Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Rollama.png

Rollama is a web app of activities to practise English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary, which uses gamification mechanics to incentivise regular revision and help all students build fluent fundamentals.

What is Rollama?

We've built a child-centred, interactive digital playground of workouts for students to practise English, using 25 years of combined teaching experience. Teachers can closely supervise student performance and easily celebrate progress and success with real-time data tracking.

What problem does Rollama solve?

Standard English can be particularly tricky to learn — especially as an additional language — with many irregular patterns, non-phonetic spellings, and complex verb forms.

 

 

Year 1: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

Rollama game links

Word

Regular plural noun suffixes or –es [for example, dog, dogs; wish, wishes], including the effects of these suffixes on the meaning of the noun

 

Link Link

Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping, helped, helper)

 

Link

 

How the prefix un– changes the meaning of verbs and

adjectives

[negation, for example, unkind, or undoing: untie the boat]

 

 

Link

Sentence

How words can combine to make sentences

Link

Joining words and joining clauses using and

Link

 

Text

 

Sequencing sentences to form short narratives

Coming soon

Punctuation

Separation of words with spaces

Link

Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences

Link

 

Capital letters for names and for the personal pronoun I

Link

Terminology for pupils

letter, capital letter, word, singular, plural, sentence, punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark

 

Grammar and punctuation – Year 2

 

Year 2: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

Word

 

Formation of nouns using suffixes such as –ness, –er and by compounding [for example, whiteboard, superman]

Link Link

Link

Formation of adjectives using suffixes such as –ful, –less

Link

Use of the suffixes –er, –est in adjectives and the use of –ly in Standard English to turn adjectives into adverbs

Link Link

Sentence

Subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination

(using or, and, but)

Link Link

 

Expanded noun phrases for description and specification [for example, the blue butterfly, plain flour, the man in the moon]

Link

 

How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command

Link

Text

 

Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing

Link Link

 

Use of the progressive form of verbs in the present and past tense to mark actions in progress [for example, she is drumming, he was shouting]

Link Link

Punctuation

 

Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences

Link

Link Link

Commas to separate items in a list

Link

Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling and to mark singular possession in nouns [for example, the girl’s name]

Link Link

Terminology for pupils

noun, noun phrase, statement, question, exclamation, command compound, suffix, adjective, adverb, verb tense (past, present) apostrophe, comma

       

 

 

 

Grammar and punctuation – Year 3

Year 3: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

Word

 

Formation of nouns using a range of prefixes [for example

super–, anti–, auto–]

 

Link

 

Use of the forms or an according to whether the next word begins with a consonant or a vowel [for example, a rock, an open box]

 

 

Link

Word families based on common words, showing how words

are related in form and meaning [for example, solve, solution, solver, dissolve, insoluble]

Link Link

Sentence

 

Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions [for example, when, before, after, while, so, because], adverbs [for example, then, next, soon, therefore], or prepositions [for example, before, after, during, in, because of]

Link

Link Link

Text

 

Introduction to paragraphs as a way to group related material

Coming soon

 

Headings and sub-headings to aid presentation

Coming soon

 

Use of the present perfect form of verbs instead of the simple past [for example, He has gone out to play contrasted with He went out to play]

 

 

Link

Punctuation

Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech

Link

Terminology for pupils

preposition, conjunction, word family, prefix, clause, subordinate clause,

direct speech, consonant, consonant letter vowel, vowel letter, inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’)

 

 

Grammar and punctuation – Year 4

 

 

 

Year 4: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

Word

 

The grammatical difference between plural and possessive –s

 

Link

Standard English forms for verb inflections instead of local spoken forms [for example, we were instead of we was, or I did instead of I done]

 

Link

Sentence

Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases (e.g. the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair)

 

Link Link

Fronted adverbials [for example, Later that day, I heard the bad news.]

