PLURAL RULE ONE
PLURAL RULE TWO
Most words add ‘s’ to make the plural
Add ‘es’ to words ending in ‘ch’, ‘sh’
‘s’, ‘ss’, ‘x’ or ‘z’ to make the plural
one apple
desk
name
town
card
Try these …
pencil book
tree
desks
names
towns
cards
two apples
teacher
park
month
truck
cup
pad
plant
teachers
parks
months
trucks
one box
beach
fox
cross
pitch
Try these …
church gas
class
beaches
foxes
crosses
pitches
many boxes
wish
bus
waltz
hutch
quiz
wax
dish
wishes
buses
waltzes
hutches
PLURAL RULE THREE
PLURAL RULE FOUR
When the letter before a ‘y’ is a consonant,
change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding an ‘es’
When words end in ‘ay’, ‘ey’, ‘iy’, ‘oy’
and ‘uy’ add an ‘s’ to make the plural
one baby
city
pony
filly
cities
ponies
fillies
Try these …
family daisy
army
nappy two babies
berry
reply
belly
berries
replies
bellies
lady
jelly
party
cherry
one donkey
boy
pulley
relay
boys
pulleys
relays
Try these …
day
monkey
tray
trolley
two donkeys
play
grey
alley
plays
greys
alleys
satay
valley
delay
key
PLURAL RULE FIVE
PLURAL RULE SIX
When words end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ change
the ‘f’ or ‘fe’ to a ‘v’ before adding ‘es’
When a word ends in ‘o’ and comes after
a consonant, add ‘es’ to make the plural
one knife
two knives
one dingo
leaf
wife
thief
leaves
wives
thieves
wolf
elf
life
wolves
elves
lives
Try these …
half
hoof
loaf
shelf
self
calf
Exceptions – cliffs, chiefs, roofs, dwarfs & handkerchiefs
cargo
potato
avocado
cargoes
mango
potatoes
hero
avocadoes buffalo
two dingoes
mangoes
heroes
buffaloes
Try these …
volcano
tomato
domino
echo
mosquito torpedo Exceptions – pianos, solos, banjos, Eskimos and radios
PLURAL RULE SEVEN
PLURAL RULE EIGHT
Sometimes, a word may completely
change its form when a plural is made
Sometimes, a word may stay the same
in both its singular and plural form
one child
person
goose
fungus
people
geese
fungi
Try these …
foot
mouse
tooth
one fish
two children
criterion
nucleus
man
woman
cactus
dice
criteria
nuclei
men
bream
aircraft
salmon
bream
aircraft
salmon
Try these …
species
deer
offspring
two fish
series
trout
moose
sheep
perch
tuna
series
trout
moose
PLURAL RULE NINE
PLURAL RULE TEN
It maybe confusing making compound words into plural
forms. In all cases the first word is made plural.
Many words, particularly from other languages
have exceptions when making them plural
one analysis of data – two analyses of data
Maxine is terrified of men of war jelly fish.
brother in law
court martial
attorney general
Try these …
son in law
heir apparent
passer by
brothers in law
courts martial
attorneys general
Other examples are …
curriculum
criterion
antenna
bureau
curricula
criteria
antennae
bureaux
appendix
index
focus
corpus
appendices
indices
foci
corpora *
Try these …
octopus
basis
formula
gateau
datum
crisis
* quite tricky and uncommon
SPELLING RULE ONE
SPELLING RULE TWO
When a word ends with a short vowel followed by a
consonant, double the last consonant before adding ‘ed’
When action words end with an ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ss’, ‘x’, or
a ‘z’ and ‘es’ is added to make the present tense.
The girls skip.
The girls skipped.
Fiona waltzes most Tuesday nights with Jim.
drop
admit
occur
dropped
admitted
occurred
Try these …
trip
mop
submit
trim
shop
flip
trot
rub
prefer
trimmed
shopped
flipped
cross
wax
fish
crosses
waxes
fishes
Try these …
buzz
watch
push
catch
relax
reach
tax
pass
fix
catches
relaxes
reaches
SPELLING RULE THREE
SPELLING RULE FOUR
When an action word ends with a consonant followed by a ‘y’,
change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding ‘es’
Double the consonant before adding ‘ing’ to words that have a
short vowel followed by a consonant at the end
Grandad was sitting in his chair all morning.
The pirate buries his treasure with great care.
empty
try
carry
empties
tries
carries
Try these …
hurry
fly
worry
tidy
copy
fry
dry
dirty
apply
tidies
copies
fries
stop
wrap
step
stopping
wrapping
stepping
Try these …
trap
rip
chop
slam
nod
skip
slamming
nodding
skipping
beg
map
rub
SPELLING RULE FIVE
SPELLING RULE SIX
When a word ends in a silent ‘e’, drop the ‘e’ before
adding an ‘ing’ The magic ‘e’ runs away !
