focusing or focussing?
- Thread starter helen n
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Welcome, Helen
Even the (Compact) Oxford English Dictionary gives
Like you I'd always go, though, for focused myself - because that agrees with the usual stress-based rule (enter - entered versus refer - referred, etc.)
F
Even the (Compact) Oxford English Dictionary gives
so it would appear it's a matter of personal preference.
Like you I'd always go, though, for focused myself - because that agrees with the usual stress-based rule (enter - entered versus refer - referred, etc.)
F
Just informationally, I have never seen the word spelled as focussing. That looks very strange to me. Focusing looks better to me and focused, not focussed.
Noun: focus and focuses and focussing
Verb: focus, focuses or focusses, focusing or focussing, focused or focussed.
I've used both forms, but when I'm more conscious with spelling then I use the ones with the extra s. Don't exactly know why when both forms are correct. I guess I just want to conform to the rule of consonant-vowel-consonant + the last consonant + the verb inflection(s).
Verb: focus, focuses or focusses, focusing or focussing, focused or focussed.
I've used both forms, but when I'm more conscious with spelling then I use the ones with the extra s. Don't exactly know why when both forms are correct. I guess I just want to conform to the rule of consonant-vowel-consonant + the last consonant + the verb inflection(s).
There is actually a spelling rule for this.
In British English when a 2 syllable word has the accent on the second syllable and the word ends in one vowel and one consonant (as in focus / travel etc), you must double the last consonant. As far as I am aware American English doesn't apply this rule which is why it uses focusing / traveling and so on.
In British English when a 2 syllable word has the accent on the second syllable and the word ends in one vowel and one consonant (as in focus / travel etc), you must double the last consonant. As far as I am aware American English doesn't apply this rule which is why it uses focusing / traveling and so on.
I have never seen biassed written down, though I have, at times, come across focussing.
I would instinctively regard both as spelling errors.
I can't comment on this "rule" but it seems to me that the stress in "focus" is on the first syllable, not the second.
I have always written "focused", for what it is worth.
This is a vaild spelling/phonetic rule, honest
!Most 2 syllable words when they are nouns or adjectives have the stress on the first syllable, but the stress usually moves to the second syllable when the word becomes a verb.
Unfortunately I don't have a dictionary to hand to confirm if this is the case with "focus"
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Hi sille
"Focusing" has the stress on the first syllable, so we don't - or rather shouldn't - double the 's'. As far as I know the "rule" is the same in BrE and AmE, except that BrE doubles an 'l' regardless of where the stress is: travel (stress on first syllable)> travelled BrE, traveled Ame.
PS: Good to see you posting after several months' membership of the forums: welcome
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Well, my dictionary does not indicate that the verb is pronounced differently from the noun. The second syllable is a schwa, and English does not admit schwas in stressed syllables. I have never heard anyone give second-syllable stress to the verb "focus".This is a vaild spelling/phonetic rule, honest
Most 2 syllable words when they are nouns or adjectives have the stress on the first syllable, but the stress usually moves to the second syllable when the word becomes a verb.
Unfortunately I don't have a dictionary to hand to confirm if this is the case with "focus"
Thank you for that.
Hi everyone,
there is a rule about stressed syllables, but it doesn't apply in this case.
That is the rule that makes us write opening with one 'n' (because stress is on the 'oh' part at the beginning), but beginning with double 'n' (begause stress is on the 'gin' part (second syllable))
However, in British English we spell two syllable verbs ending in 'l' or 'r' with a double letter in gerund or regular past simple or past participle, even if stress is on the first syllable: travelling, travelled, cancelling, cancelled, referring, referred, preferring, preferred.
In the same way we write 'focussing' and 'focussed,' although I can't think of any other two syllable verbs ending in single 's' to make a more general rule of it!
there is a rule about stressed syllables, but it doesn't apply in this case.
