Why do we have double and single consonants?
There are a number of reasons for the doubling of consonants. Sometimes it’s just a matter of how a word has been spelt historically. For example, the -ing form of travel is spelt traveling in the USA, while in British English, it’s spelt travelling. The double l is purely a habit and serves no purpose here.
However, sometimes the double consonant does serve an important role. You may have noticed that write and writing have only one t, while written has two. Have you also noticed that the sound of the i is different? Let’s listen to some example words and the common patterns with single or double consonants.
The vowel “says its name”
The rule for single and double consonants is often said this way: When a vowel is followed by a single consonant and then e or i, the vowel generally “says its name”. For example:
- a – hate, hating (a is pronounced /eɪ/ as in day).
- e – meme, recede, impede, Glebe, ingredient (e is pronounced /i:/ as in bleed or read).
- i – fine, fining, dine, diner, dining (i is pronounced /aɪ/ as in fly).
- o – hope, hoped, hoping (o is pronounced /əʊ/ as in go or show).
- u – cute, mute, muting (u is pronounced /ju:/ as in you or use.)
The rule doesn’t always apply
There are many places where the rule applies, but also many exceptions. The important thing to remember is that most words follow the rule and there are relatively few exceptions that don’t follow a clear pattern like those below.
The verb suffix -ise (the rule applies)
In multi-syllable verbs created with the ending in -ise the i generally says its name /eɪ/. Examples are nationalise, industrialise, socialise, revolutionise and fictionalise.
-ve endings. Some words follow the rule while others are exceptions.
The English spelling system generally does not permit words spelt with a final v, so a final e is added. In the following examples, the first vowel does not say its name:
- dove *
- love
- glove
- live *
- give
* Note that dove has two meanings and follows the rule when it is the past tense of the verb dive /dəʊv/ (the o is pronounced /əʊ/ as in grow and go. Likewise, live has two meanings and follows the rule when it is the adjective as in “exports of live sheep” – /laɪv/.
The suffix -ive: does not follow the rule
The i in words ending with the -ive suffix does not “say its name”. It is the short /ɪ/ sound. These words are generally adjectives (and sometimes nouns):
active, passive, infinitive, decisive, subjective, productive and supportive are examples.
However, the letter combination -ive is not always the adjective-forming suffix -ive. There are many shorter words ending in -ve which do follow the “vowel says its name” rule: strive, drove. rove, dive, hive, jive and knives.
x cannot be doubled.
The past tense of fix is fixed and the -ing form is fixing. Although the consonant isn’t and can’t be doubled, the vowel does not “say its name”. The same happens with suffix, prefix, box and fox. (suffixes, prefixes, boxes and foxes).
Other exceptions: the -ind and -ight endings
There are many other exceptions, for example wind (verb) – although the i is followed by two consonants, the i says its name /aɪ/. However, the i in the other meaning of wind (meaning ‘movement of air’ ) is a short /ɪ/ sound. Grind, find, hind and rind are other examples showing a pattern in which the i in the -ind ending generally says its name (is pronounced /aɪ/), despite the double consonants. Likewise in words such as bright, light, sight and might we see the same pattern (i says its name).