 

Link

Text

Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme

Coming soon

 

Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and across

sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition

 

Link

Punctuation

Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech [for example, a comma after the reporting clause; end punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”]

Apostrophes to mark plural possession [for example, the girl’s name, the girls’ names]

Use of commas after fronted adverbials

Link Link Link Link Link

Terminology for pupils

determiner, pronoun, possessive pronoun, adverbial

 

 

Year 5: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

Word

Converting nouns or adjectives into verbs using suffixes [for example, –ate; –ise; –ify]

Link

Verb prefixes [for example, dis–, de–, mis–, over– and re–]

Link

Sentence

 

Relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that, or an omitted relative pronoun

Link Link

 

Indicating degrees of possibility using adverbs [for example, perhaps, surely] or modal verbs [for example, might, should, will, must]

 

Link

Text

 

Devices to build cohesion within a paragraph [for example,

then, after that, this, firstly]

 

Coming soon

 

Linking ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time [for example, later], place [for example, nearby] and number [for example, secondly] or tense choices [for example, he had seen her before]

 

 

Link

Punctuation

Brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis Use of commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity

Link Link

Terminology for pupils

modal verb, relative pronoun, relative clause, parenthesis, bracket, dash, cohesion, ambiguity

 

Grammar and punctuation – Year 6

 

 

Year 6: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

 

Word

The difference between vocabulary typical of informal speech and vocabulary appropriate for formal speech and writing [for example, find out – discover; ask for – request; go in – enter]

How words are related by meaning as synonyms and antonyms [for example, big, large, little].

Link Link Link

Sentence

Use of the passive to affect the presentation of information in a sentence [for example, I broke the window in the greenhouse versus The window in the greenhouse was broken (by me)].

Link

The difference between structures typical of informal speech and structures appropriate for formal speech and writing [for example, the use of question tags: He’s your friend, isn’t he?, or the use of subjunctive forms such as If I were or Were

they to come in some very formal writing and speech]

Link Link

Text

Linking ideas across paragraphs using a wider range of cohesive devices: repetition of a word or phrase, grammatical connections [for example, the use of adverbials such as on the other hand, in contrast, or as a consequence], and ellipsis

Coming soon

Layout devices [for example, headings, sub-headings, columns, bullets, or tables, to structure text]

Coming soon

Punctuation

Use of the semi-colon, colon and dash to mark the boundary between independent clauses [for example, It’s raining; I’m fed up]

Link Link

Use of the colon to introduce a list and use of semi-colons within lists

Link Link

Punctuation of bullet points to list information

Coming soon

How hyphens can be used to avoid ambiguity [for example,

man eating shark versus man-eating shark, or recover versus

re-cover]

Link

Terminology for pupils

subject, object, active, passive, synonym, antonym, ellipsis, hyphen, colon, semi-colon, bullet points

 

 

Grammar and punctuation – Years 7-9

 

 

Years 7-9  Key Stage 3

Pupils should be taught to consolidate and build on their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary through:

extending and applying the grammatical knowledge of key stage 1 and 2 programmes of study to analyse more challenging texts

 

Consolidate as above

studying the effectiveness and impact of the grammatical features of the texts they read

 

n/a

drawing on new vocabulary and grammatical constructions from their reading

and listening, and using these consciously in their writing and speech to achieve particular effects

 

n/a

knowing and understanding the differences between spoken and written

language, including differences associated with formal and informal registers, and between Standard English and other varieties of English

 

Consolidate as above

 

using Standard English confidently in their own writing and speech English

Consolidate as above

discussing reading, writing and spoken language with precise and confident use of linguistic and literary terminology.

Consolidate as above

 

 

Spelling – Year 1

 

 

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Game links

The sounds

/f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ spelt ff, ll, ss, zz and ck

The /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ sounds are usually spelt as ff, ll, ss, zz and ck if they come straight after a single vowel letter in short words. Exceptions: if, pal, us, bus, yes.

off, well, miss, buzz, back

Link

The /ŋ/ sound spelt n before k

 

bank, think, honk, sunk

Link

Division of words into syllables

Each syllable is like a ‘beat’ in the spoken word. Words of more than one syllable often have an unstressed syllable in which the vowel sound

is unclear.

pocket, rabbit,

carrot, thunder, sunset

Link (level 1)

 

Link

-tch

The /tʃ/ sound is usually spelt as tch if it comes straight after a single vowel letter.