When a word ends in double consonant, do not double
the last letter before adding an ‘ing’
Ian loves platform diving on his weekends.
Kellie has been thinking about marrying Ridge.
move
taste
race
moving
tasking
racing
Try these …
love
change hope
hide
chase
wipe
hiding
chasing
wiping
store
drive
stare
Exception – be being
report
bump
wash
reporting
bumping
washing
copy
work
dust
copying
working
dusting
Try these …
carry
hurry
spy
bend
camp
scratch For words ending in ‘y’ leave the ‘y’ and add ‘ing’
SPELLING RULE SEVEN
SPELLING RULE EIGHT
For action words that end in ‘ie’, change
the ‘ie’ to a ‘y’ before adding an ‘ing’
Often ‘ly’ is added to base words to turn them
into adverbs, adjectives or describing words
Rynell bungy jumped carefully from the tower.
Bryan enjoys lying on his back to watch clouds.
Try these …
tie
lie
die
love
slow
main
lovely
slowly
mainly
Try these …
rude
quick
soft
smart
pure
nice
kind
loud
glad
smartly
purely
nicely
SPELLING RULE NINE
SPELLING RULE TEN
When adding ‘ly’ to words which end in ‘y’, change the
‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding the ‘ly’
When the suffix ‘full’ is added to the end of a base word,
one of the ‘ls’ has to be dropped
Janelle paints colourful works of art.
Kirsty scored the goal quite daintily.
happy
merry
easy
happily
merrily
easily
Try these …
hungry
weary
heavy
busy
pretty
cosy
necessary
day
angry
busily
prettily
cosily
hope
cheer
thank
hopeful
cheerful
thankful
Try these …
truth
play
fear
taste
use
force
tasteful
useful
forceful
peace
dread
joy
eg; ‘thankful’ means full of thanks
SPELLING RULE ELEVEN
SPELLING RULE TWELVE
Before adding ‘er’ and ‘est’ to words ending in a consonant,
followed by a ‘y’, change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’
Double the last letter before adding ‘er’ or ‘est’ to words that have
a short vowel followed a single consonant
Dean is the skinniest member at the local gym.
lazy
lovely
mighty
lazier
loveliest
mightier
Try these …
sandy
happy
curly
salty
funny
heavy
saltiest
funnier
heaviest
crazy
fancy
dry
These new words are called degrees of comparison
Lyne has become a great ocean swimmer.
fit
slim
rob
fittest
slimmest
robber
Try these …
spin
sit
drum
travel
win
slip
traveller
winner
slipper
run
begin
stop
SPELLING RULE THIRTEEN
SPELLING RULE FOURTEEN
Double the last letter of words ending in a short vowel followed by
a single consonant before adding a ‘y’
Just add a ‘y’ to words ending in two
consonants to form describing words
Ricky enjoys lying back on a sunny day.
The last few days have been quite windy in Moura.
rag
shag
cat
raggy
shaggy
catty
Try these …
run
wool
fur
wit
fog
fun
mud
skin
bad
witty
foggy
funny
dirt
might
thirst
dirty
mighty
thirsty
Try these …
rock
wealth
chill
trick
health
sand
tricky
healthy
sandy
filth
smart
fuss
bone
ice
rose
SPELLING RULE FIFTEEN
SPELLING RULE SIXTEEN
For words ending in a silent ‘e’, you
must first drop the ‘e’ before adding a ‘y’
To indicate possession or ownership by a person or
object, an apostrophe (‘) followed by an ‘s’ is added
Kookaburras are very noisy birds.
Billy’s horse bucked him at the rodeo.
bony
icy
rosy
Try these …
flake
taste
spike
smoke
stone
race
scare
nose
laze
smoky
stony
racy
horse
Jenny
office
horse’s
Jenny’s
office’s
Try these …
Santa
Moura
Peter
Billy
bird
Nigel
Billy’s
Bird’s
Nigel’s
car
Mary
shoe
SPELLING RULE SEVENTEEN
SPELLING RULE EIGHTEEN
To indicate ownership by a person whose name ends in an
‘s’ or a plural noun, just add an apostrophe (‘)
An apostrophe (‘) is also used to create a contraction, indicating
where a letter or letters have been left out
Camilla rubbed the sunscreen on Charles’ chest.
She’s really looking forward to the ballet recital.
poets
gases
Lewis
poets’
gases’
Lewis’
Try these …
flowers
Dennis
class
Gladys
babies
Ross
Gladys’
babies’
Ross’
Chris
bottles
boss
I am
she would
who is
I’m
she’d
who’s
Try these …
you are
it is
can not
they had
do not
let us
they’d
don’t
let’s
where is
he is
she will
SPELLING RULE NINETEEN
SPELLING RULE TWENTY
‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’
CAPITAL LETTERS are used at the
beginning of names and places
Many people believe unicorns exist.
rel__ve
dec__t
w__rd
relieve
deceit
wierd
Try these …
rec__ve
n__ghbour anc__nt
c__ling
v__n
glac__r
ceiling
vein
glacier
th__r
fr__nd
rec__pt
Remember … there are ALWAYS exceptions !
