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.