how to spell: spelling rules are useful to know

howtospell.co.uk the place to be for all your spelling needs. In this lesson we're looking at why spelling rules are useful to know.

Some people say don't teach or learn spelling rules because they're complicated and there are so many exceptions to remember blah blah blah! BUT the big positive thing about learning spelling rules is they can explain why certain letter patterns occur and why a word is spelt the way it is. OK you might forget the rule but see the spelling pattern. It might take you a few goes at remembering the rules of spelling but it's worth it.

People say spelling is chaotic - it's not, it's complicated yes, but there are regularities with it and it can be learnt. And one way is through learning spelling rules, which is one strategy (and as you know if you've watched my videos there are many more ways of learning spelling but this is one way and it adds another layer to your spelling knowledge.)

There are some simple reliable rules like
adding -es to words ending in s, ss,ch, x, z for plurals and third person 's'
I have a box I have six boxes
She has a business - two businesses
I watch TV - He/She/it watches TV

-es was added to words to either stop 3 s's being together and to aid reading
washs foxs businesss quizzs matchs
simple

Also "drop the 'e' with ing" rule is easy to remember because we use it with so many common words

When we add -ing to words ending in 'e' we drop the 'e'
write - writing
making - making
have - having
solving, managing, using

There are some very simple common-sense exceptions
with some less common words we keep the
singe + ing = singeing (means scorching because if we drop the 'e' we get not singing)
whinge – whingeing. Stressing the soft “g” (if we drop the 'e' it'd be winging)
binge - bingeing (not binging)
tinge – tingeing (not tinging)
dye - dyeing (not dying)
common sense
Both spellings are correct in:
queue - queueing or queuing and cue - cueing or cuing

Keep the ‘e’ with
be - being (or it would be bing), eyeing,
keep the 'e' with double 'e' words
seeing, agreeing,
foresee – foreseeing, flee - fleeing,
guarantee – guaranteeing, referee – refereeing

Most people see what looks right or 'strange' they say that doesn't look right so you need to develop your visual memory as well as your spelling knowledge base, and that's where you should try my Spelling Rules Workbook - it's packed full of rules and exercises and it's actually a book that you can hold and work on anywhere
and you're not stuck on a computer - yeah!
So pop over to my website and check it out
www.howtospell.co.uk

Thanks for watching this and see you over at my website.