24 rules of English grammar

The rock-bottom basics for writers

The number of rules of English grammar and other writing topics governing correctness is far more than we can
teach students before high school graduation.
Unless we define which rules we mean when we tell students to use "good English," we're setting ourselves and
our students up for failure.
Before employers or colleges consider them competent writers students have to know and use 24 rules in their
writing. They are not all actually rules of English grammar. Some are actually rules for correct spelling and correct
punctuation.
Below, broken down into three categories of writing mechanics, is a list of 24 essential practices students must
routinely follow in their written work. They incorporate a beginning writers' list of essential rules of English grammar.

7 essentials of correct spelling

1. Start sentences with capital letters.
2. Capitalize the first letters of proper nouns.
3. Don't use texting abbreviations (like u r instead of you are) unless you are sending a cell
phone text message to a close friend or family member.
4. The sure way to get a reputation for bad spelling is to confuse homonyms such as
its/its or their/their/they're. Identify homonyms you misuse. Learn to correct your
writing to eliminate those errors.

Generic list of homonyms

Replace with personal pitfalls list
Most people (including me) have a list of homonyms that they regularly mix up. They aren't hard
spelling words. Most are common words of fewer than five letters.
Homonym confusion is not a true grammar error. However, since the remedies for homonym errors are
similar to those for many true written grammar errors, this thread seems a good spot to discuss homonym issues.

Homonyms are words that:

 Share a common spelling but have different meanings. (They may be pronounced differently as well.)
OR
 Share a common pronunciation but have different spellings.
Believe it or not, homonym is a non-technical term. Linguists might even say it's a sloppy term.

Precise terms
To be precise, words that sound alike but have different spellings are homophones. Bear and bare are
examples of homophones.
To purists, words that are spelled the same way but have different meanings are homographs. Bow and
bow are examples of homographs.
Whatever you call them — homonyms, homophones, homographs or spelling demons — they spell
trouble for unwary writers.

Errors I see often

Below are sets of words I see confused in student writing most often. There's nothing significant about the
order of items on my list of homonyms. I scribble notes about student problems as I grade papers. These just
happen to be notes I didn't lose.
 its, it's.
 there, their, they're
 your, you're
 then, than (not homonyms, but regularly confused)
 to, too, two
 for, four, fore
 bear, bare
 for, four, fore
 whose, who's
 lose, loose
 male, mail
 main, mane
 ring, wring
 medal, metal, meddle
 right, rite, write
  wait, weight
 break, brake
 steal, steel
 scene, seen
 cite, sight, site
 peak, peek, pique
 sail, sale
 sole, soul
 war, wore
 wear, ware
 which, witch
 weather, whether
 waste, waist
 tea, tee, T
 die, dye
 wet, whet

5. Learn to spell correctly the words you use regularly, whether they are one-syllable
words or long, technical terms.

Advice

Spelling it Right: how to become a better speller

This advice is addressed to parents. But it should also be read by children and adults who are
following the course of exercises under their own steam. There are three pages. It would be helpful to
print them out for future reference.

Why children need to learn to spell correctly:

 poor spelling creates a bad impression

o it's the first thing a reader notices
o examiners, teachers, prospective employers,
often place undue weight on spelling
 anxiety about spelling inhibits a child's writing
o especially their choice of words
 even in these days of word processors there are
still times when we need to write

To improve and develop their spelling children must:

 develop an interest in words

 feel safe about trying new words
o not just words they're sure about
 learn about
o the way words are built up using syllables
o basic spelling patterns of English
o memorizing strategies
o the meanings of words
o prefixes and suffixes
 write for their own enjoyment
o without the fear that they will be criticized
 read for pleasure

Spelling it Right: Advice page 2

Parents can help their children by:

o encouraging them to look closely at words

 and talking to them about words
 o encouraging them to try new words
 tip: they won't do this if you're always criticizing
their spelling
o playing word games with them, such as:
 hangman Click here for some interactive hangman games
 Boggle
 Scrabble
 Shannon's game - instructions on puzzles 1
o encouraging effective memorizing strategies
 see exercise mem1: Memorizing techniques
o encouraging good reading/writing posture
 sitting up - eyes 12 to 18 inches away from the work
 forearms making a triangle with the torso
insist upon it (friendly nagging if necessary!)
o encouraging spare time reading
 pointing out interesting newspaper items
 encouraging visits to the library
 buying comics, magazines and books as treats
o respecting "good mistakes" : those which use letter
patterns which do make the right sound, even
though they are not right for that particular word.
So, for "purpose":
 "purpus" would be a good guess - like "focus"
 "prupose" would be a less good guess
o ensuring a dictionary is on hand for homework

Advice about Using the Exercises

Familiarize yourself with the spelling exercises:

o try to match exercises to current weaknesses

o where general spelling weakness exists
 start with Syllables and
Memorizing Strategies
o dip around the list to add variety

Print an exercise rather than trying to work on-screen

Try to arrange a regular schedule

o for example half an hour, two or three times a week

Keep a record of the exercises completed

Show an interest

o regularly looking at and talking about the work

o working alongside your child whenever possible

Most worksheets end with the instruction to memorize the focus words. This is to
reinforce the theme of that particular exercise. Don't expect that these words will be
imprinted in the memory for ever more! You will need to go back from time to time. Do be sure
to study the three memorizing strategies pages. (They include a link to a super interactive
exercise)
Syllables

The Importance of Syllables in Spelling

All good spellers are skilful at breaking words up into syllables. Syllables are the individual sounds
that make up a word:

o care-ful
o hos-pit-al
o u-ni-ver-si-ty

Breaking a word into syllables makes it easier to deal with one small bit at a time.

1. Read aloud each of the following words, then break it into syllables. Try "clapping" the word.
One clap for each syllable. Or tap your desk. Finally memorize it and write it in the third column -
without looking back! The first one has been done for you.

nowadays now-a-days

probably

shampoo

impossible

wondering

ordinary

More Practice with Syllables

1. Read the following words out aloud and then break them into syllables. Finally memorize each
and write it in the third column. Try to write the whole word without looking back.

problem

themselves

neither

spoonful

sideways

scrambled

gentlemen

autobiography

continental

intercontinental
 2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them. Don't forget to break them up into
syllables first!

Even More Practice with Syllables!

Breaking words into syllables is such an important skill in spelling that you need to work at it regularly.
Write all the focus words in the following grid, but break them up into syllables. The first is done for
you. If you have any double letters it's often better to place the dash between the double letters, for
example ap-par-

ap-par-ent-ly

To check your answers click here

2. The first five focus words have been broken into syllables and each syllable has been hidden in the
following grid.
Use a highlighter pen to pick them out (ap -par-ent-ly has been done for you)

a t i c n s o r b r

p u z y e u a p c a

m p a r c v r e n t

a e l s a i p l y v

t s a r y s a p e e

e l r p e r l y n r

p r o x l y u d i s

3. Now go back to the first grid. Underline any parts of words that you think might be awkward to
remember. Then memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

A Link to help you Split Words into Syllables

Still not sure where to put the breaks into words to split them into syllables? Here's a
link that will help you: go on to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary by clicking on Merriam
Webster. Just type your word into the dictionary box and it will be shown broken into syllables
under the main entry. Why not try it now - but don't forget to come back to Spelling it Right!

