hampshire."

When any adjective or common noun is made a distinct part of a compound proper name, it ought to begin with a capital; as,

"The United States, the Argentine Republic, the Peak of Teneriffe, the Blue Ridge, the Little Pedee, Long Island, Jersey City, Lower Canada, Green Bay, Gretna Green, Land's End, the Gold Coast."

When a common and a proper name are associated merely to explain each other, it is in general sufficient, if the proper name begin with a capital, and the appellative, with a small letter; as,

"The prophet Elisha, Matthew the publican, the brook Cherith, the river Euphrates, the Ohio river, Warren county, Flatbush village, New York city."

The name of an object personified, when it conveys an idea strictly individual, should begin with a capital; as,

"Upon this, Fancy began again to bestir herself."-Addison.

"Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come."-Thomson.

Words derived from proper names, and having direct reference to particular persons, places, sects, or nations, should begin with capitals; as,

"Platonic, Newtonian, Greek, or Grecian, Romish, or Roman, Italic, or Italian, German, or Germanic, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese, Genoese, French, Dutch, Scotch, Welsh:" so, perhaps, "to Platonize, Grecize, Romanize, Italicize, Latinize, or Frenchify."

The words I and O should always be capitals; as,

"Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion."-Psalm cxlvii.

"O wretched man that I am!"

"For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I."-Rom., vii, 24 and 15.

Every line in poetry, except what is regarded as making but one verse with the line preceding, should begin with a capital; as,

"Our sons their fathers' failing language see, And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be."-Pope.

Of the exception, some editions of the Psalms in Metre are full of examples; as,

"Happy the man whose tender care relieves the poor distress'd! When troubles compass him around, the Lord shall give him rest." Psalms with Com. Prayer, N. Y., 1819, Ps. xli.

The first word of a full example, of a distinct speech, or of a direct quotation, should begin with a capital; as,

"Remember this maxim: 'Know thyself.'"

"Virgil says, 'Labour conquers all things.'"

"Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?"-John, x, 34.

"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother."-Luke, xviii, 20.

Other words of particular importance, and such as denote the principal subjects treated of, may be distinguished by capitals; and names subscribed frequently have capitals throughout: as,

"In its application to the Executive, with reference to the Legislative branch of the Government, the same rule of action should make the President ever anxious to avoid the exercise of any discretionary authority which can be regulated by Congress."-ANDREW JACKSON, 1835.

Capitals are improper wherever there is not some special rule or reason for their use: a century ago books were disfigured by their frequency; as,

"Many a Noble Genius is lost for want of Education. Which wou'd then be Much More Liberal. As it was when the Church Enjoy'd her Possessions. And Learning was, in the Dark Ages, Preserv'd almost only among the Clergy."-CHARLES LESLIE, 1700; Divine Right of Tythes, p. 228.

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Figure of words

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Compounds

Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as forming a compound, should never be needlessly broken apart. Thus, steamboat, railroad, red-hot, well-being, new-coined, are preferable to the phrases, steam boat, rail road, red hot, well being, new coined; and toward us is better than the old phrase, to us ward.

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Simples

When the simple words would only form a regular phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided. Thus, the compound instead is not to be commended, because the simple phrase, in stead of, is exactly like the other phrases, in lieu of, in place of, in room of, in which we write no compound.

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The sense

Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require. Thus, a glass house is a house made of glass, but a glasshouse is a house in which glass is made; so a negro merchant is a coloured trader, but a negro-merchant is a man who buys and sells negroes.

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Ellipses

When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word. Thus, "six or seventeen" should not be said for "sixteen or seventeen;" nor ought we to say, "calf, goat, and sheepskins" for "calfskins, goatskins, and sheepskins" In the latter instance, however, it might be right to separate all the words; as in the phrase,

"soup, coffee, and tea houses."-Liberator, x, 40.

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The hyphen

When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, as to-day, to-night, to-morrow; or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, as first-born, hanger-on, laughter-loving, garlic-eater, butterfly-shell, the hyphen should be inserted between them.

