Spelling for Grammar Year 3 Investigations - Revision from Year 2

Spelling Year 3

Spelling for Grammar Year 3 Investigations - Revision from Year 2 Spellings Rules/guidance Examples The /n/ sound spelt kn and The ‘k’ and ‘g’ at the beginning of these knock, know, knee, knight, (less often) gn at the words was sounded hundreds of years ago. gnat, gnaw, gnome, beginning of words The /r/ sound spelt wr at This spelling probably also reflects an old write, written, wrote, wrong, the beginning of words pronunciation. wrap The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt – The –le spelling is the most common table, apple, bottle, little, le at the end of words spelling for this sound at the end of words. middle Adding –es to nouns and The y is changed to i before –es is added. flies, tries, replies, copies, verbs ending in babies, carries –y Adding –ed, –ing, –er and The y is changed to i before –ed, –er and – copied, copier, happier, –est to a root word ending est are added, but not before –ing as this happiest, cried, replied in –y with a consonant would result in ii. The only ordinary words with ii are skiing and taxiing. …but copying, crying, before it replying

Adding the endings –ing, – The –e at the end of the root word is hiking, hiked, hiker, nicer, ed, –er, –est and –y to dropped before –ing, –ed, –er, nicest, shiny words ending in –e with a –est, –y or any other suffix beginning with a consonant before it vowel letter is added. Exception: being. Adding –ing, –ed, The last consonant letter of the root word is patting, patted, humming, –er, –est and –y to words doubled to keep the /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/ hummed, dropping, dropped, of one syllable ending in a sound (i.e. to keep the vowel ‘short’). sadder, saddest, fatter, fattest, single consonant letter Exception: The letter ‘x’ is never doubled: runner, runny after a single vowel letter mixing, mixed, boxer, sixes.

Contractions In contractions, the apostrophe shows can’t, didn’t, hasn’t, couldn’t, where a letter or letters would be if the it’s, I’ll words were written in full (e.g. can’t – cannot). It’s means it is (e.g. It’s raining) or sometimes it has (e.g. It’s been raining), but it’s is never used for the possessive. The possessive Ensure pupils know that apostrophes are Megan’s, Ravi’s, the girl’s, the apostrophe (singular not used for simple plural words. child’s, the man’s nouns) Words ending in –tion station, fiction, motion, national, section Homophones and near- there/their/they’re, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, homophones sun/son, to/too/two, be/bee, blue/blew, night/knight Common exception words door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, child, children, wild, climb, most, only, both, old, cold, gold, hold, told, every, everybody, even, great, break, steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last, past, father, class, grass, pass, plant, path, bath, hour, move, prove, improve, sure, sugar, eye, could, should, would, who, whole, any, many, clothes, busy, people, water, again, half, money, Mr, Mrs, parents, Christmas

Spelling Year 3

New Spellings for Year 3 Spellings Rules/guidance Examples The /ɪ/ sound spelt y myth, gym, Egypt, pyramid, elsewhere than at the end mystery of words The /ʌ/ sound spelt ou young, touch, double, trouble, country prefixes Like un–, the prefixes dis– and mis– have dis–: disappoint, disagree, negative meanings. disobey mis–: misbehave, mislead, misspell (mis + spell)

re– means ‘again’ or ‘back’. re–: redo, refresh, return, reappear, redecorate The suffix –ly The suffix –ly is added to an adjective to sadly, completely, usually form an adverb. The rules already learnt (usual + ly), finally (final + ly), still apply. comically (comical + ly) The suffix –ly starts with a consonant letter, so it is added straight on to most root words.

