Spelling Level 2

Spelling Level 2

Spelling Rules for Everyone

Short and Long Vowels

A Short vowel sound in English is similar to Hawaiian vowel sounds: cat, bet, dig, dog, dug.

A Long vowel sound is when the vowels say their own names: Babe, cape, hide, rode, rude.

1. To spell a short vowel sound, only one letter is needed:

                at        red         it         hot        up

2. To spell a long sound you must add a second vowel.

--The second may be next to the first, in the VVC pattern (boat, maid, cue, etc.)

--or it may be separated from the first one by a consonant in the VCV pattern (made, ride, tide, etc.).

Adding Endings (also known as Suffixes)

There are two kinds of suffixes, those that begin with a vowel and those that begin with a consonant. As usual, the spelling problems occur with the vowels:

Vowel Suffixes			Consonant Suffixes
- - - age	- - -ist		- - - ness	- - - cess
- - - ant	- - - ish		- - -less	- - -ment
- - -ance	- - -ing		- - -ly	- - -ty
- - - al	- - -ar		- - -ful	- - -ry
- - -ism	- - -o		- - -hood	- - -ward
- - -able	- - -on		- - -wise
- - -an	- - -ous
- - - a	- - -or
- - -es	- - -ual
- - -ed	- - -unt
- - -er	- - -um
- - -est	- - -us
- - -y	- - -ive

1. Words that end in the letter y must have the y changed to i before adding any suffix:

body - bodily	marry - marriage
many - manifold	family -  familiar
happy - happiness	puppy - puppies
beauty - beautiful	vary - various
company - companion	fury - furious
plenty - plentiful	merry - merriment

2. In words that end in a silent e you must drop it before you add a vowel suffix. The silent e is no longer needed to make the preceding vowel long as the incoming vowel will do the trick:

ride - riding	cure - curable	use - usual	age - aging
fame - famous	force - forcing	refuse -  refusal	slice - slicing
pure - purity	ice - icicle	nose - nosy	convince - convincing
globe - global	race - racist	pole - polar	offense - offensive

3. Adding consonant suffixes is easy. You just add them. (Of course you must change a final y to i before you add any suffix.)

peace - peaceful	harm - harmless	age - ageless
pity - pitiful	child - childhood	rifle - riflery

/sh/

When this sound occurs before a vowel suffix, it is spelled ti, si, or ci.

partial	cautious	patient	vacation
special	deficient	suspicion	suction
inertia	delicious	ratio	pension
musician	physician	optician	quotient
electrician	nutrition	statistician	expulsion

/ee/ before a vowel suffix

When /ee/ precedes a vowel suffix, it is usually spelled with the letter i:

Indian	obvious	medium
ingredient	zodiac	material

Spelling from  Word Meaning

1. Mist and missed sound alike, as do band and banned. To determine the spelling, remember that -ed is a past-tense tending.

1. The mist drifted into the harbor.
2. I nearly missed my bus.
3. The movie was banned in Boston.
4. The band played on.

2. The endings of dentist and finest sound alike. Deciding which one to use can be tricky. One rule helps but doesn't cover all cases:

1. --ist is a suffix meaning someone who does something:  artist -   machinist -   druggist
2. --est is the ending used on superlative adjectives:  finest -   sweetest -   longest

3. The sounds at the end of musician and condition sound alike. but....

1. cian always means a person, where...
2. tion or sion are never used for people.

4. The plural ending is always spelled with a single letter s unless you can hear a new syllable on the plural word. In that case, use -es:

loss, losses	bank, banks	twitch, twitches	tree, trees
box, boxes	list, lists	judge, judges

Spelling List

about actor agree airplane airport alike almost alone along aloud already army ate awake awhile bare baseball beat become bedtime beef beet began begin bench bent berry better birthday bless boil bought boy brand brass bring bringing brush build built burn bury bushes bushy butter cannot can't carry cast cave cent cherries cherry chess

chest chili choose churn clean cobweb coil could cracker crazy cure curl cut daytime dinner doesn't done don't dozen draw drink dwell early earn eggnog eight elbow elsewhere employ enjoy face fall far fault fill fired fireman fit flavor flow fray frost full fulfill gate gift glove glue goldfish goose got grabbed grain greet

grow guild guilt hair haircut half halfway hang hare hobbies hobby hold holiday hot huge hunt hurry hurt if isn't its it's itself jellyfish join jolly joy keep kidnap kind ladybug large later laugh light long loss lung mailbox mare mark milking mopped mouse mouth move much munch myself noontime never none number oatmeal

