Rule 1.—Final "e" followed by a Vowel.
Final e of a primitive word is dropped on taking a suffix beginning with a vowel: as, blame + able = blamable; guide + ance = guidance; come + ing = coming; force + ible = forcible; obscure + ity = obscurity.
Exception 1.—Words ending in ge or ce usually retain the e before a suffix beginning with a or o, for the reason that c and g would have the hard sound if the e were dropped: as, peace + able = peaceable; change + able = changeable; courage + ous = courageous.
Exception 2.—Words ending in oe retain the e to preserve the sound of the root: as, shoe + ing = shoeing; hoe + ing = hoeing. The e is retained in a few words to prevent their being confounded with similar words: as, singe + ing = singeing (to prevent its being confounded with singing).
Rule II.—Final "e" followed by a Consonant.
Final e of a primitive word is retained on taking a suffix beginning with a consonant: as, pale + ness = paleness; large + ly = largely.
Exception 1.—When the final e is preceded by a vowel, it is sometimes omitted; as, due + ly = duly; true + ly = truly; whole + ly = wholly.
Exception 2.—A few words ending in e drop the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant: as, judge + ment = judgment; lodge + ment = lodgment; abridge + ment = abridgment.
Rule III.—Final "y" preceded by a Consonant.
Final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into i on the addition of a suffix.
Exception 1.—Before ing or ish, the final y is retained to prevent the doubling of the i: as, pity + ing = pitying.
Exception 2.—Words ending in ie and dropping the e, by Rule I. change the i into y to prevent the doubling of the i: as, die + ing = dying; lie + ing = lying.
Exception 3.—Final y is sometimes changed into e: as, duty + ous = duteous; beauty + ous = beauteous.
Rule IV.—Final "y" preceded by a Vowel.
Final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into an i before a suffix: as, joy + less = joyless.
Rule V.—Doubling.
Monosyllables and other 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 letter before a suffix beginning with a vowel: as, rob + ed = robbed; fop + ish = foppish; squat + er = squatter; prefer' + ing = prefer'ring.
Exceptions.—X final, being equivalent to ks, is never doubled; and when the derivative does not retain the accent of the root, the final consonant is not always doubled: as, prefer' + ence = pref'erence.
Rule VI.—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 + ing = tolling; cheat + ed = cheated; murmur + ing = murmuring.
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