As an indication for when to double this final consonant in British English, we replicate the explanation given in Section 1.5 of the
English Style Guide of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation: “In British usage, a final
l is doubled after a short vowel on adding -
ing or -
ed to verbs (sole exception:
parallel,
paralleled) and adding -
er to make nouns from verbs”.
Examples would include the following:
 | Alumni membership growth will probably level off by the end of the year. |
| Student interest in the new programmes has levelled off since January. |
| All those wishing to travel on the new grant should contact the International Office. |
| This regulation applies to administrative staff who travelled during the first semester. |
| Model your task on one of the following diagrams. |
| Project modellers will need a minimum of five years’ experience. |
In American English, except for multi-syllabic words ending in
al (
final/finally;
minimal/minimally), the letter
l is usually not doubled before a suffix.
Finally, there are certain words ending in the letter
l in British English which double this consonant in American English:
| enrol–enroll; fulfil–fulfill; appal–appall |
Note that the letter
l is accordingly doubled or not in derivatives ending in
ment:
| enrolment–enrollment; fulfilment–fulfillment |
