Writing (and therefore spelling) is a representation of the spoken word. The spoken word is not a representation of writing. Because accents and pronunciation can change easily and quite quickly, whereas what is written in books and dictionaries remains “fixed” for years, as well as for various historical reasons, there is often little correspondence between spoken English (pronunciation) and written English (spelling). English spelling therefore often appears to be totally illogical. The following rules can help you to decode the mysteries of English spelling. But remember, even the best rules have their exceptions.

• Adding -er/-est
  quick, quicker, quickest; happy, happier, happiest; hot, hotter, hottest
• Adding -ing/-ed
  work, working, worked; stop, stopping, stopped
• Adding -ly
  loud, loudly; happy, happily; terrible, terribly
• Adding -s
  dog, dogs; church, churches; wife, wives
• -ible or -able
  accessible, visible; dependable, networkable
• -ie- or -ei-
  friend, fiend; feint, freight

British/American English
colour, color; practise, practice; tyre, tire

 

Adding -er/est

We make the comparative or superlative forms of short adjectives by adding -eror -est, for example: hard, harder, hardest

Spelling Rule
Just add -er or -est to the end of the adjective, for example:

• quick, quicker, quickest
• great, greater, greatest
• full, fuller, fullest

Exceptions
(note: C=consonant; V=vowel)

If adj. ends in	do this	and add	Examples
C + y	change y to i	er est	happy happier happiest
C + e	remove e		late later latest
C + V + C	double last letter		hot hotter hottest
Note: adjectives ending in -l are regular, except: cruel, crueller, cruellest

 

Adding -ing/ed

Often we need to add -ing or -ed to a verb to make other forms of the verb, for example:
I was talking when John arrived

Spelling Rule
Just add -ing or -ed to the end of the base verb:

• work, working, worked
• play, playing, played
• open, opening, opened

Exceptions
(note: C=consonant; V=vowel)

If the base verb ends in	do this	and add	Examples
C + V + C and a stressed syllable	double the final consonant	ing ed	stop, stopping, stopped begin, beginning
C + e	remove e		phone, phoning, phoned dance, dancing, danced make, making
ie	change ie to y	ing	lie, lying die, dying
	nothing	d	lie, lied die, died

 

Adding -ly

We often make an adverb by adding -ly to an adjective, for example: quick, quickly

Spelling Rule
Just add -ly to the end of the adjective:

• coy, coyly
• loud, loudly
• beautiful, beautifully
• senseless, senselessly
• intelligent, intelligently

Exceptions
(note: C=consonant)

If adj. ends in	do this	and add	Examples
-ll	nothing	y	full, fully
C + le	remove final e	y	terrible, terribly
y (except single-syllable adjectives)	remove y	ily	happy, happily
Note: single-syllable adjectives ending in -y are regular, except: day, daily gay, gaily

 

Adding -s

We add -s to words for two reasons:

1. to make plural nouns (boy, boys)
2. to form the 3rd person singular of the present simple tense (I work, you work, he works)

Spelling Rule
Just add -s to the end of the word, for example:

• dog, dogs
• learn, learns
• demand, demands

Exceptions
(note: C=consonant)

If the word ends in	do this	and add	Examples
ch s sh x z	nothing	es	church, churches mass, masses brush, brushes fax, faxes box, boxes chintz, chintzes
f fe	remove f or fe	ves	wife, wives calf, calves except beliefs, cliffs, chiefs, dwarfs, griefs, gulfs, proofs, roofs
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

 

-ible/able

Many words end in -ible or -able. Sometimes it is difficult to remember which spelling to use.

The -ible ending is for words of Latin origin. There are about 180 words ending in -ible. No new words are being created with -ible endings.

The most common -ible endings
accessible admissible audible collapsible combustible compatible comprehensible contemptible credible defensible destructible digestible divisible edible fallible	flexible gullible horrible illegible implausible inaccessible incontrovertible incredible indefensible indelible inedible insensible intelligible invincible invisible	illegible irresistible irreversible ostensible permissible plausible possible responsible reversible sensible susceptible suggestible tangible terrible visible

The -able ending is for:

• some Latin words, for example:
  dependable
• non-Latin words, for example:
  affordable, renewable, washable
• new (modern) words, for example:
  networkable, windsurfable

Rule of thumb
This rule can help you decide the correct spelling. It works most (but not all!) of the time. Remember, if you are not sure about a word, it is probably best to use a dictionary. Here is the rule:

• If you remove -able from a word, you are left with a complete word (renewable, renew).
• If you remove -ible from a word, you are not left with a complete word (sensible, sens). But note that accessible, contemptible, digestible, flexibleand suggestible are among the exceptions to this rule.

 

-ie- / -ei-

Sometimes it is difficult to remember whether a word is spelled with -ie- or -ei-. There is a very simple rule about this:

I before E
except after C
or when sounding like AY
as in neighbour and weigh

Rule	Examples
I before E	achieve, believe, brief, chief, friend, grief, hygiene, patience, pierce, priest, thief
except after C	ceiling, conceit, conceive, deceit, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive
or when sounding like AY	beige, feint, freight, inveigle, neighbour, sleigh, vein, weigh, weight

Here are some common exceptions to the above rule:

• either, neither, caffeine, codeine, counterfeit, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, protein, their, weird, seize, seizure

 

British and American Spelling

Here are the main differences in spelling between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE).

notes	British English	American English
Final -l is always doubled after one vowel in stressed and unstressed syllables in BrE but usually only in stressed syllables in AmE, for example:	rebel, rebelled travel, travelled	rebel, rebelled travel traveled
Some words end in -tre in BrE and -ter in AmE, for example:	centre theatre	center theater
Some words end in -ogue in BrE and -og in AmE, for example:	analogue catalogue	analog catalog
Some words end in -our in BrE and -or in AmE, for example:	colour labour	color labor
Some verbs end in -ize or -ise in BrE but only in -ize in AmE, for example:	realise, realize	realize

Common Differences

British English	American English
all right	all right, alright
analyse	analyze
centre	center
cheque	check
colour	color
counsellor	counselor
criticise, criticize	criticize
defence	defense
doughnut	donut
favour	favor
fibre	fiber
flavour	flavor
fulfil	fulfill
grey	gray
honour	honor
humour	humor
jewellery	jewellery, jewelry
judgement, judgment	judgment
kerb	curb
labour	labor
license, licence (verb) licence (noun)	license (verb) license (noun)
litre	liter
metre	meter
mould	mold
neighbour	neighbor
offence	offense
practise (verb) practice (noun)	practice (verb) practice (noun)
pretence	pretense
programme (plan, concert etc) program (computer software)	program program
pyjamas	pajamas
realise, realize	realize
savour	savor
speciality	specialty
theatre	theater
travelled travelling	travelled, traveled travelling, traveling
tyre	tire
valour	valor