Exceptions: rich, which, much, such

catch, fetch, kitchen, notch, hutch

Link

The /v/ sound at the end of words

English words hardly ever end with the letter v, so if a word ends with a /v/ sound, the letter usually needs to be added after the ‘v’.

have, live, give

Link

Adding s and es to words (plural of nouns and the third person singular of verbs)

If the ending sounds like /s/ or

/z/, it is spelt as –s. If the ending sounds like /ɪz/ and forms an extra syllable or ‘beat’ in the word, it is spelt as

–es.

cats, dogs, spends, rocks, thanks, catches

Link

 

 

Adding the endings –ing,

–ed and –er to verbs where no change is needed to the root word

–ing and –er always add an extra syllable to the word and –ed sometimes does.

 

The past tense of some verbs may sound as if it ends in /ɪd/ (extra syllable), /d/ or /t/ (no extra syllable), but all these endings are spelt –ed.

If the verb ends in two consonant letters (the same or different), the ending is simply added on.

hunting, hunted, hunter, buzzing, buzzed, buzzer, jumping, jumped, jumper

Link Link

Adding –er and –est to adjectives where no change is needed to the root word

As with verbs (see above), if the adjective ends in two consonant letters (the same or different), the ending is simply added on.

grander, grandest, fresher, freshest, quicker, quickest

Link Link

Words ending

–y

 

(/i:/ or /ɪ/)

 

very, happy, funny, party, family

Link

New consonant spellings ph and wh

The /f/ sound is not usually spelt as ph in short everyday words (e.g. fat, fill, fun).

dolphin, alphabet, phonics, elephant when, where, which, wheel, while

Link

Using k for the

/k/ sound

The /k/ sound is spelt as rather than as before e, and y.

Kent, sketch, kit, skin, frisky

Link

Adding the prefix –un

The prefix un– is added to the beginning of a word without any change to the spelling of the root word.

unhappy, undo, unload, unfair, unlock

Link

 

 

Compound words

Compound words are two words joined together. Each part of the longer word is spelt as it would be if it were on its own.

football, playground, farmyard, bedroom, blackberry

Link Link

Common exception words

Pupils’ attention should be drawn to the grapheme- phoneme correspondences that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far.

the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, are, were, was, is, his, has, I, you, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no, go, so, by, my, here, there, where, love, come, some, one, once, ask, friend, school, put, push, pull, full, house, our

Link (Level 1)

 

 

 

Spelling – Year 2

 

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Game links

The /dʒ/ sound spelt as ge and dge at the end of words, and sometimes spelt as g elsewhere in words before e, i and y

The letter j is never used for the /dʒ/ sound at the end of English words.

 

At the end of a word, the /dʒ/ sound is spelt dge straight after the /æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/,

/ʌ/ and /ʊ/ sounds (sometimes called

‘short’ vowels).

 

After all other sounds, whether vowels or consonants, the /dʒ/ sound is spelt as –ge at the end of a word.

 

In other positions in words, the /dʒ/ sound is often (but not always) spelt as g before e, i, and y. The /dʒ/ sound is always spelt as j before a, o and u.

 

 

badge, edge, bridge, dodge, fudge

 

age, huge, change, charge, bulge, village

 

gem, giant, magic, giraffe, energy

 

jacket, jar, jog, join, adjust

Link

The /s/ sound spelt c before e, i and y

 

race, ice, cell, city, fancy

Link

 

 

The /n/ sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words

 

The ‘k’ and ‘g’ at the beginning of these words was sounded hundreds of years ago.

 

 

knock, know, knee, gnat, gnaw

Link

The /r/ sound spelt wr at the beginning of words

 

This spelling probably also reflects an old pronunciation.

 

write, written, wrote, wrong, wrap

Link

 

The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt – le at the end of words

 

The –le spelling is the most common spelling for this sound at the end of words.

 

 

table, apple, bottle, little, middle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link

The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt – el at the end of words

The –el spelling is much less common than –le.

