Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Today is the Day

To discuss what I find to be an error in generally accepted spelling practices.

Today's problem, suffixes. Specifically, when to drop trailing 'e's from a word before adding a suffix. The general rule is that if the 'e' is silent, you drop it.

However, there is an exception. If the suffix begins with a consonant, and the 'e' is necessary to the correct pronunciation of the word, it should not be dropped.

For instance, 'judge' + 'ment' should not be 'judgment', since the 'g' cannot be soft without a trailing 'i' or 'e'. The preferred spelling in most dictionaries drops the 'e'. This is, of course, crazy talk.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The "judgment" thing has always bothered me also.

Thanks for giving this weighty and distrubing matter some attention amid the passing frivolity of this day.

SerenitySprings said...

As one who has great experience in the legal world, the accepted spelling of the word in America is "judgment." In the UK it's "judgement." Irregardless, it's not a ginormous difference.

VikingMoose said...

"Irregardless, it's not a ginormous difference."

heh!