The Y Rule

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How are these words alike?

cry, study, fly, noisy, lazy

They all end in y.

What is before the y? A consonant.

cry + ed = cried
study + ed = studied
fly + er = flier
noisy + est = nosiest
lazy + est = laziest

The ending begins with a vowel.

The y changes to i.

It doesn't matter how the ending begins. If a word ends in y and the letter before y is a consonant, the y always changes to i.


Are you thinking there must be a hitch? There is:


ing
cry + ing = crying
study + ing = studying
fly + ing = flying


In English you can't have two i's together. Keep the y. It does not change when the ending is ing.

Keep in mind that I and y have the same sound and Y is the Greek way of spelling that sound.
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