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3.12 Words ending in a silent e
The final e is usually dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel:
- debate
- debatable
- desire
- desirable
- dine
- dining
- excite
- excitable
- like
- likable
- love
- lovable
- make
- makable
- move
- movable
- rate
- ratable
- sale
- salable
- size
- sizable
- subdue
- subduing
but
- age
- ageing
- mile
- mileage
However, when e follows c or g it is retained before the vowels a and o to preserve the soft sound of these consonants:
- change, changeable but changing
- courage, courageous
- gauge, gaugeable but gauging
- knowledge, knowledgeable
- notice, noticeable but noticing
- peace, peaceable
- trace, traceable but tracing
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
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
Words ending in a silent e, Exceptions
- due
- duly
- subtle
- subtly
- true
- truly
- whole
- wholly
Abridgment, acknowledgment and judgment can be spelled with or without the e, but the preferred spelling is as given.
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