Consonant Blends

Spelling - Consonant Blends

Sometimes you're not sure how to spell a word so you need to look it up in a dictionary. If you can
work out the first syllable you stand a good chance of finding the word.
Some words start with a consonant blend. This is where two or more consonants run into one another or
blend together.

Here are some examples. Read them out aloud:

blanket plastic treat stripe grand

Consonant blends are often difficult to hear so you need to say the words very clearly. If you
make lists of words starting with these blends you will get used to hearing them and recognizing the
patterns.

Here are some more examples. Use your dictionary to add 3 more words which begin with each
consonant blend.

blunder

broken

climate

cracker

dreadful

2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

3. Click here for a wordsearch on consonant blends and hangman games on blends bl, br,
cl, cr and dr and blends fl, fr, gl, and gr
4. For a more extensive list of words beginning bl-, br-, cl-, cr-, and dr- click here:
revision 1
5. Turn to

More Consonant Blends

Use your dictionary to add 3 more words which begin with
the same consonant blend as the example:

flood

fridge

globe

group

platform

protect
scorch

scratch

shred

sketch

2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself.

3. Click here for a relevant hangman games: puzzle 23 and puzzle 26 .
4. Click here for a more extensive list of words beginning
fl-, fr-, gl-, and gr- and pl- and pr- and sc-, scr-, sh-, and sk-
5. Turn to

Even More Consonant Blends !

Use your dictionary to add 3 more words which begin with the same consonant blend as the
example:

shriek

slippery

smoke

snooze

special

splendid

sprinkle

squeeze

statue

struggle

2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

3. Click here for a relevant hangman game
4. Turn to

Yet More Consonant Blends !

Sick of consonant blends? I promise you that this is the

last page. But they are a very important aspect of spelling.
Use your dictionary to add 3 more words which begin with
the same consonant blend as each example:
 swindle

throat

treasure

twinkle

2. Read the following passage aloud and underline the words

starting with a consonant blend:

Steven dropped the stick into the stream and watched it

float under the bridge. He started to cross the road but
stopped when he heard a squeal of brakes and a tremendous
crash. Running around the corner he saw that a Ford
Transit van had plunged down a steep ravine. The driver was
struggling to climb out but his legs appeared to be trapped
beneath the steering column.
"Try to keep still," shouted Steven. "I'll phone the emergency
services."
Click here for the answers but don't forget to come back!

Click here for a relevant hangman puzzle

3. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

Prefixes
Prefixes as an aid to spelling
A prefix is a group of letters placed at the start of a
root word to change its meaning. Some complicated words
are less difficult to spell if you are familiar with
prefixes.

Here are some common examples in the following list:

PREFIX MEANING EXAMPLES

anti- against or opposite to anticlockwise, antibiotic

auto- self autobiography, automat

dis- not, or away dissimilar, disconnect

in- not insane, inhuman

il- not illogical, illegal

im- not immature, improbable

ir- not irrelevant, irregular

inter- between international, intermarry

mis- wrong misunderstand, misspell

post- after postnatal, postscript

pre- before prenatal, prehistoric

pro- for, or forward propose, pro-British

re- again, or back rewrite, reconsider

sub- under submarine, substandard

super- above supervisor, superhuman

trans- across transport, transplant

un- not, or in reverse unfinished, unarmed

Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them

Prefixes un- and dis-

Knowing about prefixes is very useful in understanding and spelling some words - especially
long words.
Two common prefixes are un- and dis-, both meaning
not, or the opposite of.

1. Fill in the gaps in the following table:

un + equal unequal dis + please displease

unforeseen dis + order

un + likely disrespect

unnecessary dis + service

un + official dis + place

un + lawful disprove
 undressed dissatisfied

un + predictable dis + comfort

unprofessional dis + possess

un + popular dissimilar

NOTICE that when the prefix ends with the same letter as the
first letter of the base word then you have a double letter,
for example: dissimilar unnecessary
Click here prefix2ans.html for the answers.

2. Click here for a revision list of words starting un- or words startingwith the prefix
dis-

3. Turn to puzzles 3 for more practice using the prefix dis-,

or puzzles 8 for more practice using the prefix un-.
or puzzles 42 for a hangman game on this topic

Prefixes: in-, il-, ir-, im-

Another prefix meaning "not" or "the opposite of" is in-.
However the spelling of this prefix often changes to
match the first letter of the base word. This sometimes
results in a double letter.
So, if we want to say the opposite of legal we say
"illegal" instead of "inlegal" (which would be awkward
to get your tongue around!).
The pattern is like this:
*Use il- before words starting with l.
So not legible = illegible.
*Use ir- before words starting with r.
So not relevant = irrelevant
*Use im- before words starting with m but also in front
of words starting with p.
So: not mature = immature not perfect = imperfect.

1. Fill in the gaps in the following table. There are four

examples to get you started.

not literate= illiterate not rational= irrational

not mobile = immobile not proper = improper

not legitimate= not regular=

not modest = not personal =

not mortal = not responsible

not possible = not logical =

Use in- before any other letter. So:

not adequate = inadequate not capable = incapable
not decent = indecent not offensive = inoffensive

Click here for the answers, here for a relevant Hangman Puzzle,
here for an interactive quiz on these prefixes and here for a Wordle revision list

2. Now memorize the focus words.

Here is some more practice at using the prefixes

in-, il-, im- and ir-

Remember, you use:

 il- if the base word starts with l. For example not legal = illegal

 im- if the base word starts with m or p.

For example not mobile = immobile, not proper = improper

 ir- if the base word starts with r. For example not relevant = irrelevant

 in- if the base word starts with any letter other than l, m, p, or r. For example not adequate =
inadequate
See if you can choose the correct words in the following. Click on the button alongside a word to see if
you're right.

1. not literate

inliterate illiterate irliterate

2. not effective

imeffective ireffective ineffective

3. not perfect

inperfect imperfect ilperfect

4. not reversible.

inreversible irreversible imreversible

5. not legible

inlegible imlegible illegible

6. not eligible
 ileligible ireligible ineligible

7. not relevant

irrelevant inrelevant imrelevant

8. not possible

inpossible ilpossible impossible

9. not responsible

irresponsible inresponsible imresponsible

10. not mature

inmature immature ilmature

11. not sufficient

imsufficient insufficient irsufficient

12. not logical

illogical imlogical inlogical

A Wordle from Spelling it Right

For the purpose of revision you might like to look at this Wordle of examples of words
beginning with the prefixes il-, im-, in-, and ir-
Wordles make good classroom displays and can be created in many different styles and colours
using the Wordle web site

Some practice using prefixes in, im, il and ir

Before you start this exercise, look back at prefix 3
to remind yourself of the patterns concerning prefixes
in-, im-, il-, ir-.

Now write the negative versions of the following words

by adding in-, im-, il-, or ir- to the base words.

Base word Negative form Base word Negative form

polite audible

human reversible

visible patient

regular eligible

competent resistible

possible logical

Now click here to see if you were right.

