Choose the correct spelling for a word meaning 'concise and forcefully expressive'.

Correct — A. The word is built from the noun pith, the core or essence of something, plus the adjective suffix -y.

pith + y = pithy, just as froth + y = frothy and health + y = healthy.

A pithy remark keeps only the essential point, hence 'concise and forcefully expressive' → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Pithey — Pithey puts an extra e before the suffix. The ending here is plain -y, attached directly, as froth becomes frothy, not frothey.
• (c)
  Pithhy — Pithhy doubles the h. A consonant doubles before -y only after a single vowel and a single consonant, as in sun → sunny. Pith ends in two consonant letters, th, so nothing doubles, as in earthy.
• (d)
  Pithie — Pithie ends in -ie. The suffix that turns the noun pith into an adjective is -y, the same one in salt → salty and froth → frothy.

This spelling item is really a word-building item. Once you see the noun inside, pith, the only question is how the adjective suffix -y attaches.

No letter doubles because pith ends in the two consonant letters th: froth → frothy, earth → earthy. Doubling needs a single vowel plus a single consonant: sun → sunny, fog → foggy.

The other forms follow by changing y to i: pithier, pithiest, pithily, pithiness.

Key facts

• Pithy means concise and forcefully expressive: a pithy remark says a lot in few words.
• It is pith, the essential core, plus the adjective suffix -y.
• A final consonant doubles before -y only after a single vowel and a single consonant, as in sun → sunny.
• Related forms: pithier, pithiest, pithily, pithiness.

Common traps

• Doubling the h by analogy with sunny and funny
• Adding -ey because nouns such as honey and money end that way

No directly related past PYQ was found.