Download Putting the `S` in SPaG - Abbey Park Middle School

Putting the ‘S’ in SPaG
A whistle-stop tour
Plurals
just add an s (word ends in consonant or e)
change y to i add -es
-ch,-sh,-x, -s add-es
Just because there is an s
there, it does not mean
that it needs an
apostrophe.
-f changes to v add-es (thief-thieves)
change the word completely! (person-people)
Verb endings
present and future tense
Add -ing (some nouns): building,climbing, sprawling,
vanishing.
Drop final -e/ add -ing: exciting, raising, amazing,
wrestling.
Short vowel/double consonant/ add -ing: stopping,
beginning.
Verb endings
past tense
Add -ed: camped, echoed, stretched, discovered,
transformed.
Short vowel/double consonant/add -ed: grabbed,
planned
Change the y to i/add -ed: carried, qualified, satisfied,
married.
Add -d: arrived, injured, judged, released, replaced,
illuminated.
Adverbs
double consonants/short vowels (word ends in
consonant or e): actually, generally, physically.
add -ly consonant/long vowel: frequently, highly,
perfectly, smoothly, thoroughly, importantly.
add -ly word ends e (e needed for rest of word):
approximately, extremely.
remove e/add -ly word ends e (removing won’t
change the rest of the word): gently
i before e except after c
sound ee/put ie
believe
receive
pierce
ceiling
fierce
ay sound: eight
shriek
vein
mischief
weight
niece
after c: deceive
Prefixes
Need to know key prefixes
advertise, almost.
believe.
destructive, despite.
disappeared, disturbed,
discovered.
encounter, encourage,
ensure.
important, exclusive.
injured, inspecting,
invention, involved.
preserve, prevent.
produce, together.
transformed, transported.
uncoiled, unusual.
permission, responsible.
Suffixes
key suffixes+rules to
add
beautiful, carefully, colourful, effortless,
hopeful, regardless, successful,
wonderful, responsible.
Superlatives
Add –est to denote the ‘best’ of a group of
objects
biggest, largest, nastiest, tallest, widest
Comparatives
Add –er to make direct comparisons
taller, larger, bigger, nastier, wider
Compound
Words
Some words are made by joining two
roots together
countryside,
headquarters,
themselves, throughout
Double consonants
Used to protect/create short vowel sounds in words
apprehensive, common, different, difficult, excellent,
follow, million, opposite, passenger, pollution, press,
slippery, still, successful, sunny, permission,
currency, common, opportunity.
Silent Letters
Many letters are used ‘silently’ in words.
castles, climbing, designed, different, environment,
hedges, interesting, knowledge, known, should,
strength, stretched, surprise, wrestling
Shun sound
There are five ways of spelling this sound
• shun ; for the word
‘shun’
• -cian ; for words
describing jobs
physician, musician
• -tion ; as a suffix linked
Completion, direction,
generation, destination.
• -sion ; often for emotive
pension, expression,
division, television,
• -tian ;
Egyptian, Christian,
Dalmatian.
to actions
words and adjectives
-ive words
Usually used as a suffix; often misspelled as -iv, -eve
or –ave. It follows the normal suffix rules
apprehensive, destructive, expensive
-al words
special, digital, festival,
individual, original,
individuals
ee sounds
Can be made in a
number of ways.
Frequently misspelled at
the end of words, where
a –y should be used.
accuracy, emergency,
noisy, ready, sunny
homophones
These words have the
same sound as another,
but are spelt differently
heard (herd), practice
(practise), weight (wait),
where (wear, ware)
Common Words
These words incorporate a range of spelling rules
and sound patterns, including some of those listed
above – can you spot them?
amongst, anchors, audience, aware, between,
breeze, capable, change, complete, crawl, crept,
first, future, journey, moment, most, mysterious,
perform, press, purpose, realistic, serious, shook,
silence, sneeze, symbol, technique, top, tumble,
luxury, delicate, ordinary, fibres.