Classical Foundations Spelling Rules Page

This page is inspired by (and much borrowed from) the work of Linda Shrock Taylor, Dolores G. Hiskes’s Phonics Pathways, and my own experience in teaching reading and spelling for beginner pupils and pupils lacking a foundation in spelling principles.

Today, schools tend to teach a mixture of methods (in the great drive to plurality and polylogism) predominantly employing forms of look-say, in which pupils have to learn ten words a week for the school year, which means that if they are consistently given out, pupils may learn 380 words a year. To become a competent reader and speller, Linda advises that we need to learn about 200,000 words, which at ten words a week would take us 384 years!! Yikes. On the other hand, the 29 spelling rules give access to most of the words in the English language!

Critics enjoy pointing out the exceptions to the rules, but there can only be exceptions if there are rules in the first place. Ignoring the rules damages our ability to spell, write, and read. Critics also miss the fact that their exceptions are often covered by other rules or are imported foreign words or remainders from the long and convoluted history of the English language with its many dialects and imports. Often an exception to the rule has an entertaining history to uncover - e.g., want comes from Scandanavian words waante and wont, evolving into the wont sound we now use with the want spelling; come derives from cum and kom, and the e was put their by Medieval scribes desirous of following some fashion or other (source: Oxford English Dictionary).

The table below is a work in progress: teaching (and learning) the rules with pupils draws attention to the exceptions or problems in explaining the rules; I have adapted and will no doubt continue to adapt the order, or emphasis, according to pupils’ reactions and my own thinking. Thus far, I have tried to begin with the simpler rules before advancing to more complex rules – just as with reading, we begin with short vowel sounds before moving onto long vowel sounds and their respective spellings (c-a-t before d-a-y, and d-a-y before m-a-k-e or r-a-i-d or r-e-i-g-n!).

The following rules are designed to help spelling – to expand reading abilities, we need to know how to pronounce the vowels (a,e,i,y,o,u), consonant blends (bl, fr, thr, etc.) and the varieties of diphthongs (oo, au, ou, ea, ai, etc.) and silent letters (climb, know, race) that the English language throws our way. For that, the reader should embrace phonics – not only do phonic methods work effectively but they are also the methods by which we begin our learning of other languages! Schools don’t seem to put the two together though (ooh neat combination there – ough has five main sounds, -uff, uh, ow, or, off), for when we pick up a French dictionary, we are provided with phonetic instructions on how to sound the words – so why not start our kids off on the same path in their own tongue?

Constructive comments from considerate people always welcome.

Dr Alexander Moseley.

