Spelling Rule-7: The drop the ‘e’ rule

The drop the ‘e’ rule is a great little rule to know but be warned like all English spelling rules there are exceptions, which we’ll look at too. Do you know, which is correct and why?

writeing or writing?

excitement or excitment?

nerveous or nervous?

lovely or lovly?

write + ing (drop the ‘e’ with –ing) = writing

excite + ment = excitement

nerve + ous (drop the ‘e’) = nervous

love + ly = lovely

Spelling Rule-7.1: We usually drop the ‘e’ when adding a vowel suffix ending.

 -ing, -ous, -ed, -er, -est, -ise/-ize, -or, ary/ery, -ish, -ur, -ent/-ence, ant/ance, -age, ive, -al

(There are a few exceptions)

Spelling Rule-7.2: But we keep the ‘e’ with consonant suffixes – ly, -ment, -s, -ful, -ness:

Love+ly=lovely

Excite+ment=excitement

Hope+ful= hopeful

Make+s=Makes

(but there are a few exceptions)

Spelling Rule-7.3: Y sometimes is used as a vowel. When we add y to the end of words it becomes a vowel suffix and we drop the ‘e’ .

ease + y = easy,

laze + y = lazy,

stone +y = stony,

shake + y = shaky

BUT keep the ‘e’ in matey.

Spelling Rule-7.4: Rules and patterns of drop the ‘e’ drop the ‘e’ with –ing

make – making

have – having

write – writing

love – loving

come – coming

use – using

move – moving

blame – blaming

give – giving

size-sizing

notice- noticing

manage- managing

notice – noticing

persuade – persuading

receive – receiving

achieve – achieving

amuse – amusing

believe – believing

become – becoming

create – creating

Exceptions:

singe +ing = singeing (means scorching not singing)

whinge – whingeing – stressing the soft g ( not winging)

 binge – bingeing (not binging)

 tinge – tingeing (not tinging)

dye – dyeing (not dying)

also: both spellings are correct in:

queue – queueing or queuing,

 cue – cueing or cuing

BUT don’t drop the ‘e’ with :

be – being,

eye-eyeing

see – seeing,

agree – agreeing,

 decree – decreeing,

foresee – foreseeing,

guarantee – guaranteeing,

flee – fleeing,

referee – refereeing

 hoe+ ing = hoeing,

shoe +ing = shoeing,

 toe +ing =toeing

Spelling Rule-7.5: Drop the ‘e’ with –ible 

(to avoid having an –ei- pattern)

collapse- collapsible (collapseible)

sense- sensible

response – responsible

reverse – reversible

reduce – reducible

Spelling Rule-7.6: Drop the ‘e’ with –ed

 (to avoid having 2 or 3 e’s)

age- aged (ageed)

excited – excited

balance – balanced

love – loved

use – used

guarantee – guaranteed

(we can’t have 3 e’s guaranteeed – wrong)

agree – agreed

Spelling Rule-7.7: Drop the ‘e’ with –acy 

(to avoid an –ea- pattern)

conspire – conspiracy (conspireacy)

supreme – supremacy

Spelling Rule-7.8: Words ending in -ate loses 

the ‘te’ and converts to -cy

accurate – accuracy

pirate – piracy

delicate – delicacy

Spelling Rule-7.9: Dropping the ‘e’ with the -able ending

adore – adorable

advise – advisable

believe – believable

conceive – conceivable

drive – drivable

desire – desirable

excite= excitable

excuse – excusable

forgive – forgivable

Spelling Rule-7.10: Careful with some differences between British and American spelling

British English/American English

sizeable/sizable

hireable/hirable

Spelling Rule-7.11:Some words have two possible forms before –able

like – likeable/likable

move – moveable/movable

love – loveable/lovable

name – nameable/namable

live – liveable/livable

sale – saleable / salable

but we drop the ‘e’ with -ing with all these liking,

 naming, loving, blaming, giving, naming, sizing

Spelling Rule-7.12: With words ending in ‘-ge’ and ‘-ce’ we keep the ‘e’ before ‘able’ and ‘ous’ to keep the soft ‘g’ and ‘c’ sounds.

manage – manageable

change- changeable

marriage – marriageable

outrage – outrageous

notice – noticeable

replace – replaceable

knowledge – knowledgeable

advantage – advantageous

service – serviceable

trace – traceable

peace- peaceable

Spelling Rule-7.13: The final -e is not dropped from words ending in: -ee, -oe, -ye. ( to avoid the –ei-, -oi- patterns).

see – seeing, (seing)

agree – agreeing, agreeable

canoe – canoeist, canoeing, (canoing)

dye – dyeing,  (keep the ‘e’ or it’ll be dying = dead)

flee – fleeing

foresee- foreseer, foreseeing, foreseeable

Spelling Rule-7.14: Words ending in -ue we drop 

the ‘e’ with -ly

due – duly

true – truly

subtle – subtly

7.15: Important Notes

truly is one of the most misspelled words according to the Oxford Dictionary

We drop the ‘e’ in argument – argue + ment = argument (another common misspelt word)

acknowledgement and acknowledgment – both spellings are correct

 judgement  usually keeps the ‘e’

but lawyers spell it without the ‘e’ judgment