SPELLING

1. SPELLING Tips to help youbecome a betterspeller

2. Introduction • Spellingcanbecomplex. For example, there are elevendifferentways of representing the sh sound: shoe, sugar, ocean, issue, nation, schist, suspicion, conscious, nauseous, mansion, and fuchsia.

3. Rememberthatthe regularity in spelling relates not only to sound-letter connections but also to ourstoredvisualmemory of relatedwords. Weknow thatpresidentis not spelled « presadent, » becausewerecognizeits relation to the wordpreside.

4. Paying attention to guidelines of spellingcan help youavoidspellingerrors.

5. 20 Most CommonlyMisspelledWords • A studyrevealed the followingtwentywords as being the mostcommonmisspelledwords. Compare them to wordsyou have trouble spellingcorrectly. 1. their/there/they’re 2. too/to 3. a lot 4. noticeable 5. receive/d/s 6. lose 7. you’re/your 8. an/and 9. develop/s 10. definitely 11. than/then 12. believe/d/s 13. occurred 14. affect/s 15. cannot 16. separate 17. success 18. through 19. until 20. where

6. RecognizingHomonyms Definition: Wordsthatsoundalike but have differentspelling and meaning. their (possessive form of they) there (in that place) they’re ( contraction of they are) to (in the direction of) too (in addition; excessive) two (numberbetween one and three)

7. Homonyns (continued) your(possessive form of you) you’re(contraction of you are) affect(to have an influence) effect (noun: result, verb: to cause to happen) accept(to take or receive) except (to leave out) who’s (contraction of whois or who has) whose (possessive form of who) its(possessive form of it) it’s (contraction of itis or it has)

8. SpellingRules • i beforeeexceptafterc • or whenpronounced« ay » as in neighbor or weigh • or in weird exceptions likeeither i BEFOREe achieveexperiencepiece believefriendrelieve brieffieldthief chief EXCEPT AFTER c ceilingdeceiveperceive conceivereceive

9. OR WHEN PRONOUNCED « AY » neighborweigheighth freightreignsleigh OR IN WEIRD EXCEPTIONS weirdleisureheight either seize caffeine neitherforeignprotein

10. AddingPrefixes Prefixes-lettersplacedat the beginning of words to addto or qualifytheirmeaning. The prefixre-, for example, addsrepetition to the meaning of a word: reappearmeans« appearagain. » Prefixes do not change the spelling of the wordsthey are added to, evenwhen the last letter of the prefixand the first letter of the worditisadded to are the same. In suchcases, keepbothletters. Examplenext page . . .

11. dis + service = disservice over + rate = overrate *Someprefixesrequire the use of hyphens. When in doubt, check the dictionary. .

12. Adding Suffixes Suffixes– lettersplacedat the endof words in to formrelatedwords. For example, wecanbuild on basic wordshort to get the followingwords: shortageshortenshorter shortlyshortness

13. Dropping the final e For wordsending in an unpronouncede (receive, lose, definite),youmust decidewhether or not to drop the e whenadding a suffix. In general, if the suffixstartswith a vowel, drop the e. explore + -ation=exploration future + -ismfuturism imagine + -able=imaginable exercise+ ing=exercising continue + -ous=continuousproductive + ity productivity

14. Exceptions • To distinguishhomonyms or potentiallyconfusingwords dye + -ing = dyeing (not dying) singe + -ing = singeing (not singing) • To clarifypronunciation be + -ing = being (not bing) shoe + -ing = shoeing (not shoing)

15. More exceptions . . . • To keep the sound of C or G soft notice + -able = noticeable marriage + -able = marriageable salvage + -able = salvagable courage + -ous = courageous peace + -able = peaceable

16. Keeping the final e If the suffixstartsstartswith a consonant, keep the e. force + -ful = forceful excite + -ment = excitement state + -ly = stately same + - ness = sameness Exceptions argue + -ment = argument true + -ly = truly whole + -ly – wholly nine + -th = ninth

17. Exercise • Combine each of the followingwords and suffixes, dropping the unpronouncede whennecessary. 1. future + -ism 2. hope + -ful 3. lone + -ly 4. malice + -ous 5. outrage + -ous 6. exercise + -ing

18. Using –ally • Using –ally Use –ally if the base wordends in ic. Examples: drastic + -ally = drastically basic + -ally = basically, characteristic + -ally = characteristically, dramatic + -ally = dramatically **Exception: public + -ly = publicly • Using –ly Use –ly if the base worddoes not end in ic. Examples: apparent + -ly = apparently certain + -ly = certainly conscious + -ly = consciously quick + -ly = quickly supposed + -ly = supposedly

19. Doubling the final consonant When a wordends in a consonant, the consonant is sometimesdoubledwhen a suffixisadded. If the word ends in consonant-vowel-consonant, the suffixbegins with a vowel, and the wordcontainsonly one syllable or ends in an accentedsyllable, double the final consonant. stop + -ing = stoppingslap + -ed = slapped hot + -est = hottestrun + -er = runner begin + -ing = beginningrefer + -ing = referring occur + -ence = occurence

20. EXCEPTION Double the final l even in wordsthat do not end in an accentedsyllable. counsel + -or = counsellor travel + -ed = travelled label + -ing = labelling

21. DO NOT DOUBLE THE CONSONANT • If itispreceded by more than one vowel or by another consonant bait + -ing = baitingsleep + -ing = sleeping fight + -er = fighterstart + -ed = started • If the suffixbeginswith a consonant ship + -ment = shipment fit + -ness = fitness • If the wordis not accented on the last syllable benefit + -ing = benefitingfasten + -er = fastener

22. If the accent shifts from the last to the first syllablewhen the suffixisadded. infer + -ence = inference prefer + -ence = preference **If the last letter of the word and the first letter of the suffix are the same, keepbothletters: mortal+ -ly = mortally room + -mate =roommate rotten + -ness = rottennessusual + -ly = usually