Unit 9 Spelling Focus: er, or, and ar suffixes List 1. theater 2. humor 3. major 4. mayor 5. tractor 6. character 7. chamber 8. actor 9. anger 10. thunder 11. polar 12. matter 13. mirror 14. clover 15. tremor 16. burglar 17. quarter 18. scholar 19. powder 20. pillar Extension Words 21. calendar 22. calculator 23. lecturer 24. inspector 25. dictator

In-Class Work Monday: Self-correct; mini-lesson on verbs/nouns Tuesday: Mini-lesson (suffix: er, ar, or) Thursday: Dictionary Work

Homework Monday: Review Spelling List Tuesday: Parts of Speech Chart Wednesday: Sentence Work (use ten of your words in sentences) Thursday: Study Words ending -er, -or, and –ar Mini-Lesson Many words in English end with the –er sound. Just by listening to the word, you can’t tell whether the sound is made by er, or, or ar. This is not a specific rule to help with spelling, but there are a few helpful word patterns. (Words ending in er are about ten times as common as ar/or words.) 1. Verbs ending in a silent e usually change to nouns by dropping the e and adding the suffix er. wade/wader dive/diver write/writer avenge/avenger 2. The er suffix is the more common ending for verbs that become nouns when someone is carrying out an action. Action Person carrying out the action report/reporting reporter play/playing player fight/fighting fighter listen/listening listener print/printing printer clean/cleaning cleaner

3. The suffix or is used when the root/base word ends in ate, ct, it. investigate/investigator conduct/conductor contract/contractor calculate/calculator create/creator reflect/reflector exhibit/exhibitor edit/editor visit/visitor

4. Words that end in ar can be more difficult to apply a rule or pattern. There isn’t a useful pattern. However, many words that have the ar suffix end in lar. similar popular pillar regular Parts of Speech Chart Rewrite the spelling word in the part of speech column. Some of the words can change to become other parts of speech by adding or removing a suffix. Some of words can also have more than one part of speech without changing the spelling. The difference is through usage. Refer to the dictionary for help. Spelling Word Noun Verb Adjective Adverb theater humor major mayor tractor character chamber actor anger thunder polar matter mirror clover tremor burglar quarter scholar powder pillar calendar calculator lecturer inspector dictator