Top 10 spelling rules
7 likes3,790 views
1) The "i before e except after c" spelling rule has many exceptions, such as in words like "neighbor" and "weigh" where the pronunciation is different. 2) When adding suffixes to words, there are rules for changing "y" to "ies", adding "-es" to words ending in certain letters, and doubling consonants with one-syllable words stressed on the last syllable. 3) The "drop the 'e' rule" applies when adding suffixes to words, except when the root word ends in "-ce" or "-ge" to maintain a soft sound.
Top 10 spelling rules
- 1. Top 10 spelling rules S E V I L A Y S H A K I R
- 2. "i before e except after c" rule 1. the "i before e except after c" rule believe - receive As a basic rule this is great but what about ancient, leisure, neighbour/neighbor?
- 3. We have a longer version of the rule: " i before e except after a long c but not when c is a "sh" sound and not when sounded like 'a' as in neighbour or weigh." ( i before e rule) believe, achieve, (except after c),receive, ceiling (but not when c is sounded like sh) ancient, proficient not when sounded like 'a' ) eight, beige But there are exceptions always exceptions so watch out for them.
- 4. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Changing "y" to "ies" When the word ends in a vowel + y just add ‘s’ key → keys delay → delays trolley → trolleys (because we can't have three vowels in a row delaies x ) If the word has a consonant before the ‘y’: take off the ‘y’ and add ‘ies’ baby → babies company → companies difficulty → difficulties
- 5. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Adding -es to words ending in -s, -ss, -z -ch -sh -x This was added centuries ago to stop the plural 's' clashing with these letters and it softens the 's' sound to a 'z' sound bus→ buses business → businesses watch → watches box → boxes quiz → quizzes
- 6. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H 1:1:1 doubling up rule put - putting, big-bigger, quiz - quizzes, swim - swimming... When a word has one syllable + 1 vowel next to 1 consonant we double up the final consonant with a vowel suffix: sit - sitter, big - biggest, tap - tapping, shop - shopper/shopping, fat - fatten, fattening, fatter, fattest... This happens in longer words when the stress is on the final syllable: begin (beGIN) - beginner, beginning refer (reFER) - referring, referred occur (ocCUR) - occurring, occurred, occurrence
- 7. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Drop the ‘e’ rule We usually drop the final silent "e" when we add vowel suffix endings, for example: write + ing → writing hope + ed = hoped excite + able = excitable joke - joker large - largish close - closing sense + ible = sensible opposite + ion = opposition imagine + ation = imagination We keep the 'e' if the word ends in –CE or –GE to keep a soft sound, with able/ous courage + ous = courageous outrage + ous = outrageous notice + able = noticeable manage + able = manageable
- 8. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H "-f" to "-ves" or "-s" Most words ending in "-f" or "-fe" change their plurals to "-ves" calf - calves half - halves knife - knives leaf - leaves loaf - loaves life - lives wife - wives shelf - shelves thief - thieves yourself - yourselves
- 9. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Some words can have both endings -ves or -s: scarf - scarfs/scarves dwarf - dwarfs/dwarves wharf - wharfs/wharves handkerchief - handkerchiefs/handkerchieves
- 10. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Words ending in -ff you just add -s to make the plural. cliff - cliffs toff - toffs scuff - scuffs sniff - sniffs
- 11. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Some words ending in -f add -s: Nouns which end in two vowels plus -f usually form plurals in the normal way, with just an -s chief - chiefs spoof - spoofs roof - roofs chief - chiefs oaf - oafs EXCEPTIONS: thief - thieves, leaf - leaves
- 12. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Words ending in -ful The suffix –FUL is always spelt with one L grate + ful = grateful faith + ful = faithful hope + ful = hopeful careful helpful useful grateful beautiful (notice the"y" becomes "i")
- 13. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H Adding -ly When we add -ly to words ending in -ful then we have double letters gratefully faithfully hopefully We also add -ly to words ending in 'e' love + ly = lovely like + ly = likely live + ly = lively complete + ly = completely definite + ly = definitely BUT not truly (true + ly) This is a common misspelled word. We change the end 'e' to 'y' in these -le words gentle > gently idle > idly subtle > subtly
- 14. the I D G E J U N I O R H I G H When we add "all" to the beginning of words we drop the l all + so = also all + most = almost although always almighty already alright (all right as two words is used in more formal English) altogether (Note that altogether and all together do not mean the same thing. Altogether means ‘in total’, as in there are six bedrooms altogether, whereas all together means ‘all in one place’ or ‘all at once’, as in it was good to have a group of friends all together; they came in all together.)