11 Rules (And Their

Exceptions) to Help Conquer

Your Spelling Woes

ISTOCK

English spelling can be frustrating and confusing, but there are

things you can do to help make the task of getting it right more
manageable. Here are some rules of thumb—and their
exceptions—that you can use to conquer your spelling woes.

1. -IBLE OR -ABLE?

The word ending meaning “able to be” should sometimes be –

able, as in acceptable and sometimes should be –ible as
in invincible. Most of the time, if you’ve still got a full word
when you strip the ending off (accept+able), you should go
with –able. If you’re left with something that isn’t a full word
(invinc+ible) go with –ible. Watch out for the small set of –
ible words that do attach to full words (accessible, convertible,
flexible) and for non-full word stems that end in a
hard c or g sound. Those take –able(amicable, despicable,
indefatigable, navigable).
2. TO DOUBLE THE CONSONANT OR NOT?

When adding –ed or –ing to a verb, sometimes you should double

the final consonant (refer becomes referring) and sometime you
shouldn’t (enter becomes entered). Generally, do not double the
consonant unless you’ve got a one syllable word that ends with a
single vowel followed by a single consonant
(hit to hitting, stop to stopping) or a two syllable word that ends
in same way and has stress on the second syllable
(admit to admitted, begin to beginning). Some words are
acceptable with or without the doubling, such
as canceled/cancelled or traveled/travelled.

3. IE or EI

You may have heard the rule “i before e except after c.” This
doesn’t work if the word has an “ay” vowel sound (as in weigh,
neigh, sleigh), comes from the Latin root sci- (science,
conscience, omniscient), is the plural of a word ending in –
cy (mercies), doesn’t have an “ee” vowel sound (heir, their), or is
just one of those words that doesn’t follow any of the rules
(protein, weird, ancient, seize).

4. KEEP OR DROP THE E?

What do you do when you have to add a suffix to a word that ends
in e? Keep it (grace+ful=graceful) or drop it
(dance+ing=dancing)? Generally if the suffix begins with a
consonant you keep the e and if it begins with a vowel you drop.
However, if the final consonant sound is a soft c or g, you might
keep the e with –able (noticeable, changeable) or –ous
(outrageous).
5. CHANGE Y TO I

To make the plural of a word that ends in y, you must change

the y+s to -ies, as in buddy/buddies, penny/pennies, or fry/fries.
You don’t make that change, however, if the word is spelled with
a vowel before the y(donkey/donkeys, Sunday/Sundays, toy/toys).

6. ADD S OR ES?

Add –es to make a plural if the word ends

in sh (bushes), ch (churches), x(boxes), s (kisses), or z (waltzes).
If the word ends in f, change it to v and add -es (half/halves,
knife/knives). Otherwise, just add -s.

7. –IFY OR –EFY?

The –ify or –efy ending means “to make so.” Most of the time,
the –ifyversion is correct (beautify, justify, purify). There are only
a few words that take –efy, and you can just memorize
them: liquefy, putrefy, rarefy, and stupefy.

8. CEDE, CEED, OR SEDE?

All you have to remember is that there is only one verb with this
ending spelled as -sede (supersede). There are three spelled with -
ceed (exceed, proceed, succeed) and the rest use -cede (intercede,
concede, etc.).

9. POTATOES OR POTATOS?

The word for the single object is potato (not potatoe), but when
you pluralize it you add an –es, making it potatoes. Words that
end in a consonant followed by an o take the –es ending (echoes,
heroes, tornadoes, volcanoes, buffaloes) but if they end in a
vowel followed by an o they just take -s (patios, studios). The
exceptions are musical terms (sopranos, solos, concertos),
shortened words (photos, autos), and borrowed words (gauchos,
tacos).

10. FOR OR FORE?

The prefix for- is used in fewer words than fore-. You can
remember which one to use by paying attention to their different
meanings. For- has the idea of prohibition or doing without
(forbid, forgo, forget) while fore- has the idea of advance or “in
front of” (foresight, forearm, forehead, foretell,
foreword). While forgo is to do without, forego means to go in
front (but is hardly ever used anymore, except in the expression
“foregone conclusion”).

