Spellings Notes

Words ending in -ful

The suffix FUL is always spelt with one L, for example:
grate + ful = grateful
faith + ful = faithful
hope + ful = hopeful
careful
helpful
useful
grateful
beautiful (notice the"y" becomes "i")

Add -es to nouns ending in -s, -ss, -z -ch -sh x, -o to make them plural
This was added centuries ago to stop the plural 's' clashing with these letters and
it softens the 's' sound to a 'z' sound
bus buses
business businesses
watch watches
box boxes
quiz quizzes

To form the plural of

nouns
ending in o ,add -es

cargo > cargoes

domino > dominoes
echo > echoes
embargo > embargoes
hero > heroes
potato > potatoes
tomato > tomatoes

Changing the "y" to "i" when adding suffix endings.

If a word ends in a consonant + Y, the Y changes to i (unless adding endings with "i"
-ing -ish, which already begins with an i)
beauty+ful > beauti+ful =beautiful, beautify, beautician
happy + ness = - happiness, happily, happier, happiest
angry + er = angrier, angriest, angrily,
pretty: prettier, prettiest but prettyish
ready: readily readiness
dry: dried, BUT drying, dryish
defy: defies, defied, but defying
apply: applies, applied but applying

1:1:1 doubling up rule

put - putting, big-bigger, quiz - quizzes, swim - swimming...

When a word has one syllable & ending with 1 vowel next to 1 consonant we double up
the final consonant with a vowel suffix:
sit - sitter, big - biggest, tap - tapping, shop - shopper/shopping, fat - fatten, fattening,
fatter, fattest...
This happens in longer words when the stress is on the final syllable:
begin (beGIN) - beginner, beginning
refer (reFER) - referring, referred
occur (ocCUR) - occurring, occurred, occurrence

When we add "all" to the beginning of words we drop the l

all + so = also
all + most = almost
although
always
almighty

Drop the e rule

We usually drop the final silent "e" when we add vowel suffix endings, for example:
write + ing writing
hope + ed = hoped
excite + able = excitable
joke - joker
large - largish
close - closing
sense + ible = sensible
opposite + ion = opposition
imagine + ation = imagination

We keep the 'e' if the word ends in CE or GE to keep a soft sound, with able/ous
courage + ous = courageous
outrage + ous = outrageous
notice + able = noticeable
manage + able = manageable

-ce or -se ?
During centuries of separation from
Britain,
American English retained the
original -se
ending in certain words borrowed from
French, while British English modified
it to -ce

BrE
defence
offence
pretence
vice
AmE
defense
offense
pretense
vise (a tool)

-er or -or ?
The ending -er
is far more common
than -or

-er is added to most verbs

(and certainly all modern ones)
for someone or something
performing an activity:
player
baker
singer

-ize or -ise ?
The verbal suffix -ise
is far more common in british english
than ize
In Britain, the -ise ending remains a widespread alternative
criticise
demoralise

A few -er nouns are created from

other nouns or from adjectives
foreign > foreigner
law > lawyer
prison > prisoner

realise
vandalise

-our or -or ?
Words of primarily
French origin
ending in -our
in British English
end in a simplified -or
in American English

BrE
colour
favour
honour

-re or -er ?
While British English
retains the chic -re ending in
words
of French origin,
American English
generally prefers the anglicized
form -er

BrE
centre
metre
theatre

-yse or -yze ?
The verbal suffix
-yse is British and
-yze is American

BrE
analyse
paralyse

British English also often uses -or:error

terror
stupor

British English also drops the u in

-our before the addition of a suffix to certain
vapour > vaporize
honour > honorific; honorary

AmE
color
favor
honor

American English still prefersglamour to gla

Contrary to widespread belief, this term doe
emanate from French but rather surprisingly
Scottish alteration of the English word gram
the Middle Ages the casting of spells was
apparently associated with people of learnin

Despite its efforts to simplify modern spellin

American English still plays host to the -re e
in some words, especially when it is needed
indicate a preceding hard consonant. This a
to the following words with a stem ending in
letter c:
acre
massacre
mediocre

AmE
center
meter
theater

But note also cadre and ogre.

AmE
analyze
paralyze

COMMON SPELLING MISTAKES IN ENGLISH

Misspelt word
abberration
accomodation / acommodation

Correct Spelling
aberration
accommodation

acheive

achieve

adress

address

alot

a lot or allot

alterior

ulterior

athiest

atheist

beggining
beleive

beginning
believe

Caucasion

Caucasian

cemetary

cemetery

committment

commitment
(but committed, committing, committee)

concensus

consensus

concieve

conceive

copywrite

copyright

Dalmation

Dalmatian

decaffinated

decaffeinated

decathalon

decathlon

definately

definitely

dependance

dependence

des(s)icate

desiccate

desireable

desirable

diarhea

diarrhoea

dissapoint
dispell
embarass
enviroment
expresso
facist
Febuary
fivety
fluoroscent

disappoint
dispel
embarrass
environment
espresso
fascist
February
fifty
fluorescent

flouride

fluoride

forteen

fourteen

fourty

forty

freind

friend

geneology

genealogy

goverment

government

grammer

grammar

hampster

hamster

harrass
hemorage

harass
haemorrhage

heros

heroes

hight

height

hygeine

hygiene

hypocracy
independance
inate

hypocricy
independence
innate

innoculate

inoculate

intresting

interesting

juge
knowlege

judge
knowledge

lazer

laser

libary

library

lightening

lightning

managable

manageable

millenium

millennium

mischievious

mischievous

mispell

misspell

missle

missile

monestary

monastery
(remember that "monastic" is not
"monestic")

monkies

monkeys

morgage

mortgage

mountian

mountain

neccessary

necessary

neice

niece

nickle

nickel

nineth

ninth

ninty

ninety

noone

no one or no-one

noticable

noticeable

occured

occurred

occurence

occurrence

oppurtunity

opportunity

opthamologist

ophthalmologist

paralell / parallell

parallel

pasttime

pastime

pavillion

pavilion

peice
percieve
perserverance
persue
posession
potatoe
preceeding
pronounciation

piece
perceive
perseverance
pursue
possession
potato
preceding
pronunciation

privelige

privilege

publically

publicly

quew

queue

rasberry

raspberry

recieve

receive

reccomend

recommend

rediculous

ridiculous

reguardless

regardless

rythm

rhythm

shedule

schedule

seige

siege

sentance

sentence

seperate

separate

sieze

seize

sincerly

sincerely

speach

speech

stragedy
supercede
suprise
thier
tommorrow

strategy
supersede
surprise
their
tomorrow

tounge

tongue

uneform

uniform

vaccuum

vacuum

vegeterian

vegetarian

Wendesday

Wednesday

wierd

weird

writen

written

writting

writing

- See more at:

http://www.learnenglish.de/spelling/commonspellingmistakes.html#sthash.WjnkDAVc.dpuf