_Cy_ is the common termination, but some words are troublesome because they
terminate in _sy. Prophecy_ is the noun, _prophesy_ the verb,
distinguished in pronunciation by the fact that the final _y_ in the verb
is long, in the noun it is short. The following are a few words in _sy_
which deserve notice:
controversy
ecstasy=
embassy
heresy=
hypocrisy
courtesy=
fantasy
________
The above lists are for reference and for review. No one, in school or
out, should attempt to memorize these words offhand. The only rational way
to learn them is by reference to the dictionary when one has occasion to
write them, and to observe them in reading. These two habits, the use of
the dictionary and observing the formation of words in reading, will prove
more effective in the mastery of words of this character than three times
the work applied in any other way. The usual result of the effort to
memorize in lists is confusion so instilled that it can never be
eradicated.
By way of review it is often well to look over such lists as those
above, and common words which one is likely to use and which one feels
one ought to have mastered, may be checked with a pencil, and the
attention concentrated upon them for a few minutes.
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