Functional English

CREDIT 3 (3-0)

Lecture on
Spelling Rules

Muhammad Saddam
M.Phil. English
Topic: Spelling Rules

English spelling is difficult for three main reasons:

1) English has a large number of different sounds: speakers of standard British English distinguish around 21 different
vowels and 24 different consonants in pronunciation. But the English alphabet only has 26 letters, with only six vowels,
and English does not use written accents, so most spoken vowels have to be represented by combinations of written vowels
such as ea, ie, ou.

2) After the Norman invasion in the 11th century, a large number of French words came into English, and these were
written according to French spelling conventions rather than those that had been developed for old English. The resulting
unsystematic mixture of spelling rules gradually became fixed, and has persisted into modern English.

3) English pronunciation has changed a great deal over the centuries, but spelling has not, in general, been revised
accordingly. So spoken vowels are often written in ways that are now misleading (like the vowels in women), and many
common words contain ghost consonants representing sounds that are no longer there (like the gh in through, right, sigh
etc).
It is not only foreign learners who find English spelling difficult. Many English speaking children have a hard time
learning to read and write, and some do not succeed. Indeed, even many highly educated adults have trouble with words
like necessary or accommodation. Literacy would probably be greatly improved by a well-planned spelling reform.

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Topic: Spelling Rules

However, English spelling does have some fairly regular patterns, and knowledge of these can help a good deal. The most
important ones are explained as follows:
Spelling (1): capital letters:

We use capital (big) letters at the beginning of the following kinds of words:
A) The names of days, months and public holidays (but not usually seasons)
Sunday March Easter
Tuesday September Christmas
(but normally summer, autumn)
B) The names of people, institutions and places, including stars and planets.
John Mary the Smiths
the Foreign Office North Africa Canada
the United States The Ritz Hotel Oxford University
The Super Cinema the Far East
the Pole Star Mars
(but normally the earth, the sun, the moon)
C) People’s titles.
Mr Smith Professor Blake Dr Jones
Colonel Webb the Managing Director
D) Nouns and adjectives referring to nationalities and regions, languages, ethnic groups and religions.
He's Russian. I speak German. Japanese history
Catalan cooking She's Jewish. He’s a Sikh.
E) The names of newspapers and magazines.
International Herald Tribune New Scientist

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Topic: Spelling Rules
Spelling (2): Hyphens:
A. Compound nouns.
• compound nouns where the second part ends in -er
bottle-opener
• compound nouns where the first part ends in -ing
writing-paper
• compound nouns made with prepositions and adverb particles
sister-in-law make-up in-joke
B. Compound adjectives.
red-hot nice-looking blue-eyed
srev-sreen broken-hearted
When we use a longer phrase as an adjective before a noun, we often use hyphens.
Compare:
- an out-of-work miner.
He’s out o f work.
- a shoot-to-kill policy
They were ordered to shoot to kill.
C. Prefixes.
In British English, the prefixes anti-, со-, ex-, mid-, non-, pre-, post-, pm- an sej
are often separated from what follows by hyphens. In American English these
combinations are generally written as single words (e.g. antiwar),
anti-war mid-term pre-meeting
co-producer non-involvement pro-hunting
ex-husband post-publication self-study ,
In both British and American English, all prefixes may be separated by hyphens
in order to avoid unusual or misleading combinations of letters.
un-American re-examine counter-revolution
Numbers:
twenty-one thirty-six two-thirds

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Spelling (3): -ise and -ize

In American English, -ize is preferred in these cases. Examples:

baptise/baptize (BrE) baptize (AmE)
computerise/computerize (BrE) computerize (AmE)
mechanise/mechanize (BrE) mechanize (AmE)
realise/ realize (BrE) realize (AmE)
Most words of two syllables, and a few lo nger words, have -ise in both British and American English. Examples:
advertise (not advertize) devise improvise
advise disguise revise
comprise enterprise supervise
compromise exercise surprise

Note also analyse (AmE usually analyze) and paralyse (AmE paralyze).
If in doubt, remember that in British English -ise is almost always acceptable.
Some British usage guides claim that -ize is 'preferable' in British English
on etymological and phonetic grounds, but this is not correct.
For American English, consult an American dictionary.

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Topic: Spelling Rules
Spelling (4):-ly
1) Adverb formation
We normally change an adjective into an adverb by adding -ly.
late  lately hopeful  hopefully definite  definitely
right  rightly real  really (not realy) pale  palely
complete  completely (not completly)

Exceptions:
true truly whole  wholly
due  duly full fully
2) -y and –i-
-y usually changes to -i-
happy  happily dry  drily or dryly
easy  easily gay  gaily
Exceptions:
shy  shyly sly slyly coy  coyly

3) Adjectives ending in consonant + Ie

-le changes to -ly after a consonant.
idle  idly noble  nobly able  ably

4) Adjectives ending in -ic

If an adjective ends in -ic, the adverb ends in -ically (pronounced /ikli/).

