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Writing: Capitalization, Spelling
Capitalization
Capital letters are used for two main purposes in English:
1) To show the beginning of a sentence.
2) To show that a noun is a proper noun. A proper noun is a word which name a specific person, organization, or place.
Here are examples of Proper nouns:
Practice: Correct the sentence.
1) paola pounds. some people call her queen of the house.
2) microsoft, rolls royce, the round table, the times, www, big dogs, purple people
3) Animals: lassie, champion, trigger, skippy, sam, the first dog, the small dog
4) paris, london, new york, england, the field, the hill, french.
5) the red sea, alpha centaury, mars, the river thames, that narrow river, those large lakes
6) providencia, the small building over there, the taj mahal, the tall tower on the hill, the eiffel tower, room 222,
7) the civil war, the declaration of independance, the document signed last night, the freedom of information act, the largest meeting, world war 1
8) christ, god, jehovah, mohammed, christianity, islam, my religion, judaism, the religion of the asians, the bible, the koran, a religious book, the torah.
9) the nobel peace prize, the scout movement, a revolution, a new prize, ford focus, the bismark, new car, kleenex, big tires, hoover
Spelling
To speak English well, you need Grammar. To write English well, you need grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
In Old England words were written as they sounded and so one word could often be spelt in many different ways. In addition English has adopted words from many other languages. Eventually spelling was standardized, and although many English words have irregular spellings there are some rules that can help you. Watch out though, for every rule there are always some exceptions! English has over 1,100 different ways to spell its 44 separate sounds, more than any other language.
Spelling Rules
I before E except after C- One of the first English spelling rules learned in mosts schools. This works when the pronunciation of the word is like a long EE as in shield.
Example: Piece, relief, niece, priest, thief
But after C: Conceive, conceit, receive, receipt.
When A or I is the sound, it's the other way around-
Examples:
With an a sound - deign, eight, neighbor, feign, reign, vein, weight.
With an I sound - Either, feisty, height, neither, sleight.
Exceptions: Seize, weird, conscientious, conscience, efficient.
Silent Letters
A silent letter is a letter that must be include when you write the word even though you don't pronounce it. Over half the alphabet can appear as silent letters in words. They can be found at the beginning, end or middle of the words and, from the sound of the word, you wouldn't know that they were there.
Example:
a - teadle, bread
b - lamb, bomb, comb
c - scissors, science, scent
d - edge, bridge, ledge
e - see below
h - honour, honest, school
k - know, knight, knowledge
I - talk, psalm, should
n - hymn, autumn, column
p - pneumatic, psalm, psychology
s - isle, island, aisle
t - listen, rustle, whistle
u - biscuit, guess, guitar
w - write, wrong, wrist
Silent e- The silent e is the most commonly found silent letter in the alphabet. There are some hard and fast rules for spelling when a word ends with a silent e. When you wish to add a suffix to a word and it ends with a silent e, if the suffix begins with a consonant you don't need to change the stem of the word.
Example: Forceful, management, sincerely.
* If the suffix begins with a vowel or a y, drop the e before adding the suffix.
Example: fame + ous = famous, nerve + ous = nervous, believable + y = believably, criticize + ism = criticism.
Exceptions: mileage, agreeable
Prefixes and Suffixes
Prefixes usually don't change the spelling of the stem of the word.
Adding a suffix to a word often change the spelling of the stem of the word. The following may help you work out the changes. Again there are exceptions, so if you're not sure - look it up in your dictionary.
Consonants
When the suffix begins with a consonant, just add the ending without any changes.
Example: treat + ment = treatment
Doubling the consonant
For most words with a short vowel sound, ending with a single consonant, double the consonant when adding a suffix that starts with a vowel, such as er, ed or ing.
Example:
Mop + ing = Mopping
big + est = biggest
hot + er = hotter
For words ending in I after a vowel, double the I before adding er, ed or ing.
Example:
carol + ing = caroling
travel + er = traveling
Exceptions: Some words ending in r, x, w or y are exceptions to the doubling rule
tear + ing = tearing
blow + ing = blowing
box + er = boxer
know + ing = knowing
And if your main word has two consonants at the end, or more that one vowel, don't double the consonant.
rain + ing = raining
keep + er = keeper
break + ing = breaking
hang + er = hanger
Word Endings
Words ending in ce and ge
When you want to add a suffix starting wit a or o leave the e in.
Example:
manage + able = manageable
notice + able = noticeable
courage + ous = courageous
Exceptions: prestige + ous = prestigious
Words ending in ie
When you want to add ing to verbs ending in ie, drop the e and change the i to a y.
Example: die - dying, lie - lying, tie - tying.
Words ending in y after a consonant
When you want to add suffixes such as -ed, -es, -er, -eth, -ly, -new, -ful, and -ous to a word ending in y after a consonant, change the y to an i before adding the suffix.
Example: eighty + eth = eightieth
duty + es = duties
lazy + ness = laziness
mystery + ous = mysterious
beauty + ful = beautiful
multiply + ed = multiplied
busy + ly = busily
Words ending in y after a vowel
Keeping the y when adding suffixes such as er, ing or ed.
Example:
| pry | prying | pried |
| buy | buying | buyer |
| play | playing | player |
| destroy | destroying | destroyed |