Some Spelling Practice with Prefixes

Here are some common examples of prefixes:

PREFIX MEANING PREFIX MEANING

 anti- against, opposite to dis- not, or away

in- not il- not

im- not ir- not

inter- between mis- wrong

re- again, or back un- not, in reverse

1. Here are some root words. What you have to do is to build new words by adding one of these
prefixes to the root word. The first one is done for you.

Root Word New Word Root Word New Word

tidy untidy behave

honest complete

legal understand

mingle perfect

edible heat

relevant treat

imaginative mortal

like possible

consistent contented

septic appetizing

Words starting with con- and ex-

Luckily there are some sounds which you always spell in
the same way. Two which you can rely upon at the
start of words are con- and ex-. Look at the focus words
and you will see five examples of each.

Complete the following sentences by using con- or ex-

to fill in the gaps:
1. The hills seemed to ___tend for ever.

2. The Queen ___gratulated the ___plorer on the success

of the ___pedition.

3. It's no ___aggeration to say that physical ___ercise

leaves me totally ___hausted.

4. The firemen ___tinguished the flames with ___siderable ease.

5. We are seeking someone with ___cellent ___amination

results, ___perience of dealing directly with ___sumers,
and an ability to organize ___hibitions.

6. She ___sidered the ___tra ___pense of ___tinuing

the course for a further year an unnecessary
___travagance unless her parents were willing to ___tribute
to the cost.

7. ___centrate on syllables and you will soon become

a ___fident speller.

8. We hadn't realized we were in ___treme danger until the

coastguard ___tacted us.

Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them

Prefixes

Their Meanings and some Examples

Here are a few more prefixes. Some of them are less common than the ones that we've looked at
previously.

PREFIX MEANING EXAMPLES

semi- half semicircle, semiconscious

bi- two or twice biannual, biweekly

tri- three triangle, triathlon

multi- many multilingual, multimillionaire

mono- one or single monorail, monoplane

micro- very small microscope, microchip

ultra- extreme ultrasound, ultrabasic

hyper- too much hypersensitive, hypercritical

 extra- outside, or beyond extraordinary, extrasensory

If you're not sure about the meaning of any of these words

be sure to look them up in a dictionary.

Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them

Suffixes

Suffixes - their importance in spelling

If you can handle suffixes then you're well on the way
to becoming a capable speller.
A suffix is simply an ending that's added to a base word
to form a new word.
Let's look at some examples:

Base word Suffix New Word

interest -ing interesting

noise -y noisy

breath -less breathless

popular -ity popularity

drop -let droplet

A key thing to know about a suffix is whether

it starts with a consonant or a vowel.
Here are some suffixes you'll meet quite often:

Consonant Vowel
Examples Examples
Suffixes Suffixes

-ful hopeful, plentiful -er, -or farmer, collector

-less useless, tasteless -en mistaken, hidden

-ly bravely, frankly -ish foolish, thinnish

-ment movement, agreement -ation limitation, reservation

-ness darkness, happiness -ing firing, sitting

Did you notice that sometimes the base word changes

when you add a suffix?
For example, fire becomes firing (dropping the e) and
sit becomes sitting (doubling the letter t)
Work your way through all the Suffix pages to see how these patterns work.

Adding a suffix to words ending in silent e

In a previous worksheet we said that a key thing to notice about a
suffix is whether it starts with a consonant or a vowel.
Look at the following silent e words and see
what happens when you add a suffix

+consonant +vowel
Base word Base word
suffix suffix

hope hopeless note notable

state statement calculate calculation

spite spiteful reserve reservation

late lately late latest

extreme extremely expense expensive

Have you spotted the pattern? When you add a

consonant suffix the base word doesn't change.
When you add a vowel suffix, drop the silent e.

Now add suffixes to the following to make new words.

Remember to drop the e when adding a vowel suffix.
(Note that y is regarded as a vowel suffix,
so laze + y = lazy)

Base word Base word

New word New word
+ suffix + suffix

excite+ing arrive+al

blame+less spice+y

waste+ful care+ing

place+ed place+ment

Swede+ish create+ion

Adding suffixes to words ending -ce and -ge

In a previous suffix worksheet we learned the following pattern
for silent e words:
 When adding a consonant suffix: keep the silent e
When adding a vowel suffix: drop the silent e

So: blame+less = blameless but blame+ing = blaming

This pattern works most of the time.

That's why I prefer to call it a pattern rather than a rule.

But there are a few exceptions. Here's the main one:

Where the base word ends in -ce or -ge, then

you keep the silent e before -able and -ous. So:

enforce + able = enforceable

notice + able = noticeable

service + able = serviceable

courage + ous = courageous

outrage + ous = outrageous

Doubling Consonants when Adding a Suffix

To double or not to double?
That's the question.

This is an area where lots of good spellers are unsure.

So, let's look at the problem.

If, for example, we want to write the word plan + ing,

is it planing or planning?
Do we leave the base word alone or do we double the n?
Are we planing a trip to China or planning a trip?

Luckily there's a very useful pattern to help us.

It might sound complicated at first but it's
one of the most useful patterns to know about.

If the base word has:

one syllable
one short vowel

(the short vowels are ham, bed, lip, rot, gun)

one consonant at the end

you double the final consonant when you add a vowel suffix
Sounds complicated doesn't it? But some examples will help:
slip has one syllable, one short vowel (i) and one consonant (p) at the end so:

slip + ed = slipped (double p) and:

bed + ing = bedding, flat + est = flattest

fun + y = funny hot + er = hotter

When you add a consonant suffix, the base word doesn't change:
bag + ful = bagful, wet + ness = wetness
Click here for a worksheet on this topic

Consonants - to double or not to double?

We learned a very helpful pattern in the previous lesson
Let's remind ourselves of it:
If the base word has:

one syllable
one short vowel

(the short vowels are ham, bed, lip, rot, gun)

one consonant at the end

you double the final consonant when you add a vowel suffix

Now make new words by adding suffixes to the following base words.
The first one has been done for you.

hot + est hottest fat + ish

grin + ed stop + ing

pot + er gun +ed

sun + y wrap + ing

spot + y step + ed

run + ing spot + ed

can + ed bat + ing

fit + ing net + ing

 Here are some sentences. Cross out the incorrect word.
1. "What are you grining/grinning at?" said Nigel.
2. Sue took up joging/jogging to improve her fitness.
3. Ali took a jugful/juggful of orange juice into the garden.
4. We wraped/wrapped the gift in silver paper.
5. July was the hotest/hottest month of the year.

Suffixes and Stressed Syllables

Here is another group of words which cause many people to make mistakes. Once again, the
problem is to decide whether or not to double the final consonant of the base word when adding a
suffix. And, once again, there's a pattern to help you out.
Read the following words aloud and try to decide where you place the stress or emphasis:

profit target enter order

begin equip regret commit

You should notice that in the top line you stressed the first syllable. And in the bottom line you
stressed the second syllable. Like this:

profit target enter order

begin equip regret commit

Here is the pattern which is so helpful:

If the stress is on the first syllable the base word doesn't change:
profit + able = profitable; and enter + ed = entered

If the stress is on the last syllable, double the final consonant before adding a vowel
suffix:
begin + ing = beginning; and equip + ed = equipped

(No change if a consonant suffix is added so:

equip + ment = equipment )

This pattern is so valuable that it's worth memorizing it.