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No hyphen

When a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, as watchword, statesman, gentleman, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them. Churchill, after much attention to this subject, writes thus:

"The practical instruction of the countinghouse imparts a more thorough knowledge of bookkeeping, than all the fictitious transactions of a mere schoolbook, however carefully constructed to suit particular purposes."-New Gram., p. vii.

But counting-house, having more stress on the last syllable than on the middle one, is usually written with the hyphen; and book-keeping and school-book, though they may not need it, are oftener so formed than otherwise.

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Spelling

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Final f, l, or s

Monosyllables ending in f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant; as staff, mill, pass-muff, knell, gloss-off, hiss, puss.

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Exceptions

The words clef, if, and of, are written with single f; and as, gas, has, was, yes, his, is, this, us, pus, and thus, with single s. So bul, for the flounder; nul, for no, in law; sol, for sou or sun; and sal, for salt, in chemistry, have but the single l.

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Other finals

Words ending in any other consonant than f, l, or s, do not double the final letter; as, mob, nod, dog, sum, sun, cup, cur, cut, fix, whiz.

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Exceptions

We double the consonant in abb, ebb, add, odd, egg, jagg, ragg, inn, err, burr, purr, butt, buzz, fuzz, yarr, and some proper names. But we have also ab (from) and ad (to) for prefixes; and jag, rag, in, bur, and but, are other words that conform to the rule.

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Doubling

Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, or by a vowel after qu, double their final consonant before an additional syllable that begins with a vowel: as, rob, robbed, robber; fop, foppish, foppery; squat, squatter, squatting; thin, thinner, thinnest; swim, swimmer, swimming; commit, committeth, committing, committed, committer, committees; acquit, acquittal, acquittance, acquitted, acquitting, acquitteth.

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Exceptions

X final, being equivalent to ks, is never doubled: thus, from mix, we have mixed, mixing, and mixer.

When the derivative retains not the accent of the root, the final consonant is not always doubled: as, prefer', pref'erence, pref'erable; refer', ref'erence, ref'erable, or refer'rible; infer', in'ference, in'ferable, or infer'rible; transfer', a trans'fer, trans'ferable, or transfer'rible.

But letters doubled in Latin, are usually doubled in English, without regard to accent, or to any other principle: as, Britain, Britan'nic, Britannia; appeal, appel'lant; argil, argil'laus, argilla'ceous; cavil, cav'illous, cavilla'tion; excel', ex'cellent, ex'cellence; inflame', inflam'mable, inflamma'tion. See Observations 13 and 14, p. 199.

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No doubling

A final consonant, when it is not preceded by a single vowel, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, should remain single before an additional syllable: as, toil, toiling; oil, oily; visit, visited; differ, differing; peril, perilous; viol, violist; real, realize, realist; dial, dialing, dialist; equal, equalize, equality; vitriol, vitriolic, vitriolate.

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Exceptions

The final l of words ending in el, must be doubled before an other vowel, lest the power of the e be mistaken, and a syllable be lost: as, travel, traveller; duel, duellist; revel, revelling; gravel, gravelly; marvel, marvellous. Yet the word parallel, having three Ells already, conforms to the rule in forming its derivatives; as, paralleling, paralleled, and unparalleled.

Contrary to the preceding rule, the preterits, participles, and derivative nouns, of the few verbs ending in al, il, or ol, unaccented,-namely, equal, rival, vial, marshal, victual, cavil, pencil, carol, gambol, and pistol,-are usually allowed to double the l, though some dissent from the practice: as, equalled, equalling; rivalled, rivalling; cavilled, cavilling, caviller; carolled, carolling, caroller.

When ly follows l, we have two Ells of course, but in fact no doubling: as, real, really; oral, orally; cruel, cruelly; civil, civilly; cool, coolly; wool, woolly.

