Spelling Change: Drop the Final e

Drop a silent final e before adding a suffix that starts with a vowel.

When a base word ends in a silent e and you add a suffix that starts with a vowel, such as -ing, -ed, -er, or -able, you usually drop the e. 'Make' plus 'ing' is 'making', not 'makeing'. 'Hope' plus 'ed' is 'hoped'. 'Love' plus 'able' is 'lovable'. If the suffix starts with a consonant, like -ful, -less, or -ment, you keep the e: 'hopeful', 'careless', 'movement'.

Knowing this helps when reading too. If you see 'shining', you can think: the base might be 'shine', with its e dropped. That tells you the i is long. Compare 'shinning', from 'shin', where the double n keeps the i short.

• 1Vowel suffix (-ing, -ed, -able): drop the silent e.
• 2Consonant suffix (-ful, -less, -ment): keep the e.
• 3When reading, a missing e can explain a long vowel.