 

The –el spelling is used after m, n, r, s, v, and more often than not after s.

camel, tunnel, squirrel, travel, towel, tinsel

The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt – al at the end of words

Not many nouns end in –al, but many adjectives do.

metal, pedal, capital, hospital, animal

Words ending

–il

There are not many of these words.

pencil, fossil, nostril

The /aɪ/ sound spelt –y at the end of words

This is by far the most common spelling for this sound at the end of words.

cry, fly, dry, try, reply, July

Link

Adding –es to nouns and verbs ending in –y

The is changed to before –es

is added.

flies, tries, replies, copies, babies, carries

Link

Adding –ed, – ing, –er and – est to a root word ending in –y with a consonant before it

The is changed to before –ed,

–er and –est are added, but not before – ing as this would result in ii. The only ordinary words with ii are skiing and taxiing.

copied, copier, happier, happiest, cried, replied

 

...but copying, crying, replying

Link

 

 

Adding the endings – ing,

–ed, –er, –est and –y to words ending in –e with a consonant before it

The –e at the end of the root word is dropped before –ing, – ed, –er,

–est, –y or any other suffix beginning with a vowel letter is added. Exception: being.

hiking, hiked, hiker, nicer, nicest, shiny

Link

Adding –ing,

–ed, –er, – est and –y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant letter after a single vowel letter

The last consonant letter of the root word is doubled to keep the

/æ/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/ sound (i.e.

to keep the vowel ‘short’).

 

Exception: The letter ‘x’ is never doubled: mixing, mixed, boxer, sixes.

patting, patted, humming, hummed, dropping, dropped, sadder, saddest, fatter, fattest, runner, runny

 

 

 

 

Link Link

The /ɔ:/ sound spelt a before l and ll

The /ɔ:sound (‘or’) is usually spelt as before and ll.

all, ball, call, walk, talk, always

Link

The /ʌ/ sound spelt o

 

other, mother, brother, nothing, Monday

Link

The /i:/ sound spelt –ey

The plural of these words is formed by the addition of –s (donkeys, monkeys, etc.).

key, donkey, monkey, chimney, valley

Link

The /ɒ/ sound spelt a after w and qu

is the most common spelling for the /ɒ(‘hot’) sound after and qu.

want, watch, wander, quantity, squash

 

 

 

 

 

Link

The /ɜ:/ sound spelt or after w

There are not many of these words.

word, work, worm, world, worth

The /ɔ:/ sound spelt ar after w

There are not many of these words.

war, warm, towards

The /ʒ/ sound spelt s

 

television, treasure, usual

Link

 

 

The suffixes

–ment, –

ness, –ful , – less and –ly

If a suffix starts with a consonant letter, it is added straight on to most root words without any change to the last letter of those words.

 

Exceptions:

  1.   argument
  2.   root words ending in –with a consonant before it but only if the root word has more than one syllable.

enjoyment, sadness, careful, playful, hopeless, plainness (plain + ness), badly

 

merriment, happiness, plentiful, penniless, happily

Link

Contractions

In contractions, the apostrophe shows where a letter or letters would be if the 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.

can’t, didn’t, hasn’t, couldn’t, it’s, I’ll

Link

The possessive apostrophe (singular nouns)

 

Megan’s, Ravi’s, the girl’s, the child’s, the man’s

Link

Words ending in –tion

 

station, fiction, motion, national, section

Link Link

Homophones and near- homophones

It is important to know the difference in meaning between homophones.

there/their/they’re, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, sun/son, to/too/two, be/bee, blue/blew, night/knight

Link Link Link

(all Level 1)

Common exception words

Some words are exceptions in some accents but not in others –

e.g. past, last, fast, path and bath are not exceptions in accents where the in these words is pronounced /æ/, as in cat.

 

Great, break and steak are the only common words where the /eɪ/ sound is spelt ea.

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

Link (Level 2)

 

 

Spelling – Years 3 and 4

 

 

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Game links

Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words of more than one syllable

If the last syllable of a word is stressed and ends with one consonant letter which has just one vowel letter before it, the final consonant letter is doubled before any ending beginning with a vowel letter is added. The consonant letter is not doubled if the syllable is unstressed.

forgetting, forgotten, beginning, beginner, prefer, preferred

 

gardening, gardener, limiting, limited, limitation

Link

The /ɪ/ sound spelt y elsewhere than at the end of words

These words should be learnt as needed.

myth, gym, Egypt, pyramid, mystery

Link

The /ʌ/ sound spelt as ou

These words should be learnt as needed.

young, touch, double, trouble, country

Link (Level 2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More prefixes

 

 

Most prefixes are added to the beginning of root words without any changes in spelling, but see in– below.

 

  • Like un–, the prefixes dis– and mis–

have negative meanings.

  • The prefix in– can mean both ‘not’ and

‘in’/‘into’. In the words given here it means ‘not’.