Compounds, though they often remove the principal accent from the point of duplication, always retain the double letter: as, wit'snapper, kid'napper, grass'hopper, duck'-legged, spur'galled, hot'spurred, broad'-brimmed, hare'-lipped, half-witted. So, compromitted and manumitted; but benefited is different.

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Final ck

Monosyllables and English verbs end not with c, but take ck for double c; as, rack, wreck, rock, attack: but, in general, words derived from the learned languages need not the k, and common use discards it; as, Italic, maniac, music, public.

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Exceptions

The words arc, part of a circle; orc, the name of a fish; lac, a gum or resin; and sac, or soc, a privilege, in old English law, are ended with c only. Zinc is, perhaps, better spelled zink; marc, mark; disc, disk; and talc, talck.

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Retaining

Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double before any additional termination, not beginning with the same letter; as in the following derivatives: wooer, seeing, blissful, oddly, gruffly, equally, shelly, hilly, stiffness, illness, stillness, shrillness, fellness, smallness, drollness, freeness, grassless, passless, carelessness, recklessness, embarrassment, enfeoffment, agreement, agreeable.

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Exceptions

Certain irregular derivatives in d or t, from verbs ending in ee, ll, or ss, as fled from flee, sold from sell, told from tell, dwelt from dwell, spelt from spell, spilt from spill, shalt from shall, wilt from will, blest from bless, past from pass, are exceptions to the foregoing rule.

If the word pontiff is properly spelled with two Effs, its eight derivatives are also exceptions to this rule; for they are severally spelled with one; as, pontific, pontifical, pontificate, &c.

The words skillful, skillfully, willful, willfully, chillness, tallness, dullness, and fullness, have generally been allowed to drop the second l, though all of them might well be made to conform to the general rule, agreeably to the orthography of Webster.

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Retaining

Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double in all derivatives formed from them by means of prefixes: as, see, foresee; feoff, enfeoff; pass, repass; press, depress; miss, amiss; call, recall; stall, forestall; thrall, inthrall; spell, misspell; tell, foretell; sell, undersell; add, superadd; snuff, besnuff; swell, overswell.

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Final ll

Final ll is peculiar to monosyllables and their compounds, with the few derivatives formed from such roots by prefixes; consequently, all other words that end in l, must be terminated with a single l: as, cabal, logical, appal, excel, rebel, refel, dispel, extol, control, mogul, jackal, rascal, damsel, handsel, tinsel, tendril, tranquil, gambol, consul.

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Final e

The final e of a primitive word, when this letter is mute or obscure, is generally omitted before an additional termination beginning with a vowel: as, remove, removal; rate, ratable; force, forcible; true, truism; rave, raving; sue, suing; eye, eying; idle, idling; centre, centring.

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Exceptions

Words ending in ce or ge, retain the e before able or ous, to preserve the soft sounds of c and g: as, trace, traceable; change, changeable; outrage, outrageous.

So, from shoe, we write shoeing, to preserve the sound of the root; from hoe, hoeing, by apparent analogy; and, from singe, singeing; from swinge, swingeing; from tinge, tingeing; that they may not be confounded with singing, swinging, and tinging.

To compounds and prefixes, as firearms, forearm, anteact, viceagent, the rule does not apply; and final ee remains double, by Rule 6th, as in disagreeable, disagreeing.

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Final e

The final e of a primitive word is generally retained before an additional termination beginning with a consonant: as, pale, paleness; edge, edgeless; judge, judgeship; lodge, lodgement; change, changeful; infringe, infringement.

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Exceptions

When the e is preceded by a vowel, it is sometimes omitted; as in duly, truly, awful, argument; but much more frequently retained; as in dueness, trueness, blueness, bluely, rueful, dueful, shoeless, eyeless.

The word wholly is also an exception to the rule, for nobody writes it wholely.

Some will have judgment, abridgment, and acknowledgment, to be irreclaimable exceptions; but I write them with the e, upon the authority of Lowth, Beattie, Ainsworth, Walker, Cobb, Chalmers, and others: the French "jugement," judgement, always retains the e.

