PLURAL RULE ONE

PLURAL RULE TWO

Most words add s to make the plural

Add es to words ending in ch, sh

s, ss, x or z to make the plural

one apple
desk
name
town
card

Try these
pencil



book


tree

desks
names
towns
cards

two apples
teacher
park
month
truck
cup
pad
plant

teachers
parks
months
trucks

one box
beach
fox
cross
pitch

Try these
church



gas


class

beaches
foxes
crosses
pitches

many boxes
wish
bus
waltz
hutch

quiz
wax
dish

wishes
buses
waltzes
hutches

PLURAL RULE THREE

PLURAL RULE FOUR

When the letter before a y is a consonant,

change the y to an i before adding an es

When words end in ay, ey, iy, oy

and uy add an s to make the plural

one baby
city
pony
filly

cities

ponies

fillies

Try these
family



daisy


army
nappy

two babies
berry
reply
belly

berries

replies

bellies

lady
jelly
party
cherry

one donkey
boy
pulley
relay

boys

pulleys

relays

Try these


day


monkey


tray


trolley

two donkeys
play
grey
alley

plays

greys

alleys

satay
valley
delay
key

PLURAL RULE FIVE

PLURAL RULE SIX

When words end in f or fe change

the f or fe to a v before adding es

When a word ends in o and comes after

a consonant, add es to make the plural

one knife

two knives
one dingo

leaf
wife
thief

leaves

wives

thieves

wolf
elf
life

wolves

elves

lives

Try these




half
hoof




loaf
shelf




self
calf
Exceptions cliffs, chiefs, roofs, dwarfs & handkerchiefs

cargo
potato
avocado

cargoes
mango

potatoes
hero

avocadoes buffalo

two dingoes

mangoes

heroes

buffaloes

Try these




volcano
tomato




domino
echo
mosquito

torpedo

Exceptions pianos, solos, banjos, Eskimos and radios

PLURAL RULE SEVEN

PLURAL RULE EIGHT

Sometimes, a word may completely

change its form when a plural is made

Sometimes, a word may stay the same

in both its singular and plural form

one child
person
goose
fungus

people

geese

fungi

Try these


foot


mouse


tooth

one fish

two children
criterion
nucleus
man
woman
cactus
dice

criteria

nuclei

men

bream
aircraft
salmon

bream

aircraft

salmon

Try these


species


deer


offspring

two fish
series
trout
moose
sheep
perch
tuna

series

trout

moose

PLURAL RULE NINE

PLURAL RULE TEN

It maybe confusing making compound words into plural

forms. In all cases the first word is made plural.

Many words, particularly from other languages

have exceptions when making them plural

one analysis of data two analyses of data

Maxine is terrified of men of war jelly fish.
brother in law
court martial
attorney general
Try these
son in law
heir apparent
passer by

brothers in law
courts martial
attorneys general

Other examples are

curriculum
criterion
antenna
bureau

curricula
criteria
antennae
bureaux

appendix
index
focus
corpus

appendices
indices
foci
corpora *

Try these




octopus
basis




formula
gateau




datum
crisis
* quite tricky and uncommon

SPELLING RULE ONE

SPELLING RULE TWO

When a word ends with a short vowel followed by a

consonant, double the last consonant before adding ed

When action words end with an sh, ch, ss, x, or

a z and es is added to make the present tense.

The girls skip.

The girls skipped.

Fiona waltzes most Tuesday nights with Jim.

drop
admit
occur

dropped

admitted

occurred

Try these


trip


mop


submit

trim
shop
flip
trot
rub
prefer

trimmed

shopped

flipped

cross
wax
fish

crosses

waxes

fishes

Try these


buzz


watch


push

catch
relax
reach
tax
pass
fix

catches

relaxes

reaches

SPELLING RULE THREE

SPELLING RULE FOUR

When an action word ends with a consonant followed by a y,

change the y to an i before adding es

Double the consonant before adding ing to words that have a

short vowel followed by a consonant at the end

Grandad was sitting in his chair all morning.

The pirate buries his treasure with great care.

empty
try
carry

empties

tries

carries

Try these


hurry


fly


worry

tidy
copy
fry
dry
dirty
apply

tidies

copies

fries

stop
wrap
step

stopping

wrapping

stepping

Try these


trap


rip


chop

slam
nod
skip

slamming

nodding

skipping

beg
map
rub

SPELLING RULE FIVE

SPELLING RULE SIX

When a word ends in a silent e, drop the e before

adding an ing The magic e runs away !