only own pail pale pancake past pear pest pick pinch pint pitch please point popcorn pound pray pretty price prize pure pushes queen queer quick quicksand quiet quilt quit rainstorm rent role round scarecrow scarf search seven shall should show six slight small soft someone somewhere sought sow spelling spend spent squirt start stepped

stopped strain stray stream street strike studies study sugar sunny sure surely sweet talk taught tear tearful ten thirst throne throw thrown tipped today together toothpaste toy try turn twig underdog visiting voice volleyball walk warm whatever when whose wire won't wood word worm worth work worker worry wrench write wrong yourself young zipped

above account across addition advice against ahead alert among amount anger angry annoy annual another answer apiece apple argue arguing arithmetic arose author avenue avoid award aware badge basic basket basketball battle beast beetle beggar blame blank board boast borrow bottle brain branch brave breath bridge bubble bucket burst cactus calm canal cannon careless cattle caution celery cellar center central century charge chase chimney chose chute circus close cloth clothing

coach coast collar come coming continue cough couple court cousin crane crash crate crawl craze cream creation cried crowd crush dainty daily daughter deaf death decorator destroy device direction doctor dollar donkey double drank drug earthquake enough equal evening everybody everyone everything excuse exercise explode fearless feast fifth finger flock flour flower flute foggy follow forget forth fraction frame freeze freight fried frown froze funeral furniture gallery garbage gather geese

general genius gentle ghost giraffe glacier glory governor gravy grill grind grove growl guess happen hatch height helpless hoist hollow honey hope hoping hopeless hydrant icicle ignore image inches include income insist invent invite island issue ivory jeans journal judge juggle juice kept kitchen lace lack laid lame lamp laugh least lecture ledge lettuce little local loyal manage marble market match measles mention middle midnight monkey month narrate narrow nation

naughty newspaper nineteen noise noisy north notion ocean offer often order palm patch pebble people pillow plane playground plight poise poison porch portion position praise race ranch range ready recover regular remain remark remember remind remove repair report return riddle rifle roast rough royal scale scarce scowl scrap scrape scratch scream seashore season serve shallow shave shear sheet shrimp sidewalk sideways simple skate skill slain slate slave sleet sleeve slept smoke

sorry stage station statue steam stockings stole strange stretch strong stump stung sweat swim target tenth terrible themselves thirsty thrill throat throne ticket time timing title toils tomorrow toothbrush torch tough trace tried trouble turkey turtle twist unable understand understood underwear unhappy unfair unkind unknown unlikely unload unlock unlucky untie until unusual unwilling use using usual vacation value vegetable visitor vocal voyage wander weave whenever which whole width wonder year

able achieve acoustics action activity advertisement aftermath afternoon afterthought anoint apartment apparel appear appliance appoint approve attack attend awkward baker banker beginner believe bomb border boundary breakfast breathe brightly burglar cabbage cable calculator calendar capital caption carpenter ceiling cemetery channel circle climb clothe colony comfort comical coming competition concern condition confirm conscious

constant construct creator creature crouton currency curtain customer cycle damage decay decide define delight detrimental devotion dirty disappear discover disguise dishonest distance disuse dominant eager education eighth empty encourage entertain equal exactly excel exert exhale exist extravagant facility famous faucet feather feature fertile fiction forever fragile friction frugal fruit fuel galley grateful

group guard guardian guest guide guitar handle health heart heavily helmet holy hoping household idea increase industry invention jealous junction junior kindness kitten laborer lamb language lawyer leather level linen locket lumber magic manageable management mayor meanwhile medallion medicinal melon memorable mention metal meter mightily minister mitten money motor mountain music nature

neither nickel option overrule pardon partner passenger perfect perhaps personal pickle picture plantation plastic pleasure pocket police pollution popular precious preferred prejudice prepay preschool proceed produce professor pronounce propel property protect provide quartet railway reason receive recess recitation record reduce reduction reign reply retrieve reward route sable scene scent section shoulder significance

similar simplicity sleight socket soup speedy square squirrel staff stolen stranger stroll subject suit supply supporter sweater teachable televise temper territory texture theater though thread tidal total toward treachery treatment triple useful vacant vain valiant veil vein victory virtue visual volcano wealth weather weird wilderness windy wren wring wrist writer