Double consonant

[irmamar]

Is there any rule to know if a word is spelled with double consonant? For instance: harassment, possessed, committee, etc.

Thanks in advance

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Is there any rule to know if a word is spelled with double consonant? For instance: harassment, possessed, committee, etc.

Thanks in advance

Yes, there is a general rule, but as always in English there are plenty of exceptions.

A double consonant indicates that the preceeding vowel is short. If you look at the words above which you have quoted with double consonants, the vowels are all short

harassment, poss ess-ed, comm itt-ee

further:
wily - long i
willy - short i (sorry, a silly example )

Does that make sense?

Edit:
The siting of that building is bad
I am sitting in the sun

[irmamar]

Thanks, Perikles, but.. another one? To me is quite difficult to know sometimes if a vowel is short or long. Sometimes it's clear, but other times I'm not able to distinguish a long vowel from a short one

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Thanks, Perikles, but.. another one? To me is quite difficult to know sometimes if a vowel is short or long. Sometimes it's clear, but other times I'm not able to distinguish a long vowel from a short one

I thought that might be a problem. There are 5 short vowels a, e, i, o, u as in

hat (sombrero)
bed (cama)
lid (tapa)
hot (caliente)
hut (cabaña)

Do you know how to pronounce these 5? If so, all others are long vowels such as

feet
meat
moon
tone
hate
love
tube
hide.

Any help?

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, there is a general rule, but as always in English there are plenty of exceptions.

A double consonant indicates that the preceeding vowel is short. If you look at the words above which you have quoted with double consonants, the vowels are all short

harassment

In fact, the first a is an exception. When I say "harassment" the first a is slightly shorter than the second, but it's followed by single r.

Also, you've got me thoroughly confused with your followup post, which contradicts the previous one.

[Jessica]

Necessary
Oddness
Homeless

Some more. Of course, -ness and -less are suffixes.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by pjt33

In fact, the first a is an exception. When I say "harassment" the first a is slightly shorter than the second, but it's followed by single r.

Also, you've got me thoroughly confused with your followup post, which contradicts the previous one.

Yes, there are plenty of exceptions, but I think it works as a general rule. As for my followup post, the last section was complete gibberish, and I've deleted it - sorry about that. What I wanted to say was that in a case like the two words

hat
hate

the short vowel is lengthened by the -e ending. The rule about a double consonant for a short vowel does not apply to the last syllable, as in 'hat'. Similarly

hid (short)
hidden (short, thus dd)
hide (long because of -e)

Also rat, rate; fat, fate; etc.

I have no training in teaching English to foreigners (which might be blindingly obvious) so am ignorant of accepted standard rules. These are just my own observations.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, there are plenty of exceptions, but I think it works as a general rule.

I've never heard it before, but it certainly sounds plausible. I just commented on it because I believe that when you cite a rule and then use a word which contains an exception you should mention the fact to avoid confusing people.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, there are plenty of exceptions, but I think it works as a general rule. As for my followup post, the last section was complete gibberish, and I've deleted it - sorry about that. What I wanted to say was that in a case like the two words

hat
hate

the short vowel is lengthened by the -e ending. The rule about a double consonant for a short vowel does not apply to the last syllable, as in 'hat'. Similarly

hid (short)
hidden (short, thus dd)
hide (long because of -e)

Also rat, rate; fat, fate; etc.

I have no training in teaching English to foreigners (which might be blindingly obvious) so am ignorant of accepted standard rules. These are just my own observations.

That's good enough for monosyllabic words, but polysyllabic ones must be quite difficult to know. Luckily, I have a good visual memory. Let's trust in it
Anyway you gave me a good clue. Thanks

¿Puedo decir "thanks a lot" o tampoco?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

¿Puedo decir "thanks a lot"

[irmamar]

¡Menos mal!

[Jessica]

English is certainly a weird language, isn't it?

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Jessica

English is certainly a weird language, isn't it?

¡YES!

Now I understand why you study Spanish, it's so logical!

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Jessica

English is certainly a weird language, isn't it?

A lot of the strange spelling is, I think, because of the invention of printing. Before that, spelling was not standard. But the first printing presses were imported from Holland, along with Dutch workers. But these men did not speak English, so they invented their own spellings using Dutch rules. So they wrote night, dough, tough, etc., all spellings using Dutch pronunciation. Because printed things became the most common, their spelling became standard.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

A lot of the strange spelling is, I think, because of the invention of printing. Before that, spelling was not standard. But the first printing presses were imported from Holland, along with Dutch workers. But these men did not speak English, so they invented their own spellings using Dutch rules. So they wrote night, dough, tough, etc., all spellings using Dutch pronunciation. Because printed things became the most common, their spelling became standard.

It's really curious! I didn't know it Now I understand a lot of things

[Jessica]

Originally Posted by irmamar

¡YES!

Now I understand why you study Spanish, it's so logical!

Yes, it is, and of course there are other reasons, but yes that is a reason

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Perikles

A lot of the strange spelling is, I think, because of the invention of printing. Before that, spelling was not standard. But the first printing presses were imported from Holland, along with Dutch workers. But these men did not speak English, so they invented their own spellings using Dutch rules. So they wrote night, dough, tough, etc., all spellings using Dutch pronunciation. Because printed things became the most common, their spelling became standard.

There's a discussion[1] on a linguistics blog at the moment which touches upon changes in English orthography due to "latinisations".

[1] http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1849