| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
| |
| CONSONANTS 2, DOUBLING OF |
| |
| |
Here are some useful generalizations about this spelling issue:- Words that end in a single vowel plus a single consonant usually double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel: stop becomes stopped, stopping, stopper, and unstoppable. Thus snip becomes snipper, but snipe becomes sniper.
- Most words that end in two consonants do not ordinarily double the final consonant before a suffix: print becomes printed, printing, and printer.
- If the suffix begins with a consonant instead of a vowel, the final consonant of the base word stays single: ship becomes shipment and clap becomes claptrap.
- Words of two and more syllables that are stressed on the final syllable normally double the final consonant before adding a suffix: infer becomes inferred and inferring.
- But two-syllable words stressed on the final syllable do not double the final consonant when the suffix begins with a consonant: regret becomes regretting but regretful.
- And words stressed on the final syllable but ending with two consonants or with a vowel do not double the consonant: predict becomes predicting and predicted; reduce becomes reducer and reduced.
- Words that end in -c usually add a k before the suffix: panic becomes panicking; picnic, picnicked. And see also SPELLING OF -ING AND -ED FORMS OF VERBS ENDING IN -IC, -AC for curious problems that arise when we add the suffix.
- In words of more than one syllable ending in a consonant, especially -l, the English generally (but not always) double the final consonant, and Americans generally do not, although American dictionaries frequently report divided usage. Here are some examples:
| AMERICAN ENGLISH | BRITISH ENGLISH | | canceled, cancelled | cancelled | | crueler, crueller | crueller | | dueled, duelled | duelled | | jeweler, jeweller | jeweller | | kidnaped, kidnapped | kidnapped | | labeled, labelled | labelled | | quarreled, quarrelled | quarrelled | | traveled, travelled | travelled | | transshiped, transshipped | transshipped |
See SPELLING (1) for other differences. | 1 |
| The best guide is always a good current desk dictionary; its currency is important, because over time, spelling too can change. | 2 |
| |
| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
|
|
