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

Sort the examples into two groups

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

Answers

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

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

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.)

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