Wednesday, January 23, 2002, 16:50 GMT
When using the inflection -er and -est, when do you double the letters? Like big bigger biggest and near nearer and nearest???
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er and est and when to use double letters
Wednesday, January 23, 2002, 16:50 GMT
When using the inflection -er and -est, when do you double the letters? Like big bigger biggest and near nearer and nearest???
Wednesday, January 23, 2002, 22:38 GMT
The rule given by Swan's "Practical English Usage" is that you double the consonants when a word ends in one vowel + one consonant.
fat - fatter - fattest thin - thinner - thinnest BTW: As long as you know the spelling intuitively, you don't have to worry about the rule. (I didn't know the rule before.)
Thursday, January 24, 2002, 01:02 GMT
thanks Tom!. I asked everyone and no one I know had the answer!
Thursday, January 24, 2002, 04:17 GMT
Beware the words that follow with a vowel and the consonant "w". The above rule doesn't hold good in this case.
low - lower - lowest
Thursday, January 24, 2002, 17:00 GMT
Notice the difference in pronunciation between "latter" and "later".
latter ['l@ t..(r)] later ['lei t..(r)] "fater" would be pronounced ['fei t..(r)] like "later". "fatter" is pronounced ['f@ t..(r)] like "latter". The consonant is doubled because of pronunciation. Another example: tiger and bigger. tiger ['tai g..(r)] bigger ['bi g..(r)] If you wrote "biger" instead of "bigger", it would be pronounced ['bai g..(r)] like "tiger".
Thursday, January 31, 2002, 22:49 GMT
*If the word consists of one syllable with a consonant+vowel +consonant or
(the last three letters a C+V+C) the last consonant is doubled. fat fatter sit sitting beg begged ( stop stopped shut shutting) *If the word has more than one syllable, we double the last consonant only when the stress falls on the last syllable. begin /bı'gın/ beginning admit /..d'mıt/ admitting but enter /'ent..(r)/ entered answer /'a:ns..(r) answered **Don't double the last consonant if the word finishes with "w" or "x" ,they are out of this rule. show showed draw drawing ***This rule is used for comparatives ,superlatives,forming the regular verbs in past tense and in adding -ing to the verb.
Thursday, January 31, 2002, 23:18 GMT
Sorry for the illegible phonetic transcription of "begin and "admit" after sending the message it became like that.
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