Why these? English spelling looks chaotic but follows ~8 patterns that cover most words. Learn the rule AND the famous exceptions, and you'll spell better than most adults.
1. i before e, except after c
When the sound is /ee/, put i before e (chief, niece, believe). After c, swap to ei (receive, ceiling, deceive).
Follows the rule: friend, piece, achieve, relieve, brief, niece, fierce, receive, deceive, ceiling.
Famous exceptions: weird, seize, either, neither, leisure, science, ancient, conscience. (Try the mnemonic: "Neither weird scientist seizes leisure either.")
2. Double the consonant before adding -ed or -ing
For one-syllable words ending in CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant), double the final consonant before adding -ed, -ing, -er, -est.
Follows: stop → stopped, stopping. run → running. big → bigger, biggest. swim → swimming.
Don't double if: the word ends in two consonants (jumping, NOT jummping), ends in vowel+y (playing), or has a long-vowel sound (eating).
3. Drop the silent e before a vowel suffix
Words ending in silent e: drop the e before adding -ing, -ed, -er, -est, -able. KEEP the e before a consonant suffix (-ly, -ful, -ment).
Drop before vowel: hope → hoping, hoped. bake → baking, baker. love → loving, lovable.
Keep before consonant: hope → hopeful. love → lovely. place → placement.
Keep before consonant: hope → hopeful. love → lovely. place → placement.
Exceptions: notice → noticeable (keep e to keep the soft c), courage → courageous (keep e to keep the soft g), true → truly (drops e), dye → dyeing (keeps to avoid confusion with "dying").
4. -y → -ies when making plural (after consonant)
Word ends in consonant + y → change y to i, add es.
Follows: baby → babies. family → families. story → stories. country → countries.
Vowel + y stays: day → days, boy → boys, key → keys, toy → toys.
5. Plurals: add -s or -es
Most words: just add -s. Words ending in s, x, z, ch, sh: add -es (the sound needs the extra syllable).
-s: dog → dogs. book → books. car → cars.
-es: bus → buses. box → boxes. quiz → quizzes. church → churches. wish → wishes.
-es: bus → buses. box → boxes. quiz → quizzes. church → churches. wish → wishes.
Irregular plurals: child → children, foot → feet, mouse → mice, woman → women, tooth → teeth, person → people, fish → fish (same), sheep → sheep (same).
6. -f or -fe → -ves (often)
Many words ending in -f or -fe make plural with -ves.
Follows: leaf → leaves. wife → wives. life → lives. knife → knives. half → halves. wolf → wolves.
Stay with -s: chief → chiefs, roof → roofs, belief → beliefs, safe → safes, dwarf → dwarfs or dwarves.
7. Adding suffixes to -ic words: add -k
Words ending in -ic: add a "k" before -ed, -ing, -y to keep the hard /k/ sound (otherwise the c would sound like /s/).
Follows: picnic → picnicking. panic → panicked. mimic → mimicking. traffic → trafficking.
8. ie / ei in a stressed syllable: usually ie; if after c: ei
This is the same as rule 1 but specifically for the long /ee/ sound. Treat it as a sub-rule.
ie: believe, piece, friend, niece, achieve. ei after c: receive, deceit, ceiling.
For words where it's not /ee/, neither rule applies. Example: their (sounds like "thair"), foreign, height, weight.