Use the pattern to add suffixes to the following:

1st syllable stressed 2nd syllable stressed

garden + er forget + able

limit + ed begin + ing

order + ing occur + ing

alter + ation omit + ed

market + ing regret + ful

Check the answers here before memorizing the focus words and testing yourself on them.
Stressed Syllables and Suffixes - another activity
Do you remember the spelling pattern you learned in suffix 5:
For words of two syllables ending in one vowel and one consonant

If the stress is on the first syllable the base word doesn't change:
profit + able = profitable; and enter + ed = entered

If the stress is on the last syllable, double the final consonant

before adding a vowel suffix:
begin + ing = beginning; and equip + ed = equipped

(No change if a consonant suffix is added so:

equip + ment = equipment )

Tick or highlight the correct spelling in the following sentences:

1. "I don't think Julie's very commited/committed to her school work," said
her mother.
"I don't agree," said the teacher, "I feel that she's shown a great deal of
commitment/committment this year."

2. Dave submited/submitted his enrolment/enrollment form two days after

the closing date.

3. Nathan and Kim admited/admitted they had forgoten/forgotten their

homework assignments.

4. "Let's begin at the begining/beginning," said the detective.

5. Part of the marketing/marketting manager's job involved

budgeting/budgetting for the advertising schedule.

6. Sandy regreted/regretted not ordering/orderring the very latest

equipment/equippment. He had omited/omitted to consider the efficiency
savings and now realized that his business could have been much more
profitable/profittable.

7. The security guard patroled/patrolled the fence, prefering/preferring to

stay awake by keeping busy.

8. Refering/referring to the boss by her Christian name was strictly

forbiden/forbidden.

Check the answers by clicking here

Adding a suffix to words ending y

With these words you need to notice whether there is

a vowel or a consonant immediately before the y.
For example:
Words ending Words ending
vowel +y consonant +y

delay reply

convey busy

destroy pity

There are two important patterns to learn:

* If the word ends in a vowel +y
the base word doesn't change:

delay + ed = delayed
employ + ment = employment

* If the word ends in a consonant +y,

when you add any suffix except -ing,
then change the y to i:

reply + ed = replied
busy + ness = business
pity + ful = pitiful
but reply + ing = replying

Copy the new word into the third column of this table.
Base word +
New word Copy new word here
suffix

busy + ly busily

pity + ful pitiful

carry + ed carried

carry + ing carrying

bury + al burial

supply + er supplier

happy + ness happiness

empty +ing emptying

empty + ed emptied
Memorize the focus words and then click here for Suffix 7B

Spelling: Adding suffixes to words ending in y

In the previous worksheet we learned the following patterns:
* If the word ends in a vowel +y the base word
doesn't change:

delay + ed = delayed and employ + ment = employment

* If the word ends in a consonant +y,

when you add any suffix except -ing,
then change the y to i:

reply + ed = replied, busy + ness = business

pity + ful = pitiful; but reply + ing = replying

Fill in the gaps in the following chart. The first row is done for you.

Base word Suffix New Word

pretty est prettiest

noisy ly

easy easiest

ed supplied

try er

gloomy est

marry married

ment employment

mystery ous

apply appliance

ous envious

age marriage

Click here to check the answers

 Then memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

Click here for a hangman puzzle on this topic

Spelling it Right: Revision test on suffixes

Test your knowledge of suffixes. Complete the following words by adding suffixes to the base words.
Look back at the suffix pages mentioned in columns 2 and 5 if you need to revise the patterns. Here are
the links for these pages:

Suffix 2 Suffix 4A Suffix 5 Suffix 7A

Base + suffix Page New word Base + suffix Page New word

heavy + er 7A employ + ment 7A

target + ed 5 control + er 5

reply + ing 7A notice + ing 2

snob + ish 4A limit + ation 5

omit + ed 5 gentle + man 2

enrol + ment 5 regret + ed 5

enrol + ed 5 forbid + ing 5

supply + er 7A happy + ly 7A

endure + ance 2 blunder + ed 5

adventure+ous 2 satisfy + ed 7A

plan + ing 4A forget + able 5

wit + y 4A commit +ment 5

wit + less 4A run + ing 4A

envy + ous 7A rid + ance 4A

reverse + ible 2 defy + ing 7A

alter + ation 5 monotone+ous 2

fit + est 4A fortune + ate 2

prohibit + ion 5 tiny + est 7A

equip + ing 5 place + ment 2

exploit + ed 5 investigate+or 2

benefit + ed 5 gravitate + ion 2

cycle + ist 2 time + ly 2

Adding a suffix to words ending in l

(Please note that this pattern doesn't fully apply in US English. If you're American you write traveled,
rivaling, signaled and canceled.)

With these words you need to notice whether there is

one vowel or two vowels immediately before the l.
Look for a pattern in the following examples:

Words ending one vowel + l Words ending two vowels + l

travel + ed = travelled reveal + ed = revealed

rival + ing = rivalling school + ing = schooling

control + ed = controlled fail + ed = failed

fulfil + ing = fulfilling boil + ing = boiling

parcel + ed = parcelled wheel + ed = wheeled

The patterns are fairly obvious aren't they?

Test your understanding of them by crossing out the wrong spellings in each of the following sentences.

1. Biff labeled/labelled the packages, threw them on the trolley, and wheeled/wheelled them out of the
room.

2. The watchman patroled/patrolled at hourly intervals.

3. The referee sent off the striker for fouling/foulling the goalkeeper.

4. Marianne's fees for the modeling/modelling course totaled/totalled more than a month's salary.

5. A loud bang signaled/signalled the start of the sailing/sailling race.

6. Sammy controled/controlled the speed of the haulage/haullage rope using a red lever.

Click here for the answers

Then memorize the focus words

Word endings

Spelling words ending -ly and -ect

Listen carefully to the way people speak. Notice how they

often run one word into another or drop the end off a word
altogether. Ask someone to read this sentence aloud
a few times:
"Sally popped down to the shops."
Listen particularly to "popped down". Did it sound like "popt"
or did they just miss out the -ed completely? Very often the
sound of a word isn't much help in telling you how to spell it.

1. Some endings can be heard clearly enough to help us spell

them. Here are two of them. Copy out the following words:

slowly inspect

happily project

normally neglect

separately recollect

positively architect

If you make lists of words that have similar patterns you will
soon become a better speller.

2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

Spelling words ending ic and ick

As we've pointed out before, the end of a word is often
hard to hear because we tend to run one word into another
when speaking.
A sound you can usually hear quite clearly is -ick or -ic.
Same sound but two spellings. However there is a simple way
to spot the difference.

1. Look at the following words and copy them in the spaces:

Ending -ick Ending -ic

 kick traffic

click panic

trick Titanic

chick ethnic

sick clinic

Did you spot the difference? The words with only one
syllable end in -ick.
The words having more than one syllable end in -ic.
There are only a few exceptions to this pattern and these
usually happen where two words are joined together as in
homesick and candlestick.