That is the rule that makes us write opening with one 'n' (because stress is on the 'oh' part at the beginning), but beginning with double 'n' (begause stress is on the 'gin' part (second syllable))
However, in British English we spell two syllable verbs ending in 'l' or 'r' with a double letter in gerund or regular past simple or past participle, even if stress is on the first syllable: travelling, travelled, cancelling, cancelled, referring, referred, preferring, preferred.
In the same way we write 'focussing' and 'focussed,' although I can't think of any other two syllable verbs ending in single 's' to make a more general rule of it!
- sillie,
some nouns change stress to the second syllable when they become verbs, like desert and record, but I think that most don't, like bother, bundle, wonder, struggle, rumble, thunder, etc., etc.
some nouns change stress to the second syllable when they become verbs, like desert and record, but I think that most don't, like bother, bundle, wonder, struggle, rumble, thunder, etc., etc.
Sorry, yes, you're quite right about refer and prefer.I do use 'focussing', and 'focussed' and I stress the first syllable. (And I suppose I do it because I can!
The same would also apply to occur and concur.
I guess an example I could have used for the same spelling with first syllable stress could be offer - offerring, offerred.
Thanks for pointing this out
Yes, so would many others, even in the UK, but I think this is something that has come from America, like prefered, traveling and focused.I'd write those as offering and offered, Kris
American English, through the mass media, has a huge effect on British English, so much so that a billion has been devalued by a power of 1000 over the last few decades! In Latin languages it still means a million million, as it used to in English, but now, even on the BBC, thanks to American English, it is only a thousand million (which Latin languages usually call a 'milliard').
The pronunciation of the 's' in 'amuse' is due to the presence of the final 'e'. And, precisely because of the final 'e', 'amuse' does not form part of the discussion about doubling the final consonant.
Thanks for this most knowledgeable and comprehensive discussion. I have been struggling for the better part of a day to find an authoritative, repeatable rule for doubling the final consonant of an English word when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. In particular, the troublesome focus. This thread has given me the ammo I need. Cheers! HJK
I speak the Australian variant of English, and Down Under we tend to use Bristish English spelling but are fully cognizant of US spellings.
In this particullar case, it's not a matter of where the stress. It's all to do with whether or not the "s" sound is sibilant (as with a hissing snake) or like the "z" sound in words like "amaze" and "zoo" to pick a couple.
It will come to you as you pronounce words such as "hosing" or "closing" versus "tossing" or "flossing" where the intention of the "ss" spelling is to indicate that the sound is sibilant. Aussies and Brits are taught to use the "ss" spelling. Ah, the fun of becoming attuned to the different spellings and sounds of English language variants and dialects.
Look up "sibilant" in Wikipedia or elsewhere.
In this particullar case, it's not a matter of where the stress. It's all to do with whether or not the "s" sound is sibilant (as with a hissing snake) or like the "z" sound in words like "amaze" and "zoo" to pick a couple.
It will come to you as you pronounce words such as "hosing" or "closing" versus "tossing" or "flossing" where the intention of the "ss" spelling is to indicate that the sound is sibilant. Aussies and Brits are taught to use the "ss" spelling. Ah, the fun of becoming attuned to the different spellings and sounds of English language variants and dialects.
Look up "sibilant" in Wikipedia or elsewhere.
How does that work with "focussing" and "focusing", both of which are pronounced the same, and not, in my experience, with the "z" sound of "hosing"? The OED observes:
This ngram also makes the point focussed,focused,focussing,focusing in British English.
I do not use the "ss" spelling, and I was not taught to do so.
Okay, okay, I will throw in the towel at this point! It's all getting too messy for me. I suppose that there's a fair degree of pointlessness (or should that be "pointlesnes"?) in being too pedantic. The only important thing is to get the message across.
I’d say ‘focussed’, personally, but either is acceptable in the UK. My parents would disagree and say ‘focused’, so it can’t even be put down to a difference between BE and AE!
I think the problem here is that there are very few verbs ending with consonant-vowel-s that we can study in order to extract a rule. I can only say that to me "focussed" would sound like "discussed".
