This is the second step in Guide to Good English
INFLECTION
Inflection is the process by which words (principally nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
change their form, especially their ending, in accordance with their grammatical role in a sentence.
Verbs
Verbs normally add -s or -es to form third-person present-tense forms (changes, wants), -ed to form past tenses and past participles (changed, wanted), and -ing to form present participles (changing, wanting). However, some verbs form tenses by changing their stem (throw, threw, thrown), and others are completely irregular (have, had, had; go, went, gone).
Verbs drop a final silent -e when the suffix begins with a vowel (as in shave, shaving). But a
final -e is usually retained to preserve the soft sound of the g in twingeing and whingeing. It is
also retained where it is needed to avoid confusion with similar words, for example in dyeing
(from dye) as distinct from dying (from die).
Nouns
English nouns normally form their plurals by adding -s, or -es if the singular form ends in -s, -x, -
z, -sh, o Nouns ending in -y form plurals with -ies (policy, policies), unless the ending is -ey, in which case the plural form is normally -eys (valley, valleys).
Nouns ending in -f and -fe
Nouns ending in -f and -fe form plurals sometimes with -fs (handkerchief, handkerchiefs; oaf, oafs;
proof, proofs; roof, roofs), sometimes -ves (calf, calves; half, halves; knife, knives; shelf, shelves) and occasionally both -fes and -ves (dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves; hoof, hoofs or hooves).
Nouns ending in -o
Plurals of nouns ending in -o cause difficulty in English because there are few convenient rules
for choosing between -os (as in ratios) and -oes (as in heroes).
As a guideline, the following typically form plurals with -os:
- words in which a vowel (usually i or e ) precedes the final -o (trios, videos).
- words that are shortenings of other words (demos, hippos).
- words introduced from foreign languages (boleros, placebos).
Names of animals and plants normally form plurals with -oes (buffaloes, tomatoes).
Adjectives and adverbs:
comparatives and superlatives Adjectives
An adjective has three forms: a positive (hot, splendid), a comparative (hotter, more splendid),
and a superlative (hottest, most splendid).
Adjectives that form comparatives and superlatives using -er and -est in preference to (or as well
as) more and most are:
- words of one syllable (e.g. fast, hard, rich, wise).
- words of two syllables ending in -y and -ly (e.g. angry, early, happy, holy, likely, lively) and corresponding
un- forms when these exist (e.g. unhappy, unlikely). Words ending in -y change the y to i (e.g. angrier, earliest).
- words of two syllables ending in -le (e.g. able, humble, noble, simple), -ow (e.g. mellow, narrow,
shallow),
and some ending in -er (e.g. clever,tender).
- some words of two syllables pronounced with the stress on the second syllable (e.g. polite,
profound, but not antique, bizarre, and others).
- other words of two syllables that do not belong to any classifiable group (e.g. common, cruel,
pleasant, quiet).
Words of one syllable ending in a single consonant double the consonant when it is preceded by
a single vowel (glad, gladder, gladdest; hot, hotter,hottest) but not when it is preceded by more than one vowel (clean, cleaner, cleanest; loud, louder,
loudest). Words of two syllables ending in -l double the l (e.g. cruel, crueller, cruellest).
Adjectives of three or more syllables use forms with more and most (more beautiful, most interesting, etc.).
Adverbs
Adverbs that take -er and -est in preference to (or as well as) more and most are:
- adverbs that are not formed with -ly but are identical in form to corresponding adjectives
(e.g. runs faster, hits hardest, hold it tighter).
- some independent adverbs (e.g. often and soon).
Adverbs ending in -ly formed from adjectives (e.g. richly, softly, wisely) generally do not have -er and -est forms but appear as more softly, most wisely, etc.r soft -ch (as in church but not loch).