Getting Started

Use this web tool as a suffix checker. It leads you through the questions you need to ask to decide what changes to make to a stem or base before adding a suffix. This covers almost all cases of suffixing.

1. Type in your initial word sum in the word sum box, eg. mine + ing.
2. Press Start and work through the prompts. In each column, start from the top and click the first statement that applies.
3. When you've finished, write the result in the final word box, eg. mining.

Press Reset to go back to make all entries blank.

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Introduction

This suffix checker provides guidance for suffixing stems and base elements. It works in most cases, but there are currently several known exceptions.

It was inspired by Melvyn Ramsden's Real Spelling. See Melvyn's flowchart to get a complete pictorial view of his approach.

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Terminology

The terminology is likely to be most immediately accessible to those familar with Real Spelling, but I hope in practice it proves of interest to a wider group of users.

See the separate spelling glossary for specific terms.

The spelling links page can also help provide more background.

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Known Exceptions

The current suffix checker won't check the phonology of the resulting word for you.

Some examples:

• You may need to write <-ce> in place of <-c> in the base or stem to preserve the pronunciation /s/.  Eg. <traceable>
• You may need to write <-ck> in place of <-c> in the base or stem to preserve the pronunciation /k/.  Eg. <panicking>

Another exception is when the suffix <−ly> is added to an adjective ending in <−le>, such as <humble>, to form an adverb. The correct spelling is then <humbly>.

In contrast, it works correctly for <crumbly>, since the suffix in this case is <−y> which forms an adjective from the word <crumble>.

I'd like to hear from you if you find other exceptions.

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Your Comments

Please do feel free to use the Interactive Suffix Checker for yourself. --And do suggest improvements. I may not be able to put them all into action, but by getting comments back it becomes possible to create a simple interactive checker that will be of real use to people.

Our shared hope is that it becomes a tool that a whole community can have a part in creating, since that way it will not only be a better tool, but one that young students especially can feel real pride and ownership in.

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Technical Issues

This started as an experiment, written in JavaScript. It works under my versions of Mozilla and Internet Explorer, but won't be accessible to all browsers.

If there's no response when you click on the 'Start' button, your browser probably objects to the internal coding. One solution is to make sure you're browser is an uptodate version.

Go back to the spelling micro-site main page for more information about trouble-shooting.

Various other technical issues will probably be quite quirky in this trial version. Eg. re-loading, going back/forwards a page, and loading up inside another document may each cause unexpected behaviour.

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History of Changes

With thanks to Jerry Bate, Pete Bowers, Emma Kerrigan-Draper, Melvyn Ramsden, their students and various Bridport Ramsdens, for valuable suggestions and unevaluable encouragement.

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