On Tue, 2004-02-10 at 21:14, Deepayan Sarkar wrote: > On Tuesday 10 February 2004 20:25, Roger D. Peng wrote: > > Unfortunately, with English it's conceivable that they're both > > correct. But the double 't' sounds/looks *more* correct to me. > > Of course, this is coming from a native English speaker who is > > generally unfamiliar with the rules of English. > > > > On the other hand: > > > > test --> testable? > > arrest --> arrestable? > > contest --> contestable? > > detest --> detestable? > > ... > > > > So maybe the single 't' is correct. Did that clear things up? > > This is probably not a valid comparison, since test->testing whereas > set->setting. > > Oxford (OED) lists the word 'settable' but not 'setable'. subsettable (or > subsetable) is obviously an artificial word (we use subset as a verb), but > presumably invented derivatives of 'subset' should behave in a manner similar > to those of 'set'. > > Deepayan
OK...wait a minute. I just found the following at: http://grammar.uoregon.edu/spelling1.html [Go Ducks!] To Wit: DOUBLING A FINAL CONSONANT WHEN ADDING A SUFFIX: from "Correct Spelling Made Easy" (p. 69) 1) The word must end in just one consonant. Compel (l + ed or ing) = Compelled; Compelling But Not : Resist (+ ed or ing) = Resisted; Resisting 2) There must be only one vowel before the final single consonant. Refer (r + ed or ing) = Referred; Referring But Not: Appear = Appeared; Appearing 3) The last syllable of the verb must receive the accent. Commit (accent on mit) = Committed; Committing But Not: Profit = Profited; Profiting 4) The suffix to be added must start with a vowel--in order to double the final consonant. Defer (r + ed) = Deferred But Not: Defer + ment) Deferment So, if these rules are correct, it should be "subsetable", as 'subset' meets 1, 2 and 4, but fails 3, as the accented syllable according to various dictionaries is 'sub' and not 'set'. Is it too late to change my vote? Thus, 'testing' fails due to rule 1 ('st'), whereas it is 'setting' due to 'et'. HTH, Marc <I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming of...well...programming...> ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
