plurals etc

[Morris Krok essence@xxxxxxxx]

from Morris

  I came across in a British book dealing with words that incorrectly
spelt. Some Spelling Rules (Pergamon Dictionary of Perfect Spelling)
  Christine Maxwell. Most of it I imagine will apply to USA spelling and
plurals.

 (1) Y always stays when adding 'ing' but changes to 'i' before adding -ed,
e.g. carry, carrying, carried  terrrify, terrifying, terrified
 (2) 'i' before 'e' except after 'c', e.g.
field, mischievous, relief    deceive, perceive, receipt
 Note there are exceptions to the above rules.
 (3) 'q' is always followed by 'u', e.g. conquer, frequent, queen
 (4) 'All" at the beginning of a word loses one 'l', e.g. always,
already, altogether. The double 'll' is retained in hyphenated words such
as all-fours and all-round, but the words all right should always be
written as two separate words.
 (5) A word accented on its last syllable and ending with a single
consonant preceded by a vowel doubles that consonant on adding 'ed' & 'ing';
e.g. prefer, preferred, preferring
 Words of this type, not accented on the last syllable, do not double
the last consonant, e.g. benefit, benefited, benefiting
 With words ending in 'l' the final consonant is generally doubled
whether the last syllable is accented or not, e.g. travel, travelled,
travelling.

 Formation of Plurals
(1) Most words including those ending in a silent 'e', add 's', e.g.
 airport, airports, sausage, sausages
(2) Words ending in 'ay' 'ey' 'oy' or 'uy' add 's' e.g. day days
 toy toys  abbey abbeys   guy guys
(3) Words ending in 'fe' change 'f' to 'v' and add 's' e.g.
 knife knives
(4) Some words ending in 'f' change 'f' to 'v' and add 'es'
 e.g. half halves loaf loaves
(5) Some words ending in 'f' add 's' e.g.  chief  chiefs
 handkerchief handkerchiefs. But note some words ending in
 'f' can either add 's' or change 'f' to 'v' and add 'es'
 e.g. hoof hoofs hooves scarf scarfs scarves
(6) Words ending in 'ff' usually add 's' e.g. cliff cliffs
 sheriff sheriffs
(7) Words ending in 'o' add 's' or 'es' e.g. concerto concertos
 dynamo dynamos buffalo buffaloes domino dominoes
(8) Words ending in 'ch', 's', 'sh', 'x', 'z' add 'es', e.g.
 chruch churches thrush thrushes gas gases
 box boxes dress dresses buzz buzzes
(9) Words ending in 'y' (but not 'ay', 'ey', 'oy' or 'uy' see note 2)
 change the 'y' to an 'i' and add 'es' e.g. baby babies
 family families
(10) Some words form their plurals mainly by changing their vowels
 (or some of their vowels), e.g. foot feet mouse mice
 goose geese tooth teeth man men woman women
(11) One word adds 'en' ox oxen. One word adds 'ren' child children
(12) Words ending in 'us' change 'us' to 'i', e.g. bacillus bacilli
 fungus fungi radius radi rhombus rhombi
 terminus termini
(13) Words ending in 'is' change 'is' to 'es' e.g. analysis analyses
 basis bases metamorphosis metamorphoses
(14) Words ending in 'ex' add 'es' or change 'ix' to 'ices' e.g.
 apex apexes or apices  index indexes or indices
 vortex vortexes or vortices
(15) Words ending in 'ix' add 'es' or change 'ix' to 'ices' e.g.
 appendix appendixes or appendices helix helices
 matrix matrixes or matrices
(16) Some words ending in 'a' simply add 's' e.g. aroma aromas
 drama dramas idea ideas but note: alga algae
 antenna antennae formula formulas or formulae
 stoma  stomas or stomata
(17) Some words ending in 'um' simply add 's' e.g.
 museum museums premium premiums but note:
 aquarium aquariums or aquaria bacterium bacteria
 curriculum curricula memorandum memorandums memoranda
 stadium stadiums stadia
(18) Words ending in 'on' usually add 's' e.g. electron electrons
 neutron neutrons but note: phenomenon phenomena
(19) Words ending in 'eau' add 'x' e.g. 'bureau bureaux
 chateau chateaux plateau plateaux Note that some
 dictionaries allow a plural in 's' for some of these words.
(20) Some words have the same spelling for both the singular and the
 plural forms, e.g. bison grouse sheep deer salmon trout
(21) Compound words. Logically the most important word should be
   changed into the plural forms e.g. brother-in-law, brothers-in-
 law man-of-war men-of-war but note: court-martial, court-
 martials lord justice, lords justices
(22) Some words are used only in the singular form e.g. arithmetic
 goodness magic  courage logic music
(23) Some words are used only in the plural form e.g. mathematics
 acoustics physics tactics athletics politics
(24) Pairs. The following do not have a singular form: entrails
 pliers trousers pincers scissors tweezers

 Key to Dictionary Symbols
 Italic ending must be left off before adding further word
 endings
 (1) add 'ing' or 'ed' to the verb without changing it
 (2) drop the final 'e' before adding 'ing' or 'ed'
 (3) you may add 'ing' to the word without changing it. The
      'y' must be changed to 'i' before adding 'ed'.