The-Grammar-of-English-Grammars-176

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passless,	carelessness,	recklessness,	embarrassment,	enfeoffment,	agreement,
agreeable.
EXCEPTIONS.—1.	Certain	irregular	derivatives	in	d	or	t,	from	verbs	ending	in
ee,	ll,	or	ss,	(as	fled	from	flee,	sold	from	sell,	told	from	tell,	dwelt	from	dwell,
spelt	from	spell,	spilt	from	spill,	shalt	from	shall,	wilt	from	will,	blest	from	bless,
past	from	pass,)	are	exceptions	to	the	foregoing	rule.	2.	If	the	word	pontiff	is
properly	spelled	with	two	Effs,	its	eight	derivatives	are	also	exceptions	to	this
rule;	for	they	are	severally	spelled	with	one;	as,	pontific,	pontifical,	pontificate,
&c.	3.	The	words	skillful,	skillfully,	willful,	willfully,	chillness,	tallness,	dullness,
and	fullness,	have	generally	been	allowed	to	drop	the	second	l,	though	all	of
them	might	well	be	made	to	conform	to	the	general	rule,	agreeably	to	the
orthography	of	Webster.
RULE	VII.—RETAINING.
Words	ending	with	any	double	letter,	preserve	it	double	in	all	derivatives	formed
from	them	by	means	of	prefixes:	as,	see,	foresee;	feoff,	enfeoff;	pass,	repass;
press,	depress;	miss,	amiss;	call,	recall;	stall,	forestall;	thrall,	inthrall;	spell,
misspell;	tell,	foretell;	sell,	undersell;	add,	superadd;	snuff,	besnuff;	swell,
overswell.
OBSERVATION.—The	words	enroll,	unroll,	miscall,	befall,	befell,	bethrall,
reinstall,	disinthrall,	fulfill,	and	twibill,	are	very	commonly	written	with	one	l,
and	made	exceptions	to	this	rule;	but	those	authors	are	in	the	right	who	retain	the
double	letter.
RULE	VIII.—FINAL	LL.
Final	ll	is	peculiar	to	monosyllables	and	their	compounds,	with	the	few
derivatives	formed	from	such	roots	by	prefixes;	consequently,	all	other	words
that	end	in	l,	must	be	terminated	with	a	single	l:	as,	cabal,	logical,	appal,	excel,
rebel,	refel,	dispel,	extol,	control,	mogul,	jackal,	rascal,	damsel,	handsel,	tinsel,
tendril,	tranquil,	gambol,	consul.
OBSERVATION.—The	words	annul,	until,	distil,	extil,	and	instil,	are	also
properly	spelled	with	one	l;	for	the	monosyllables	null,	till,	and	still	are	not
really	their	roots,	but	rather	derivatives,	or	contractions	of	later	growth.	Webster,
however,	prefers	distill,	extill,	and	instill	with	ll;	and	some	have	been	disposed	to
add	the	other	two.
RULE	IX.—FINAL	E.
The	final	e	of	a	primitive	word,	when	this	letter	is	mute	or	obscure,	is	generally
omitted	before	an	additional	termination	beginning	with	a	vowel:	as,	remove,
removal;	rate,	ratable;	force,	forcible;	true,	truism;	rave,	raving;	sue,	suing;	eye,
eying;	idle,	idling;	centre,	centring.
EXCEPTIONS.—1.	Words	ending	in	ce	or	ge,	retain	the	e	before	able	or	ous,	to
preserve	the	soft	sounds	of	c	and	g:	as,	trace,	traceable;	change,	changeable;
outrage,	outrageous.	2.	So,	from	shoe,	we	write	shoeing,	to	preserve	the	sound
of	the	root;	from	hoe,	hoeing,	by	apparent	analogy;	and,	from	singe,	singeing;
from	swinge,	swingeing;	from	tinge,	tingeing;	that	they	may	not	be	confounded
with	singing,	swinging,	and	tinging.	3.	To	compounds	and	prefixes,	as	firearms,
forearm,	anteact,	viceagent,	the	rule	does	not	apply;	and	final	ee	remains	double,
by	Rule	6th,	as	in	disagreeable,	disagreeing.
RULE	X.—FINAL	E.
The	final	e	of	a	primitive	word	is	generally	retained	before	an	additional
termination	beginning	with	a	consonant:	as,	pale,	paleness;	edge,	edgeless;
judge,	judgeship;	lodge,	lodgement;	change,	changeful;	infringe,	infringement.
EXCEPTIONS.—1.	When	the	e	is	preceded	by	a	vowel,	it	is	sometimes	omitted;
as	in	duly,	truly,	awful,	argument;	but	much	more	frequently	retained;	as	in
dueness,	trueness,	blueness,	bluely,	rueful,	dueful,	shoeless,	eyeless.	2.	The	word
wholly	is	also	an	exception	to	the	rule,	for	nobody	writes	it	wholely.	3.	Some	will
have	judgment,	abridgment,	and	acknowledgment,	to	be	irreclaimable
exceptions;	but	I	write	them	with	the	e,	upon	the	authority	of	Lowth,	Beattie,
Ainsworth,	Walker,	Cobb,	Chalmers,	and	others:	the	French	"jugement,"
judgement,	always	retains	the	e.
RULE	XI—FINAL	Y.
The	final	y	of	a	primitive	word,	when	preceded	by	a	consonant,	is	generally
changed	into	i	before	an	additional	termination:	as,	merry,	merrier,	merriest,
merrily,	merriment;	pity,	pitied,	pities,	pitiest,	pitiless,	pitiful,	pitiable;	contrary,
contrariness,	contrarily.