2. On a spare piece of paper write down all the words you can
think of that end with -ick. Work your way through the
alphabet, not forgetting words that start with two consonants such as brick. How many
can you find?
We thought of twenty without much trouble. Can you beat that?

3. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

Click here for a wordsearch on ic and ick endings and a hangman puzzle on this pattern

Words ending ic
1. Notice that each of the following words has more than one
syllable and ends in -ic. Copy each word in the space alongside.

mimic scientific

tonic magic

horrific tonic

Arctic Antarctic

traffic comic

logic tragic

2. Look at this e-mail. Some of the words have been left out.
They are all from the list of focus words. Write them down on a separate piece of paper.
Hi Mac,
I was late for school today because of the heavy 1 .
We were doing a new 2 in Geography about
 the world's oceans. Our teacher told us about the two largest
oceans, the 3 and the 4 . Then she
went on to describe the 5 and the 6 at
the very north and south of the globe. In 7 we were doing long multiplication sums.
We're hoping to go on a 8 in the woods on Saturday if the 9 gets our car
fixed in time.
It would be 10 if you could come too. Let me know as soon as possible.
Love, Elizabeth
Click here for the answers

Words ending -er, -or, and -ar

There are lots of words in English which end with the
-er sound. But when you listen to these words you can't
be sure whether the sound is made by -er, -or or -ar.
Sorry, there's no easy rule but there are a few helpful word patterns:
1. I should point out that there are more than ten times as many
words ending with -er than -or and -ar together.
So, if you guess -er then there's a good chance that you'll be right!
2. Verbs ending in a silent e usually change to nouns by ending -er:

dive/diver wade/wader write/writer avenge/avenger

3. -er is also the most common way of ending a word for someone carrying out an action:

Action Person carrying out the action

reporting reporter

playing player

fighting fighter

listening listener

printing printer

cleaning cleaner
 4. -or is used when the base word ends in -ate, -ct, -it :
calculate/calculator create/creator investigate/investigator
contract/contractor reflect/reflector conduct/conductor
visit/visitor exhibit/exhibitor edit/editor

5. There is no especially useful pattern to recognise words that

end in -ar except to say that many of them finish with -lar:
regular popular similar pillar
But other than that it's just a matter of memorizing the -ar words as you come
across them. Mispronouncing the ending so that it rhymes with the -ar- in market
is a handy memory trick. Here's a quiz on the endings
-er, -or and -ar

See if you can choose the correct words in the following. Click on the button alongside a word to see if
you're right.

1. operater operator operatar

2. spectaculor spectaculer spectacular

3 reportar reporter reportor

4. trespassor trespasser trespassar

5. collecter collectar collector

6. quizmastar quizmastor quizmaster

7 instructor instructar instructer

8. aligater aligatar aligator

9. similar similer similer

10. inspecter inspector inspectar

11. glassmakar glassmaker glassmakor

12. accelerator accelerater acceleratar

13. rectangular rectanguler rectangulor

14. manufacturor manufacturar manufacturer

15. musculer musculor muscular

Words ending with ation
1. There are many words in English which end with
-ation. This is a very useful pattern to learn. Here are
just a few common examples. Read them out aloud.

station location relation

registration coronation nation

preparation duration hesitation

situation reputation starvation

cultivation vibration population

desperation sensation decoration

celebration quotation equation

habitation agitation donation

2. Add -ation to the following to make whole words.

The first one is done for you.

lubric- lubrication imagin-

veget- civiliz-

consider- punctu-

Changing verbs ending with -ate

to nouns ending with -ation
1. Change the following verbs to nouns. Take away the
-ate and add -ation. The first one is done for you.

Root Verb Noun Root Verb Noun

educate education create

operate demonstrate

concentrate exaggerate

retaliate abbreviate

2. Write down the root verbs of these nouns. Check in the dictionary if you need help.
 Noun Root Verb Noun Root Verb

relegation location

dedication ventilation

radiation indication

Click here for the answers but don't forget to come back!

3. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them. Why not brush up your
memorizing skills?

Words ending -able and -ible

Two common endings are -able and -ible. But how can you tell which one to use?
The difficulty is that we pronounce the leading vowels very similarly: we make a sort of -ugh- sound
and you can't hear whether it is -a- or-i- .
There are no simple rules to follow.
But here are three tips that you may find useful:

o If the base word is not altered in any way then add -able.
This works most of the time:
understand —> understandable,
predict —> predictable,
comfort —> comfortable, and so on.
o There are many more words ending -able than -ible.
I counted 900 -able words and 200 -ible words.
So, if you make a guess and choose -able
you're probably right 4 out of 5 times!
o The best advice I can give you is to learn the most common -ible
words and use -able for the rest.
Very many of the -ible words are so rare that you'll never use them.
Have you ever written fungible for instance?

Here are the most common -ible words:

edible: fit for eating

credible: can be believed

audible: can be heard

legible: easy to read

negligible: of no importance

terrible: causing terror

horrible: awful

feasible: can be done

 visible: can be seen

sensible: reasonable

responsible: trustworthy

possible: liable to happen

digestible: can be digested

flexible: easily bent

permissible: allowable

compatible: suitable

Many of them have negative forms by adding

in-, il-, ir-, or im- . For example:
inedible, illegible, irresponsible, impossible.

Now memorize the focus words.

Words ending ical, icle and acle

1. Look at the following words. You will see that their endings all sound rather similar.
Read them out aloud.

topical spectacle clinical cubicle

tentacle icicle obstacle article

chronicle comical vehicle logical

mechanical oracle particle miracle

2. Sort the words into three groups:

-ical (adjectives) -acle (nouns) -icle (nouns)

Notice how the adjectives all end with -ical, and the nouns end with -acle or -icle.

Handy Tip: Nearly all the words that end with this sound will be adjectives and
will therefore end with -ical.

3. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them. Are you
remembering to use LOOK - THINK - COVER - WRITE - CHECK?

4. Try the wordsearch on Puzzles 10 where you will find a number of words which
end like this. Or click here for a relevant hangman puzzle or a crossword puzzle
I often receive emails asking me to solve a puzzle. The person has been asked a question
about the third word which ends in -gry.
 They have been led to believe that there are three common words in the English language
which end in -gry and have been asked to think of the third one.

Three things you need to know about this puzzle are:

1. There are only two common words ending in -gry. They are angry and hungry. There
are several other words which end like this such as aggry, meagry, puggry and some
others. But none of these could be described as common words.
2. This is a riddle rather than a genuine question - so you need to be on guard for
some trickery in the wording of the question.
3. Sometimes this riddle is misquoted. If you don't have the correct wording it
becomes impossible to solve. This how it should be worded:
 Think of words ending in -gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are
only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word
is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I
have already told you what it is.

Now that you know that it is a riddle and you have the correct wording, why not spend some
time trying to solve it?

Vowels

MAGIC E WORDS (often known as split digraphs)

Read the following words out aloud. Notice how the "magic e"
affects the way we say the previous vowel.
cap cape slop slope
The way we say the -a- in cape is different to the way that
we say it in cap. This is because of the magic e.

