NCO Primary Leadership Subjects
Adding Prefixes and Suffixes, Continued
Unfortunately, there is no rule that will tell you how to spell all words ending in -ible
-Ibie or -able?
or -able. You should memorize the exceptions. The following tables provide
guidelines to help spell words with -ible or -able suffixes. In many words, the -ible
or -able ending is after the letter c or g. The sound of the c or the g determines how
to spell the ending.
If the preceding c or Then spell the ending
Examples
g...
with...
has the hard sound (i.e., c -able.
amicable
as in "cat", or g as in
applicable
"goat")
practicable
has the soft sound (i.e., c -ible.
forcible
as in "circle" or g as in
reducible
"giraffe")
legible
Continued on next page
1-14
Writing Mechanics and Composition
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