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    Drop The E' Rule: Exercise 1

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    paragvaru
    This document provides exercises and information about the "drop the 'e'" spelling rule in English. It begins with two exercises testing words with suffixes where the "e" is either dropped or kept. It then explains the rule for dropping "e" with vowel suffixes like "-ing" but keeping it with consonant suffixes like "-ly". Exceptions to the rule are also outlined. The goal is to help consolidate understanding of when to drop or keep the "e" through practice and learning exceptions.

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    Drop The E' Rule: Exercise 1

    Uploaded by

    paragvaru
    460 views9 pages
    This document provides exercises and information about the "drop the 'e'" spelling rule in English. It begins with two exercises testing words with suffixes where the "e" is either dropped or kept. It then explains the rule for dropping "e" with vowel suffixes like "-ing" but keeping it with consonant suffixes like "-ly". Exceptions to the rule are also outlined. The goal is to help consolidate understanding of when to drop or keep the "e" through practice and learning exceptions.

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    Drop-the-e-rule

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    This document provides exercises and information about the "drop the 'e'" spelling rule in English. It begins with two exercises testing words with suffixes where the "e" is either dropped or kept. It then explains the rule for dropping "e" with vowel suffixes like "-ing" but keeping it with consonant suffixes like "-ly". Exceptions to the rule are also outlined. The goal is to help consolidate understanding of when to drop or keep the "e" through practice and learning exceptions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    460 views9 pages

    Drop The E' Rule: Exercise 1

    Uploaded by

    paragvaru
    This document provides exercises and information about the "drop the 'e'" spelling rule in English. It begins with two exercises testing words with suffixes where the "e" is either dropped or kept. It then explains the rule for dropping "e" with vowel suffixes like "-ing" but keeping it with consonant suffixes like "-ly". Exceptions to the rule are also outlined. The goal is to help consolidate understanding of when to drop or keep the "e" through practice and learning exceptions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 9

    Drop the ‘e’ rule

    First, there are a couple of exercises for you to do, and then there is
    some information for you to revise and consolidate your learning for the
    drop the ‘e’ rule.

    Exercise 1

    Write out the words with their endings ( drop the ‘e’ or keep the ‘e’)

    1. care + ing = ___________

    2. use + ful = ___________

    3. close + ed = ___________

    4. shade + y = ___________

    5. shake + ing = ___________

    6. manage + able = ___________

    7. achieve + able = ___________

    8. argue + ment = ___________

    9. safe + ty = ___________

    10. excite + ment = ___________

    11. amuse + ing = ___________

    12. true + ly = ___________

    1

    Exercise 2
    Which is correct?
    1. a. argument b. arguement

    2. a. using b. useing

    3. a. writing b. writting

    4. a. noticeable b. noticable

    5. a. responseible b. responsible

    6. a. haveing b. having

    7. a. involvement b. involvment

    8. a. agred b. agreed

    9. a. lovly b. lovely

    10. a. peaceable b. peacable

    11. a. excusable b. excuseable

    12. a. guaranted b. guaranteed

    Answers at the end

    The drop the 'e' rule is a great little rule to know but be warned like all
    English spelling rules there are exceptions, which we'll look at too.

    Do you know which is correct and why?


    writeing or writing?
    excitement or excitement?
    nerveous or nervous?
    lovely or lovly?

    2

    The correct spellings are:
    writing
    excitement
    nervous
    lovely

    write + ing (drop the ‘e’ with –ing) = writing


    excite + ment = excitement
    nerve + ous (drop the ‘e’) = nervous
    love + ly = lovely

    We usually drop the 'e' when adding a vowel suffix ending:


    -ing, -ous, -ed, -er, -est, -ise/-ize, -or, ary/ery, -ish, -ur, -ent/-ence,
    ant/ance, -age, ive, -al... (there are a few exceptions)

    But we keep the 'e' with consonant suffixes - ly, -ment, -s, -ful, -ness:
    lovely, excitement, hopeful, makes (but there are a few exceptions)

    “Y” sometimes is used as a vowel. When we add y to the end of words it


    becomes a vowel suffix and we drop the 'e' with:
    ease + y = easy,
    laze + y = lazy,
    stone +y = stony,
    shake + y = shaky,
    shade - shady

    but keep the 'e' in matey

    3

    Rules and patterns of drop the 'e'
    Drop the 'e' with –ing
    make - making achieve – achieving
    have - having amuse – amusing
    write - writing believe – believing
    love - loving become – becoming
    come - coming create – creating
    use – using cure - curing
    move - moving debate – debating
    blame - blaming describe – describing
    give - giving evade – evading
    size-sizing excuse – excusing
    notice- noticing forgive – forgiving
    manage- managing frame – framing
    notice – noticing grieve – grieving
    persuade – persuading improve – improving
    receive – receiving shake – shaking
    shine – shining
    solve - solving

