The main basic spelling rules of English relate to: prefixes and suffixes; spelling and plurals; doubling letters; dropping and adding letters; verb forms.

Basic spelling rules Add a silent – e at the end of one-syllable words to make the first vowel long Add -s, -es, or -ies to form plurals End a multi-syllable word with -y to make the long e sound Replace letters and spaces with an apostrophe to form a contraction Use i before e except after c or when sounded like a, as in neighbor or weigh

Spelling Rules at A Glance “I” before “E” except after “C” Change the “Y” to an “I” before adding suffixes “ed”, “er”, and “est”. “E” can be silent and stress the vowel before it. When making plural words add “es” after “s”, “z”, “sh”,”ch”, or “x”. Words you add suffixes to usually have double consonants “Q” is usually followed by a “U”.