CHAPTER 22

Using j, ge, dge

The letter j is a very underused letter. About seventy-five percent of the time, when we hear the j sound

it is actually spelled with g or dge.

(^) Visitors to Britain will find that curb is spelled kerb. Both words follow the spelling rules; both are
therefore correct.
Spelling rule #1: Except for a few exotic imports, the j is never used at the end of English words:
(^) The j can be followed by any of the vowels except y, but it is never followed by a consonant except in
the popular contraction Jr (junior).
Spelling rule # 2: We use ge when a j sound is needed at the end of a word if the word has a long
vowel sound or if there is a consonant following the vowel:
Spelling rule #3: We use dge if the word is a short vowel word and there is no consonant following
the vowel. There are many of these words. They are usually single-syllable words, but there are
also a few multi-syllable words.
(^) When adding a suffix that begins with a hard vowel or a consonant, we would normally retain the final
silent e, but when the dge is used, we drop the e because the d forms part of the soft j sound.
(^) Note that some dictionaries allow a choice when adding able, but there is no logical reason to retain
the e. Compare knowledgeable and knowledgable.