Exceptions: (1) If the root word ends in –y with a happily, angrily consonant letter before it, the y is changed to i, but only if the root word has more than one syllable. (2) If the root word ends with –le, the –le is gently, simply, humbly, nobly changed to –ly. (3) If the root word ends with –ic, basically, frantically, –ally is added rather than just –ly, except in dramatically the word publicly. (4) The words truly, duly, wholly. Words with the /eɪ/ sound vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, spelt ei, eigh, or ey they, obey

Homophones and near- ball/bawl, berry/bury, brake/break, here/hear, heel/heal/he’ll, knot/not, homophones mail/male, meat/meet, missed/mist, plain/plane, Word list address eight/eighth length remember answer experiment minute sentence appear February often strange arrive forward(s) popular surprise believe fruit potatoes thought bicycle group promise through caught heard quarter weight circle heart regular woman early history reign women earth island

Spelling Year 4

Spelling for Grammar Year 4 investigations Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Nouns can be made by  Nouns can be made from adjectives by Happy – happiness adding a suffix adding suffixes such as –ness Cheerful – cheerfulness e.g. add –ness  Spellings are modified when the root Cold – coldness word ends in y Cruel – cruelness Tidy - tidiness Weak - weakness Soft – softness Open - openness Aware - awareness Mild - mildness Nervous - nervousness Forgetful - forgetfulness Tired - tiredness Adjectives can be made  Root words can be modified to Beauty – beautiful from nouns and verbs create word families by changing Help – helpful using suffixes suffixes and prefixes. Harm – harmful e.g. add –ful,  Spellings are modified when the Peace – peaceful add – less root word ends in y Play – playful Success – successful add - ous (see  Ful is not spelled with two ‘l’s below) Care – careful Pain - painful

Sleeve – sleeveless Hope – hopeless Rest – restless End – endless Breath – breathless Point – pointless Price - priceless Adverbs can be made by  Not all adverbs end –ly but Angry – angrily adding a suffix to Adjectives can be turned into Bad – badly adjectives -ly adverbs by adding this suffix Brave – bravely  Spellings are modified when the Cruel – cruelly root word ends in y Easy – easily Happy – happily Greedy – greedily Sad – sadly Safe – safely Foolish – foolishly Loud – loudly Quiet - quietly

Spelling Year 4

New Spellings for Year 4 Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Adding suffixes beginning If the last syllable of a word is stressed and forgetting, forgotten, with vowel letters to words ends with one consonant letter which has beginning, beginner, prefer, of more than one syllable just one vowel letter before it, the final preferred consonant letter is doubled before any ending beginning with a vowel letter is added. The consonant letter is not doubled if the gardening, gardener, limiting, syllable is unstressed. limited, limitation The prefix in– can mean both ‘not’ and in–: inactive, incorrect prefixes ‘in’/‘into’. In the words given here it means ‘not’. Before a root word starting with l, in– illegal, illegible becomes il. Before a root word starting with m or p, in– immature, immortal, imperfect becomes im–. impossible, impatient, Before a root word starting with r, in– irregular, irrelevant, becomes ir–. irresponsible sub– means ‘under’. sub–: subdivide, subheading, submarine, submerge inter– means ‘between’ or ‘among’. inter–: interact, intercity, international, interrelated (inter + related) super– means ‘above’. super–: supermarket, superman, superstar anti– means ‘against’. anti–: antiseptic, anti- clockwise, antisocial auto– means ‘self’ or ‘own’. auto–: autobiography, autograph The suffix –ation The suffix –ation is added to verbs to form information, adoration, nouns. The rules already learnt still apply. sensation, preparation, admiration Words with endings The ending sounding like /ʒə/ is always measure, treasure, pleasure, sounding like /ʒə/ or /tʃə/ spelt –sure. enclosure The ending sounding like /tʃə/ is often spelt creature, furniture, picture, –ture, but check that the word is not a root nature, adventure word ending in (t)ch with an er ending – e.g. teacher, catcher, richer, stretcher. Endings which sound If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is spelt as division, invasion, confusion, like /ʒən/ –sion. decision, collision, television The suffix –ous Sometimes the root word is obvious and the poisonous, dangerous, usual rules apply for adding suffixes mountainous, famous, various beginning with vowel letters. tremendous, enormous, Sometimes there is no obvious root word. jealous –our is changed to –or before –ous is humorous, glamorous, added. vigorous A final ‘e’ of the root word must be kept if courageous, outrageous the /dʒ/ sound of ‘g’ is to be kept. If there is an /i:/ sound before the serious, obvious, curious –ous ending, it is usually spelt as i, but a hideous, spontaneous, few words have e. courteous Spelling Year 4 New Spellings for Year 4 continued…

Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Endings which sound Strictly speaking, the suffixes are –ion and like /ʃən/, spelt –tion, –sion, –ian. Clues about whether to put t, s, ss or –ssion, –cian c before these suffixes often come from the last letter or letters of the root word. –tion is the most common spelling. It is invention, injection, action, used if the root word ends in t or te. hesitation, completion –ssion is used if the root word ends in ss expression, discussion, or –mit. confession, permission, admission expansion, extension, –sion is used if the root word ends in d or comprehension, tension se. Exceptions: attend – attention, intend – intention. musician, electrician, –cian is used if the root word ends in c or magician, politician, cs. mathematician Words with the /k/ sound (Greek in origin) scheme, chorus, chemist, spelt ch echo, character Words with the /ʃ/ sound (mostly French in origin) chef, chalet, machine, spelt ch brochure Words ending with the /g/ (French in origin) league, tongue, antique, sound spelt –gue and unique the /k/ sound spelt –que Words with the /s/ sound (Latin in origin) In the Latin words from science, scene, discipline, spelt sc which these words come, the Romans fascinate, crescent probably pronounced the c and the k as two sounds rather than one – /s/ /k/. Possessive apostrophe The apostrophe is placed after the plural girls’, boys’, babies’, with plural words form of the word; –s is not added if the children’s, men’s, mice’s plural already ends in (Note: singular proper nouns –s, but is added if the plural does not end ending in an s use the ’s suffix in –s (i.e. is an irregular plural – e.g. e.g. Cyprus’s population) children’s). Homophones and near- there/their/they’re, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, homophones revision sun/son, to/too/two, be/bee, blue/blew, night/knight Homophones and near- accept/except, affect/effect, fair/fare, grate/great, groan/grown, main/mane, homophones medal/meddle, peace/piece, rain/rein/reign, scene/seen, weather/whether, whose/who’s Word list accident(ally) difficult knowledge position actual(ly) disappear learn possess(ion) breath enough library possible breathe exercise material pressure build experience medicine probably busy/business extreme mention purpose calendar famous natural question centre favourite naughty recent century grammar notice separate certain guard occasion(ally) special complete guide opposite straight consider height ordinary strength continue imagine particular suppose decide increase peculiar therefore describe important perhaps though/although different interest

Spelling Year 5

Spelling for Grammar Year 5 investigations Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Nouns and adjectives can  Nouns can be made from adjectives by Happy – happiness be turned into verbs by adding suffixes such as –ness Cheerful – cheerfulness adding suffixes  Spellings are modified when the root Cold – coldness e.g. –ise, -ate, -ify word ends in y Cruel – cruelness Tidy - tidiness Weak - weakness Soft – softness Open - openness Aware - awareness Mild - mildness Nervous - nervousness Forgetful - forgetfulness Tired - tiredness Prefixes are used to  Root words can be modified to create Agree – disagree change the meanings of word families by changing prefixes – Appear – disappear root words prefixes have meaning. Like – dislike  dis-, mis-, over-, re- Comfort – discomfort Understand – misunderstand Believe – misbelieve Behave – misbehave Fire – misfire Hear – mishear Information – misinformation

Fill – overfill React – overreact Achieve – overachieve Balance – overbalance Boil – overboil Charge – overcharge

Build – rebuild Do – redo Order – reorder Write – rewrite Consider - reconsider

Comparatives and  Adding er, est to an adjective gives Red – redder – reddest superlatives can be made comparative and superlative Green – greener – greenest by adding suffixes to  Spellings are modified when the root Brave – braver – bravest adjectives – adj + er, est, word ends in y Wise – wiser – wisest -ly Strange – stranger – strangest  Spellings are modifies when the root Thin – thinner - thinnest word has a short vowel sound followed Happy – happier – happiest by a single consonant Dry – drier - driest  Root word ending in e does not double the e.