1. Copy the following magic e words. Then highlight or

underline the vowel that is affected by the magic e.
The first has been done for you.

made made stage

face close

wake whale

joke bagpipe

exercise promoted

space museum

escape hopeless

arrive craze

hikers surprise
 diversion lately

2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

3. Click here for a Hangman game for "magic" e words

4. Click here for a Wordsearch on "magic" e words
5. Click here for the Bossy E card game

The Bossy E card game

from Spelling it Right

I recently watched a group of children enthusiastically playing a game that included what I call the Magic E.
Their teacher uses the term “bossy E” because the silent E “bosses” the preceding vowel and changes it from a
short vowel to a long vowel. So, for example, putting a bossy E on the end of pin changes the short i to a long i
in pine.

The pack of cards had been prepared by the teacher herself and laminated to give them a long life. Each card
had a different word in which the bossy E and the preceding vowel were written in red. (There were also a
number of CHANGE cards – see below).

Two or more children played the game, the dealer giving five cards to each player as well as to themselves. The
spare cards were placed face down in the middle.

1. The dealer starts the game by selecting the top card of the pile and placing it face up alongside the stack.

2. The dealer reads the word, then sounds out the letters and finally draws attention to the long vowel and the
bossy E. So, for example, if the word is take, the dealer says “take”, spells it out ”t-a-k-e” and then says “a like
in take”. (If the card were bone then the dealer would say “bone”, spell it out “b-o-n-e” and then say “o like in
bone”).

3. If the next player has a card with the same sound as the one turned over by the dealer (for example late) they
place it on top of the pile, spell it out “l-a-t-e” and say “a like in late”.

4. However if they don’t have a match in their hand they have to pick up a card from the face down pile. If the
new card is a match they can play it immediately.

5. The next player then takes a turn and so on.

6. Any player who doesn’t have a match but has a CHANGE card in their hand can play the CHANGE card,
saying, for example, “I’m going to change it to i like in bite”. They then play their bite card, spelling it out “b-i-
t-e” and saying “i like in bite”.

7. The following players must then match i like in bite.

8. The winner is the first player to get rid of all of their cards.

9. The teacher should make sure that each player says the correct wording, as above, as they play a card.

10. In the game that I watched there seemed to be, on average, about one CHANGE card for every six word
cards. Of course some players ended up without any CHANGE cards in the first round.

Here are some examples of words that you might use:

face gate late cape made slave gave irritate operate celebrate these extreme complete
concrete delete athlete stampede ride bite pine quite dive arrive decide spiteful smile
white twice hope slope dome home probe note quote bone cone brute dilute flute rule
More "magic e" words
1. Read the following story. Then highlight or underline the
words which use a magic e.

Dave rode his bike down the slope. He was going far too fast
so he put on his front brake. This was a bad mistake as the
front wheel locked and he was thrown over the handlebars.
He landed face-first among some stones. He was quite dazed
and for a moment he didn't know where he was.

A neighbour phoned for an ambulance and it soon arrived. At

the hospital they decided that he had a broken nose and they
gave him an ice pack to reduce the swelling.

Dave's Mum picked him up from the hospital and drove him
home. "You had a lucky escape," she said. "You need to be
much more careful in the future."

Click here to see if you agree with me

2. Make up some more magic e words using the following

letters. You may place them at the start of a word, at the
end, or in the middle.

-ice- -ake- -use-

-ate- -ike- -ife-

-ope- -ite- -ise-

-aze- -ove- -ome-

3. Have you tried the "magic e" hangman game?

4. Or the "magic e" wordsearch?

The Spelling of Vowels:

Making an educated guess

When a vowel sound isn't stressed then it's often difficult
to work out how to spell it.
Read the following words and listen to way you say the
underlined vowels:
relative cigarette information
The chances are you didn't pronounce them very clearly and you might guess that any of the
vowels would fit:
a; e; i; o; or u.

Here's a tip: if you're not sure about a vowel sound then try to think of another word which
comes from the same root.
You might be lucky and find one in which the vowel is stressed
and this will help you.
relative relation (the -a- is stressed)
cigarette cigar (the -a- is stressed)
information inform (the -or- is stressed)

1. Put the missing vowels in the following words. Then copy the whole word in the third column.

define def_nition

sedate sed_tive

explore expl_ration

console cons_lation

preservation preserv_tive

2. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself. Concentrate particularly on the underlined
vowels.
Long vowel sounds: -a-

1. The long -a- is most often written a-e for example state.
Usually there is only one letter between the a and the e
as in plate. But often there is more than one, as in table.
It's the magic e which makes the -a- have a long sound.
(Remember to have a look at the magic e page if you haven't
done so already)

Underline the a-e combination in each of the following words.

The first two are done for you.
hate cradle mate grade trace parade skate statement
dazed disgraceful rotate displacement bracelet ladle

2. But -ai- and -ay also make the long a sound. You'll notice
that -ai- usually comes in the middle of a word and
the long a right at the end of a word is always -ay.

Write the correct combination in the following words:

dr___n, sw___, cl___, excl___m, tr___ler, dec___,
yesterd___, m___nt___n, av___lable, r___lw___.

3. Try to guess the following words which all contain -ai-.

He might serve you in a restaurant: w________

He betrays his country to the enemy: tr_______or
Another word for a traffic jam: t____back
The opposite of success: f_________
This will get bigger if you keep eating too much: w______line
These travel very, very slowly: s______s
Someone you know - but not very well: acqu_________ce
They travel the oceans: s________s

4. Click here for a Hangman game on this topic. Long vowel sounds: -e-
When you hear a long -e- , particularly in the middle of
a word, it's often spelled -ea- or -ee- , like the words here:

cheap reason leaf loudspeaker green freezing keep between wheel

steal meal revealed sweetness proceed

But there's no advice I can give to help you decide

which one it is.
If you're not sure, try writing the word both ways on
a scrap of paper, first with -ea- and then with -ee.
Nearly always you'll spot the one you want!

1. In the following pairs, underline the word that you think

is correct:
breaze/breeze reach/reech betwean/between

heating/heeting freadom/freedom breathe/breethe

season/seeson refugea/refugee meating/meeting

beneath/beneeth fealing/feeling indead/indeed

succead/succeed repeat/repeet coffea/coffee

2. Now make some more words by writing -ea- or -ee-

in the gaps:

gr___dy tr___tment fr___zing m___ning

pl___sed bl___k t___th w___kend

b___troot f___ture cr___ture str___t

icecr___m agr___ment gr___se b___chboy

Click here to check the answers

*Don't forget that you can also spell the long -e- sound
by writing -ie- and -ei- .
For example: believe thief ceiling receive
Look back at Rules 1 to revise the rule about -ie- and -ei- .

*Finally, remember that you can also use the "magic e" to make a short e become a long e, as in
athlete, stampede, and Japanese. Click here for the magic e worksheet
Click here for a hangman puzzle
Long vowel sounds: -i-

1. As is usual with long vowel sounds, most long -i- sounds

are written using the magic e.
(See the magic e page if you're not sure about this)
For example: fine silent entitled

Underline the i-e combination in each of the following words.

