Words ending in _ie_ change them into _y_ before _ing_; as, lie, _lying_. The following words conform to this rule:— lie belie outlie lie overlie underlie die hie tie untie vie outvie RULE IV. Words ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant generally change _y_ into _i_ on taking an additional syllable; as, mercy, _merciful_, _merciless_; defy, _defied_, _defies_, _defieth_, _defiant_; busy, _busier_, _busiest_, _business_; ply, _pliers_; porphyry, _porphyritic_. EXCEPTION I.—_Y_ after a consonant is not changed into _i_ before _ing_ or _ish_; as, _dry_, _drying_, _dryish_. EXCEPTION II.—Compounds usually retain _y_; as, _mercy-seat_, _county-town_, _dairy-maid_, _skylight_. _Remark._—_Dryer_, _dryest_, _dryly_, _dryness_, _shyer_, _shyest_, _shyly_, _shyness_, are undisputed exceptions to the rule; and _slyer_, _slyest_, _slyly_, _slyness_, are disputed exceptions. RULE V. Words ending in _y_ preceded by a vowel retain the _y_; as, gay, _gayly_, _gayness_, _gayety_; pray, _prayer_, _praying_, _prayed_, _prays_. _Remark._—From day, lay, pay, say, stay, are formed _daily_, _laid_, _paid_, _said_, _saith_, _staid_. The regular words _dayly_, _layed_, _payed_, _sayeth_, and _stayed_, are sometimes used. RULE VI. Monosyllables and words having the primary accent on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double their final consonant before an additional syllable that begins with a vowel; as, wet, _wetter_, _wettest_, _wetting_, _wetted_; drum, _drumming_, _drummed_; dispel, _dispelling_, _dispelled_. EXCEPTION.—A final _x_, or the _s_ in gas, should not be doubled; as, fix, _fixes_, _fixed_, _fixing_; annex, _annexing_; _gases_, _gasefy_. _Remark I._—_U_ after _q_ is never reckoned a part of a diphthong or triphthong; so that from quit are formed _quitting_, _quitted_; and from quag, _quaggy_. _Remark II._—This rule applies only to derivatives which retain the accent of their primitives, and not to such as _in´ferable_, _in´ference_, _pref´erable_, _pref´erence_, _ref´erable_, and _ref´erence_, from infer, prefer, and refer. To the forms _infer´rible_, _refer´rible_, which are sometimes met with, the general rule applies. _Transfer´able_, from transfer, is an exception to the general rule; the regular form _transfer´rible_ is not often used. Although _parallel´ogram_, from par´allel, and _modal´ity_ from mo´dal, remove the primary accent to the point of duplication, they do not double the final _l_. See Remark II. under Rule VII. RULE VII.