Allow, alum; appointment, apartment; ballad, balance; banner, banish; city, ditty; commit, comet; dismissal, commiserate; maggot, fagot; fellow, felon ; harrow, harass; linnet, linen; mallet, malice; manner, manor; meddle, medal; million, vermilion; Ellen, melon; noddle, model; pillion, pavilion; pity, pittance; bigger, rigour; gallery, salary; pennant, tenant; merriment, merit; wherry, very.

Wagon. This word is now usually spelled with two g's, but erroneously. There is no more reason for doubling the g in wagon than there is in dragon, or any similar word. This is a proof of the utility of this rule.

87

PRACTICAL RULES FOR SPELLING.

I. As a general rule, y, when its place may be supplied by i, is not to be written except at the end of a word. Hence, when y is advanced from that position, by the addition of a letter or syllable, it is changed into i. This change is exemplified by the formation of the plural of nouns; the persons, past tenses, and past participles of verbs; and the comparison of adjectives; as a cry, the cries; I cry, thou cri-est, he cri-es or cri-eth, cri-ed; holy, holi-er, holi-est. It is also exemplified by the addition of the AFFIXES or terminations, er, al, ful, fy, less, ly, ment, ness,2 able, ance, ant, ous,3 &c.; as try, tri-er, tri-al; pity, piti-ful, piti-less; glory, glori-fy, glorious; holy, holi-ness, holi-day;3 merry, merriment; comply, compli-ance, compli-ant; envy, enviable, envi-ous; many, mani-fold, &c.

Exceptions.-1. In such cases y retains its form when it is part of a diphthong, which occurs in all words ending in ay,*ey, oy, or uy; as in day, days; betray, betrays, betrayed, betrayer, betrayal; attorney, attorneys; convey, conveys, conveyed, conveyance; boy,

1 Except in Greek and foreign words, as system, tyrant, myrrh, alchymy, &c. In these instances y is not the representative of i, but of a different letter, namely the Greek upsilon, or short u.

2 The y is usually retained in the following words, DRY, SHY, SLY, when LY or NESS is added; as dry-ly, dry-ness, &c.

3 In the words BEAUTY, BOUNTY, DUTY, PITY, and PLENTY, y has been changed into e before the termination ous; as beauteous, bounteous, duteous, piteous, and plenteous.

4 Lay, pay, say, and their compounds repay, unsay, &c., follow the general rule when ed or d is added, as laid, paid, said, unpaid, unsaid, &c. But the exception prevails in layer, payer, payable, ka,

boys, boyish; destroy, destroys, destroyeth, destroyed, destroyer; buy, buys, buyeth, buyer.

2. For an obvious reason, y retains its form when followed by the participial termination ing; as in magnify-ing, carry-ing, accompany-ing.

3. For the sake of distinction, y is properly used for i in such names as Taylor, Smyth, &c.

4. In proper names pluralized, y retains its form, as the Henrys, the Ponsonbys.'

EXERCISES ON THE RULE AND THE EXCEPTIONS PROMISCUOUSLY ARRANGED.

1. Spell or write the plural form of each of the following

nouns.

Ally, alley, army, abbey, baby, beauty, berry, chimney, body, donkey, copy, essay, dainty, dairy, jockey, journey, daisy, eddy, kidney, fancy, ferry, turkey.

Lamprey, money, fury, hobby, gipsy, jelly, jury, monkey, lady, lily, pulley, puppy, penny, pony, joy, poppy, reply, toy, valley, ruby, study, convoy, volley.

Ability, attorney, comedy, gallery, galley, academy, effigy, apology, envoy, embassy, atrocity, turnkey, necessity, villany, propensity, magistracy, incendiary, tourney, seminary, eccentricity, whimsey.

2. Spell or write the second and third persons, present tense, and the present and past participle of each of the following verbs.-Or, in other words, join to each example the terminations EST, ETH, ING, and ED, making the necessary changes.

