Spelling
Is it always necessary to spell words correctly? Of course not. When students send text messages, for example, they abbreviate words and simplify spellings; indeed, sometimes to do anything else could be silly. But when they’re giving a presentation and need to write on the whiteboard, spelling words incorrectly can be a real problem.
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Spelling: A history
Most alphabets in the world’s living languages evolved from a single alphabet developed around 2000 BC in the Eastern Mediterranean.
A lot has changed since then. Even from the time of Old English, from about AD 500 to about AD 1100, much has changed. In fact, languages are always changing. Over the generations, grammar changes, words and their meanings change, accents and pronunciations change, and spelling changes.
Spelling: Alternative spelling
Just like humour and humor, and centre and center, a number of other words vary in their British and American spellings. How different are British and American spelling and how should you choose which spelling to learn?
The number of spelling differences between British and American English amount to less than 1% of the overall vocabulary of contemporary English. It’s not something that we need to be terribly worried about, but it is always something that we must bear in mind.
Spelling: Rules
At some point, many of us learned some handy spelling rules that we’ve carried with us for years.
Most people probably remember the mnemonic:
- I before E except after C.
That’s a very useful rule for remembering how to spell believe and receive. But what about seize and seizure? And what about leisure, either, or heifer?
Spelling: Spelling and word structure
Many common spelling errors occur with double consonants or vowel combinations, as in the following words:
Spelling: Suffixes
Suffixes cause many of our common spelling mistakes. One challenge is simply to know which is correct: for example, legible or legable? In fact, −ible and −able serve the same function, and sound the same. As a matter of history, -ible entered English from Latin, while −able entered English from French, but there’s no easy rule for knowing when to use which suffix. Each word with each suffix just requires practice.
Spelling: Suffixes and 'y'
When a word ends in y, adding a suffix will sometimes require that we change the y to an i or to an ie. How do you know when to change the y?
Look through the examples below and the rules that follow.
Spelling: Suffixes and 'e'
If an original word ends in a final e, as in manage,adding a suffix will sometimes require that you drop the final e in the root word.
- Drop the final e: managing
- Keep the final e: management
How do you know when to drop the final e?
First, consider the following examples, which either drop or keep the final e.
Spelling: Double consonants
If a root word ends in a consonant, adding a suffix will sometimes require that you double the base word’s final consonant. How do you know when to double the consonant?
Consider the following examples, where doubled consonants are underlined.
- shipment
- shipped
- muddy
- fitful
- fittest
- waiting
- greenest
Now take a look at some larger words, whose base forms have more than one syllable.
Spelling: Resources
The most important resource for English spelling is a good dictionary. Which dictionary should you use? A variety of dictionaries is available, suitable for various skill levels and specializations, for both British and American English.