It is generally considered that doubling the final "s" when forming the plural is a mistake, as in "busses" or "gasses". No one thinks that with a single "s" "buses" would rhyme with "amuses" or "gases" would rhyme with "erases".
Still, let's not lose sleep over it... Happy New Year everyone!
It is generally considered that doubling the final "s" when forming the plural is a mistake, as in "busses" or "gasses". No one thinks that with a single "s" "buses" would rhyme with "amuses" or "gases" would rhyme with "erases".
Still, let's not lose sleep over it... Happy New Year everyone!
As a former elementary school teacher in the USA, I taught my pupils that if a 1-syllable word ends with a single vowel and single consonant, you double the last consonant before adding ed or ing. If a 2-syllable word ends with a single vowel and single consonant, you double the consonant if the accent is on the second syllable. So, for example, the word ban would be banned/banning; the word gab would be gabbed/gabbing.
If a 2-syllable word ends with the one vowel-one consonant pattern, you double the final consonant only if the second syllable is accented. For example, regret would be regretted/regretting and refer would be referred/referring. But if the accent is on the first syllable, you do not double the final consonant. Examples: cancel becomes canceled/canceling and budget becomes budgeted/budgeting.
This is learned in the lower grades and in my experience holds well for most writing even as a senior citizen. Of course, I recognize that alternate spellings are also considered correct at times. I usually check a dictionary.
If a 2-syllable word ends with the one vowel-one consonant pattern, you double the final consonant only if the second syllable is accented. For example, regret would be regretted/regretting and refer would be referred/referring. But if the accent is on the first syllable, you do not double the final consonant. Examples: cancel becomes canceled/canceling and budget becomes budgeted/budgeting.
This is learned in the lower grades and in my experience holds well for most writing even as a senior citizen. Of course, I recognize that alternate spellings are also considered correct at times. I usually check a dictionary.
The problem is we really have two rules at play here: the first rule is that if the final syllable is unstressed there is no need to double the final consonant in the United States. The second rule, which is in conflict with the first, says that an s between two vowels is pronounced as a z and that as a consequence in order to preserve the s sound one must double the consonant.. Thus there is a conflict between the two rules and the British have chosen to go one way while the Yanks the other. Typical! Afterthought: with buses and gases clearly the whole rulebook has been thrown out the window! Not to mention arcing, my personal favorite! All this clearly demonstrates that language is not math.
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We could put it more strongly as to "doesn't apply": we have our own rule: Where the accent does NOT fall on the (original, multisyllable word's) final syllable (...vowel+consonant), there is simply no need to double that consonant; there is no point to it. Don't do it.
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We could put it more strongly as to "doesn't apply": we have our own rule: Where the accent does NOT fall on the (original, multisyllable word's) final syllable (...vowel+consonant). there is simply no need to double that consonant; there is no point to it. Don't do it.
Promise, premise, divisive, elusive - there are quite a few exceptions to the rule you cite
In any case, the focused, focussed etc preference of one s was not the original preference, even in AE, so rules change and probably at different speeds for different examples.
Gasses has never been popular while busses was originally favoured over buses in AE more than in BE.
A spelling rule in English?
See my signature. From Google Ngrams: focusing: eng_gb_2012,focussing: eng_gb_2012,focussing: eng_us_2012,focusing: eng_us_2012
The people have spoken: focusing.
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Where the accent does NOT fall on the (original, multisyllable word's) final syllable (...vowel+consonant). there is simply no need to double that consonant; there is no point to it. Don't do it.
(Unless you're a speaker of BrE and the consonant is <l>. AmE is much more logical!
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:Looks lke arond the 1930s that they (BE) shunned the ss version in favour of the single. Either a rule change or mass rebellion (but, I hear you ask, what is the difference?)A spelling rule in English?
From Google Ngrams: focusing: eng_gb_2012,focussing: eng_gb_2012,focussing: eng_us_2012,focusing: eng_us_2012
The people have spoken: focusing.
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I noticed that - 1936 - I blame Wallis Simpson.