The first two are done for you.
lively mice untimely deadline idle stalactite miserly
quite bridle title write fertile decided trifle dynamite

2. But -igh- and -y also make the long i sound.

-igh is usually found in the middle of a word and
the long i right at the end of a word is nearly always -y.

Write the correct letters in the following words:

repl__, n_____tfall, br____t, suppl__, del_____t,
t_____t, moonl_____t, appl__, terrif__, midn_____t.

3. Try to guess the following words which use -igh or -y

for the long i sound.

The pen is m_____tier than the sword.

Starboard is the _______ hand side of the ship.
The victim couldn't identi___ the robber.
You need to m__________ the total by 3 to get the answer.
"Find something to occu___ yourself with," said Toby's Dad.
Thunder and l_____tning can be quite fr______ening
I admit it was my fault. I can't de___ it.
Click here for>> the answers
and a wordsearch on the long i or a hangman game

4. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them. Long vowel
sounds: -o-
1. As is usual with long vowel sounds, most long -o- sounds
are written using the magic e.
(See the magic e page if you're not sure about this)
For example: lonely coke rodent stove

Underline the o-e pattern in each of the following words.

The first two are done for you.
slope poker telephone dozed stolen homework stonemason

2. But -oa- and -ow- also make the long o sound.

-oa- is usually found in the middle of a word and
the long o right at the end of a word is nearly always -ow.

Write the correct letters in the following words:

elb___, fl___t, r___dworks, borr___, c___stguard,
narr___, g___lscorer, f___ming, foll___, kn___.

3. Try to guess the following words which use -oa- or -ow

for the long o sound.

Robin Hood used a b__ and ______ .

I b______ ed some money from my Dad..
Sw______ the pill. You kn___ it will make you feel better.
What a misery Sam is. He's always m___ning
and gr________.
In alphabetical order, l___f is bel___ l___d.
Foll___ that truck as far as the narr___ bridge.
Molly lives inland but Sarah lives at the c_______.
Click here for>> the answers
or a wordsearch on the long o
or a hangman puzzle on the long o

4. Now memorize the focus words and test yourself on them.

Plurals

The Spelling of Plural Words

Luckily, for most words in the English language, all you have to do to make a plural
is to add an 's' to the end of the word. So:

Singular Plural
a table becomes two tables
one cake becomes three cakes
a planet becomes many planets

However, there are a few words that behave differently and I've provided two worksheets
which deal with those exceptions that tend to cause spelling difficulties.
These are:
Plurals of words ending in 'y'
Plurals of words ending in 'x', 'sh', 's', 'ss', and 'ch'.
Click on the links above to go to the worksheets.

Plurals of Words Ending in 'y'

These follow a fairly simple pattern which is easy to follow as long as you remember
the difference between a vowel and a consonant.
(Vowels are 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o' and 'u'. All the other letters are consonants)

If the word has a consonant before the final 'y' then the plural ends with 'ies':

Singular Plural
bully becomes bullies
pony becomes ponies
canary becomes canaries
spy becomes spies

If the word has a vowel before the final y then you just add an 's':

Singular Plural
day becomes days
delay becomes delays
survey becomes surveys
toy becomes toys

Now fill in the missing words in the following grid:

Singular Plural Singular Plural

donkey dictionary

colony fairy

essay Sunday

story similarity

berry artery

Click here for a relevant Hangman game or a Crossword

 Plurals of words ending in 'x', 'sh','s', 'ss', and 'ch'.
Some people describe these as words that "hiss" at the end.
I'm not sure that 'ch' hisses exactly, but you get the idea.
All you need to do is add '-es' to make the plurals, like this:

Singular Plural
box becomes boxes
bush becomes bushes
atlas becomes atlases
glass becomes glasses
church becomes churches

Now fill in the missing words in the following grid:

Singular Plural Singular Plural

sandwich guess

tax brush

crash octopus

beach circus

witness reflex

virus address

For a wordsearch on this spelling pattern go to Puzzle 14 or click here for a crossword on words
ending in -es

Memorizing strategies

Memorizing the Spelling of New Words

(It would be useful to print this page for future reference)
When you come across a new word ALWAYS use the
LOOK - THINK - COVER - WRITE - CHECK method to memorize it.
No doubt you learned this trick in your early school days but it will be just as useful when you are
twenty-six as when you were six!

o LOOK carefully at the new word. How can you break it into smaller bits? Do any of the smaller
bits remind you of the patterns of letters from other words?
o THINK about the parts of the words which might cause problems - double letters for instance, or
a vowel that isn't pronounced as you would expect.
o COVER the word and close your eyes. Try to see it in your mind's eye.
o WRITE the word down without looking back.
o CHECK to see if you're right. If not, look carefully at where you went wrong and try again.
More Hot Tips
* Whenever you have to copy a new word from the blackboard, from a book, or from the dictionary,
always try to write the whole word in one go.
Don't keep looking back after every few letters.
* Try finger-writing: while you're THINKing about the word, pretend to write it with your finger, on
your desk or on your hand.

Now look at an example of using

LOOK - THINK- COVER - WRITE - CHECK
 LOOK - THINK - COVER - WRITE - CHECK Spelli
Disestablishmentarianism!! Supposing I wanted to remember ng
how to spell this word. I would LOOK at it carefully to see if it
it would break up into smaller, much easier bits: Right
mem
dis-est-ab-lish-ment-ar-ian-ism
2
And I would THINK about where the problems might be:

no problems - spell it just as it sounds - a very Click

dis-
common pattern. here
for:
the letter e isn't very clear when I say the UK
-est- whole word, so I would say it very clearly - Spelli
like the e in egg. ng
Books
-ab- no problem - spell it just like it sounds USA
Spelli
-lish- again - just like it sounds ng
Books
when I say the whole word quickly the e in
-ment- ment sounds rather like an a - so I need to List
stress that it's e as in egg of
exerc

this might be a real difficulty - it sounds as if ises

it should be spelled -er-. So when I said the Advic

-ar- e
word to myself I would make the sound of -ar-
like the -arr- in carrot Home
Page
Conta
-ian- this bit is easy - it's a boy's name
ct us
mem 1
another very common ending - written just as
-ism mem
you say it
3

Now: COVER, WRITE and CHECK

Sounds complicated? Only because it's such a long, complicated word - which is why I
chose it. But you can do the same with any word. Have a try at remembering
disestablishmentarianism to show how easy it is. And to impress your friends! Then go to
LOOK
mem 3

THIN
K

COVE
R

WRI
 TE

CHEC
K

Now that you understand how to use

LOOK THINK COVER WRITE CHECK

I'm going to recommend a really useful interactive web site
where you can practise this skill. It's been created by
a teacher at Ambleside Church of England Primary School
in Cumbria, England.

The program downloads from the web site in just a few seconds.

There's a bank of words already included for you to try

out your memorizing skills. But, and here's the real bonus,
you can type in your own words and then practise memorizing
them.

So here's the answer to your problems if you're having

trouble memorizing the focus words on Spelling it Right
pages: type them into the Ambleside program and follow the
easy-to-use instructions. Click here to>> try it out,
but don't forget to come back to us!

