doubling of final consonants in inflection

doubling of final consonants in inflection

The table below explains the differing practice in English shown by the forms hotter, enrolled, offered, targeted, in which the root word (hot, enrol, offer, target) ends in a single consonant. Practice can also differ with the same word in BrE (e.g. traveller) and AmE (e.g. traveler). A key factor is the position of the stress in each case, and it is therefore useful to distinguish between words of one syllable and words of more than one syllable. The inflections and suffixes which affect the spelling in these ways are: -ed and -ing (in verbs); -er and -est (in adjectives); -er (forming agent nouns such as traveller); and -y (forming adjectives such as rickety or adverbs such as initially).

1. words of one syllable.

Words ending in a single consonant double the consonant when adding any of the suffixes given above:

verbs

beg / begged / begging / beggar

clap / clapped / clapping

dab / dabbed / dabbing

squat / squatted / squatting / squatter

throb / throbbed / throbbing

rub / rubbed / rubbing

An exception is bus (verb, = take people by bus), which has forms bused, busing.

adjectives

fat / fatter / fattest / fatty

glad / gladder / gladdest

wet / wetter / wettest

When the final consonant is w, x, or y this is not doubled:

verbs

tow / towed / towing

vex / vexed / vexing

toy / toyed / toying

When the final consonant is preceded by more than one vowel (other than u in qu), the consonant is not normally doubled:

verbs

boil / boiled / boiling / boiler

clean / cleaned / cleaning / cleaner

squeal / squealed / squealing / squealer

adjectives

clean / cleaner / cleanest / cleanly

loud / louder / loudest / loudly

2. words of more than one syllable.

Words ending in a single consonant double the consonant when the stress is placed on the final syllable:

verbs

allot / allotted / allotting

begin / / beginning / beginner

occur / occurred / occurring / occurrence

prefer / preferred / preferring / preference [sic]

Note the change of stress in preference, which affects the spelling. But the same exception as above applies to w, x, and y:

verbs

guffaw / guffawed / guffawing

relax / relaxed / relaxing

array / arrayed / arraying

Words that are not stressed on the final syllable do not double the consonant unless it is an l:

verbs

audit / audited / auditing / auditor

ballot / balloted / balloting

benefit / benefited / benefiting

bias / biased / biasing

bigot / bigoted

blanket / blanketed / blanketing

budget / budgeted / budgeting

carpet / carpeted / carpeting

chirrup / chirruped / chirruping

cosset / cosseted / cosseting

crochet / crocheted / crocheting

ferret / ferreted / ferreting

fillet / filleted / filleting

focus / focused / focusing

gallop / galloped / galloping

gossip / gossiped / gossiping

hiccup / hiccuped / hiccuping

leaflet / leafleted / leafleting

market / marketed / marketing

offer / offered / offering

picket / picketed / picketing

plummet / plummeted / plummeting

profit / profited / profiting

ricochet / ricocheted / ricocheting

rivet / riveted / riveting

rocket / rocketed / rocketing

target / targeted / targeting

thicken / thickened / thickening

trumpet / trumpeted / trumpeting

visit / visited / visiting / visitor

vomit / vomited / vomiting

Exceptions in BrE:

input / / inputting

output / / outputting

kidnap / kidnapped / kidnapping / kidnapper

worship / worshipped / worshipping / worshipper

In AmE the forms are usually kidnaped, worshiping, etc.

In BrE words ending in t in the above list are the ones most likely to appear with a doubled consonant (under the influence of fitted, fitting), i.e. budgetted, leafletting, etc. Focus also sometimes inflects focussed, focussing. However, it is best to keep to the basic rule in these cases too.

Words ending in -l normally double the l regardless of where the stress is placed in the word:

verbs

annul / annulled / annulling

appal / appalled / appalling

cancel / cancelled / cancelling

channel / channelled / channelling

chisel / chiselled / chiselling

counsel / counselled / counselling / counsellor

dial / dialled / dialling

dishevel / dishevelled / dishevelling

enrol / enrolled / enrolling

extol / extolled / extolling

fulfil / fulfilled / fulfilling

grovel / grovelled / grovelling / groveller

impel / impelled / impelling

initial / initialled / initialling

instil / instilled / instilling

label / labelled / labelling

level / levelled / levelling / leveller

libel / libelled / libelling

marshal / marshalled / marshalling

model / modelled / modelling

panel / panelled / panelling

quarrel / quarrelled / quarrelling

revel / revelled / revelling / reveller

rival / rivalled / rivalling

shovel / shovelled / shovelling

travel / travelled / travelling / traveller

tunnel / tunnelled / tunnelling

adjectives

cruel / crueller / cruellest

Exceptions:

verbs

appeal / appealed / appealing

conceal / concealed / concealing

reveal / revealed / revealing

parallel / paralleled / paralleling

In AmE the final -l is not usually doubled:

BrE / AmE

/ (always) / (usually)

cancel / cancelled / canceled

/ cancelling / canceling

cruel / crueller / crueler

/ cruelly / cruelly [sic]

dial / dialled / dialed

/ dialling / dialing

duel / duelling / dueling

jewel / jeweller / jeweler

/ jewellery / jewelry [sic]

label / labelled / labeled

/ labelling / labeling

marvel / marvelled / marveled

/ marvelling / marveling

travel / travelled / traveled

/ travelling / traveling

/ traveller / traveler