New Spellings for Year 5 Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Endings which sound like –cial is common after a vowel letter and – official, special, artificial, /ʃəl/ tial after a consonant letter, but there are partial, confidential, essential some exceptions. Exceptions: initial, financial, commercial, provincial (the spelling of the last three is clearly related to finance, commerce and province). Use –ant and –ance/–ancy if there is a observant, observance, related word with a /æ/ or /eɪ/ sound in the (observation), expectant right position; –ation endings are often a (expectation), hesitant, clue. hesitancy (hesitation), tolerant, tolerance (toleration), Words ending in –ant, substance (substantial) –ance/–ancy, Use –ent and –ence/–ency after soft c (/s/ innocent, innocence, decent, – ent, sound), soft g (/dʒ/ sound) and qu, or if decency, frequent, frequency, –ence/–ency there is a related word with a clear /ɛ/ confident, confidence ( sound in the right position. confidential)

There are many words, however, where the assistant, assistance, above guidance does not help. These obedient, obedience, words just have to be learnt. independent, independence Adding suffixes beginning The r is doubled if the –fer is still stressed referring, referred, referral, with vowel letters to words when the ending is added. preferring, preferred, ending in –fer transferring, transferred

The r is not doubled if the –fer is no longer reference, referee, stressed. preference, transference Words containing the ough is one of the trickiest spellings in ought, bought, thought, fought letter-string ough English – it can be used to spell a number brought, of different sounds. rough, tough, enough,

though, although, dough,

thorough, borough,

plough, bough

through Words with ‘silent’ letters Some letters which are no longer sounded doubt, island, lamb, solemn, (i.e. letters whose used to be sounded hundreds of years ago: thistle, knight presence cannot be e.g. in knight, there was a /k/ sound before predicted from the the /n/, and the gh used to represent the pronunciation of the word) sound that ‘ch’ now represents in the Scottish word loch.

Spelling Year 5

New Spellings for Year 5 continued… Spellings Examples Homophones and other aisle: a gangway between seats (in led: past tense of the verb lead, words that are often a church, train, plane), lead: present tense of that verb, or confused isle: an island; else the metal which is very heavy aloud: out loud, (as heavy as lead); allowed: permitted; past: noun or adjective referring to a altar: a table-like piece of furniture in previous time (e.g. In the past) or a church. preposition or adverb showing place alter: to change; (e.g. he walked past me) bridal: to do with a bride at a passed: past tense of the verb ‘pass’ wedding. (e.g. I passed him in the road) bridle: reins etc. for controlling a desert: as a noun – a barren place horse; (stress on first syllable); as a verb – farther: further. to abandon (stress on second father: a male parent; syllable) heard: past tense of the verb hear, dessert: (stress on second syllable) herd: a group of animals; a sweet course after the main course cereal: made from grain (e.g. of a meal. breakfast cereal). profit: money that is made in selling serial: adjective from the noun things series: a succession of things one prophet: someone who foretells the after the other; future steal: take something that does not who’s: contraction of who is or who belong to you has steel: metal whose: belonging to someone (e.g. Whose jacket is that?) Word List attached dictionary language shoulder available environment lightning signature average especially muscle sincere(ly) awkward excellent neighbour soldier bargain existence opportunity stomach bruise familiar persuade symbol cemetery forty physical system competition frequently profession temperature criticise (critic + government queue twelfth ise) identity relevant vegetable curiosity immediate(ly) restaurant vehicle definite individual rhyme yacht desperate interrupt rhythm determined

Spelling Year 6

Spelling for Grammar Year 6 investigations Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Nouns and adjectives can  Magnet – magnetise be turned into verbs by Colony – colonise adding suffixes e.g. –ise, Memory – memorise -ate, -ify. Visual – visualise Hospital – hospitalise Idol – idolise

Decoration – decorate Abbreviation – abbreviate Activation – activate Animation – animate Decimation – decimate