Ally, apply, allay, carry, dry, defy, deny, pray, decay, espy, fancy, fry, defray, display, pity, convey, pry, ply, obey, essay, annoy, rally, tarry, try, survey, descry, employ, delay, supply, stray, convoy, portray, enjoy,

1 The proper name Sicily, however, follows the general rule, as "the King of the two Sicilies."

2 The learner should note that in all regular verbs the past tense and past participle are alike,

purvey, vary, deploy, amplify, indemnify, multiply, occupy, prophesy, supply, buy, buoy, typify.

3. Spell or write the comparative and superlative forms of each of the following adjectives.1

Busy, easy, giddy, happy, lonely, lovely, merry, ready, greedy, silly, speedy, tidy, rosy, lively, stately, shady, lucky, noisy, lofty, lazy, clumsy, ugly, worthy. 4. To the following words add any of the TERMINATIONS mentioned in the rule which are applicable, making the necessary changes.

Beauty, fancy, mercy, ally, deny, comply, annoy, carry, bury, pity, busy, giddy, enjoy, greedy, ready, rely, convey, bounty, penny, duty, defy, glory, ply, play, plenty, vary, merry, lovely, silly, sprightly, stately, lazy, injury, ugly, study, harmony, employ, accompany, victory.

II. Monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable, ending with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant when they take an additional syllable beginning with a vowel.

2

This rule is exemplified by the formation of the persons and participles of verbs, the comparison of adjectives, and by words formed from verbs, nouns, and adjectives by the addition of AFFIXES or terminations

1 Adjectives of two or more syllables are generally compared by prefixing the adverbs more and most, or less and least. Adjectives of two syllables, however, ending in y or e may be compared either ways; that is, by er and est, or by more and most; as BUSY, busier, busiest, &c.

2 The reason of this rule is obvious. The duplication of the final consonant in such cases preserves the pronunciation of the original word. If the b were not doubled in rob-bed, for example, we would have not only a different pronunciation (rōbed), but also a different word (namely, the past tense of the verb robe). Again, "a good hatter" would to the eye be "a good hater," if the t were not doubled.

beginning with a vowel; as ROB, rob-best, rob-beth, rob-bed, rob-bing, rob-ber, rob-bery; SIN, sin-nest, sin-neth, sin-ned, sin-ning, sin-ner; REBEL, rebel-lest, rebel-leth, rebel-led, rebel-ling, rebel-lion, rebel-lious; COMMIT, Commit-test, commit-teth, commit-ted, commit-ting, commit-tal, commit-tee.

BIG, big-ger, big-gest; RED, red-der, red-dest, reddish; SLIM, slim-mer, slim-mest; THIN, thin-ner, thinnest, thin-nish; FAT, fat-ter, fat-test, fat-tish.

BEG, beg-gar, beg-gary, beg-garly; GUN, gun-ner, gun-nery; STOP, stop-page, stop-ple; SLIP, slip-pery, slip-per; POT, pot-tage, pot-ter, pot-tery; RUB, rub-ber, rub-bish; GLAD, glad-den; SAD, sad-den; WIT, wit-ty, wit-tier, wit-tiest, wit-ticism.

Exceptions.-1. In words ending with 1a preceded by a single vowel, the final consonant is usually doubled in such cases as the above, though accented on the first syllable; as TRAVEL, travelled, travelling, traveller; COUNSEL, Counselled, counselling, counsellor; LIBEL, libelled, libelling, libellous; MODEL, modelled, modelling, modeller; DUEL, duelling, duellist, &c.

1 The termination le is equivalent to el, and was formerly so written. See Introduction to the Dictionary, page iii., note 5.

2 The "liquid" nature of the letter l, and the orthography of the French words from which the most of these terms are immediately derived, account for, and perhaps sanction, these anomalies; but there is no such excuse for doubling the p in gallopped, gallopping, worshipped, worshipping, worshipper, gossipping, &c.

In most of the American printed books, it may be observed that these exceptions are not admitted. The following are WERSTER'S observations on the subject:-"We observe in all authors, ballotting, bevelling, levelled, travelled, cancelled, revelling, rivalling, worshipped, worshipper, apparelled, embowelled, libelling, and many others in which the last consonant is doubled, in opposition to one of the oldest and best established rules in the language. Nouns formed from such verbs should be written with a single consonant, as jeweler, traveler, worshiper. What should we say to a man who should write audittor, gardenner, laborrer," &c.?