Uluru is a well known Australian landmark.
brisbane
luke
moura
Brisbane
Luke
Moura
Try these …
adelaide
donald
mackay
rebecca
yeppoon
mikarla
Rebecca
Yeppoon
Mikarla
phillip
gladstone
alex
SPELLING RULE TWENTY ONE
SPELLING RULE TWENTY TWO
Prefixes can be added to base words to create new words.
Prefixes ending in vowels are added directly to base words.
Sometimes negative prefixes are added to words
to create new words and change their meaning
It is important to try to recycle any items we can.
Some people say it’s impossible for cows to talk.
re+move
de+frost
para+chute
remove
defrost
parachute
Try these …
tri+angle
kilo+metre auto+graph tele+vision
re+gain
giga+byte
de+void
re+align
multi+age
television
regain
gigabyte
un+well
dis+miss
in+ferior
unwell
dismiss
inferior
mis+spell
im+patient
mal+treat
misspell
impatient
maltreat
Create new words using these prefixes …
non+
anti+
sub+
dys+
ab+
mis+
SPELLING RULE TWENTY THREE
SPELLING RULE TWENTY FOUR
Prefixes can be added to roots to form new words.
Roots often have meanings from other languages.
When adding a vowel suffix to words ending
in a silent ‘e’, drop the ‘e’ and add the suffix.
Mr Smith may predict * a hot summer again.
Vikings lived many, many years ago.
di+vide
audi+ble
pro+ceed
divide
audible
proceed
inter+cept
de+tatch
auto+matic
intercept
detatch
automatic
Try these …
chron+ic
ex+ceed
cred+ible per+mit
meta+phor poly+gon * ‘pre’ means ‘before’ and ‘dict’ means ‘speak’
store+age
forgive+en
pale+est
storage
forgiven
palest
lived
live+ed
manage+er manager
amaze+ing amazing
Try these …
nice+est
like+en
grave+ity use+ing
arrive+al
forge+ery Remember … there are always exceptions to the rule !
SPELLING RULE TWENTY FIVE
SPELLING RULE TWENTY SIX
The letter ‘g’ may have a soft or hard sound.
A soft ‘g’ is usually followed by an ‘i’ or ‘e’.
A hard ‘g’ is usually followed by a consonant or an ‘a’, ‘o’ or ‘u’
The letter ‘c’ may have a soft or hard sound.
When ‘c’ meets an ‘a’, ‘o’ or ‘u’ its sound is hard.
When ‘c’ meets an ‘e’, ‘i’ or ‘y’ its sound is soft.
‘g’ in ‘golf’ is hard
cards (hard c)
gypsy
goat
goose
soft
hard
hard
‘g’ in ‘gem’ is soft
general
gel
goblet
Which are hard and which are soft ?
gym
gutter
ginger
giant
gas
gather
soft
soft
hard
candle
cymbals
cave
hard c
soft c
hard c
centipede (soft c)
cuddle
circus
curly
Identify which are hard and soft ?
caring
cycle
citizen
cat
comedy
circle
hard c
soft c
hard c
SPELLING RULE TWENTY SEVEN
SPELLING RULE TWENTY EIGHT
CAPITAL letters are used to spell the names
of proper nouns, including people and places
Homophones are words that have the same
sound but a different meaning and spelling.
Lloyd is an accomplished bowler in Moura.
adelaide
luke
lion’s park
Adelaide
Luke
Lion’s Park
Try these …
biloela
christmas rover
qantas
mazda
english
jessica
july
australia
Qantas
Mazda
English
A pair of scissors.
route
allowed
pause
root
aloud
paws
The pear is a sweet fruit.
principal
maid
days
principle
made
daze
Write another word that sounds the same as …
practise
main
male
threw
four
not
SPELLING RULE TWENTY NINE
SPELLING RULE THIRTY
A homographs is a word that may have
more than one meaning or pronunciation.
Sometimes when writing, words may be shortened.
These are known as abbreviations.
A calculator is a useful object.
The Lawyer said, “I object !”
Other examples …
The front of a ship; to bend or a knot
bow
A breeze or to turn around
wind
To leave people or a dry, arid place
desert
Can you identify the different meanings ?
close
excuse
wound
I need to make an appointment to see Dr Phillips.
Other examples …
km
kilometre
cm
centimetre
Aust
Australia
Try these …
kilogram
example
approximately
Street
Anonymous
ante meridian
St
anon
a.m.
page
Queensland
second