tragic  tragically phonetic  phonetically

Exception:
public -> publicly

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Spelling (5): final e

1) Final -e dropped before vowels

When an ending that begins with a vowel (e.g. -ing, -able, -ous) is added to a word that ends in -e, we usually drop the -e.
Hope  hoping note  notable shade  shady
Make  making fame  famous
Some words that end in -e have two possible forms before -able and -age.
The form without -e is more common in most cases. Note:
Likeable (usually with e)
Mov(e)able (both forms common)
Mileage (only with e)
Final -e is not dropped from words ending in -ее, -oe or -ye.
See  seeing canoe  canoeist
Agree  agreeable dye  dyeing
2) final -e not dropped before consonants
Before endings that begin with a consonant, final -e is not normally dropped.
excite  excitement complete  completeness
definite  definitely
Exceptions: words ending in -ue
Due  duly true  truly argue  argument
In words that end with -ce or -ge, we do not drop -e before a or o.
Replace  replaceable courage  courageous
(but charge  charging, face  facing)
Judg(e)ment and acknowledgement can be spelt with or without the -e after g.
For words ending in -ie,. For adverbs ending in -ly,

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Spelling (6): doubling final consonants

1) doubling before vowels
We sometimes double the final consonant of a word before adding -ed, -er, -est,
-ing, -able, -y (or any other ending that begins with a vowel).
stop  stopped sit  sitting big  bigger
2) Which consonants are doubled?
We double the following letters:
b: rub  rubbing n: win winnable
d: sad  sadder p: stop  stopped
g: big  bigger r: prefer  preferred
I: travel  travelling t: sit  sitting
m: slim  slimming
We double final -s in gassing, gassed (but not usually in other words),
final -z in quizzes, fezzes, and final –f in iffy (a colloquial word for 'questionable', 'uncertain').
Final w (in words like show, flow) is part of a vowel sound, and is not doubled.
show  showing flow  flowed (not showwing, flowwed)
3) only at the end of a word
We only double consonants that come at the end of a word. Compare:
hop  hopping but hope  hoping
fat  fatter but late  later
plan  planned but phone  phoned
4) one consonant after one vowel letter
We only double when the word ends in one consonant after one vowel letter.
Compare:
fat  fatter but fast  faster (not fasttcr)
bet  betting but beat  beating (not beatting)

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Topic: Spelling Rules

5) only stressed syllables

We only double consonants in stressed syllables. We do not double in longer
words that end in unstressed syllables. Compare:
upset  upsetting but visit  visiting
begin  beginning but open  opening
refer  referring but offer  'offering
Note the spelling of these words:
gallop  galloping  galloped I
develop  developing  developed I
6) exception: final I in unstressed syllables
In British English, we double -I at the end of a word after one vowel letter
in most cases, even in unstressed syllables.
travel  'travelling 'equal  equalled
In American English, words like this are most often spelt with one I. traveling.
7) other exceptions
Consonants are sometimes doubled at the end of final syllables that are
pronounced with full vowels (e.g. /as/), even when these do not carry the
main stress.
kidnap  kidnapped handicap  handicapped
worship  worshippers (AmE also 'worshipers)
combat  combating' or combatting
Final -s is sometimes doubled in focus(s)ing and focus(s)ed.
8) final с
Final -c changes to ck before -ed, -er, -ing, etc.
picnic  picnickers panic  panicking mimic mimicked

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Spelling (7): у and i

1) changing у to i
When we add an ending to a word that ends in -y, we usually change -y to -i-.
hurry  hurried fury  furious merry merriment
marry  marriage easy  easier busy  business
happy happily
Generally, nouns and verbs that end in -y have plural or third person singular
forms in -ies.
story  stories spy  spies hurry  hurries
2) exceptions
Two spellings are possible for the nouns flyer/flier.
A machine that dries things is a dryer.
Words formed from the adjective dry: normally drier, driest, dryly/drily, dryness.
Words formed from the adjective sly: slyer, slyest, slyly, slyness.
3) no change before /
We do not change -y to -i- before i (for example when we add -ing, -ism, -ish).
try  trying Tory  Toryism baby  babyish
4) no change after a vowel
We do not change -y to -i- after a vowel letter.
buy  buying play  played
enjoy enjoyment grey  greyish
Exceptions:
say  said pay  рaid lay  laid
5) changing ie to у
We change -ie to -y- before -ing.
die  dying lie  lying ( but dye  dyeing)

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Spelling (8): ch and tch, k and ck

After one vowel, at the end of a word, we usually write -ck and -tch for the sounds /к/ and /tʃ.
back neck sick lock stuck
catch fetch stitch botch hutch
Exceptions:
yak tic public (and many other words ending in -ic)
rich which such much attach detach
After a consonant or two vowels, we write -k and -ch.
bank work talk march bench
break book week peach coach

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Spelling (9): ie and ei

The sound li:l (as in believe) is often written ie, but not usually ei. However,
we write ei after с for this sound. English-speaking children learn a rhyme:
‘i before e, except after c’.
believe chief field grief piece shield
ceiling deceive receive receipt
Exceptions:
seize Neil Keith protein counterfeit,

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Topic: Spelling Rules

Questions/Answers

THANK YOU

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