Spelling
Words in English are not always spelled as they are
pronounced. Spelling in English follows some basic rules and
the majority of English words (around 75%) follow these
rules. You can learn the rules but there are always exceptions
to the rules that need to be learned too.
The main basic spelling rules of English relate to: prefixes and
suffixes; spelling and plurals; doubling letters; dropping and
adding letters; verb forms. This section focuses on British
English but also covers some basic differences in spelling
between British and American English.
Spelling: prefixes
When there is a prefix, we do not normally add or take away
more letters:
dis + obey → disobey mis + spell → misspell
dis + satisfied → dissatisfied over + hear → overhear
super + human →
in + humane → inhumane
superhuman
in + sane → insane un + natural → unnatural
inter + national →
un + sure → unsure
international
mis + rule → misrule under + pass → underpass
Prefixes il-, im-, ir-
We commonly change the prefix in- to il-, im- or ir- when the
first letter of a word is l, m, p, or r.
in becomes il- be in becomes im- before in becomes ir- be
fore l m or p fore r
illegible immoral irrelevant
illiterate immature irresponsible
illogical impossible irreplaceable
Spelling and plurals
There are rules for the plurals of regular nouns and the -
s forms of regular verbs.
The general rule is add -s:
bring → brings day → days ear → ears smile →
smiles speak → speaks town → towns
If the ending is pronounced as ‘ch’ /tʃ/ or ‘s’ /s/, we add -
es /ɪz/:
noun plurals verb -s forms
bus → buses cross → crosses
noun plurals verb -s forms
church →
fetch → fetches
churches
guess →
kiss → kisses
guesses
If a word ends in an -e, we add an -s:
base → bases face → faces judge → judges lose →
loses
If the word ends in a consonant plus -y, we change -y to i and
add -es:
noun plurals verb -s forms
marry →
baby → babies
marries
opportunity →
reply → replies
opportunities
We add -es to some words ending in -o:
noun plurals noun plurals/verb -s forms
tomato →
echo → echoes
tomatoes
cargo → cargoes embargo → embargoes
hero → heroes go → goes (go [n] = attempt)
However, some words ending in -o only require -s: videos,
discos, pianos, memos, photos.
For some nouns ending in -f or -fe, we form the plural by
changing the -f or -fe to -ves:
loaf → loaves shelf → shelves thief → thieves wife → wives
See also:
Forming the plural of nouns
Spelling: doubling consonants
We often double the final consonant of a word (b, d, g, l, m, n,
p, r, t) when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added (-ed, -
er, -est, -ing):
slim + -ing →
hop + -ed → hopped
slimming
red + -ish →
thin + -er → thinner
reddish
rub + -ed → rubbed travel+ -er → traveller
sit + -ing → sitting wet + -er → wetter
When we add a suffix to a word with more than one syllable,
we double the consonant only when the word ends in a
stressed syllable (the stressed syllable of the base form is in
bold):
admit + -ing → admitting prefer + -ed → preferred
transmit + -ed →
forget + -ing → forgetting
transmitted
occur + -ence →
upset + -ing → upsetting
occurrence
Compare, however, visit or enter where the spoken stress is on
the first syllable:
visit → enter →
visiting entered
Not: visitting Not: enterred
Note too that in each case the vowel before the last consonant
is a short vowel.
Warning:
We don’t double the final consonant before a suffix:
– if the word ends in two written consonants, e.g. export =
exported, find = finding, insist = insisted, lift = lifted,
persist = persistence
– if there are two written vowels together in the word,
e.g. meeting, rained, weaken, trainer, repeated.
Irregular forms and exceptions
Warning:
Some monosyllabic words ending in -s are irregular. We
normally do not double the -s, although some doubled forms
will be seen. For example: busses and buses;
gasses and gases. (Busses and gasses are not common.)
Some words, several of them ending in l, with more than two
syllables, have a double consonant even though the last
syllable is not stressed; for example, labelling, traveller,
equalled, handicapped, programmed.