  • Before a root word starting with lin– becomes il.
  • Before a root word starting with or pin– becomes im–.
  • Before a root word starting with r, in–

becomes ir–.

  • re– means ‘again’ or ‘back’.
  • sub– means ‘under’.
  • inter– means ‘between’ or ‘among’.
  • super– means ‘above’.
  • anti– means ‘against’.
  • auto– means ‘self’ or ‘own’.
  • dis–: disappoint, disagree, disobey
  • mis–: misbehave, mislead, misspell (mis + spell)
  • in–: inactive, incorrect illegal, illegible
  • immature, immortal, impossible, impatient, imperfect
  • irregular, irrelevant, irresponsible
  • re–: redo, refresh, return, reappear, redecorate
  • sub–: subdivide, subheading, submarine, submerge
  • inter–: interact, intercity, international, interrelated (inter + related)
  • super–: supermarket, superman, superstar
  • anti–: antiseptic, anti- clockwise, antisocial
  • auto–: autobiography, autograph

Link

 

 

Link

 

 

Link

 

 

Link

 

 

 

The suffix – ation

 

The suffix –ation is added to verbs to form nouns. The rules already learnt still apply.

information, adoration, sensation, preparation, admiration

Link (Level 2) Link

The suffix –ly

The suffix –ly is added to an adjective to form an adverb. The rules already learnt still apply.

 

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 consonant letter before it, the is changed to i, but only if the root word has more than one syllable.

 

  1.   If the root word ends with –le, the – le is changed to –ly.

 

  1.   If the root word ends with –ic, –ally is added rather than just –ly, except in the word publicly.

 

  1.   The words trulyduly, wholly.

sadly, completely, usually (usual + ly), finally (final + ly), comically (comical + ly)

 

happily, angrily

 

gently, simply, humbly, nobly

 

basically, frantically, dramatically

Link (Levels 1

and 2) Link

Words with endings sounding like

/ʒə/ or /tʃə/

The ending sounding like /ʒəis always spelt –sure.

 

The ending sounding like /tʃəis often spelt –ture, but check that the word is not a root word ending in (t)ch with an er ending – e.g. teacher, catcher, richer, stretcher.

measure, treasure, pleasure, enclosure

 

creature, furniture, picture, nature, adventure

Link (Level 2)

Endings which sound like

/ʒən/

If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is spelt as –sion.

division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television

Link Link

The suffix – ous

Sometimes the root word is obvious and the usual rules apply for adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters.

poisonous, dangerous, mountainous, famous, various

Link

 

 

 

Sometimes there is no obvious root word.

 

–our is changed to –or before – ous is added.

 

A final ‘e’ of the root word must be kept if the /dʒ/ sound of ‘g’ is to be kept.

If there is an /i:/ sound before the – ous ending, it is usually spelt as i, but a few words have e.

tremendous, enormous, jealous

 

humorous, glamorous, vigorous

 

courageous, outrageous

 

serious, obvious, curious

hideous, spontaneous, courteous

 

 

Link

Endings which sound like

/ʃən/, spelt 

tion, –sion, – ssion, –cian

Strictly speaking, the suffixes are – ion and –ian. Clues about whether to put t, s, ss or before these suffixes often come from the last letter or letters of the root word.

 

–tion is the most common spelling. It is used if the root word ends in or te.

 

–ssion is used if the root word ends in ss or –mit.

 

–sion is used if the root word ends in or se.

Exceptions: attend – attention, intend – intention.

 

–cian is used if the root word ends in or cs.

invention, injection, action, hesitation, completion

 

expression, discussion, confession, permission, admission

 

expansion, extension, comprehension, tension

 

musician, electrician, magician, politician, mathematician

Link Link

Words with the

/k/ sound spelt ch (Greek in origin)

 

scheme, chorus, chemist, echo, character

Link

Words with the

/ʃ/ sound spelt ch (mostly French in origin)

 

chef, chalet, machine, brochure

Link

Words ending with the /g/ sound spelt – gue and the /k/ sound spelt –

 

league, tongue, antique, unique

Link

 

 

que (French in origin)

 

 

 

Words with the

/s/ sound spelt sc (Latin in origin)

In the Latin words from which these words come, the Romans probably pronounced the and the as two sounds rather than one – /s/ /k/.

science, scene, discipline, fascinate, crescent

Link

Words with the

/eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey

 

vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, they, obey

Link (Level 1)

Possessive apostrophe with plural words

The apostrophe is placed after the plural form of the word; –s is not added if the plural already ends in – s, but is added if the plural does not end in –s (i.e. is an irregular plural

– e.g. children’s).

girls’, boys’, babies’, children’s, men’s, mice’s

 

(Note: singular proper nouns ending in an use the ’s suffix e.g.

