SPELL LIKE A
CHAMPION
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Contents editorial staff
iv
introduction: Why is Spelling Important?
1
chapter one: Why We Misspell 9 chapter two: The Spelling Rules You Really Need to Know 47 chapter three: Ways to Improve Your Spelling 70 chapter four: Where Does English Spelling Come From? 90 chapter five: Prefixes and Suffixes 125 chapter six: Further Building Blocks in Spelling 149 puzzles 173 answers to exercises 233 answers to puzzles 245 subject spelling lists 261 Art
261
D&T
264
Drama
269
English
271
Geography
281
History
285
ICT
289
Library
292
Mathematics
295
Music
299
PE
301
PSHE
303
RE
306
Science
glossary
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INTRODUCTION Why is Spelling Important? The main reason spelling is important is communication. Communication is a two-way process – understanding others and making yourself understood.
Understanding other people If you are a confident speller, you will be able to read and understand written material easily and efficiently. Reading will probably be more fun, so you will read more. As a result, your reading, spelling and writing are likely to improve.
Making yourself understood If your writing is full of spelling mistakes, other people may find it hard to understand what you are trying to say. If a word is spelled incorrectly, they may struggle to work out which word you meant. If you are trying to persuade them to take your side in an argument, it may be more difficult to convince them. Poor spelling reduces the appeal and effectiveness of written work.
The spelling debate Do you think that your school is wasting your time teaching you how to spell? Do you think that it’s fine as
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CHAPTER ONE Why We Misspell English is generally considered to be a hard language to spell. Why is that? Well, there are four main reasons.
1. Words that sound the same have different spellings. These are known as homophones, from Greek homos meaning ‘same’ and phōnē meaning ‘sound’. There are a large number of these in English and people often get confused about which spelling is correct. For example: altar alter
part of a church to change
break brake
to damage to stop a vehicle
coarse course
vulgar route
cue queue
prompt line of people waiting
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10 • Why We Misspell
dual duel
double fight between two people
flair flare
talent flame
hoard horde
hidden store large crowd
led lead
past tense of verb ‘lead’ metal
licence license
certificate giving permission to grant a licence
miner minor
person who digs for coal of lesser importance
practice practise
repetition of an activity to repeat an activity
principal principle
most important and the most important person standard or rule
stationary stationery
not moving writing materials
their they’re there
belonging to them short for ‘they are’ in that place
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20 • Why We Misspell
Some Commonly Misspelled Words a aardvark
actually
agility
ability
addict
agricultural
able
addiction
agriculture
abroad
addition
alcohol
abscess
address
alkaline
abseil
adieu
alliteration
absorb
adjacent
alphabet
abstract
advertise
alphabetical
accelerate
advertisement
alternate
accommodation
aerate
although
achieve
aeronautical
amateur
achievement
aerosol
ameliorate
acid
aesthetic
amenity
acquire
aficionado
amount
acrylic
aggravate
amphibian
active
aggressive
anaesthesia
activity
agile
anaesthetic
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Why We Misspell • 21
analgesic
apparatus
athletic
analyse
apparent
atlas
analysis
applause
atmosphere
androgynous
approval
audacious
angle
approve
audible
anoint
approximately
audience
Antarctic
apropos
auspicious
antediluvian
aqueduct
author
anthology
arbitrary
authority
apartheid
archaeology
autumn
apartment
archetypal
average
apocryphal
argument
axes
apostrophe
artefact
axis
appal
article
appalling
athlete
b bachelor
beguile
biased
bait
beige
Bible
baptism
believe
biblical
baroque
beneath
bicep
beautiful
besiege
binary
beginning
bias
bivouac
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Why We Misspell • 43
EXERCISE 1 _____________ walked down the street. It was an ____________ day and the colourful trees _______________ in the morning light. “What a wonderful ________,” he said to himself. He was a _______________ who studied _________________ as a student. He was looking for a road _____________ to find his tutor. He had _____________ an essay showing off his _______________ and he was keen to show his tutor. He _____________ his step. He mustn’t take the __________ road. He gave a __________ smile to himself; he _____________ he would get A+ for this work – no _____________ at all.
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