MECHANICS

OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the student is
expected to:
1. Define mechanics and orthography;
2. Observe mechanical rules in writing;
and
3. Correct errors in mechanics.
 MECHANICS
• Involves spelling, spacing, the
use of punctuation marks, the use
of number as words and figures,
indention or indentation,
capitalization, and abbreviation.
 ORTHOGRAPHY
Orthography focuses on the study of
the writing system of a language. An
orthographer determines how words
are to be spelled, when they are to be
spelled in full or not, what punctuation
marks are to be used, whether
compounds are to be hyphenated space,
or not, and so on.
SPELLING
AND
SPACING
1. Silent e. When adding
suffixes, drop the e if the
suffix begins with a vowel
and retain the e if the suffix
begins with a consonant.
Examples:
love + -able = loveable
like + -ing = liking
achieve + -er = achiever
place + -ed = placed
imagine + -ation = imagination
Love + -ly = lovely
like + -ness = likeness
pave + -ment = pavement
place + -ment = placement
sore + -ness = soreness
2. Final y. When adding suffixes,
change y to I if y is preceded by a
consonant and retain the
spelling of the word to be
affixed if y is preceded by a
vowel.
Examples:
lady + -es = ladies
marry + -ed = married
mercy + -ful = merciful
pity + -less = pitiless
penny + -es = pennies
key + -es = keys
pray + -ed = prayed
buy + -er = buyer
delay + -ing = delaying
pay + -or = payor
3. Final Consonant. When adding
suffixes, double the final consonant
if it is preceded by a vowel and
found in a one syllable word or a
two-syllable word stressed on the
final syllable and the suffix begins
with a vowel.
Examples:
begin + -ing = beginning
occur + -ence = occurrence
allot + -ed = allotted
remit + -ance = remittance
transmit + -al = transmittal
benefit + -ed = benefited
prefer + -ence = preference
allot + -ment = allotment
4. EI and IE Pronounced
as Long e. Remember
to use i before e, except
after c.
Examples:
receive perceive
receipt perceived
receiver conceive
deceive conceit
deceit ceiling
believe grieve
belief grief
relieve achieve
reliever siege
relief field
5. Plural of Nouns. Nouns
which end with a sibilant
sound (s, z, sh, zh, ch, j, and
x) have as the plural suffix.
Otherwise, the nouns take
the s as the plural suffix.
Examples:
bus – buses gas – gases
buzz – buzzes fez – fezes
lash – lashes fish – fishes
loge – loges rage – rages
latch – latches arch – arches
judge – judges edge – edges
tax – taxes sex - sexes
girl – girls cord – cords
birth – births hand – hands
test – tests bang – bangs
path – paths thing – things
erg – ergs mind – minds
cent – cents work – works
part – parts thorn - thorns
As regards spacing, a writer must
observe consistency. Ordinarily, the
text of reports, whether short or
long, is double-spaced and Single-
spacing is sometimes used in typing
the text. Other rules in spacing are
as follows.
1. Single- space within footnote and
bibliography entries.
2. Double-space between footnotes
and bibliography entries.
3. Single-space the paragraph in the
body of a long letter and double-
space the paragraphs in the body
of a short letter.
4. Double-space between letter
elements except:
a. between the heading and
the inside address; and
b. between the complimentary
close and the typed
signature.
5. Quadruple-space or quintuple-
space between the heading
and the inside address and
between the complimentary
close and the typed signature.
6. Single-space between lines in a
stanza and double-space
between stanzas in a poem
7. Single-space between lines in a
paragraph and double-space
between paragraph in a
composition.
8. Double-space between the
side heading and the text.
9. Triple-space between the
center or main heading
and the text.