SPELLING TUTORIAL

By: Britany & Katlin

COMMONLY MISUSED AND MISSPELLED WORDS

Accept- verb meaning to receive or to agree. Except- preposition meaning all but, other than.

Affect- verb meaning to influence. Effect- noun meaning result or consequence. Effect- verb meaning to bring about, to accomplish.

Its- possessive adjective. It’s-contraction for it has or it is.

Their- possessive pronoun. There- that place. They’re- contraction for they are.

To- preposition, or first part of the infinitive form of a verb. Too- very, also. Two- the number 2.

We’re- contraction for we are. Where- location. Were- a past tense form of the word be.

Your- possessive pronoun. You’re- contraction for you are.

To prevent misusing or misspelling words make sure you use them in the correct tense and also use spell check on your computer.

THE I BEFORE E RULE

Write I before E

Except after C.

Or when it sounds like an A

As in “neighbor” or “weigh”.

I before E examples: relief, believe, niece, chief, field, shield, yield.

E before I examples: receive, deceive, ceiling, conceit, vein, sleigh, eight.

IBLE, -ABLE RULE

Ible- if the word is not a root word add -ible.

Examples: visible, horrible, terrible, possible, edible, eligible, incredible, permissible.

Able- if the root is a complete word add -able.

Examples: fashionable, laughable, suitable, dependable, comfortable.

(If the root ends with an –e drop the final –e and add -able.)

THE SILENT E

Silent E helps vowels to say their names is another common adage. This means that the words which have a long vowel sound, followed by a consonant, usually end with a silent E. This helps children remember word endings. Examples: rate and rat, as well as hate and hat.

SOURCES

Ballard, Nikki. "Commonly Misspelled Words." Commonly Misspelled Words. 2009. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. <http://www.commonlymisspelledwords.org/>.

Purdue OWL. "Purdue OWL: Spelling." Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Nov.-Dec. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/660/01>.

ALA Corporate Member. "Spelling Tips for Children and Adults." Www.math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org. 2007. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. <http://math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org/articles/Spelling_tips_for_children_and_parents.html>.