BASIC SPELLING RULES—I BEFORE E
I before E except after C, or when sounding like A as in neighbor or weigh.
Though it has a few exceptions, this simple rule is worth remembering. The majority of
the time, it works. Some examples of the exceptions:
After C: ceiling, conceive, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive, deceit, conceit
When sounding like A: neighbor, freight, beige, sleigh, weight, vein, weigh
Others: either, neither, feint, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, weird, seize, and
seizure
BASIC SPELLING RULES—DOUBLING FINAL CONSONANTS
When adding an ending to a word that ends in a consonant, you double the consonant if:
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the ending begins with a vowel (such as -ing, -ed, -age, -er, -ence, -ance, and -al)
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the last syllable of the word is accented and that syllable ends in a single vowel
followed by a single consonant (words with only one syllable are always
accented). Stop becomes stopping, stopped, stoppage, or stopper because stop
has only one syllable (so it is accented), and it ends in a single consonant pre-
ceded by a single vowel.
Here are some other examples of words that meet the doubling requirements:
run—running, runner
slam—slamming, slammed
nag—nagged, nagging
incur—incurred, incurring
kid—kidding, kidder
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