Spelling - Changing 'y' to 'i': Activity 1

Sort the examples into two groups

CHANGE 'Y' to 'I'
tiny + -est → tiniest
memory + -al → memorial
beauty + -ful → beautiful
baby + -ish → babyish
weary + -ness → weariness
try + -ing → trying
apply + -ing → applying
try + -ed → tried
apply + -ance → appliance
silly + -ish → sillyish


When do we change y to i and when do we keep it?

Did you notice that there are some examples where the same base word behaves differently with different suffixes?

Can you think of a reason to keep the y before a suffix starting with i?

In general, double i is avoided in English. There are just a few exceptions, such as skiing. (That is not an exception to our rule about y, however, because the base word ends in i: ski + -ing → skiing.)

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