Year 2 Statutory Requirements
Statutory requirements |
|
Rules and guidance (non-statutory) |
Example words (non-statutory) |
The /dʒ/ sound spelt as ge and dge at the end of words, and sometimes spelt as g elsewhere in words before e, i and y |
The letter j is never used for the /dʒ/ sound at the end of English words. At the end of a word, the /dʒ/ sound is spelt –dge straight after the /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/ and /ʊ/ sounds (sometimes called ‘short’ vowels). After all other sounds, whether vowels or consonants, the /dʒ/ sound is spelt as –ge at the end of a word. In other positions in words, the /dʒ/ sound is often (but not always) spelt as g before e, i, and y. The /dʒ/ sound is always spelt as j before a, o and u. |
badge, edge, bridge, dodge, fudge
age, huge, change, charge, bulge, village
gem, giant, magic, giraffe, energy jacket, jar, jog, join, adjust |
|
The /s/ sound spelt c before e, i and y |
|
race, ice, cell, city, fancy |
|
The /n/ sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words |
The ‘k’ and ‘g’ at the beginning of these words was sounded hundreds of years ago. |
knock, know, knee, gnat, gnaw |
|
The /r/ sound spelt wr at the beginning of words |
This spelling probably also reflects an old pronunciation. |
write, written, wrote, wrong, wrap |
|
The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –le at the end of words |
The –le spelling is the most common spelling for this sound at the end of words. |
table, apple, bottle, little, middle |
Statutory requirements |
|
Rules and guidance (non-statutory) |
Example words (non-statutory) |
The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –el at the end of words |
The –el spelling is much less common than –le. The –el spelling is used after m, n, r, s, v, w and more often than not after s. |
camel, tunnel, squirrel, travel, towel, tinsel |
|
The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –al at the end of words |
Not many nouns end in –al, but many adjectives do. |
metal, pedal, capital, hospital, animal |
|
Words ending –il |
There are not many of these words. |
pencil, fossil, nostril |
|
The /aɪ/ sound spelt –y at the end of words |
This is by far the most common spelling for this sound at the end of words. |
cry, fly, dry, try, reply, July |
|
Adding –es to nouns and verbs ending in –y |
The y is changed to i before –es is added. |
flies, tries, replies, copies, babies, carries |
|
Adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est to a root word ending in –y with a consonant before it |
The y is changed to i before –ed, –er and –est are added, but not before – ing as this would result in ii. The only ordinary words with ii are skiing and taxiing. |
copied, copier, happier, happiest, cried, replied …but copying, crying, replying |
|
Adding the endings – ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words ending in –e with a consonant before it |
The –e at the end of the root word is dropped before –ing, –ed, –er, –est, –y or any other suffix beginning with a vowel letter is added. Exception: being. |
hiking, hiked, hiker, nicer, nicest, shiny |
|
Adding –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant letter after a single vowel letter |
The last consonant letter of the root word is doubled to keep the /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/ sound (i.e. to keep the vowel ‘short’). Exception: The letter ‘x’ is never doubled: mixing, mixed, boxer, sixes. |
patting, patted, humming, hummed, dropping, dropped, sadder, saddest, fatter, fattest, runner, runny |
|
The /ɔ:/ sound spelt a before l and ll |
The /ɔ:/ sound (‘or’) is usually spelt as a before l and ll. |
all, ball, call, walk, talk, always |
|
The /ʌ/ sound spelt o |
|
other, mother, brother, nothing, Monday |
Statutory requirements |
|
Rules and guidance (non-statutory) |
Example words (non-statutory) |
The /i:/ sound spelt –ey |
The plural of these words is formed by the addition of –s (donkeys, monkeys, etc.). |
key, donkey, monkey, chimney, valley |
|
The /ɒ/ sound spelt a after w and qu |
a is the most common spelling for the /ɒ/ (‘hot’) sound after w and qu. |
want, watch, wander, quantity, squash |
|
The /ɜ:/ sound spelt or after w |
There are not many of these words. |
word, work, worm, world, worth |
|
The /ɔ:/ sound spelt ar after w |
There are not many of these words. |
war, warm, towards |
|
The /ʒ/ sound spelt s |
|
television, treasure, usual |
|
The suffixes –ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly |
If a suffix starts with a consonant letter, it is added straight on to most root words without any change to the last letter of those words. Exceptions:
|
enjoyment, sadness, careful, playful, hopeless, plainness (plain + ness), badly
merriment, happiness, plentiful, penniless, happily |
|
Contractions |
In contractions, the apostrophe shows where a letter or letters would be if the words were written in full (e.g. can’t – cannot). It’s means it is (e.g. It’s raining) or sometimes it has (e.g. It’s been raining), but it’s is never used for the possessive. |
can’t, didn’t, hasn’t, couldn’t, it’s, I’ll |
|
The possessive apostrophe (singular nouns) |
|
Megan’s, Ravi’s, the girl’s, the child’s, the man’s |
|
Words ending in –tion |
|
station, fiction, motion, national, section |
Statutory requirements |
|
Rules and guidance (non-statutory) |
Example words (non-statutory) |
Homophones and near-homophones |
It is important to know the difference in meaning between homophones. |
there/their/they’re, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, sun/son, to/too/two, be/bee, blue/blew, night/knight |
|
Common exception words |
Some words are exceptions in some accents but not in others – e.g. past, last, fast, path and bath are not exceptions in accents where the a in these words is pronounced /æ/, as in cat. Great, break and steak are the only common words where the /eɪ/ sound is spelt ea. |
door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, child, children*, wild, climb, most, only, both, old, cold, gold, hold, told, every, everybody, even, great, break, steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last, past, father, class, grass, pass, plant, path, bath, hour, move, prove, improve, sure, sugar, eye, could, should, would, who, whole, any, many, clothes, busy, people, water, again, half, money, Mr, Mrs, parents, Christmas – and/or others according to programme used. Note: ‘children’ is not an exception to what has been taught so far but is included because of its relationship with ‘child’. |