Writing: Spelling

Rule 1: ‘i’ before ‘e’

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In many words, the two vowels ‘i‘ and ‘e‘ are next to each other, but how do we know which letter comes first?

 

By using this rule, you should be able to spell these words correctly:

 

‘i‘ before ‘e‘ except after ‘c‘, but only when it rhymes with ‘bee‘

 

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Take a look at the diagram below.

 

 

In the left-hand circle are:

• Words that follow the ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ rule – the ‘i’ and the ‘e’ letters come after a ‘c’
• Rhyme with ‘bee’

 

In the right-hand circle are:

• Words that follow the ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ rule‘ – the ‘i’ and the ‘e’ letters do no come after a ‘c’

 

However, some words are rule-breakers, and do not follow this rule. These are called exceptions.

 

Therefore, in the middle circle are:

• Words that don’t follow the rule even when after ‘c’ and rhyming with ‘bee’

 

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Commonly Misspelt Words

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Some words are difficult to spell as they either contain:

 

• Silent letters

For example: climb, handsome, echo, Christmas, write

 

• Double letters

For example: tomorrow, button, degree, common, cocoon

 

• Letters that sound different to what it is

For example: describe, business (sounds like ‘i’)

 

• Irregular spacing

For example: may be (not to be confused with ‘maybe‘), thank you (not ‘thankyou‘)

 

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Commonly Misspelt Words: Specialist Words

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You may also need to be able to spell specialist words correctly. However, these can be tricky as they also contain double letters, silent letters and lots of letters!

 

= Specialist words are words that are specific to particular fields. You may have heard them being used in every day life from different jobs!

 

For example:

• In the hairdressers, you may hear words like: lowlights, straighteners, mousse
• In retail, you may hear words like: backlog, merchandising, purchase
• In business, you may hear words like: apprentice, competitor, recruitment 

 

Sometimes, common specialist words are shortened. However, the full form should be used in formal writing.

 

For example:

 

Lab —-> Laboratory

 

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Commonly Misspelt Words: Hyphenated Words

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Hyphens are used to join two words together so the word/phrase is clearer to the reader.

It shows the reader that the two words should be treated as just one word.

 

Hyphens create compound words to show that it has joint meaning.

Compound words are created by joining together two or more words which make sense on their own.

 

For example:

The man with the glasses is short-sighted.

 

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Hyphens can also be used to separate the same vowel from being next to each other. This makes the word easier to read and pronounce.

 

For example:

‘re-enter’, ‘anti-icing’, ‘semi-invalid’

‘The man re-entered the shop after forgetting his wallet’.

 

However, if two different vowels are next to each other, a hyphen is not needed.

 

For example:

‘semiautomatic’

‘The woman was driving a semiautomatic car’.

 

Commonly Confused Words

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Some words may be easily confused as they sound the same, but have different meanings and functions.

 

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• Their

= In other words, ‘belongs to them‘ – e.g., “Their house was really clean”

 

• They’re

= Shortened version of ‘they are’ – e.g., “They’re playing sports after school”

 

• There

= Talking about location – e.g., “Your cup of tea is over there”

= Introducing sentences – e.g., “There must be another way”

 

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• To

= ‘Towards‘ – e.g., “She is going to France tomorrow”

= Part of a verb – e.g., “She is going to paint a picture”

 

• Too

= Too much of something – e.g., “They’re too strict with my daughter”

= Another word for saying ‘also‘ – e.g., “He is coming along too”

 

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• You’re

= Shortened version of ‘you are‘ – e.g., “You’re my best friend”

 

• Your

= In other words, ‘belongs to you‘ – e.g., “Your t-shirt is in the washing machine”

 

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• Off

= In other words, ‘not on‘ – e.g., “Get off the grass”

 

• Of

= Joins elements of a sentence together – e.g., “I am full of carrot cake”

 

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• Are

= Verb – e.g., “We are the best people for the job”

 

• Our

= In other words, ‘belonging to us‘ – e.g., “Our cousin is coming over”

 

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Plurals

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In order to make a word plural, you would typically add an ‘s‘ on the end.

 

e.g., sheets, computers, hands

 

However, words that end with:

• ‘ch‘
• ‘x‘
• ‘s‘
• ‘sh‘
• ‘z‘

… Need an ‘es‘ plural!

 

e.g., speeches, fizzes, bosses

 

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This is also different for words ending with ‘y‘:

 

• If a word ends with a ‘y‘ and has a vowel just before it, the plural of these words would be ‘s‘
• If a word ends with a ‘y‘ and has a consonant just before it, the ‘y‘ becomes ‘ies‘

 

e.g., fly —-> flies

 

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Words ending in ‘fe‘ or ‘f‘ have a separate rule also:

 

• If a word ends in ‘f‘ or ‘fe‘ would need to end in ‘ves‘ in order to make it plural.

 

e.g., knives, calves, shelves

 

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However, some words don’t follow any pattern at all! Watch out for these:

 

• 1 foot = two feet
• 1 person = two people
• 1 mouse = two mice
• 1 goose = three geese

 

Some don’t even change:

 

• 1 sheep = two sheep
• news = news
• 1 salmon = two salmon

 

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Prefixes

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A prefix is the process of adding letters to the start of a word. In other words the ‘pre-‘ is ‘fixing‘ the word in order to change the meaning.

 

For example:

 

in + secure = insecure

dis + agree = disagree

il + legal = illegal

 

Notice how it changes the meaning of the word, but doesn’t change the spelling?

 

Some other prefixes you may encounter include:

• un-
• re-
• semi-
• de-
• en-
• mis-

 

Now let’s have a look at suffixes…

 

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Suffixes

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A suffix differs from a prefix in a couple of ways:

 

• A suffix is added at the end of a word
• A suffix may also change the meaning AND spelling of a word

 

For example:

 

argue + ment = argument

heavy + ness = heaviness

inactive + ity = inactivity

 

Notice how it changes the spelling and the meaning of the word?

 

Some other suffixes you may encounter include:

• -ful
• -ly
• -less
• -able
• -ing
• -ism

 

However, remember the ‘i‘ before ‘e‘ rule? This doesn’t apply for suffixes, so ignore it!

 

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