source: data.grammarbook.com/blog
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Tip 1: When adding a suffix, double the final consonant if the preceding vowel would otherwise change from short to long.
Example: shop / shopping
Explanation: Without the additional “p,” the pronunciation would rhyme with hoping.
Example: bat / batted
Explanation: Without the additional “t,” the pronunciation would rhyme with gated.
Of course, what kind of English rule would we have without exceptions? (A consistent one?)
According to the tip, transit and profit should both have their consonants doubled when adding a suffix. Otherwise, the “i” becomes long. However, this is not the case.
Examples:
transit / transited / transiting
profit / profited / profiting
In an effort to make us feel even less secure with our spelling, some words are spelled correctly by either doubling the consonant or not.
Example: travel / traveling OR travelling (British preference)
The moral of the story is that we often have no choice but to look these words up or rely on spell checkers that don’t always catch these exceptions.
. there's a QUIZ online at data.grammarbook.com/blog ...
you should visit it!
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