All Questions
Tagged with double-consonant or doubled-consonants
76 questions
2
votes
2
answers
193
views
Were double consonants pronounced at some period of history?
One of the things that makes me wonder is why English has double consonants which are pronounced as single, like ‘ff’ (buffer, stiff), ‘ll’ (allow), ‘mm’ (hammer), ‘nn’ (dinner), ‘ss’ (-ness, floss) ...
- 505
1
vote
0
answers
188
views
Gemination of plosives in final positions following a consonant
Whenever a plosive like p,t,k follows a consonant in the final position, it is always released or else it can't be heard at all. For example: lamp, act, thank, etc. Yet in the word lamppost, the first ...
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
389
views
Why no double "v" in "river" or "quiver"?
After googling around for a while, I was unable to see anything that explained either causality or history/etymology for the single "v" in either "river" (why not "rivver"...
- 537
0
votes
1
answer
109
views
Why is double -ll- used after a vowel digraph in "surveilled, surveilling"?
Why is the letter l double in the inflections of the verb surveil?
It's not in those of (as)sail or veil, and AmE has canceled but mostly cancellation. It's a counterintuitive spelling similar to ...
- 2,690
1
vote
0
answers
44
views
Why is the "r" doubled in "arrhythmia"? [duplicate]
Why is the "r" doubled in "arrhythmia" relative to "rhythmia"?
I'm guessing it's because English resists hyphenation of prefixes and suffixes ("a-rhythmia"), ...
- 257
0
votes
0
answers
60
views
"Bias": reason(s) for doubling the last consonant before inflectional endings
Forms such as concussed or discusses may lead people to wrongly double the final consonant of focus ―at least that's the only reason I have come up with.
Yet, I cannot come up with a potential ...
- 2,690
0
votes
1
answer
997
views
Is there a rule why the correct spelling for "Marketing" is not " Marketting"? [duplicate]
I have always assumed that you doubled the consonant when the vowel preceding it is short.
bet and betting for example; Why is this different for market and marketing?
- 191
19
votes
1
answer
7k
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Why is the past tense of vomit generally spelled 'vomited' rather than 'vomitted'? [duplicate]
"Vomit" is not a recent addition to English, and nor does it have a peculiar pronunciation. Yet, the past tense of vomit does not follow the notion that a vowel followed by a consonant and emphasis on ...
- 343
0
votes
0
answers
69
views
What's the rule for doubling 't' in verbs like 'getting' vs. 'targeting' [duplicate]
In verbs that end with "et", what is the rule for doubling the final consonant for present participle?
Examples where doubling is used:
getting
typesetting
forgetting
Examples where a single 't' is ...
- 519
5
votes
1
answer
384
views
Can a plosive consonant in a word be pronounced as an unreleased consonant?
ESL teachers always tell people to suppress the normal release of the consonant "p b k g t d" if it's at the end of a word and the next word also begins with a consonant.
But what about words with a ...
- 51
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
'Histogramed' or 'histogrammed'?
The following rule (or 'rule', this being English) is sometimes quoted:
If a word has two or more syllables, double the final consonant when adding a suffix if and only if the final syllable is ...
- 12.6k
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Why does "inferred" have two Rs while "inference" doesn't?
Earlier today I spelled "infered" with one R and my handy editor promptly added some red squiggles.
Acknowledging the error of my ways I added the missing R happy carried only writing my document.
...
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Australian English: developed or developped?
According to https://proofreadmydocument.com.au/writing-tips/spelling-tips-the-doubling-up-rule/ and https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/resources/view/resource/20/, we should spell the past ...
user318469
5
votes
2
answers
582
views
Is "buffeted" the AmE version of the BrE word "buffetted"?
I am referring to the use of the verb "to buffet" meaning
"(especially of wind or waves) strike repeatedly and violently; batter."
The use of "buffeted" and "buffeting" is widespread. However use ...
- 6,314
4
votes
2
answers
15k
views
Why do we write "fixing" instead of "fixxing"?
When we have one vowel and one consonant and we want to add 'ing', we usually double the last consonant.
Why don't we add an extra 'x' to the word 'fix'?
We don't double 'w' and 'y' maybe because they ...
- 97
6
votes
1
answer
158
views
How do native English speakers pronounce words with contiguous hard consonants?
