Also ask you to implement policy of correcting me when you find needed in phrase construction...
zzot
I wish you luck. English must be tricky to learn as a second language.
Very simple to understand. Let me take the word “Apple” as an example. Apple has two syllables “AP” + “PLE” (pronounced Ap-pul with the emphasis on the Ap)
It is confusing because some words begin or end with double letters where the rule of pronouncing the letter twice does not apply, such as “full” or the name “Aaron”.
In those cases the pronouncer would be a slightly stronger emphasis on the double letters.
Hope that helps.
Ibtz!
Rules aren’t very reliable. Often, double consonants are found in conjunction with short vowel sounds. Copper, hidden, tapping. Single consonants accompany long vowel sounds. Hoping, hiding, taping.
We are having great difficulty with Barry Barrack and Barrak.
Hmmmm.
I’ll treat this as a serious question.
Generally, the double consanant is employed to preserve the short vowel sound preceeding it. If a vowel is followed by a consonant and another vowel, it takes the long sound of the vowel (when two vowels go walking, they play a little game. The last vowel is silent, the first says it’s own name.) and the second is not sounded.
An example is found by the word “rap”. It means to hit something, like knocking on a door and is synonymous with “tap”. If it is an on-going action we give it an “-ing” suffix. However, to preserve the vowel sound we must double the “p”, thus “rapping.”
If we didn’t double the “p” the “a” would be sounded with the long sound, making the word “raping”. That has a different meaning entirely.
Hope this helps.
why the English language is so hard to learn:
> 1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
> 2) The farm was used to produce produce.
> 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
> 4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
> 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
> 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
> 7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time
to present the present.
> 8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
> 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
> 10) I did not object to the object.
> 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
> 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
> 13) They were too close to the door to close it.
> 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
> 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
> 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
> 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
> 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
> 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
> 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
> 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
> English: interesting language.
> There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor
> pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or
> french fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads,
> which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we
> explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing
> rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a
> pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
> grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
>
> If the plural of tooth is teeth,
> why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?
> One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?
> One index, 2 indices?
>
> Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If
> you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,
> what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
> If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
> In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
> Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
> Have noses that run and feet that smell?
> How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and
> a wise guy are opposites?
> house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by
> filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
> People, not computers invented English, and it reflects the creativity
> of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why,
> when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out,
> they are invisible.
> P.S.
> Why doesn’t “buick” rhyme with “quick”?
Start here for quick reference:
http://spelling.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/basic-spelling-rules-double-the-final-consonant-rule/
Further resources via this search result:
http://www.google.com/search?q=rule+for+double+consonants
Can you help me with a rule?
OK, I'll bite. Jemian is right.
Double consonents such as "pp" are usually preceded by a short vowel sound. For example, supper. We had rice and beans for supper.
Single consonents such as "p" are usually preceded by a long vowel sound. For example, super. Super man can fly through the air.
Another example: Feathers are a filler for pillows. The office manager needs a filer to store his folders.
Back in elementary and high school we were given a lot of “rules” for spelling and pronunciation. It seems every rule had an exception. I still have a problem with spelling, if not for spellcheck I’d be lost. English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, maybe because it’s a composite of several languages. Spelling and pronunciation is dependant to a large extent on which language the word came from.
My only advise is to speak English as much as possible with native English speakers – and be aware that British and American English is not the same. When it comes to spelling, read a dictionary as much as possible.
Don’t worry some of us make misstakes all the time.
Reading through the misstakes is a useful talent.
I had better shut up now....
where are the zot kitties???
“If the word has a suffix but a single consonant followed by a vowel drop the vowel and double the consonant except in words that have two or more syllables and one of the double letters would be sounded with the second syllable if the word had no suffix. If the word has two more syllables and the last single consonant would NOT be sounded with the second or last syllable then double that last consonant and drop the last vowel before adding the suffix UNLESS there is only one syllable in the word and it has a double consonant and NO vowel, in which case simply add the suffix. There are exceptions to this simple rule and they are many.
For example, “piling vs. pilling” and slang words and words of foreign origin.
The above applies in cases of vowel SOUNDS following the second con........
Just use Spellcheck and take your chances.