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Final y

The final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into i before an additional termination: as, merry, merrier, merriest, merrily, merriment; pity, pitied, pities, pitiest, pitiless, pitiful, pitiable; contrary, contrariness, contrarily.

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Exceptions

This rule applies to derivatives, but not to compounds: thus, we write merciful, and mercy-seat; penniless, and pennyworth; scurviness, and scurvy-grass; &c. But ladyship and goodyship, being unlike secretariship and suretiship; handicraft and handiwork, unlike handygripe and handystroke; babyship and babyhood, unlike stateliness and likelihood; the distinction between derivatives and compounds, we see, is too nice a point to have been always accurately observed.

Before ing or ish, the y is retained to prevent the doubling of i: as, pity, pitying; baby, babyish.

Words ending in ie, dropping the e by Rule 9th, change the i into y, for the same reason: as, die, dying; vie, vying; lie, lying.

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Final y

The final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into i before any additional termination: as, day, days; key, keys; guy, guys; valley, valleys; coy, coyly; cloy, cloys, cloyed; boy, boyish, boyhood; annoy, annoyer, annoyance; joy, joyless, joyful.

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Exceptions

From lay, pay, say, and stay, are formed laid, paid, said, and staid; but the regular words, layed, payed, stayed, are sometimes used.

Raiment, contracted from arrayment, is never written with the y. 3. Daily is more common than the regular form dayly; but gayly, gayety, and gayness, are justly superseding gaily and gaiety.

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Ize and ise

Words ending in ize or ise sounded alike, as in wise and size, generally take the z in all such as are essentially formed by means of the termination; and the s in monosyllables, and all such as are essentially formed by means of prefixes: gormandize, apologize, brutalize, canonize, pilgrimize, philosophize, cauterize, anathematize, sympathize, disorganize, with z; rise, arise, disguise, advise, devise, supervise, circumcise, despise, surmise, surprise, comprise, compromise, enterprise, presurmise, with s. In Commonwealth English spelling, words ending in -ize may also be written with -ise, such as organise, realise and recognise.

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Exceptions

Advertise, catechise, chastise, criticise, exercise, exorcise, and merchandise are most commonly written with s and size, assize, capsize, analyze, overprize, detonize, and recognize, with z. How many of them are real exceptions to the rule, it is difficult to say.

Prise, a thing taken, and prize, to esteem; apprise, to inform, and apprize, to value, or appraise, are often written either way, without this distinction of meaning, which some wish to establish. 3. The want of the foregoing rule has also made many words variable, which ought, unquestionably, to conform to the general principle.

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Compounds

Compounds generally retain the orthography of the simple words which compose them: as, wherein, horseman, uphill, shellfish, knee-deep, kneedgrass, kneading-trough, innkeeper, skylight, plumtree, mandrill.

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Exceptions

In permanent compounds, or in any derivatives of which, they are not the roots, the words full and all drop one l; as, handful, careful, fulfil, always, although, withal; in temporary compounds, they retain both; as, full-eyed, chock-full, all-wise, save-all.

So the prefix mis, (if from miss, to err,) drops one s; but it is wrong to drop them both, as in Johnson's "mispell" and "mispend," for misspell and misspend.

In the names of days, the word mass also drops one s; as, Christmas, Candlemas, Lammas.

The possessive case often drops the apostrophe; as in herdsman, kitesfoot.

One letter is dropped, if three of the same kind come together: as, Rosshire, chaffinch; or else a hyphen is used: as, Ross-shire, ill-looking, still-life.

Chilblain, welcome, and welfare, drop one l.

Pastime drops an s.

Shepherd, wherever, and whosever, drop an e; and wherefore and therefore assume one.

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Usage

Any word for the spelling of which we have no rule but usage, is written wrong if not spelled according to the usage which is most common among the learned: as,

"The brewer grinds his malt before he brues his beer."-Red Book, p. 38.