6 Most Important Spelling Rules of the English Language You Need to Know

six most important spelling rules you

need to know

spelling rules at a glance

one I before E except after c

two change the Y to an i before adding

suffixes beginning with e

three

the silent e

or add e s after s z s h c h or X

five double consonants and suffixes

six U follows Q

you may have heard that English doesn't

have rules for spelling and that this is

one of the most difficult features of

English

to a degree it's true

English words come from many different

languages and various methods of

spelling them have been used

but it's not quite true that there are

no rules there are some rules but you

have to be on the lookout for exceptions

here we've compiled six of the most

common rules and for the most part

they'll help you spell words correctly

yes there are plenty of exceptions to

these rules but you know what

native speakers of English often

misspell words that contain the

exceptions

one

i before e except after c

write IE unless followed by a c

right e i when a word requires a long a

sound

EG weight and nay

example of E before c

she was fierce

she likes to piece together a puzzle

example of e i after c

I received fifty dollars from her

the ceiling fell

exceptions to the rules occur

weird height

either

two

change the Y to an i before adding

suffixes beginning with e

when a suffix begins with an e and the

word ends in y you change the Y to an i

before adding the ending

suffixes that begin with e include e d e

s e r and e-s-t

suffixes beginning with the letter e

cry plus suffix ed equals cried

Sky Plus suffix e s equals Skies

worry plus suffix e d equals worried

do not change the Y to I when adding the

suffix ing

change cry into crying

change worry into worrying

two consonants with Y and suffix l y

when you have two consonants come before

y it is necessary to change the I into a

y before applying the suffix l y

happy plus suffix l y equals happily

Mary plus suffix l y equals merrily

notes

dry does not follow this rule

when applying the l y suffix

you write dryly not d-r-i-l-y

three

the silent e

e appears at the end of a word followed

by a consonant

then it is silent

e changes how the vowel before the

consonant sounds

e makes a short vowel long

bite

vowel I is long

remove e different word with a different

sound

bit

the word becomes bit with the short I

vowel

to add a suffix like Ed to a word with a

silent E you usually drop the e and add

the suffix

care becomes cared

share becomes shared

four

add es after s z s h c h or X

when pluralizing a word you use es after

these letters or letter combos s z s h c

h or X

becomes fixes

wish becomes wishes

most other words will use an s in the

plural form

cow becomes cows

car becomes cars

notes

some words do not require a change to

become plural words like fish and sheep

are examples of unchanging words in a

plural form

five

double consonants and suffixes

many words that have double consonants

have suffixes

tossed mapped ripped

the suffixed word pronunciation

sometimes changes but the spelling

remains consistent

you can either Express blessed as one or

two syllables

six

U follows Q

in almost all English words the letter U

follows Q

U combo in words

Queen Aqua quick

there are some correct English words

without the u

Chi

however no one ever uses these words

in common discourse

got them all

practice

and soon you'll answer merrily when you

have to spell words on an examination

foreign

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