Cyprus’s population)

Link

Homophones and near- homophones

 

accept/except, affect/ effect, ball/bawl, berry/bury, brake/break, fair/fare, grate/great, groan/grown, here/hear, heel/heal/he’ll, knot/not, mail/male, main/mane, meat/meet, medal/meddle, missed/mist, peace/piece, plain/plane, rain/rein/reign, scene/seen, weather/ whether, whose/who’s

Link Link Link (Level 2) Link

Link

 

 

Spelling – Years 5 and 6

 

Statutory requirements

Rules and guidance (non-statutory)

Example words (non-statutory)

Game links

Endings which sound like

/ʃəs/ spelt –

cious or –tious

Not many common words end like this.

 

If the root word ends in –ce, the /ʃ/ sound is usually spelt as – e.g. vice

– vicious, grace – gracious, space – spacious, malice – malicious.

 

Exception: anxious.

vicious, precious, conscious, delicious, malicious, suspicious

 

ambitious, cautious, fictitious, infectious, nutritious

Link Link

 

Link

 

 

Endings which sound like /ʃəl/

–cial is common after a vowel letter and –tial after a consonant letter, but there are some exceptions.

 

Exceptions: initial, financial, commercial, provincial (the spelling of the last three is clearly related to finance, commerce and province).

 

 

official, special, artificial, partial, confidential, essential

Link

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words ending in –ant, – ance/–ancy, – ent, –ence/– ency

 

Use –ant and –ance/–ancy if there is a related word with a /æ/ or /eɪ/ sound in the right position; ation endings are often a clue.

 

Use –ent and –ence/–ency after soft (/s/ sound), soft (/dʒ/ sound) and qu, or if there is a related word with a clear /ɛ/ sound in the right position.

 

There are many words, however, where the above guidance does not help. These words just have to be learnt.

observant, observance, (observation), expectant (expectation), hesitant, hesitancy (hesitation), tolerant, tolerance (toleration), substance (substantial)

 

innocent, innocence, decent, decency, frequent, frequency, confident, confidence (confidential)

 

assistant, assistance, obedient, obedience, independent, independence

Link Link

 

 

 

 

Words ending in –able and – ible

 

Words ending in –ably and – ibly

The –able/–ably endings are far more common than the –ible/–ibly endings.

 

As with –ant and –ance/–ancy, the – able ending is used if there is a related word ending in –ation.

 

If the –able ending is added to a word ending in –ce or –ge, the after the or must be kept as those letters would otherwise have their ‘hard’ sounds (as in cap and gap) before the of the –able ending.

 

The –able ending is usually but not always used if a complete root word can be heard before it, even if there is no related word ending in –ation.

adorable/adorably (adoration),

 

applicable/applicably (application), considerable/considerably (consideration), tolerable/tolerably (toleration)

 

changeable, noticeable, forcible, legible

 

dependable, comfortable, understandable, reasonable, enjoyable, reliable

Link

 

 

 

Link

 

 

 

Link

 

 

Link

 

 

 

The first five examples opposite are obvious; in reliable, the complete word rely is heard, but the changes to in accordance with the rule.

 

The –ible ending is common if a complete root word can’t be heard before it but it also sometimes occurs when a complete word can be heard (e.g. sensible).

possible/possibly, horrible/horribly, terrible/terribly, visible/visibly, incredible/incredibly, sensible/sensibly

 

Adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in –fer

The is doubled if the –fer is still stressed when the ending is added.

 

The is not doubled if the –fer is no longer stressed.

 

referring, referred, referral, preferring, preferred, transferring, transferred

 

reference, referee, preference, transference

Link

Use of the hyphen

Hyphens can be used to join a prefix to a root word, especially if the prefix ends in a vowel letter and the root word also begins with one.

co-ordinate, re-enter, co- operate, co-own

Link

Words with the /i:/ sound spelt ei after c

The ‘before except after c’ rule applies to words where the sound spelt by ei is /i:/.

