More on Spelling

*English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)*

More on Spelling

6. When the suffix is -ing, the y will be retained: apply-applying, carry-carrying, study- studying.

few one-syllabic words in which y is preceded by a vowel change y to i before some endings: pay-paid, lay-laid, say-said, day-daily, slay-slain

8. With words that have a corresponding noun ending in -ion, the suffix -ible is usually added to form the adjectives: corruption- corruptible, digestion- digestible, division- divisible

9. Nouns ending in o normally take es to form the plural: hero-heroes, tomato-tomatoes, echo-echoes, veto-vetoes.

10. Some nouns ending in o, however, either take es or s: halo- halos, haloes, memento- mementos, mementoes, mosquito, mosquitos, mosquitoes, volcano, volcanos, volcanoes.

11.Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant form their plural by dropping the y and adding ies: fly-flies, baby-babies, lady-ladies, country-countries.

12. On the other hand, nouns that end in y preceded by a vowel usually form their plural by adding s: guy-guys, donkey-donkeys.

13. Nouns ending in f or fe mostly drop the f or fe and add ves to form their plural: wife-wives, life-lives, half-halves, loaf-loaves, shelf-shelves

14. Some nouns take either s or ves: dwarf-dwarfs, dwarves, scarf-scarfs, scarves, hoof, hoofs, hooves

15. Few nouns form their plural by a vowel change. That is, the vowel in the word changes from one form to another to form the plural: tooth-teeth, woman-women, mouse-mice, louse-lice, goose-geese

Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)
Academic Advisor, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan;
&
Doctoral Student of English, University of Ibadan.