When a word ends in double consonant, do not double

the last letter before adding an ing

Ian loves platform diving on his weekends.

Kellie has been thinking about marrying Ridge.

move
taste
race

moving

tasking

racing

Try these


love
change



hope

hide
chase
wipe

hiding

chasing

wiping

store


drive


stare
Exception be
being

report
bump
wash

reporting

bumping

washing

copy
work
dust

copying

working

dusting

Try these




carry
hurry




spy
bend


camp
scratch

For words ending in y leave the y and add ing

SPELLING RULE SEVEN

SPELLING RULE EIGHT

For action words that end in ie, change

the ie to a y before adding an ing

Often ly is added to base words to turn them

into adverbs, adjectives or describing words

Rynell bungy jumped carefully from the tower.

Bryan enjoys lying on his back to watch clouds.

Try these
tie
lie
die

love
slow
main

lovely

slowly

mainly

Try these


rude


quick


soft

smart
pure
nice
kind
loud
glad

smartly

purely

nicely

SPELLING RULE NINE

SPELLING RULE TEN

When adding ly to words which end in y, change the

y to an i before adding the ly

When the suffix full is added to the end of a base word,

one of the ls has to be dropped

Janelle paints colourful works of art.

Kirsty scored the goal quite daintily.

happy
merry
easy

happily

merrily

easily

Try these


hungry


weary


heavy

busy
pretty
cosy
necessary
day
angry

busily

prettily

cosily

hope
cheer
thank

hopeful

cheerful

thankful

Try these


truth


play


fear

taste
use
force

tasteful

useful

forceful

peace
dread
joy

eg; thankful means full of thanks

SPELLING RULE ELEVEN

SPELLING RULE TWELVE

Before adding er and est to words ending in a consonant,

followed by a y, change the y to an i

Double the last letter before adding er or est to words that have
a short vowel followed a single consonant

Dean is the skinniest member at the local gym.

lazy
lovely
mighty

lazier

loveliest

mightier

Try these


sandy


happy


curly

salty
funny
heavy

saltiest

funnier

heaviest

crazy
fancy
dry

These new words are called degrees of comparison

Lyne has become a great ocean swimmer.

fit
slim
rob

fittest

slimmest

robber

Try these


spin


sit


drum

travel
win
slip

traveller

winner

slipper

run
begin
stop

SPELLING RULE THIRTEEN

SPELLING RULE FOURTEEN

Double the last letter of words ending in a short vowel followed by

a single consonant before adding a y

Just add a y to words ending in two

consonants to form describing words

Ricky enjoys lying back on a sunny day.

The last few days have been quite windy in Moura.

rag
shag
cat

raggy

shaggy

catty

Try these


run


wool


fur

wit
fog
fun
mud
skin
bad

witty

foggy

funny

dirt
might
thirst

dirty

mighty

thirsty

Try these


rock


wealth


chill

trick
health
sand

tricky

healthy

sandy

filth
smart
fuss

bone
ice
rose

SPELLING RULE FIFTEEN

SPELLING RULE SIXTEEN

For words ending in a silent e, you

must first drop the e before adding a y

To indicate possession or ownership by a person or

object, an apostrophe () followed by an s is added

Kookaburras are very noisy birds.

Billys horse bucked him at the rodeo.

bony

icy

rosy

Try these


flake


taste


spike

smoke
stone
race
scare
nose
laze

smoky

stony

racy

horse
Jenny
office

horses

Jennys

offices

Try these


Santa


Moura


Peter

Billy
bird
Nigel

Billys

Birds

Nigels

car
Mary
shoe

SPELLING RULE SEVENTEEN

SPELLING RULE EIGHTEEN

To indicate ownership by a person whose name ends in an

s or a plural noun, just add an apostrophe ()

An apostrophe () is also used to create a contraction, indicating

where a letter or letters have been left out

Camilla rubbed the sunscreen on Charles chest.

Shes really looking forward to the ballet recital.

poets
gases
Lewis

poets

gases

Lewis

Try these


flowers


Dennis


class

Gladys
babies
Ross

Gladys

babies

Ross

Chris
bottles
boss

I am
she would
who is

Im

shed

whos

Try these


you are


it is


can not

they had
do not
let us

theyd

dont

lets

where is
he is
she will

SPELLING RULE NINETEEN

SPELLING RULE TWENTY

i before e except after c

CAPITAL LETTERS are used at the

beginning of names and places

Many people believe unicorns exist.

rel__ve
dec__t
w__rd

relieve

deceit

wierd

Try these


rec__ve
n__ghbour



anc__nt

c__ling
v__n
glac__r

ceiling

vein

glacier

th__r
fr__nd
rec__pt

Remember there are ALWAYS exceptions !