Formal & informal  Some words are more formal than Kids – children vocabulary e.g. ask for – others. Bad – negative request, go in – enter &  Slang should not be used in formal Good – positive using the subjunctive. written texts. Go up – increase Go down – decrease Right – correct Wrong – incorrect Cheap – inexpensive Sorry – apologies Mum - mother Revision of spellings,  Spelling rules for adding suffixes spelling rules and features  Apostrophes from Y3 to Y5  Capital letters  Word families  Comparatives and superlatives  Making nouns, adjectives and verbs from other word classes  common exception words  homonyms and homophones

Spelling Year 6 New Spellings for Year 6 Spellings Rules/guidance Examples Endings which sound like Not many common words end like this. vicious, precious, conscious, /ʃəs/ spelt –cious or –tious If the root word ends in –ce, the /ʃ/ sound is delicious, malicious, usually spelt as c – e.g. vice – vicious, suspicious, ambitious, grace – gracious, space – spacious, malice cautious, fictitious, infectious, – malicious. nutritious Exception: anxious. Words ending in –able and The –able/–ably endings are far more adorable/adorably (adoration), –ible common than the –ible/–ibly endings. applicable/applicably Words ending in –ably and As with –ant and –ance/–ancy, the –able (application), –ibly ending is used if there is a related word considerable/considerably ending in –ation. (consideration), tolerable/tolerably (toleration)

If the –able ending is added to a word changeable, noticeable, ending in –ce or –ge, the e after the c or g forcible, legible must be kept as those letters would otherwise have their ‘hard’ sounds (as in cap and gap) before the a of the –able ending. The –able ending is usually but not always dependable, comfortable, used if a complete root word can be heard understandable, reasonable, before it, even if there is no related word enjoyable, reliable ending in –ation. The first five examples opposite are obvious; in reliable, the complete word rely is heard, but the y changes to i in accordance with the rule.

The –ible ending is common if a complete possible/possibly, root word can’t be heard before it but it also horrible/horribly, sometimes occurs when a complete word terrible/terribly, visible/visibly, can be heard (e.g. sensible). incredible/incredibly, sensible/sensibly Use of the hyphen Hyphens can be used to join a prefix to a co-ordinate, re-enter, root word, especially if the prefix ends in a co-operate, co-own vowel letter and the root word also begins with one. Words with the /i:/ sound The ‘i before e except after c’ rule applies to deceive, conceive, receive, spelt ei after c words where the sound spelt by ei is /i:/. perceive, ceiling Exceptions: protein, caffeine, seize (and either and neither if pronounced with an initial /i:/ sound). Spelling Year 6

New Spellings for Year 6 continued… Spellings Examples Homophones and other In the pairs of words opposite, nouns advice/advise words that are often end –ce and verbs end –se. Advice device/devise confused and advise provide a useful clue as licence/license the word advise (verb) is pronounced practice/practise with a /z/ sound – which could not be prophecy/prophesy spelt c. affect: usually a verb (e.g. The draft: noun – a first attempt at writing weather may affect our plans). something; verb – to make the first effect: usually a noun (e.g. It may attempt; also, to draw in someone have an effect on our plans). If a (e.g. to draft in extra help) verb, it means ‘bring about’ (e.g. He draught: a current of air. will effect changes in the running of guessed: past tense of the verb the business). guess ascent: the act of ascending (going guest: visitor up). morning: before noon assent: to agree/agreement (verb mourning: grieving for someone and noun). who has died compliment: to make nice remarks precede: go in front of or before about someone (verb) or the remark proceed: go on that is made (noun). principal: adjective – most important complement: related to the word (e.g. principal ballerina) noun – complete – to make something important person (e.g. principal of a complete or more complete (e.g. her college) scarf complemented her outfit). principle: basic truth or belief descent: the act of descending stationary: not moving (going down). stationery: paper, envelopes etc. dissent: to disagree/disagreement wary: cautious (verb and noun). weary: tired Word List accommodate conscience guarantee prejudice accompany conscious harass privilege according controversy hindrance programme achieve convenience interfere pronunciation aggressive correspond leisure recognise amateur develop marvellous recommend ancient disastrous mischievous sacrifice apparent embarrass necessary secretary appreciate equipped, nuisance sufficient category equipment occupy suggest committee exaggerate occur thorough communicate explanation parliament variety community foreign