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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > spelling rule
spelling rule
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robinbaby
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spelling rule
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Dear colleagues I �ve always taught my pupils that, when they put an adjective in the comparative or the superlative, they should be careful about one-syllable adjectives ending with 1 vowel and one consonant as they have to double the consonant. e. g. big => bigger / the biggest. But this morning we came across the adjective "new" and they wanted to have a double W. I told them it was not the case, but I could explain them why! I thought that maybe it �s because [ju:] is a diphthong and not a consonant sound. But that �s just a thought! If any of you has an explanation, my pupils would be glad to get the answer I couldn �t provide. Thanks a lot. Celine |
5 May 2015
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maryse pey�
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Hi dear,
The rule is not good for the diphtongues (2 following vowel sounds) as in �new �. Just check what I am used to tell my students : �when you have a short vowel sound between 2 consonants, and only 1 last consonant, this last consonant doubles. � When you check in a phonetic dictionary you will see a short sound, I mean without the ":" behind the vowel sound. For example in "ship" (I) you have got a simple and short vowel sound whereas in "sheep" (I:) there is a long vowel sound.
Is my explanation ok for you ?
Maryse. |
5 May 2015
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Gi2gi
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There is a point in your finding, Celine. As far as I can think w is always preceded by a vowel and sometimes forms a diphthong. Although, we have some adjectives that end with -w and there is no diphthong: e.g. raw - rawer - rawest As an accepted rule, we should not double the following consonants - w, - x, -y (the latter changes in -ies when preceded by a consonant)
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5 May 2015
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robinbaby
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Thanks a lot to both of you. That was enlightening. |
5 May 2015
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yanogator
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Georgi has it right. We don �t double x, y or z in these situations. Bruce
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5 May 2015
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Minka
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I think this has a lot to do with the sounds that we pronounce and hear. When you write Y or W, they are often mute. In NEW you don �t really have a feeling that there is anything after that u: sound. In BIG you can hear that G very clearly. And the I is short as Maryse has already pointed out. It �s not the same with long vowels. |
5 May 2015
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Beba z.
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That is why I always write how words are pronounced, English spelling rules are not about the way words are written but the way they are pronounced. In this case, the word NEW is pronounced /nju/ which is different from BIG /big/, new has combination consonant+vowel, and big short vowel+consonant, this is the reason and the rule why g is doubled. |
5 May 2015
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yanogator
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Well, Beba, that will take you pretty far, but it won �t explain why the past of "box" isn �t "boxxed",although I think the rationale here is that x is really a double sound - ks, so, then, your explanation does work. Bruce
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5 May 2015
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Peter Hardy
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I �m a bit lazier and simply tell my students that every grammar rule in English has many exceptions. Having said so, I have to add that I teach my ss as little grammar as possible, but focus on teaching sentences aka daily speech. That way they start to speak quicker, and will discover the grammar kind of automatically. And yes, they often ask such questions as �why �, especially after Computer-English class, where they have an opportunity to access the web to practice their english at certain sites. So my lazyness is rather a necessity to cope with too many different questions in one session.
Cheers, Peter
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5 May 2015
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Beba z.
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Yanogator, you guessed it! That is how I explain it :) Even young students (10-year-olds) pick up the rule pretty easy, it somehow makes sense to them. |
6 May 2015
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