For example, in the word blindness the d and n are quite different and I find it hard to pronounce the d explicitly without making a brief pause. In normal and fast speaking, is it common to omit the ...
1
vote
1
answer
7k
views
Are "worshiping" and "worshipping" interchangeable? [closed]
Every online source seems to agree with the preconceived notion I had that the correct usage is "worshipping" with two p's, saying that "worshipping" is an exception to a rule about doubling the ...
- 121
0
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What are the rules when to use double letters for words that end with a consonant when modified both in British English and in American English? [duplicate]
Example of such words are:
http://grammarist.com/spelling/cancel/
http://grammarist.com/spelling/travel/
As far as I know, at least in American English, words that have single syllable double their ...
- 294
1
vote
1
answer
272
views
Is there a grammar rule for nouns coming from verbs? [duplicate]
I'd like to know if there is a grammar rule stating when the last consonant of the verb has to be doubled.
E.g. why: "to cut" -> cutter, "to program" -> programmer, but "to read" -> reader?
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
12k
views
Why "controlled" not "controled"? [duplicate]
Unlike British English and other varieties, American English does not double the letter "l" in words such as "traveled", "canceled", etc. However, it does with the word "controlled". Is there any ...
- 1,442
4
votes
3
answers
12k
views
Why do we have double letters?
I'm wondering why we have double letters in words that make the same sound as if it were a single letter. For example apple. The pp makes a p sound, and sound the same as if the word was spelt aple.
...
- 149
0
votes
0
answers
2k
views
Silent Letters In Words Containing Double Letters
I'm doing an exercise, which says find the silent letters in some words. one of them is "OFFICE"
Does this word have 1 or 2 silent letters? The final 'E' Or final 'E' + one of 'F's
Are double ...
11
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Why is the 'L' in detailed not doubled?
I cannot quite understand why the 'L' is not doubled when forming 'detailed' from 'detail'. Is that an exemption to the consonant doubling, or did I simply not understand the rules?
From the answers ...
- 376
6
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Is it "transferrer" or "transferer"?
According to thefreedictionary, "transferrer" is someone who transfers something. However, it also lists the alternate spelling "transferer", with only one r in the middle. For the related "...
- 318
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
When double "l" is considered American English?
I'm struggling with "enroll" and "enrollment". Both answers (this one and this one), given to this question, as well as Wikipedia seems to be suggesting, that double "l" is more common in British ...
- 154
2
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Double Consonants in Gerund
Is there any rules regarding gerund that tell when to double the consonant of a word and when not to?
I'm a little bit confused regarding this matter. Based on this link there are words that can be ...
- 329
4
votes
3
answers
38k
views
Why is "batting" spelled with two t's, but "combating" spelled with one?
The "bating" in "combating" is pronounced the exact same way as "batting". It doesn't make sense to me.
- 49
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Other special hyphenation examples than eight-teen
According to The TeXbook [Don Knuth, 1984], solution to Exercise 14.8, the word eighteen should be hyphenated eight-teen. It is, indeed, standard practice in pre-reform German to contract triple ...
- 433
5
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Adding an L when appending an -ium suffix to a word? (Metallium vs. Metalium)
I am Romanizing a business name from Hebrew, and am wondering what the most appealing or 'correct' spelling might be - 'Metallium' or 'Metalium'. The owners of the business went with the latter, but ...
- 151
22
votes
1
answer
9k
views
Why is "fridge" spelt with a 'd' but "refrigeration" spelt without one?
The question is in the title, why does the word, refrigeration not have a 'd' in it when fridge does?
- 503
5
votes
1
answer
23k
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Why is "happened" spelled with a single "n"? [duplicate]
I've seen the words
plan -> planned, planning
begin -> beginning
Why is "happen" different and why is "happenning" an incorrect spelling?
- 161
-1
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How is the past tense of "error" spelt in British English? [duplicate]
How is the past tense of "error" spelt in British English?
Wiktionary says that it's "errored", but its entry for errored doesn't explicitly say it's valid for British English, and I thought it'd get ...
- 18.3k
38
votes
3
answers
225k
views
“Programming” versus “programing”: which is preferred?
I was surprised that my spell checker did not complain for programing with one m, so I Googled it, and found on free dictionaries that both forms were acceptable.