11. CH OR TCH?

If a word ends in a final “ch” sound, it may be spelled with a

plain ch(reach) or a tch (watch). In general, if the “ch” sound
follows a two vowel spelling, it should be a plain ch, and if it
follows a one vowel spelling it should be tch. However, some
very common words are exceptions to this (which, rich, much,
such).

Armed with these handy spelling tricks, you just might be ready to
take on the pint-sized geniuses on Lifetime’s Child Genius: Battle
of the Brightest. Tune in to the season premiere Thursday,
January 7 th at 8/7c to see how your skills stack up.
 Plural Nouns: Rules and Examples
BASICS
Most singular nouns are made plural by simply putting an -s at the
end. There are many different rules regarding pluralization depending
on what letter a noun ends in. Irregular nouns do not follow plural
noun rules, so they must be memorized or looked up in the dictionary.

Plural Noun Rules

There are many plural noun rules, and because we use nouns so
frequently when writing, it’s important to know all of them! The
correct spelling of plurals usually depends on what letter the singular
noun ends in.

1 To make regular nouns plural, add -s to the end.

cat – cats
house – houses

2 If the singular noun ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z, add -es to
the end to make it plural.
truss – trusses
bus – buses
marsh – marshes
lunch – lunches
tax – taxes
blitz – blitzes

3 In some cases, singular nouns ending in -s or -z, require that you

double the -s or -z prior to adding the -es for pluralization.
fez – fezzes
gas –gasses
4 If the noun ends with -f or -fe, the f is often changed to -ve
before adding the -s to form the plural version.
wife – wives
wolf – wolves
Exceptions:
roof – roofs
belief – beliefs
chef – chefs
chief – chiefs

5 If a singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the -y is a

consonant, change the ending to -ies to make the noun plural.
city – cities
puppy – puppies

6 If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the -y is a

vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.
ray – rays
boy – boys

7 If the singular noun ends in -o, add -es to make it plural.

potato – potatoes
tomato – tomatoes
Exceptions:
photo – photos
piano – pianos
halo – halos
With the unique word volcano, you can apply the standard
pluralization for words that end in -o or not. It’s your choice! Both of
the following are correct:
volcanoes
volcanos

8 If the singular noun ends in -us, the plural ending is

frequently -i.
cactus – cacti
focus – foci

9 If the singular noun ends in -is, the plural ending is -es.

analysis – analyses
ellipsis – ellipses

10 If the singular noun ends in -on, the plural ending is -a.

phenomenon – phenomena
criterion – criteria

11 Some nouns don’t change at all when they’re pluralized.

sheep – sheep
series – series
species – species
deer –deer
You need to see these nouns in context to identify them as singular or
plural. Consider the following sentence:
Mark caught one fish, but I caught three fish.

Plural Noun Rules for Irregular Nouns

Irregular nouns follow no specific rules, so it’s best to memorize these
or look up the proper pluralization in the dictionary.
child – children
goose – geese
man – men
woman – women
tooth – teeth
foot – feet
mouse – mice
person – people
Exceptions
(note: C=consonant)

If the word and

ends in do this add Examples

ch nothing es church, churches

s mass, masses
sh brush, brushes
x fax, faxes
z box, boxes
chintz, chintzes

f remove f or ves wife, wives

fe fe calf, calves

except beliefs, cliffs, chiefs, dwarfs,

griefs, gulfs, proofs, roofs, Chefs

C+y remove y ies spy, spies

baby, babies

Note: words that end in -o normally just add -s, except: buffalo, buffaloes;
cargo, cargoes (or cargos); domino, dominoes; echo, echoes; go, goes;
grotto, grottoes; halo, haloes; hero, heroes; mango, mangoes; mosquito,
mosquitoes; motto, mottoes (or mottos); potato, potatoes; tomato,
tomatoes; tornado, tornadoes; torpedo, torpedoes; veto, vetoes; volcano,
volcanoes