In American English the single consonant spelling is usually
more common: labeling, traveler.
Spelling: dropping and adding letters
The final -e
We often drop the final -e when a suffix beginning with a
vowel is added to a word:
approve + -al →
hope + -ing → hoping
approval
fame + -ous → famous invite + -ation →
invitation
hate + -ed → hated note + -able → notable
Warning:
We keep the -e in dyeing (from dye) and singeing (from singe)
to differentiate them from similar words e.g. dying (from die)
and singing (from sing).
When a suffix begins with a consonant (e.g. -less, -ful, -ly, -
ment) we do not normally drop the -e:
Definitely excitement forceful hopeless lately widely
Sometimes we do drop the -e:
argue → argumen
true → truly
t
whole → wholl
due → duly
y
Some words have alternative forms with or without an -e: for
example, acknowledgement or acknowledgment,
and judgement or judgment.
The suffix -ally
The suffix -ally is added to adjectives ending in -ic to form
adverbs:
Basic → basically
Realistic → realistically
Tragic → tragically
Warning:
BUT: publicly
Changing -y to -i
When we add a suffix to a word ending in a consonant + -y,
we normally change -y to i:
amplify + -er →
happy + -ly → happily
amplifier
busy + -ness → business hurry + -s → hurries
purify + -cation →
day + -ly → daily
purification
easy + -ly → easily reply + -ed → replied
fury + -ous → furious spy + -s → spies
Warning:
Some words with one syllable keep the -y before a
suffix: dryness, shyness, slyness.
We keep -y before -ing: studying, worrying.
We keep -y before ’s: the fly’s wings, Andy’s house.
We usually keep the -y in most words that end in a vowel + -y:
Buy → buyer
Destroy → destroys
Warning:
BUT: day → daily
Spelling: ie or ei?
If in doubt about ie or ei, when the sound of the vowel is as
in brief /i:/, we spell it ie; but after the letter c, we spell it ei:
ei after
ie
c
achiev
ceiling
e
belief conceit
diesel deceive
niece receipt
relieve perceive
Words in which -y has changed to i end in -ies even after a c:
Emergency → emergencies
Bureaucracy → bureaucracies
Warning:
In most words that do not have the pronunciation /i:/ as
in brief, the usual order is e before i, e.g. neighbour, leisure,
height; friend, ancient, science are common exceptions.
Spelling and verb forms
Past and -ed forms
The past and -ed forms are the same in regular verbs. The
following are the spelling rules for regular verbs.
We add -ed to the base form of the verb:
clean → cleaned echo → echoed email → emailed sail →
sailed
If the word ends in -e, we add -d to the base form of the verb:
agree → agreed dine → dined love → loved
If the word ends in a consonant + -y, we change the -
y to i before -ed:
apply → applied cry → cried
There are three common exceptions, where we change the -
y to i after a vowel and just -d is added:
pay → paid say → said
-ing forms
The general rule is add -ing to the base form of the verb:
go → going hurry → hurrying play → playing
If the word ends in -e, we drop the -e before -ing:
love → loving lose → losing write → writing
But if the word ends in -ee, -ye, or -oe, we keep the -e:
agree → agreeing dye → dyeing (compare: die/dying) see →
seeing
If the word ends in -ie, we change the -i to -y and we drop the
-e before -ing:
die → dying lie → lying tie → tying
Addition of final -e to indicate long vowel
We use a final silent -e to indicate that the stressed vowel is
long:
long vowel short vowel
hate, fate hat, fat
theme,
them, fed
impede
dine, bite din, bit
Warning:
There are some common exceptions:
com
have none there
e
live (as a
done one were
verb)
som wher
give love
e e
gone
British and American English Spelling
Here are some common differences between British
and American English spelling. A good learner’s dictionary
will give information about other spelling differences:
British
American English
English
analyse analyze
aeroplane airplane
centre center
cheque (bank) check
colour color
criticise criticize
defence defense
labour labor
neighbour neighbor
programme program
British
American English
English
theatre theater
