Teaching English spelling is a daunting challenge, especially to the kids. A lot of it has to do with the mismatching correlation between the spellings and the pronunciations.
For example, lets consider the word knee. It might sound like nee but it spelling suggests something like kuh nee!
We, adults, are already familiar with unusual spellings we know that there a silent K in knife and knee. But kids are only getting to know these rules and laws.
So today, we would try to talk about some of the established spelling rules.
You should understand one thing there is no fixed number of hard and fast rules when it comes to English spelling. Linguistic experts have only identified and categorized some spelling patterns.
Thats why youre seeing different numbers online!
Some are preaching 5 Spelling rules, some talk about 31 spelling rules, and so on. Also, the English language has its fair share of exceptions when comes to spelling grammar.
How so?
There is a common spelling rule that says English words dont end in I. If thats true, what about the words alumni, broccoli, or graffiti? Some may argue that these words are originated from other languages.
True! But its also true that the English language has picked these words.
As were talking about exceptions, lets talk about the doubling consonant issue. Some suggest that while adding suffixes, like -ed or -ing after a verb, you should double the final consonant.
Thus, refer becomes referred, or incur becomes incurring following this rule.
Nice! Oh wait, theres an issue!
What about enter?
It doesnt become enterred or enterring! Rather, it becomes entered or entering.
This why many experts refrain from making every spelling pattern a rule. And, thats why we dont have a fixed of spelling rules in the English language.
So, while studying the English spelling rules, you should always keep in mind that rules are made to be broken!
But mastering the common spelling rules will help the language users in many ways. You can stop yourself from making common and silly mistakes.
Example: It, cat, old all have a vowel.
The letter C has two sounds /s/ or /k/. If C is followed by I, E, or Y, it sounds like /s/. in all other cases, it sounds like /k/.
Example: City, cement, and cyber (C followed by I, E, or Y) have the /s/ sound but cold, catch, or cool has the /k/ sound.
Similar to the previous rule, the letter G has two sounds /g/ or /j/. So, if G is followed by I, E, or Y, it sounds like /j/. Otherwise, it has the /g/ sound.
Example: Gist, gem, and gyro (G followed by I, E, or Y) have the /j/ sound but game, get, or good has the /g/ sound.
The letter Q is almost always paired with the letter U in the English language. So, blindly put a U after every time you spell anything with a Q.
Example: Queen, Quit, Quite, Quill all of these words have Q and U paired together.
Exceptions: faqir, cinq, qi these words dont follow the QU pairing rule. However, all of these words have different etymological roots.
There two ways to create the sound /k/ at the end of the words using -CK or -K. Which one should you use?
Remember one thing -CK is used only after a short vowel!
So, after short vowels, that sound like -ah, -eh, -ih, -oh, and -uh, youll use -CK. But we use -K after long vowels.
Example: Sack, deck, pick, rock, buck these words have at the end -CK as there are short vowels. But words like meek, milk, book, hook these words have -K at the end.
Mono-syllable or one-syllable words are the words with one vowel. Now, if such a mono-syllable word ends with the letters F, L, or S, they become double!
Example: Riff, spell, fuss are mono-syllable words ending with F, L, and S.
Exceptions: Bus, sis.
Proper nouns, meaning the names of people, titles, places, or things must be capitalized.
Example: Jerry, Tom, President, London, Bitcoin these proper nouns have capital letters in the beginning.
Are you looking for a spelling baseline assessment? Here's a guide that discusses everything revolving around the topic with a convenient way for conducting one.
This is perhaps one of the most well-known spelling rules of the English language. And, there is a strong reason behind this. Despite the age, a large portion of English users often get confused with the IE or EI issue.
Lets be honest, even you got confused while spelling words like believe or receive without any auto-correct tool.
So, the extended version of this spelling rule goes like this I before E, except after C, or sounds like A.
That makes everything simple, write?
Despite having a three-layer guideline, there a number of words that dont follow this spelling pattern. For example, weird, foreign, or leisure dont follow the spelling pattern.
Example: Field, believe, lie, piece I before E. Receive, ceiling, deceit uses EI as there is a C. Neighbor, beige, weigh sounds like A so EI is used.
Exceptions: As we said earlier, this is one of the spelling tips, not a concrete rule. There is a long list of exceptions to this spelling tip. This list should help you out (try to memorize them if you can)
Exceptions of the I before E, except after C rule |
|
Seize |
Weird |
Height |
Foreign |
Leisure |
Conscience |
Counterfeit |
Forfeit |
Neither |
Science |
Species |
Sufficient |
Words ending with Y change in different ways as you add suffixes to them. So, wed break this one rule multiple layers
Example: Cry > cried (-ed), dry > dried (-ed), baby > babies (-es), story > stories (-es), ugly > uglier (-er) > ugliest (-est).
Example: Cry > crying, dry > drying, fry > frying.
Example: Happy > happily, merry > merrily, sloppy > sloppily, scary > scarily.
Exceptions: Dry > dryly, shy > shyly.
Example: Employ > employment, enjoy > enjoyment, repay > repayment, deploy > deployment.
Exception: Merry > merriment.
This is another confusing spelling issue for the adults. Should we be using -s or -es for nouns?
Follow this one rule add -es for words ending with -s, -sh, -x, -z, or -ch.
Everything else uses -s.
Example: Boss > bosses, dish > dishes, box > boxes, batch > batches has -s, -sh, -x, -ch in the end. Monkey > monkeys, boy > boys.
Exceptions for the Spellings of Plural Nouns (Ending with -es or -s) |
|
Singular |
Plural |
Mango |
Mango/Mangoes (both are correct!) |
Tomato |
Tomatoes |
Dwarf |
Dwarves/Dwarfs (both are correct) |
Knife |
Knives |
Wife |
Wives |
Embargo |
Embargoes |
Torpedo |
Torpedoes |
Volcano |
Volcanos/Volcanoes (both are correct) |
Echo |
Echos/Echoes (both are correct) |
There are many arguments regarding whether to use double consonant or not while adding the -ed or -ing suffixes.
To be on the safer side, you should only double the ending consonant for one-syllable words.
Example: Gut > gutted, rub > rubbed, rob > robbing, mop > mopping.
Exceptions: Burn > burning.
A lot of English words have silent E in the end. As you add a suffix, this silent E gets dropped.
Example: Bite > biting, care > cared, race > racing, come > coming.
Expectations: Noticeable, truly.
Many sources strongly enforce different spelling rules that are baseless and can easily be debunked. Here are some of these false spelling rules
1. No English word has double I in it!
Proof that its false: Radii, skiing, shiitake.
2. English words dont end in I, U, V, or J.
Proof that its false: Hi (ends in I), Emu (ends in U), Rev (ends in V), Hajj (ends in J)
3. Consonant suffixes dont the spelling.
Proof that its false: Argue > argument, judge > judgment/judgement (both are correct).
4. The silent E in the end always gets dropped while adding a suffix.
Proof that its false: Mile > mileage, canoe > canoeing.
5. In a compound word (room and mate form roommate, house and keeper form housekeeper), spellings of the separate words always remain unchanged.
Proof that its false: Past + time > pastime, where + ever > wherever.
share now:
Spelling Tests per Grade