Uluru is a well known Australian landmark.

brisbane
luke
moura

Brisbane

Luke

Moura

Try these


adelaide


donald


mackay

rebecca
yeppoon
mikarla

Rebecca

Yeppoon

Mikarla

phillip
gladstone
alex

SPELLING RULE TWENTY ONE

SPELLING RULE TWENTY TWO

Prefixes can be added to base words to create new words.

Prefixes ending in vowels are added directly to base words.

Sometimes negative prefixes are added to words

to create new words and change their meaning

It is important to try to recycle any items we can.

Some people say its impossible for cows to talk.

re+move
de+frost
para+chute

remove

defrost

parachute

Try these


tri+angle
kilo+metre

auto+graph

tele+vision
re+gain
giga+byte
de+void
re+align
multi+age

television

regain

gigabyte

un+well
dis+miss
in+ferior

unwell

dismiss

inferior

mis+spell
im+patient
mal+treat

misspell

impatient

maltreat

Create new words using these prefixes

non+
anti+




sub+
dys+




ab+
mis+

SPELLING RULE TWENTY THREE

SPELLING RULE TWENTY FOUR

Prefixes can be added to roots to form new words.

Roots often have meanings from other languages.

When adding a vowel suffix to words ending

in a silent e, drop the e and add the suffix.

Mr Smith may predict * a hot summer again.

Vikings lived many, many years ago.

di+vide
audi+ble
pro+ceed

divide

audible

proceed

inter+cept
de+tatch
auto+matic

intercept

detatch

automatic

Try these




chron+ic
ex+ceed


cred+ible

per+mit
meta+phor

poly+gon

* pre means before and dict means speak

store+age
forgive+en
pale+est

storage

forgiven

palest

lived
live+ed
manage+er
manager
amaze+ing
amazing

Try these




nice+est
like+en


grave+ity

use+ing


arrive+al
forge+ery

Remember there are always exceptions to the rule !

SPELLING RULE TWENTY FIVE

SPELLING RULE TWENTY SIX

The letter g may have a soft or hard sound.

A soft g is usually followed by an i or e.
A hard g is usually followed by a consonant or an a, o or u

The letter c may have a soft or hard sound.

When c meets an a, o or u its sound is hard.
When c meets an e, i or y its sound is soft.

g in golf is hard

cards (hard c)

gypsy
goat
goose

soft

hard

hard

g in gem is soft
general
gel
goblet

Which are hard and which are soft ?

gym
gutter


ginger
giant


gas
gather

soft

soft

hard

candle
cymbals
cave

hard c

soft c

hard c

centipede (soft c)
cuddle
circus
curly

Identify which are hard and soft ?

caring
cycle


citizen
cat


comedy
circle

hard c

soft c

hard c

SPELLING RULE TWENTY SEVEN

SPELLING RULE TWENTY EIGHT

CAPITAL letters are used to spell the names

of proper nouns, including people and places

Homophones are words that have the same

sound but a different meaning and spelling.

Lloyd is an accomplished bowler in Moura.

adelaide
luke
lions park

Adelaide

Luke

Lions Park

Try these


biloela
christmas



rover

qantas
mazda
english

jessica
july
australia

Qantas

Mazda

English

A pair of scissors.
route
allowed
pause

root

aloud

paws

The pear is a sweet fruit.

principal
maid
days

principle

made

daze

Write another word that sounds the same as

practise
main




male
threw




four
not

SPELLING RULE TWENTY NINE

SPELLING RULE THIRTY

A homographs is a word that may have

more than one meaning or pronunciation.

Sometimes when writing, words may be shortened.

These are known as abbreviations.

A calculator is a useful object.

The Lawyer said, I object !

Other examples

The front of a ship; to bend or a knot
bow

A breeze or to turn around
wind

To leave people or a dry, arid place
desert
Can you identify the different meanings ?


close


excuse


wound

I need to make an appointment to see Dr Phillips.

Other examples

km
kilometre

cm
centimetre

Aust
Australia
Try these
kilogram
example
approximately

Street
Anonymous
ante meridian

St

anon

a.m.

page
Queensland
second