If a word ends in a consonant followed by a silent e, drop the e before suffixes beginning with a vowel, but keep the e before suffixes beginning with a consonant. For example:
- engage —> engaging —> engagement
- care —> caring —> careful
- fate —> fatal —> fateful
- scarce —> scarcity —> scarcely
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© Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa
A tool made available online by the Translation Bureau, Public Services and Procurement Canada
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