• support@pracup.com
No Image

If there is one thing that is common between the veteran English speakers and the newbies is their errors in spelling the words. Words in English are not always spelled as they are pronounced. So it is common for people to make basic spelling mistakes, even for native English speakers. Here are 8 spelling rules to help you with the problem. 

1.     Vowel in a single syllable word

When a one-syllable word has a vowel in the middle of two consonants, the vowel has a short sound

Example: sit, cat, mat, hit

 When a One one-syllable word with a vowel in the middle ends with ‘f’, ‘l’, or ‘s’, it ends with a double consonant and the sound of the vowel is longer.

Example: cell, pass, Staff

2.     Words ending with ‘y’

A word that ends with the letter ‘y’, it makes “i” sound when there is no vowel in the word.

Example: cry, fry, my, fly

 When the word ends with ‘ey’ it makes ‘e’ sound.

Example: money, honey, key

3.     When to use double consonant

If the word ends with a short vowel sound with a consonant, and the stress is on the last syllable, then the final consonant is doubled when adding a suffix.

Example: 

Cut- cutting

Plan- planning

Begin- beginner

Occur- occur

Forget- forgetting 

 But if it ends with a vowel or  two consonant do not double anything,

Example:

Think- thinking

Write- writer 

Discover- discoverer

4.     Using ‘ie’ or ‘ei’

There is a simple saying “I before E except after C or when it sounds like A”

This means, always use ‘ie’ and if it is preceded by ‘C’ or it has ‘A’ sound use ‘ei’

Example: Neighbour, receive, piece, field, ceiling. Eight

 However, there are some exceptions to this rule,

Leisure, height, weird, leisure, ancient, species, etc

5.     ‘s’  and ‘es’ in plurals

If the word ends with ‘s’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘x’, or ‘z’  add ‘es’ to the plural.

Example: dishes, boxes, beaches, etc

 If the word ends with ‘consonant + O’ add ‘es’ to the plural form.

Example: potatoes, heroes, tomatoes, etc. 

 In all other cases add ‘s’ in the plural form.

Example: cats, dogs, videos, radios, etc.

6.     When the word ends with a silent ‘e’

Sometimes the words have a silent ‘e’ at the end. It is because:

The silent ‘e’ makes the sound of the preceding vowel longer.

Example: love, above, code, etc

 It makes the sound of vowel softer

Example: grace, age, etc

 Every syllable in a words needs a vowel’

Example: handle, bible, etc

 

‘e’ prevents a singular word from looking like a plural word

Example: goose, moose, etc.

7.     Suffix for the word ending with ‘e’

When you add a suffix to a word ending with ‘e’, the ‘e’ disappears only when the suffix starts with the vowel, like; able, ate, ing, ity, etc.

Example: 

Achieve- achievable

Take- taking

 If the word ends with ‘ue’ then sometimes the ‘e’ disappears when a suffix is added.

Example:

Rescue- rescuing

Argue- argument

 The exception to this rule is when the word ending with ‘e’ has ‘j’ or ‘s’ sound in the end and ends with ‘ge’ or ‘ce’

Example:

Grace- graceful

Manage- management

 

Note: Age + ing can be written as,

Ageing (British English)

Aging (American English) 

8.     Suffix for the word ending with ‘y’

When a word ends with ‘y’ and the ‘y’ is preceded by a consonant, ‘y’ is replaced by ‘i’ when we add a suffix.

Example:

Beauty- beautiful

Lucky- luckily 

Enjoy- enjoyment

 You need to realize that learning to spell is a process that is never complete. You can’t just wake up one morning and be a spelling-bee champion. It takes time. Spelling is something that everyone has to pay attention to and keep practicing to get better.

 

 

Signup