    Exceptions:
    singe +ing = singeing (means scorching not singing)
    whinge - whingeing - stressing the soft g (not “winging”)
    binge - bingeing (not binging)
    tinge – tingeing (not tinging)
    dye - dyeing (not dying)

    also: both spellings are correct in:


    queue – queueing or queuing, cue - cueing or cuing

    BUT don’t drop the ‘e’ with :


    be - being, eyeing
    see - seeing, agree - agreeing, decree - decreeing,
    foresee – foreseeing, guarantee – guaranteeing, flee - fleeing,
    referee - refereeing

    also: hoe+ ing = hoeing, shoe +ing = shoeing, toe +ing toeing

    4

    Drop the 'e' with –ible (to avoid having an –ei- pattern)
    collapse- collapsible (collapseible)
    sense- sensible
    response - responsible
    reverse - reversible
    reduce - reducible

    Drop the 'e' with –ed (to avoid having 2 or 3 e’s)


    age- aged (ageed)
    excited - excited
    balance - balanced
    love - loved
    use - used
    guarantee - guaranteed (we can’t have 3 e's guaranteeed x)
    agree - agreed

    Drop the 'e' with –acy (to avoid an –ea- pattern)


    conspire – conspiracy (conspireacy)
    supreme - supremacy

    Words ending in -ate loses the 'te' and converts to -cy


    accurate - accuracy
    pirate - piracy
    delicate - delicacy

    Dropping the 'e' or keeping the 'e' with the -able ending
    Drop the 'e' with -able
    adore - adorable
    advise - advisable
    believe - believable
    conceive - conceivable
    drive - drivable
    desire - desirable
    excite= excitable
    excuse - excusable
    forgive – forgivable…

    5

    But be careful, there are some differences between British and American
    spelling:

    British English we keep the 'e' in blameable but in American English we


    drop the 'e' with blamable
    British English = sizeable but drop the 'e' in American English = sizable
    British = hireable drop the 'e' in American English = hirable

    Some words have two possible forms before –able:

    like - likeable/likable
    move - moveable/movable
    love - loveable/lovable
    name - nameable or namable
    live - liveable/livable
    sale - saleable / salable

    But we drop the 'e' with -ing with all these liking, naming, loving, blaming,
    giving, naming, sizing

    With words ending in '-ge' and '-ce' we keep the 'e' before 'able' and
    'ous' to keep the soft 'g' and 'c' sounds:

    manage - manageable,
    change- changeable,
    marriage - marriageable
    knowledge - knowledgeable
    advantage - advantageous,
    outrage - outrageous,
    notice - noticeable,
    replace - replaceable
    service - serviceable
    trace - traceable
    peace- peaceable

    6

    Another exception to the rule is the final -e is not dropped from words
    ending in: -ee, -oe, -ye ( to avoid the –ei-, -oi- patterns).
    see - seeing, (seing)
    agree - agreeing, agreeable,
    canoe - canoeist, canoeing, (canoing)
    dye – dyeing, (keep the ‘e’ or it’ll be dying = dead)
    flee - fleeing
    foresee- foreseer, foreseeing, foreseeable,

    Words ending in -ue we drop the 'e' with -ly


    due - duly true - truly, subtle – subtly

    truly is one of the most misspelled words according to the Oxford


    Dictionary

    We drop the 'e' in argument - argue + ment = argument (another common


    misspelt word)

    acknowledgement and acknowledgment - both spellings are correct

    judgement usually keeps the 'e’


    but lawyers spell it without the 'e' judgment

    **Good spellers usually see what looks right – so keep


    practicing/practising (British) and using the words, and notice the rule
    and spelling patterns in ads, in magazines, online, etc.**

    Always check in a good dictionary.


    You can listen to the pronunciation on these online dictionaries too:
    www.oxforddictionaries.com - British & American
    www.macmillandictionary.com - British & American
    http://dictionary.cambridge.org - British & American
    www.merriam-webster.com - American

    7

    Exercise 1 Answers

    Write out the words with their endings ( drop the ‘e’ or keep the ‘e’)

    1. care + ing = caring

    2. use + ful = useful

    3. close + ed = closed

    4. shade + y = shady

    5. shake + ing = shaking

    6. manage + able = manageable

    7. achieve + able = achievable

    8. argue + ment = argument

    9. safe + ty = safety

    10. excite + ment = excitement

    11. amuse + ing = amusing

    12. true + ly = truly

    What are your thoughts, notes?

    8

    Exercise 2 Answers

    Which is correct?

    1. a. argument b. arguement

    2. a. using b. useing

    3. a. writing b. writting

    4. a. noticeable b. noticable

    5. a. responseible b. responsible

    6. a. haveing b. having

    7. a. involvement b. involvment

    8. a. agred b. agreed

    9. a. lovly b. lovely

    10. a. peaceable b. peacable

    11. a. excusable b. excuseable

    12. a. guaranted b. guaranteed

    What are your thoughts, notes?

    I hope you’ve learned lots


    Keep working hard on your spelling and you will improve

    Joanne
    www.howtospell.co.uk

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