Which one is more common? Does it ...
0
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Pronunciation of a double C [closed]
I always pronounce words like "accelerate" and "eccentric" as "asselerate" or "eesentric". I don't know why but the "ks" that I hear in common pronunciation irks me. Is it correct to pronounce the c's ...
11
votes
1
answer
22k
views
Past participle form of "exit"?
What's the past participle form of the word exit? Is it exit (irregular, like set)? exited? exitted? On one page I found exited but if that's the case why isn't it exitted (double t) like with the ...
- 609
33
votes
3
answers
92k
views
Is "targetted" a standard British English spelling?
Wiktionary says that the difference between "targetting" and "targeting" is that the first one is a British spelling and the second one is American. Meanwhile, Oxford Dictionaries says that "...
- 537
15
votes
5
answers
28k
views
"Cancellation", "Canceled", "Canceling" — US usage
I'm trying to figure out if there is a specific rule behind the word "cancel" that would cause "cancellation" to have two L's, but "canceled" and "canceling" to have only one (in the US).
I ...
- 253
1
vote
0
answers
264
views
"Traveller" vs. "traveler" [duplicate]
There was a time when traveller's cheques were emitted and sold by the banks in England and by Thomas Cook. However the cheques emitted by American banks/American Express were named traveler's cheque, ...
24
votes
3
answers
108k
views
Plural of 'yes'
What is the plural of yes? Googling brings up many different suggestions from different sources.
Yesses
Yeses
Yes's
Yes' ?
- 1,223
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why does "agree" have only one "g"?
According to Webster, agree comes from Latin ad + gratus. However there are other words such as aggregate and aggression that also come from ad + [something], and these words are spelled with a double ...
- 201
1
vote
0
answers
2k
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What is the rule for duplicating the last letter when adding "-ed"? [duplicate]
I wonder if there is any rule for doubling the p at the end of a stem. For example:
stop — stopped
but
help — helped
- 159
0
votes
1
answer
2k
views
programme or program [duplicate]
I am wondering which is the correct version?
Furthermore, the official length of my programme of study: 3.5 years
of full-time study and 16 weeks of internship.
Furthermore, the official ...
- 257
1
vote
3
answers
22k
views
Does the word "Vaccum" exist?
If yes, does it have the same meaning of vacuum?
Ref:
Vacuum (Wikipedia)
Vaccum.org (dead link / domain not in use; verified on 28.12.2020).
Both the sites define the same meaning, but the spelling ...
- 121
2
votes
2
answers
9k
views
Why is "writing" spelled with only one T? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there any rhyme or reason to when one should double the last consonant when adding -ed or -ing?
It has always been a word that intuitively I wish to spell with two Ts.
So ...
- 133
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
For the verb 'focus' why is the gerund form 'focusing' with a single S, instead of 'focussing' with a double S? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Focussed” or “focused”? The double consonant
The rule that I learned was that when you have a short vowel in the last syllable, you double the last consonant before adding ...
- 698
2
votes
2
answers
53k
views
"Godness" vs. "goddess"
I've noticed people use (in speech) the word godness for "feminine god", e.g.:
Oh my godness!
However, in classic texts it is goddess, e.g. Shakespeare's "King Lear":
Hear, nature, hear; dear ...
8
votes
2
answers
114k
views
"Dilemma" vs. "dilemna" [closed]
I understand the correct spelling is 'dilemma' but many people I've spoken with, including myself, were convinced the spelling was 'dilemna'.
A quick search on google shows this is not isolated to ...
- 191
17
votes
2
answers
94k
views
What's the difference between 'modeling' and 'modelling'? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is “L” doubled?
If I am using the word model in the context of financial models and the UK, then which of these words should I use? Also, are there any key ...
- 189
12
votes
5
answers
5k
views
"Plugable" or "pluggable"
When it comes to programming copy edits, there are lots of words that would otherwise be thrown out or replaced.
Hive uses a plugable design.
Should that be plugable or pluggable?
If the ...
- 467
19
votes
2
answers
38k
views
Why is "fulfil" spelt as "fulfill" in American English?
In this answer, simplification is stated as one reason for spelling variations in American English. But unlike in color and favorite, the number of letters to spell the word in fulfil increases in ...
- 16.1k