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Oxford English dictionary spelling

The Writing Centre

Moriset Hall
Room 0036 Ottawa, ON
Canada K1N 6N5

No telephone writing help available
Tel.: 613 562-5800 ext. 2267

No online writing help available
E-mail:
writcent@uOttawa.ca

 

Final Silent "e"

If a word ends in a consonant followed by a silent "e", drop the "e" before endings beginning with a vowel, but keep the "e" before endings beginning with a consonant:

engage becomes engaging but engagement
care becomes caring but careful
fate becomes fatal but fateful
scarce becomes scarcity but scarcely
 

Written by Dorothy Turner

 

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Last updated: 2007.08.16