Spelling

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words of more than one syllable

If the last syllable of a word is stressed and ends with one consonant letter which has just one vowel letter before it, the final consonant letter is doubled before any ending beginning with a vowel letter is added. The consonant letter is not doubled if the syllable is unstressed.

forgetting, forgotten, beginning, beginner, prefer, preferred

gardening, gardener, limiting, limited, limitation

The /ɪ/ sound spelt y elsewhere than at the end of words

These words should be learnt as needed.

myth, gym, Egypt, pyramid, mystery

The /ʌ/ sound spelt ou

These words should be learnt as needed.

young, touch, double, trouble, country

More prefixes

Most prefixes are added to the beginning of root words without any changes in spelling, but see in– below.

Like un–, the prefixes dis– and mis–

have negative meanings.

dis–: disappoint, disagree, disobey

mis–: misbehave, mislead, misspell (mis

+ spell)

The prefix in– can mean both ‘not’ and ‘in’/‘into’. In the words given here it means ‘not’.

in–: inactive, incorrect

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Before a root word starting with l, in–

becomes il.

illegal, illegible

Before a root word starting with m or

p, in– becomes im–.

immature, immortal, impossible, impatient, imperfect

Before a root word starting with r, in–

becomes ir–.

irregular, irrelevant, irresponsible

re– means ‘again’ or ‘back’.

re–: redo, refresh, return, reappear, redecorate

sub– means ‘under’.

sub–: subdivide, subheading, submarine, submerge

inter– means ‘between’ or ‘among’.

inter–: interact, intercity, international, interrelated (inter + related)

super– means ‘above’.

super–: supermarket, superman, superstar

anti– means ‘against’.

anti–: antiseptic, anti- clockwise, antisocial

auto– means ‘self’ or ‘own’.

auto–: autobiography, autograph

The suffix –ation

The suffix –ation is added to verbs to form nouns. The rules already learnt still apply.

information, adoration, sensation, preparation, admiration

The suffix –ly

The suffix –ly is added to an adjective to form an adverb. The rules already learnt still apply.

The suffix –ly starts with a consonant letter, so it is added straight on to most root words.

sadly, completely, usually (usual + ly), finally (final + ly), comically (comical

+ ly)

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Exceptions:

(1) If the root word ends in –y with a consonant letter before it, the y is changed to i, but only if the root word has more than one syllable.

happily, angrily

(2) If the root word ends with –le, the

–le is changed to –ly.

gently, simply, humbly, nobly

(3) If the root word ends with –ic,

–ally is added rather than just –ly, except in the word publicly.

basically, frantically, dramatically

(4) The words truly, duly, wholly.

Words with endings sounding like /ʒə/ or

/tʃə/

The ending sounding like /ʒə/ is always spelt –sure.

The ending sounding like /tʃə/ is often spelt –ture, but check that the word is not a root word ending in

(t)ch with an er ending – e.g.

teacher, catcher, richer, stretcher.

measure, treasure, pleasure, enclosure

creature, furniture, picture, nature, adventure

Endings which sound like /ʒən/

If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is spelt as –sion.

division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television

The suffix –ous

Sometimes the root word is obvious and the usual rules apply for adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters.

Sometimes there is no obvious root word.

–our is changed to –or before –ous

is added.

A final ‘e’ of the root word must be kept if the /dʒ/ sound of ‘g’ is to be kept.

If there is an /i:/ sound before the

–ous ending, it is usually spelt as i, but a few words have e.

poisonous, dangerous, mountainous, famous, various

tremendous, enormous, jealous

humorous, glamorous, vigorous

courageous, outrageous

serious, obvious, curious

hideous, spontaneous, courteous

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Endings which sound like /ʃən/, spelt –tion,

–sion, –ssion, –cian

Strictly speaking, the suffixes are – ion and –ian. Clues about whether to put t, s, ss or c before these suffixes often come from the last letter or letters of the root word.

–tion is the most common spelling. It is used if the root word ends in t or te.

–ssion is used if the root word ends in ss or –mit.

–sion is used if the root word ends in

d or se.

Exceptions: attend – attention, intend – intention.

–cian is used if the root word ends in

c or cs.

invention, injection, action, hesitation, completion

expression, discussion, confession, permission, admission

expansion, extension, comprehension, tension

musician, electrician, magician, politician, mathematician

Words with the /k/ sound spelt ch (Greek in origin)

scheme, chorus, chemist, echo, character

Words with the /ʃ/ sound spelt ch

(mostly French in origin)

chef, chalet, machine, brochure

Words ending with the /g/ sound spelt – gue and the /k/ sound spelt –que (French in origin)

league, tongue, antique, unique

Words with the /s/ sound spelt sc (Latin in origin)

In the Latin words from which these words come, the Romans probably pronounced the c and the k as two sounds rather than one – /s/ /k/.

science, scene, discipline, fascinate, crescent

Words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey

vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, they, obey

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Possessive apostrophe with plural words

The apostrophe is placed after the plural form of the word; –s is not added if the plural already ends in

–s, but is added if the plural does not end in –s (i.e. is an irregular plural –

e.g. children’s).

girls’, boys’, babies’, children’s, men’s, mice’s

(Note: singular proper nouns ending in an s use the ’s suffix e.g.

Cyprus’s population)

Homophones and near-homophones

accept/except, affect/effect, ball/bawl, berry/bury, brake/break, fair/fare, grate/great, groan/grown, here/hear, heel/heal/he’ll, knot/not, mail/male, main/mane, meat/meet, medal/meddle, missed/mist, peace/piece, plain/plane, rain/rein/reign, scene/seen, weather/whether, whose/who’s