Spelling Rules
Spelling Rule Number and Name	Rule	Examples	Notes
1. The q and u rule
	The letter q is always followed by a u and says /kw/	queen, quiet, quick	queue comes from the French!
2. s and x
	s is never followed by x.
3. z rule
	Words beginning with /z/ sound are spelled with a z. Words ending in z double the z, but single short syllable words ending in /z/ can also end in s.	zoo zirconium jazz buzz is as has his
4. ay? or ai?
	ay is used at the end of words and says /ā/, while ai is used between consonants and usually says /ā/ but in one case it can say /e/	bay day clay main paint complaint frail NB said	As far as I can tell, said originated from short vowel Old English and Germanic roots; by the 13^th C said has replaced seien and secgan. Earlier Indo-European root is sek^w
5. No i endings
	Never end an English word with an i – y does the job.	cry my shy fly	Exception: hi! which used to be ‘hy’ till the 19thC.
6. i and y rules
	The letters i and y may say, in order of frequency, /î/, /ī/, /ē/, /y/	in silent police onions gym my baby yo-yos.
7. Long and short i and o rules
	Letters i and o say /ī/ and /ō/ when followed by two consonants, and î and ô if followed by double ll.	find kind told sold kill thrill doll follow
8. Beginning k rule
	The /k/ sound at the beginning of a word is spelled k if followed by e or i.	keg key kit kind kick	Similarly with consonant blends – sketch skim skirt
9. ending /k/ rule
	/k/ is spelled ck at the end of short syllable words, -k at the end of long syllable words, but c at the end of multi-syllable words	lack lick lock luck meek seek ark park traffic frolic sonic panic terrific fantastic	Compare hick with hike, Mick with Mike
10 Double l, f, s, z rules
	When a single short-vowel word ends in l, f, s, or z, we double the letters to keep the short vowel sound	tell will miff hiss jazz buzz
11. The c rules
	The letter c followed by e, i, or y says /s/; followed by another vowel c is said as /k/	cent, city, cycle cat, cot, cut scar, scotch, scuttle
12. The g rules
	The g followed by e, i, or y is usually says as /j/ but can say /g/. Followed by any other letter g says /g/.	gentle, giant, gypsum; BUT get, girl, give. gap, got, gut
13. Open syllable rule
	Vowels a, e, o, and u say their names (ā ē ō ū) at the end of an open syllable.	grāvy; mē; ōpen; mūsic	NB two letter words ending in e always have an ē sound.
14. r rules the vowels
	The letter r changes vowel sounds – ar usually becomes /är/ but can become /ôr/; -er usually becomes /ur/; -ir becomes /ur/; or usually sounds /or/ or /ur/ after w-; ur usually becomes /ur/. When r is mixed in with a, e, or i, it may sound /âr/	cart, farm war, warm, warp farmer, lover firm, birth form, doctor fur, spur air, fair, bear, their, heir	See /ur/ sounds.
15. i before e except after c
	i usually comes before e unless it follows c; if we say /ā/, we can also use ei.	believe piece niece receive deceive conceit ceiling /ā/ vein neighbour	Exceptions: neither foreign sovereign seized leisure either weird protein heifer
Silent final e rules Silent final e has several jobs to do:
16a.
Magic e	Silent final e makes the preceding vowel say its name.	name, race, hive, gene, hope	most common use of silent final e. Note 7b though!
16b.
No u v endings	Silent final e ensures that we never end an English word with u or v.	give, have, love; true blue glue	Note how love is not lōv, but lûv – ends in a v but employs an e to secure the rule
16c.
e softens c or g	Silent final e softens a preceding c or g (cf. rule 3)	chance, bodice, charge, lunge,	Complex rule that captures other rules too.
16d.
Syllables have vowels!	Silent final e ensures that final syllables have a vowel	little bottle, double trouble, uncle dabble,	Hear the second syllble ‘ul’ – it needs a vowel, so e does the job.
16e.
	Silent final e helps to distinguish between homophones	or – ore for – fore
16f.
	Silent final e ensures that a singular noun (or -s adjective) does not end in s	nurse, purse, dense
16g.
e adds length	Silent final e adds length to short main idea words	awe ewe eye
16h.
olde English words	Silent final e that was once pronounced	giraffe, treatise
Complex sounds
17.
/ur/ sounds	Five spellings for /ur/: er, ur, ir, wor, ear	her nurse first works early	in order of frequency.
18.
Three –ed rule	-ed has three sounds: words ending in /d/ or /t/ are sounded /ed/; voiced consonant endings make –ed say /d/; unvoiced consonant endings make –ed say /t/	parted – parte’d sided – sid’ed lived – livd jumped - jumpt
19.
dge rule	dge /j/ can only be used after a short vowel	bridge fudge badge
20.
sh rules	sh is used at the beginning or ending of a base word (she, dish) and at the end of a syllable (finish), but not at the beginning of a second syllable (except for –ships_	she shed dish lush finish punish worship, friendship
21.
ti, si, ci, rules	ti, si, ci, say /sh/ at the beginning of a second or subsequent syllable	nation potion emotion session facial
22.
si following s rule	si says /sh/ when the preceding syllable ends in s or when a base word ending in s changes	session possession discussion tense = tension (dropping silent final e)
23.
/zh/ sounds	si may also say /zh/ as does sure following an e syllable.	division occasion pleasure leisure measure
Changes to words rules
24.
Short sound syllables double up suffixes	A short syllable word with V-C form doubles up the last letter with suffixes (unless already doubled). Long vowel words do not double up.	hop = hopping throb = throbbing flap = flapping fun = funny bun = bunny spill = spilled thrill = thrilling hope = hoping smoke = smoking pine = pining dine = dining muse = musing	Okay, buns and bunnies are different entities, but it sounds fun.
25.
2-1-1 accented second syllable rule	Words that have two syllables which accent the second and which are followed by one consonant need to double that consonant for any vowel suffixes. If the second syllable is not accented, do not double the consonant.	begin’ = beginning BUT en’ter = entering prof’it = profiting budg’et = budgeting
26.
Drop the e rule	Words ending in silent final e drop the e with suffixes beginning with a vowel.	come = coming hope = hoping	i.e., avoids an awkward ei conjunction (comeing, hopeing) that would suggest to pronounce the e
27.
Doubling f, s and l	The letters l, f, and s are often doubled when ending a one syllable word	will fill pull miss kiss	sometimes applies to two syllable words like recess, ingress, digress
28.
Drop the first l rule	All written alone as ll, but when used as a prefix one l is dropped	all = always, almost
29.
Drop the last l rule	Till and full lose an l when used as suffixes	till = until full = beautiful
30.
y to i rules	y changes to i with suffixes except –ing or when the y is preceded with a u.	worry – worried BUT worrying hurry – hurried BUT hurrying cry – cries, cried BUT crying funny – funniest rely – reliable buy = buys, buying
31.
c to k suffix rule	A word ending in c changes to -ck for the subsequent suffix	mimic = mimicking panic = panicked picnic = picnicking

Plurals

Usually add an s

unless ending in –sh, -ch, -tch, z, or s = end in es /ez/ (dishes, witches)

Words ending in y = ies (bunnies)

Words ending in f = ves (loaves, wives, wolves)