Spellings

1. Spellings

2. Plurals Plural word forms are used to show that there is more than one of somethinge.g. kitchens is the plural form of the word kitchen. Rules to help spell plurals • Add an SThis is the most common way to make a plural e.g. bike- bikes. • Words ending in y If there is a consonant before the y, change the y to i before adding es, e.g. lady- ladies. If there is a vowel before the y, just add s, e.g. toy - toys. Vowel - The five vowels in the alphabet are a e i o u . Consonants - All the other letters in the alphabet that are not vowels are called consonants).

3. Plurals • Words ending in x, sh, ch or sFor words ending in x, sh, ch or s add es, e.g. church = churches. • Words ending in f or feFor most of these words, change the f or fe to v before adding es, e.g. leaf - leaves. Watch out for the words that don't fit this rule, e.g. chief - chiefs. To help work out the exceptions to the rule listen for the change in the sound when you say the word. some exceptions: roof = roofs, chief = chiefs, belief = beliefs, chef = chefs, cafe = cafes, handkerchief = handkerchiefs, safe = safes.

4. Irregular Plurals • Irregular Plurals are plural word forms that don't follow any of the plural rues!

5. Is it a ‘u’? • The letter 'u'can often confuse you when you are spelling a word. • To help you to remember the spelling of such words, say them to yourself as they are spelt when you write them.

6. Words that sound similar… • With words that sound similar it is important to know their meanings or how they are used in sentences. • This will help you to work out which word and spelling you should use.

7. More Words & Hints

8. Words that look similar… • The two following groups of words don't sound so similar but look similar so you may confuse them. • The best way to remember them is to know their meanings or how they are used in sentences, which will help you work out which word and spelling you should use.

9. Is it an ‘S’ or a ‘C’? • Remember the difference between each of the words in the pairs below, by the fact that the noun is always spelt with a 'c' and the verb with an 's'. • So if you are confused think about how the word is being used in the sentence. You might find it helpful to remember the following phrase:  Send for the cat.Think 's' for the verb'send' and 'c' for the noun 'cat'.

10. Are there double letters? • These words may confuse you if you're not sure whether there are double letters or which of the letters are double. • You can often find ways of remembering the double letters by thinking of phrases to jog your memory (these are called mnemonics).e.g. necessary - it is necessary for a shirt to have one collar and two sleeves (one 'c' and two 'ss')Here are some other words you may wish to make up phrases for to help you remember how to spell them

11. How to make up a ‘memory phrase’ 1. Work on the part of the word which you forget.e.g. In the word accommodation, the double 'cc' and double 'mm' are usually the problem. 2. Make up a phrase that will remind you of the difficult part of the word, as well as the word that you're trying to remember. e.g. For accommodation, you might try and think of two people with the initials 'CC' and 'MM' sharing a house together. Your memory phrase or mnemonic would then be something like, Cheerful Charlie and Mad Mary share accommodation.3. Once you have invented a phrase you may also find it useful to try and draw it. This can also help to fix it in your memory.4. Often the best phrases are the ones you make up yourself and most people are more likely to remember something which is very silly or even slightly rude!

12. Missing Letters Sometimes we can forget to include letters in words when they can't be heard, or are difficult to hear when we say them. You can often remember the spelling of words like this, by stressing the unclear, or silent part in the word when you say it to yourself. e.g. the 'r' in Feb - r - uary