Spelling
it Right

ends 8
Focus words

inedible

audible

terrible

responsible

incompatible

permissible

sensible

feasible

inflexible

illegible

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    Two common endings are -able and -ible. But how can you tell which one to use?
    The difficulty is that we pronounce the leading vowels very similarly: we make a sort of -ugh- sound
    and you can't hear whether it is -a- or-i- .
    There are no simple rules to follow.
    But here are three tips that you may find useful:
    • If the base word is not altered in any way then add -able.
      This works most of the time:
      understand —> understandable,
      predict —> predictable,
      comfort —> comfortable, and so on.
    • There are many more words ending -able than -ible.
      I counted 900 -able words and 200 -ible words.
      So, if you make a guess and choose -able
      you're probably right 4 out of 5 times!
    • The best advice I can give you is to learn the most common -ible
      words and use -able for the rest.
      Very many of the -ible words are so rare that you'll never use them.
      Have you ever written fungible for instance?
    Here are the most common -ible words:
    edible: fit for eating
    credible: can be believed
    audible: can be heard
    legible: easy to read
    negligible: of no importance
    terrible: causing terror
    horrible: awful
    feasible: can be done
    visible: can be seen
    sensible: reasonable
    responsible: trustworthy
    possible: liable to happen
    digestible: can be digested
    flexible: easily bent
    permissible: allowable
    compatible: suitable
    Many of them have negative forms by adding
    in-, il-, ir-, or im- . For example:
    inedible, illegible, irresponsible, impossible.

    Now memorize the focus words.
    Then try a relevant wordsearch and a hangman game or a crossword.