What Are Spelling Rules
Spellings are hard to learn. Reasons are many. Few are added from other languages such as chandelier and chauffeur (derived from French) so they are pronounced differently and spelt differently.
Whereas, many letters are not pronounced but they are part of spellings such as knife, knee, hour. In all these words k and h as a beginning sound are not pronounced and silent, yet, they are part of spelling.
That makes spelling tricky and hard to memorize. This is not all. British and American spelling for the same word makes spellings more confusing.
Nevertheless, there are few rules to memorize and accurate your spellings.
Although these are not hard and fast rules. Exception is always there. However, these are helpful to spell many.
Spelling Rule 1
I before E, Except After C. The rule goes like this:
I before E, Except after C, unless it sounds like A, as in neighbour or weigh.
I before E:
pieces, believe, field, Species, achieve, cashier, shriek, grief, chief
Except before C:
received, ceiling, deceitful, perceive, receipt, conceive
Unless it sounds like A
height, forfeit, foreign, seizure, weight, weird
Spelling Rule 2
Adding Suffixes to Words that End in Y
When a suffix that starts with e (-ed, -er, -est) is added to a word that ends with y, Y is changed to I
Examples:
- Cry – cried – crier
- Dry – dried – drier
- Lay – laid (note the irregular spelling: no E)
- Baby – babies
- Family – families
- Ugly – ugliest
The Y doesn’t change for the suffix -ing.
crying, laying, tidying, mortifying, lying, annoying, glorifying, underlying.
Y changes to I when added suffix –ly
Examples:
- Sloppy – sloppily
- Happy – happily
- Scary – scarily
- happy – happily
- angry- angrily
Exceptions:
dryly, wryly
Spelling Rule 3
The Silent E
Usually, E at the end of the word is silent if preceded by consonant.
Examples:
- like, mike, bite.
However, the sound of vowel letter placed before the consonant is changed from short vowel sound to long vowel sound.
Examples:
- bit (short vowel sound of I) pronounced as bite (long vowel sound of I).
- sit (short vowel sound of I) pronounced as site (long vowel sound of I).
Therefore, the presence or absence of e in the end changes the meaning and pronunciation of the word.
Examples:
- Children waved bye to their grandparents. He arrived at my place by car.
- You can do this. Sugarcane is one of the famous crops in this area.
If suffix –ed. –er, -est is added, silent E is dropped.
Examples:
- His attitude flared her.
- Filmmaker invested a lot in this movie.
- She is the cutest baby in this hall.
Spelling Rule 4
Double Consonants
Double consonants are not pronounced separately rather as one sound.
Examples:
- blessed, baggage, footage
Usually consonants are double when suffix is added to them.
Examples:
- dropped, begged, flipped.
In some words, double consonants change the meaning and pronunciation of the word.
Examples:
- desert and dessert,
- in and inn,
- diner and dinner.
Spelling Rule 5
Plural Suffixes
When a singular noun is changed to plural there are few rules to change the spellings.
If a noun ends in an s, sh, ch or x then just add an e and an s on the end of the word.
A useful way to remember this, is that words ending with a ‘hissing’, ‘buzzing’ or ‘whooshing’ sound end in an es when they become plural.
Examples:
- bus becomes buses
- box becomes boxes
- church becomes churches
- dish becomes dishes
If a noun ends in a consonant and then an o you just add es to the end of the word.
Examples:
- volcano becomes volcanoes
- hero becomes heroes
- echo becomes echoes
If a noun ends in a consonant and then a ‘y’ then the y is removed and an ies is added.
Examples:
- army becomes armies
- story becomes stories
- berry becomes berries
If a noun ends in an ‘f’ or ‘fe’ it is usually replaced with a ves ending.
Examples:
- half becomes halves
- life becomes lives
- scarf becomes scarves
However, there are also some plural nouns that are irregular and don’t follow this rule.
Examples:
- belief becomes beliefs
- chef becomes chefs