 

Exceptions: protein, caffeine, seize (and either and neither if pronounced with an initial /i:/ sound).

deceive, conceive, receive, perceive, ceiling

Link

Words containing the letter-string ough

ough is one of the trickiest spellings in English – it can be used to spell a number of different sounds.

ought, bought, thought, nought, brought, fought

 

rough, tough, enough cough

though, although, dough through

 

thorough, borough plough, bough

Link

Words with ‘silent’ letters (i.e. letters whose presence

Some letters which are no longer sounded used to be sounded hundreds of years ago: e.g. in knight, there was a /k/ sound before the /n/, and the gh used to

doubt, island, lamb, solemn, thistle, knight

Link

 

 

cannot be predicted from the pronunciation of the word)

represent the sound that ‘ch’ now represents in the Scottish word loch.

 

 

Homophones and other words that are often confused

In the pairs of words opposite, nouns end –ce and verbs end –se. Advice and advise provide a useful clue as the word advise (verb) is pronounced with a /z/ sound – which could not be spelt c.

advice/advise device/devise licence/license practice/practise prophecy/prophesy

 

farther: further father: a male parent

 

guessed: past tense of the verb guess

guest: visitor

 

heard: past tense of the verb

 

hear

 

herd: a group of animals led: past tense of the verb lead

lead: present tense of that verb, or else the metal which is very heavy (as heavy as lead)

 

morning: before noon mourning: grieving for someone who has died

 

past: noun or adjective referring to a previous time (e.g. In the past) or preposition or adverb showing place (e.g. he walked past me)

 

passed: past tense of the verb ‘pass’ (e.g. I passed him in the road)

Link Link Link Link Link

(Levels 2

and 3) Link

 

More examples:

 

aisle: a gangway between seats (in a church, train, plane).

isle: an island.

 

aloud: out loud. allowed: permitted.

 

affect: usually a verb (e.g. The weather may affect our plans). effect: usually a noun (e.g. It may

have an effect on our plans). If a verb, it means ‘bring about’ (e.g. He will effect changes in the running of the business).

 

altar: a table-like piece of furniture in a church.

alter: to change.

 

ascent: the act of ascending (going up). assent: to agree/agreement (verb and noun).

 

bridal: to do with a bride at a wedding. bridle: reins etc. for controlling a horse.

 

cereal: made from grain (e.g. breakfast cereal).

serial: adjective from the noun series

– a succession of things one after the other.

 

compliment: to make nice remarks about someone (verb) or the remark that is made (noun).

complement: related to the word

complete – to make something

 

 

 

complete or more complete (e.g. her scarf complemented her outfit).

 

descent: the act of descending (going down).

dissent: to disagree/disagreement (verb and noun).

 

desert: as a noun – a barren place (stress on first syllable); as a verb – to abandon (stress on second syllable) dessert: (stress on second syllable) a sweet course after the main course of a meal.

 

draft: noun – a first attempt at writing something; verb – to make the first attempt; also, to draw in someone (e.g. to draft in extra help)

 

draught: a current of air.

precede: go in front of or before

proceed: go on

 

principal: adjective – most important (e.g. principal ballerina) noun – important person (e.g. principal of a college)

 

principle: basic truth or belief

 

profit: money that is made in selling things

prophet: someone who foretells the future

 

stationary: not moving stationery: paper, envelopes etc.

 

steal: take something that does not belong to you steel: metal

wary: cautious weary: tired who’s: contraction of who is

or who has

whose: belonging to someone (e.g. Whose jacket is that?)

 

Years 5 and 6 NC word list

 

Link

 


 

Converted to HTML with WordToHTML.net

We would love to hear from you
Whitley Village Primary School
Village lane, Lower Whitley, WA4 4QH
The Rowan Learning Trust
18 Beecham Court, Goose Green, Wigan, WN3 6PR
Whitley Village School is a member of the Rowan Learning Trust. Company No. 8010464, Reg. Office: 18 Beecham Court, Goose Green, Wigan, WN3 6PR

Student Login

STAFF LOGIN
PARENT LOGIN
SCHOOL BLOGS