BBC Scotland has created a couple of interesting cartoons about using proven memory techniques to help
you spell those awkward words that you commonly misspell. Why not have a look here: Brainsmart1 and
here: Brainsmart2

6. Don't capitalize common nouns.

7. Don't use abbreviations without first writing the term out in full unless the abbreviation is listed in general
dictionaries.

11 essentials of correct grammar

1. Write in full sentences. Don't write sentence fragments or fuse two sentences without using a conjunction or
punctuation.
2. Make subjects agree with their verbs.

Subject verb agreement

Different standards for talking & writing

Most students in my classes know that subjects and verbs should agree.

Unfortuntately, few who make errors in subject-verb agreement in their writing have any techniques for
spotting those errors so they can correct them.

Teaching writing to students who habitually make agreement errors requires you to give them a simple
strategy for figuring out whether a sentence they have written contains such an error.
For students whose native language is English, the following strategy should not be difficult. The strategy
builds on the so-called given grammar that native English speakers absorb unconsciously.

If you are teaching students whose primary language is something other than English, you must use
different techniques appropriate to their intuitive understanding of grammar.

Normal grammatical order

Normal English sentence order is

subject > verb > object

or

subject > verb > subject complement

Those grammatical elements appear in left-to-right order in sentences. All native English speakers know
that left-to-right order. However, your students may not realize they know the order until you point it out
to them.

Students who recognize the normal sentence pattern will look for the subject toward the right of a
sentence (or main clause) instead of on its left.

Most of the time when students make errors in subject verb agreement, they mistake a word close to the
verb as its subject.

Thinking a grammatical subject is a single word contributes to subject verb agreement errors.

If you want students to get subject verb agreement right, you have cure them of assuming the subject will
be a single word and help them find the subjects of verbs.

S-V error identification

The trick to identifying errors in subject verb agreement is to isolate the subjects.

Linguist Rei R. Noguchi in his book Grammar and the Teaching of Writing shows how to identify the
subjects of sentences correctly by two simple techniques that native English speakers know intuitively.
These techniques are the sentence tag and the yes-no sentence.

Use tag, yes-no sentence to isolate

Let me show you how the sentence tag and yes-no question work. First, here is the original sentence:

Original sentence: Boys usually prefer sports to knitting.

Now here is the tag sentence:

Tag sentence: Boys usually prefer sports to knitting, don't they?

As you can see, the tag sentence keeps the original sentence intact, but adds a little inquiry tag at the
end.

The inquiry tag uses as its subject a pronoun that is the same gender and number as the subject of the
original sentence.
Now here is the yes-no sentence:

Yes-no sentence: Don't boys usually prefer sports to knitting?

The yes-no sentence brings the subject to the second word in the sentence.

With the help of these two sentences, students will be able to see they have achieved subject verb
agreement in sentences they wrote themselves.

Check S-V agreement, example 1

Let's take a sentence and see how to check it for subject verb agreement errors. Here is the original
sentence:

Internet users, like my friend Jim, a small businessman who is building a website, has learned to use
advanced search.

Students will write the tag sentence one of two ways:

Tag sentence A: Internet users, like my friend Jim, a small businessman who is building a website, has
learned to use advanced search, haven't they?

OR

Tag sentence B: Internet users, like my friend Jim, a small businessman who is building a website, has
learned to use advanced search, hasn't he?

If students' ears don't tell them something is wrong (and many students won't get it), the yes-no
sentence which comes next will be a red flag.

Yes-no sentence: Has Internet users, like my friend Jim, a small businessman who is building a website,
learned to use advanced search?

Just because students hear the problem, doesn't mean they will know how to fix it. You have to make
sure they understand which word in the original sentence is the subject and which the verb. Otherwise,
they could correct the sentence to this:

Internet user, like my friend Jim, a small businessman who is building a website, has learned to use
advanced search.

That correction gets rid of the subject verb agreement error, but produces a sentence that substandard.

Check S-V agreement, example 2

Students often have difficulty with subject verb agreement when sentences are lengthy, as in this
example:

Original sentence: The needs of his clients to sell their property in a timely manner and at the best
possible price is Don's first concern when listing a property.

Students might write the tag sentence one of two ways, depending on what they think the grammatical
subject is:

Tag sentence A: The needs of his clients to sell their property in a timely manner and at the best
possible price is Don's first concern when listing a property, isn't it?
OR

Tag sentence B: The needs of his clients to sell their property in a timely manner and at the best
possible price is Don's first concern when listing a property, aren't they?

When students write the yes-no sentence, they put what they think is the verb and its subject together.
they will either use a singular verb, as is done here:

Yes-no sentence A : Isn't the needs of his clients to sell their property in a timely manner and at the
best possible price Don's first concern when listing a property?

Or they will use a plural verb as is done here:

Yes-no sentence B: Aren't the needs of his clients to sell their property in a timely manner and at the
best possible price Don's first concern when listing a property?

The yes-no sentence, shows the subject to be the plural noun needs. That means the verb also needs to
be plural. So the original sentence should be edited to read this way:

The needs of his clients to sell their property in a timely manner and at the best possible price are Don's
first concern when listing a property.

Be careful you identify correctly specifically what it is the student does not know. Like doctors,
grammarians must be sure they know the cause of the symptoms they see.

Still more to learn about agreement

The simple technique shown here isn't going to fix every subject verb agreement error even of native
English speakers. They will still need to learn:

 Rules that govern agreement when the subject is compound.

 What words function as collective nouns.
 Singular words that appear to be plural.

Learning those rules is much easier after students can identify the words that are the subjects of the
sentences they write.

3. Make pronouns agree with their antecedents.

4. Make pronouns refer to the last previously mentioned noun of the same person and number.
5. Be sure a modifier refers to something within its sentence.
6. Make modifiers cuddle up to the words they modify.
7. Keep your verbs in the same time (tense) unless the time frame you are discussing changes.
8. Maintain a single pronoun perspective. Don't, for example, refer to singular subjects with plural pronouns.
9. Identify the verb endings that you use regularly and get wrong. Memorize the correct endings. Keep a good
reference handy for the verbs you don't use regularly but get wrong.
10. Set your grammar check to search for the errors you make; then use grammar check on all your writing.
11. Write shorter sentences for clarity, especially when using electronic communications.

6 essentials of correct punctuation

1. Punctuate according to the grammar of the sentence, not by the sound of the sentence.
2. Commas are separators. Don't join two sentences (main clauses) with commas.
3. Put a comma before a conjunction that joins the sentences in a compound sentence,
4. Put a comma after an introductory element in a sentence to separate it from the sentence.
5. Set off restrictive elements — those not essential to the meaning of the sentence— with commas.
6. Put closing punctuation at the ends of sentences.
Good English usage is idiomatic
I deliberately omitted correct usage from the list of English grammar rules. What is good usage depends
largely on the situation. Usage is idiomatic, not rule driven. People learn it hearing and reading rather than by
studying rules.
A student with poor usage needs to hear native speakers, read widely, and consult a dictionary or reference
guide to idioms when in doubt as the meaning of a word or phrase.

Regularly applying these 24 rules of English grammar, punctuation, and spelling is adequate to give most
writers a reputation for using good English.