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Re: what does -il- do?

From:Elyse M. Grasso <emgrasso@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 20:01
On Tuesday 11 January 2005 03:07 pm, Rodlox wrote:
> I was thinking again (no no, don't run YET)....and became curious as to > what matter of modifier (if that's the right word) -il- is. > > For example... > "The wood is heavy." > "The forest is heavily wooded." > > one does not (that I know of) say "the forest is heavy-wooded" or "the wood > is heavily"...so I thought to ask: what is the -il- that so affects some > words? *curious* > > thanks. >
It isn't an '-il-', it's an ordinary "-ly", making things into an adverb. The "y" on "heavy" gets written as an "i" when it moves into the middle of the word, as is traditional for any "y" following a consonant, at the end of an English word that acquires an affix. (Try -- Tries, Tried, merry -- merrily versus eye --eyes, prey preys preyed). -- Elyse Grasso The World of Cherani Station www.data-raptors.com/cherani/index.html Cherani Tradespeech www.data-raptors.com/cherani/tradespeech.html