Spelling rules vary for words formed from a root ending in silent e.
Silent e before a suffix beginning with a vowel
The final e is usually dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel.
- debate, debatable
- desire, desirable
- dine, dining
- excite, excitable
- make, makable
- subdue, subduing
but
- mile, mileage
Some words, however, can either drop or retain their final e before a suffix beginning with a vowel (the preferred spelling in Canada is the one listed first in the list below):
- age, aging, ageing
- like, likeable, likable
- love, lovable, loveable
- move, movable, moveable
- rate, rateable, ratable
- sale, saleable, salable (US)
- size, sizable, sizeable
After c or g
When e follows c or g, it is retained before the vowels a and o to preserve the soft sound of these consonants; however, it is not usually retained before i:
- change, changeable (but changing)
- courage, courageous
- gauge, gaugeable (but gauging)
- knowledge, knowledgeable
- notice, noticeable (but noticing)
- peace, peaceable
- trace, traceable (but tracing)
Note: In the case of knowledgeable, the spelling without an e after the g is also accepted: knowledgable.
Before i
Note that the e is retained even before i in some cases in order to distinguish a word from a similarly spelled one or to preserve a particular pronunciation:
- dyeing
- singeing
- shoeing
- toeing
but
- routing
Silent e before a suffix beginning with a consonant
Words ending in a silent e generally retain the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant:
- complete, completeness
- hope, hopeless
- waste, wasteful
- whole, wholesome
Exceptions
The following words do not retain the e before the suffix ly:
- due, duly
- subtle, subtly
- true, truly
- whole, wholly
Also, abridgment, acknowledgment and judgment can be spelled with or without an e after the g. In Canada, the preferred spelling is as follows:
- with the e, for abridgement and acknowledgement; and
- without the e, for judgment.
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