Spelling Rules

ppl /cian/ - ending in z/t (tion) – ending in s/d (sion)

magician, collusion, correction, intrusion

1 The magician was very entertaining.

2 Do you think there is collusion between the two criminals?
3 Allow the teacher to show you the correction.
4 The noise is an intrusion to our peace and quiet.

/zhan/ (single S) - /shan/ (double S)

illusion, collusion, permission, admission, extrusion

1 It all seems to be an illusion.

2 Do you think there is collusion going on?
3 Jill got permission from Jane.
4 The price of admission was $10.
5 The extrusion device was well designed.

consonant before y (ied/ier/ies) – vowel before y (yed/ying)

fancier, scarier, married, carried, carries, derries, feries, employed, annoyed, curries,
hurries, queries, mysteries, worries, gravies

1 She is a chicken fancier.

2 The movie was scarier than the last one.
3 They have been married for 5 years.
4 He carried them up the mountain.
5 She carries them on her head.
6 A number of dairies have been closed down.
7 There are fairies in the garden.
8 He is employed as a musician.
9 The teacher was very annoyed with the student’s behaviour.
10 There are a variety of curries on the menu.
11 He hurries to catch the train every morning.
12 Michelle answers all the queries about the courses.
13 The mysteries of the caves are slowly being revealed.
14 We like to take your worries away.
15 Have you tried the different gravies?

plurals of words ending in O finish in -es

Exception (pianos, photos, kilos, dynamos, kangaroos, videos, ratios)

heroes, potatoes, zeroes, volcanoes, tomatoes, pianos, photos, kilos, echoes,

embargoes, mosquitoes, dynamos, kangaroos, videos, ratios,
1 We all need more heroes.
2 Simon likes to eat potatoes every night.
3 Wow, can you see all the zeroes?
4 Beware of the active volcanoes.
5 For breakfast we had eggs.
6 The school has a good supply of pianos.
7 The visitors took some photos of the harbour.
8 The bales weigh over three hundred kilos.
9 The room echoes too much to be a studio.
10 The government introduced trade embargoes.
11 Mosquitoes can sometimes carry disease.
12 There are dynamos on all the bicycles.
13 Two hundred kangaroos live near the airport.
14 The videos are all available for rent.
15 Try calculating the ratios as fractions.

final /e/ + suffix

- beginning with a consonant (-ment, -less, ness, -ful) – keep final e
- beginning with a vowel (-ing, -er, -ed) – drop final e
- exception true-truly;

useless, wasteful, staleness, tasteless, management

1 The handle was a bit useless.

2 Not recycling paper is wasteful
3 The staleness of the bread put them off.
4 The soup was basically tasteless.
5 The management organised a party.

mating, traced, tiler, recognising, realisation

1 The duck mating season has begun.

2 They traced their ancestors’ footsteps.
3 He was working as a roof tiler.
4 Thank you for recognising her.
5 I had a realisation today.

management, flawless, truly, idleness, argument, senseless, vagueness,

announcement, spiteful, faceless, blameless, liveliness, strangeness, achievement,
excitement

1 The management organised a party.

2 The crystal glass was flawless.
3 He said he truly believed her.
4 Idleness can lead to creativity or boredom.
5 Shona had an argument with Peter.
6 There is a lot of senseless violence on TV.
7 Vagueness can be dangerous.
8 The principal went on and made an announcement.
9 His spiteful reaction revealed his insecurity.
10 We have all heard of the faceless masses.
11 The child’s actions are completely blameless.
12 There is a lot of liveliness at the party next door.
13 Petra’s strangeness was due to her ill health.
14 Her achievement in the test left her satisfied.
15 There was a lot of excitement about the announcement.

/ie/ or /ei/ - 1
i before e, except after c (when the sound is ee /i:/)
believe field shield
receive receipt perceive

conceive, receipt, ceiling, believed, tried, received, their, friend, atheist, conscience,
experience, foreign, conceited, height, hierarchy

1 The robbers failed to conceive of a plan.

2 Abdul kept the receipt from the shop.
3 They painted the ceiling last week.
4 The judge believed her.
5 They tried many times and at last they were successful.
6 She received a surprise email from him.
7 Their marriage lasted a lifetime.
8 Mohammed was her best friend.
9 The group had among them a devout atheist.
10 Julie’s conscience was clear.
11 Brian’s experience paid off.
12 James found himself listening to a foreign language.
13 He came across as a little conceited.
14 Ursula managed to reach the top shelf on account of her height.
15 In the army there is a strict hierarchy.

/ie/ or /ei/
- if the sound is /ai/ spelling is IE
- if the sound is /ei/ splelling is EI

beige, weight, eight, sleigh, anxiety, neither, client, abseil, feint, sovereign, ancient,
science, diet, veil, vein

1 The office carpet was a beige colour.

2 Geoffrey measured the weight of the fish.
3 The team had eight members.
4 The reindeer pulled the sleigh through the snow.
5 They could sense the anxiety building.
6 Neither of them were allowed to talk the whole time.
7 Jerry was a client of BMG.
8 The plan is to abseil down the cliff after dark.
9 Louise began to feel faint.
10 The queen is a sovereign ruler.
11 The city contains ancient ruins.
12 Nicole loved to study science.
13 Nathan swore he would go on a diet.
14 Janine wore a long white veil.
15 Dee could see the vein pulse in his forehead.

prefixes
If you add a prefix to a word, the spelling of the word does not change, even if the last
letter of the prefix and first letter of the word are the same.
(misstep, preeminent)

impatient, inactive, uncover, refill, unwrap, unusual, rewrite, mispronounce, misspell,

mistake, preliminary, preorder, prearrange, disown, deactivate

1 Anna grew impatient with his behaviour.

2 The account had been inactive for six months.
3 It might be a good idea to uncover the saucepan.
4 The pen comes with a refill.
5 In the afternoon we will unwrap the presents.
6 The building had a very unusual design.
7 How are you going to rewrite your essay on time?
8 Try not to mispronounce anything.
9 And try not to misspell these words.
10 Number six was a mistake.
11 The preliminary grand final is on Saturday.
12 You can preorder your taxi to the airport.
13 You might like to prearrange your vegetarian meal.
14 I would like to disown that behaviour.