Skip to main content

nouns - Keep with T or change to C in verb to derived word conversion


I'm doing some verb to derived word conversions and I'm struggling with keeping the T or converting it to a C in some verbs ended with T:



Exhibit -> Exhibition


Perfect -> Perfection


Benefit -> Beneficial



I have done a bit of research on beneficial and that's what I've found, no common patterns at all.


Is there any rule to make this conversion?



Answer



-tial/-cial


I found a site that offers a rule of thumb for spelling words ending in -tial/-cial which doesn't even require you to know the spelling of the related verb. It is



Use -cial after a vowel, like after the vowel ‘o’ in social, ‘e’ in special, ‘i’ in beneficial


Use -tial after a consonant, especially, after ‘n’ in substantial, essential, ‘r’ in partial


[...]


Memorise/memorize these seven exceptions: financial, commercial, provincial, initial, spatial, palatial, controversial



(from www.howtospell.co.uk, by Joanne Rudling)


This list of exceptions is probably sufficient for common words. You should know that it is not comprehensive; it excludes for example adventitial, solstitial, preputial; internuncial, uncial; and probably also some other rare words. Despite the presence of these exceptions, this does seem to be a real trend, based on a comparison of words that end in -tial and words that end in -cial (Morewords.com).


-tion/-cion


There are only two common words in English that end in -cion: suspicion (related to the verb suspect) and coercion (related to the verb coerce). There are many words spelled with -tion, which can come after vowel letters (as in creation) or consonant letters (as in perception).


You might also be interested in the answer to this question about when to use the spellings -sion, -⁠tion and -cion.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more