Why does committed have two t's but awaited has only one?

Answer 1

Oh, dude, it's like English just does whatever it wants, you know? Like, there are no rules, man. It's like a wild west of language. So, committed decided it needed that extra "t" for dramatic effect, while awaited was just like, "I'm cool with just one 't,' man." Language is weird, man.

Answer 2

Well, honey, the English language is full of quirks and inconsistencies. "Committed" has two T's because it follows the rule for doubling consonants after a short vowel sound before adding a suffix. Meanwhile, "awaited" only has one T because the base word already ends in a T sound, so there's no need to double it. Just one of those little grammar nuggets to keep things interesting!

Answer 3

It is one of the weird rules of grammar found in English.

One way to figure out if the last letter needs to be doubled is to check the last three letters of the word. If they are constant-vowel-constant then the last letter of the word needs to be doubled.

For example, in commit - m is a constant, i is a vowel and t is a constant - therefore the t becomes tt when you add a suffix.

However, with await - a is a vowel - so it doesn't fit the rule and you don't change the t to tt.

This only works if the suffix begins with a vowel; -ed, - er, -ing, etc.

It is also only a general rule - there are many exceptions - such as happened and visited.