Doubling a Consonant


Doubling a Consonant

Harry from Suttons Bay, Michigan, asked about doubling the consonant on a stem word when adding a suffix. It gets a bit complicated (or tedious), but you should be OK if you take the following steps.

 (A) When you add a suffix to a word that ends in two or more consonants side by side, there is no spelling change.  [fill/filling, snarl/snarled, world/worldly]

 (B) When you add a suffix to a word that ends in a single consonant, there may be a spelling change. Three determining questions follow.
  • If you get a YES answer to all three of these questions, double the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix.
  • If you get a NO answer to any of these questions, do not double the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix.

            (1) YES or NO: does the suffix begin with a vowel?
                        YES  –er/-ing      [win/winner, forget/forgetting, begin/beginning]
                        NO   –ful/-ment   [wonderful, discernment]
  
            (2) YES or no:  are the last 3 letters of the word a consonant-vowel-consonant            (in that exact order)?
                        YES   win, forget     [win/winner, forget/forgetting]  
                        N O    greet, treat    [greeting, treated]

            (3) YES or NO:  Does the accent of the word fall on the last syllable?
(One-syllable words get an automatic YES answer)
                        YES   [stop/stopping, begin/beginner]
                        NO     secret, furtive   [secretive, furtively]

Once again, if you get a YES answer to all three of these questions, DOUBLE the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix. If you get a NO answer to any of these questions, do not double the final consonant of the word before adding the suffix.


Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll also find some podcasts there under TheRon Jolly Show.



Comments

Popular Posts