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Spelling Rules
To understand these spelling rules,
following vocabulary is required.
the
VOWELS — the letters a, e, i, o and u are vowels.
CONSONANTS — the other 21 letters of the
alphabet.
SUFFIX — element added to the end of a word (e.g.
-ing, -able, -ed, -ly, -ful).
SYLLABLE — a word or section of a word with a
single sound (e.g. read has one syllable, famous has
two syllables, difficult has three and admiration has
four).
STRESS — the emphasis given to a syllable (e.g.
famous has the stress on the first syllable, admiration
has the stress on the third syllable).
Some spelling rules are worth learning; others are too
complicated or have too many exceptions. Instead of
learning ALL the rules, focus on learning rules which
address your particular spelling problems.
2. ‘s’ or ‘es’
Add es if a word ends in ch, sh, ss, x or z.
arch — arches, clash — clashes,
class — classes, box — boxes, fizz — fizzes
Add es for most words that end in o.
tomato — tomatoes, hero — heroes,
go — goes, do -does, echo — echoes
TO MEMORISE: pianos, sopranos, altos, solos
3. ‘y’ to ‘i’ or not
For words ending in y preceded by a vowel, retain the y
when adding s or a suffix.
monkey — monkeys, donkey — donkeys
For words ending in y, retain the y when adding ing.
1. ‘ie’ or ‘ei’
Write i before e, except after c.
achieve, believe, friend
receive, receipt, perceive
try — trying, justify — justifying,
certify — certifying, mystify — mystifying
For words ending in y, preceded by a consonant, change
the y to i before any other suffix
try — tried, justify — justifies,
Write ie after c for words with a shen sound.
certify — certifiable, mystify — mystified.
ancient, efficient, sufficient, conscience
EXCEPTIONS: Words such as dryness and slyness,
Write ei when the vowels DO NOT RHYME with
‘tee’.
neighbour, vein, either, neither, foreign, height
TO MEMORISE: weird, seize
4. to drop or not to drop the
final ‘e’
DROP the e when the suffix starts with a vowel.
save — savable, use — usable
DO NOT DROP the e if the word ends in ce or ge.
DOUBLE the r for words of more than one syllable
when the stress does not fall on the first syllable.
manage — manageable, trace — traceable
refer — referred, referring,
DROP the e when the word ends in dge.
judge — judgment,
acknowledge, acknowledgment
DROP the final e when adding -ing
occur — occurred, occurring
7. l or ll when adding -ing or -ed
to verbs
DOUBLE the l when it is preceded by a single vowel.
save — saving, manage — managing,
enrol — enrolling, enrolled,
trace — tracing, judge, judging
travel — travelling, travelled
5. ‘t ‘ or ‘tt’ when adding -ing or
-ed to verbs
DOUBLE the t for verbs of one syllable with a single
vowel, or a short vowel sound.
rot — rotting, rotted, blur — blurring, blurred
DO NOT DOUBLE the t for verbs of one syllable with
a double vowel or a long vowel sound.
DO NOT DOUBLE the l when it is preceded by a
double vowel.
reel — reeling, reeled,
conceal — concealing, concealed,
8. dropping letters
Many words drop a letter when adding a suffix, but it is
not always the final letter. Many of these words simply
have to be memorised.
treat — treating, treated,
greet — greeting, greeted
argue — argument, proceed — procedure,
humour — humorous,
DOUBLE the t for verbs of more than one syllable
when the stress is on the last syllable.
disaster — disastrous, repeat — repetition,
administer — administration.
commit — committing, committed,
emit — emitting emitted
6 ‘r ‘ or ‘rr’ when adding -ing or
-ed to verbs
DOUBLE the r for verbs of one syllable when the final
r is preceded by a single vowel.
tar — tarring, tarred, scar — scarring, scarred
DO NOT DOUBLE the r for verbs of one syllable
when the final r is preceded by a double vowel.
fear — fearing, feared, roar — roaring, roared
9. -able or -ible
These are used to form adjectives, but there is no clear
rule. Many of these also have to be memorised.
negligible,
incredible,
invisible,
sensible,
admirable, preventable
10. silent letters
Some words include letters which are not pronounced
when the word it spoken,. There is no rule covering
these, so they are another group to be memorised.
pneumonia, knife, debt, island, advertisement
DO NOT DOUBLE the r for words of more than one
syllable, when the stress falls on the first syllable.
prosper — prospered, prospering
T h e
U n i v e r s i t y o f
NEW ENGLAND