When to use double "L"?

Question

First of all, English is not my first language, so please excuse me if my question sounds dumb.

Secondly, I've seen this question but I don't believe it applies, tho I've been wrong before :P.

For example:

bravely is spelled with one "L"
dynamically is spelled with two "L"

What is the rule behind this ?

I think that the poster is correct that the cited question about when L should be doubled isn't responsive to the question here. There the issue involves doubling or not doubling the L at the end of a word whose final letter is L when one is attaching a suffix or verb ending. But here the question is, Why does bravely (built from brave) take a single L in the suffix -ly whereas dynamically (built from dynamic) take a double-L in the suffix -ally? Perhaps a more useful way to frame the question might be to ask, Why do we say dynamically (from dynamic) but publicly (from public)? — Sven Yargs, Dec 13 '15 at 05:54
...However, there is a discussion similar to the one I suggest here at Difference between 'publicly' and 'publically'. — Sven Yargs, Dec 13 '15 at 05:58

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 28 '13 at 14:33

Your two examples are easy. If you add 'ly' to a word, you add one 'l'. If there was an 'l' already on the word, this results in two 'l's. If there were two 'll's on the word already, you don't triple the 'l', but just add 'y'. (quick → quickly, real → really, full → fully, medical → medically, easy → easily, brave → bravely, dynamical → dynamically). In general, however, there's no rule.

Sometimes, you have to add 'ally' to a word where you can't simply add 'al'. For example, 'specific' goes to 'specifically', but the word 'specifical' is no longer used. In that case, you add 'ally' with a doubled 'll'.

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 28 '13 at 12:57

There is no discernible rule for consonant doubling, given English does not have phonetic spelling like Romanian does. It is seemingly arbitrary. The main way to learn where to apply a double and where not to is practice - reading, writing, spell checking.

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 28 '13 at 15:03

-1

There is a USA/UK difference regarding this. It is explained here http://blogs.transparent.com/english/seeing-double-in-american-english-and-british-english/ and here http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/british-and-american-spelling

answered Jun 28 '13 at 15:03

Tristan

2,675

I don't think there's a USA/UK difference in the sort of words that the OP is asking about. – Kaiser Octavius Jun 28 '13 at 15:07
There is a difference with particular words which are mentioned at the links. – Tristan Jun 28 '13 at 15:47
Not in the case of "dynamically" versus "bravely". This might suggest to the OP that "dynamically" is spelt with two L's in the UK and only one in the US. – Kaiser Octavius Jun 28 '13 at 16:14

When to use double "L"?

3 Answers3