Words ending -able and -ible
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:
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/able words:
convertible be
converted
predictable be
predicted
durable last a
long time
viable to
be made to work or put into effect
variable vary
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edible:
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fit for eating
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credible:
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can be believed
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audible:
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can be heard
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legible:
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easy to read
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negligible:
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of no importance
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terrible:
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causing terror
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horrible:
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awful
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feasible:
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can be done
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visible:
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can be seen
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sensible:
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reasonable
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responsible:
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trustworthy
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possible:
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liable to happen
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digestible:
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can be digested
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flexible:
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easily bent
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permissible:
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allowable
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compatible:
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suitable
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Many of them have negative forms by adding
in-, il-, ir-, or im- . For example: inedible, illegible, irresponsible, impossible. |
