Doubling consonants at end of word

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Scot - 13 Dec 2004 19:04 GMT

I was taught that when a word ends in a consonant, before adding a suffix
such as "ing" or "ed," the consonant must be doubled. However, MS Word and
the American Heritage Dictionary (at dictionary.com) are in conflict
regarding the words "control" and "travel." Is there a well-schooled
grammarian out there who knows when it's acceptable not to double the ending
consonant, and why dictionaries have differing answers regarding the issue?

Thanks.

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Colin Higbie - 13 Dec 2004 23:44 GMT

I don't believe there is a universal rule. English is a funny language in
that many of the "rules" are only true most of the time.

"I" before "E," is a common one. It's actually "I" before "E," except after
"C." Or, you can keep going and get "I" before "E," except after "C" or
sounded as "A" as in NEIGBOR or WEIGH. And when my mother taught it to me,
she also had a barely rhyming list of "other exceptions," none of which I
remember off the top of my head and frequently misspell to this day.

And that brings us back to your question... Trust the dictionary and spell
checker. They know the correct spelling.

- Colin

>I was taught that when a word ends in a consonant, before adding a suffix
> such as "ing" or "ed," the consonant must be doubled. However, MS Word
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Thanks.

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Scot - 14 Dec 2004 00:50 GMT

Yeah, I learned that "I" before "E" rhyme in grade school and run it through
my head several times each day, to this day. My observation with doubling
the consonant is that the MS Word spell checker is in conflict with the
American Heritage Dictionary. As shown in the examples below, Ms Word is
sometimes in conflict with the academically accepted dictionaries, at least
for the example, "travelling." Does anyone know which authority MS Word
relies on?

------- EX: "TRAVELING"-------
Says both are correct -- traveling and travelling
--- American Heritage Dictionary
--- Merriam-Webster
--- Cambridge Dictionary
--- Oxford English Dictionary

Says only one is correct -- traveling
--- MS Word

------- EX: "CONTROLLING"-------
Says both are correct -- controling and controlling
--- (none)

Says only one is correct -- controlling
--- Merriam-Webster
--- American Heritage Dictionary
--- Cambridge Dictionary
--- Oxford English Dictionary
--- MS Word

> I don't believe there is a universal rule. English is a funny language in
> that many of the "rules" are only true most of the time.
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> >
> > Thanks.

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Doug Potter [MSFT] - 14 Dec 2004 21:40 GMT

Our lexicographer says:
American reference sources give the single 'l' version preference (listing
it first) for words like traveled and controling. As you point out, however,
both are acceptable in the US and sometimes Canada. British and Australian
dialects only rarely accept the single 'l' version, in forms like
multileveled, unlabeled', forms related to panelise (not in US). We made a
recent pass through some of these variants to make it more consistent for US
English: (e.g. permitting cancelling as well as canceling). I see we missed
traveling/travelling: we currently accept both in Canadian, travelling in UK
and Australian, and only traveling in US English. We can fix that.

Thanks for your input.

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> Yeah, I learned that "I" before "E" rhyme in grade school and run it
> through
[quoted text clipped - 56 lines]
>> >
>> > Thanks.

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