4
Focusing on Double or Nothing…And No Bussing, Please!
Posted by Editormum on Friday, 4 July 2003 in Reader Questions | ∞
The word focus is, like so many words, “a puzzlement” when it comes to adding suffixes. According to Fowler, the proper inflections are focus, focused, focuses, focusing. Fowler notes, however, that many printers and publishers use the “-ss-” form instead. It is not, apparently, solely a British tendency. Fowler also points out an interesting exception […]
Double or Nothing?
Posted by Editormum on Tuesday, 1 July 2003 in Reader Questions | ∞
“How do I know when to double the last letter when I want to add -ing to a word?” — A query from a confused blogger, who didn’t identify him- or herself. Actually, this is a lot simpler than you might think. It all depends on the vowel preceding that last consonant. (Usually. Remember that English is […]