Spelling - Changing 'y' to 'i': Activity 2 Advanced

Sort the examples into two groups

Answers

• CHANGE 'Y' TO 'I' GROUP: merry + -ment → merriment, envy + -able → enviable, deny + -al → denial, rely + -ed → relied, defy + -ance → defiance
• KEEP 'Y' GROUP: obey + -ed → obeyed, annoy + -ance → annoyance, betray + -al → betrayal, enjoy + -ment → enjoyment, employ + -able → employable

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

• If there is a vowel letter before the y in the base word, we keep the y. So we keep the y in combinations like oy, ey, ay, where the two letters together represent a vowel sound.
• Otherwise, we change y to i.

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

• betrayal, denial
• obeyed, relied

There are numerous examples which obey the ‘keep y after a vowel letter’ part of this rule: stayed, annoyed, prayed ...

However, there are some exceptions to the rule: day → daily, gay → gaily, pay → paid, lay → laid, say → said

(Note that these are short words. The last three are also irregular because they don't end in -ed, so we just have to know the individual spellings.)

Welcome!

Englicious is totally free for everyone to use!

But in exchange, we ask that you register for an account on our site.

If you’ve already registered, you can log in straight away.

Since this is your first visit today, you can see this page by clicking the button below.

CLOSE