functional skills english...s pelling and h andwriting l evel 1 w w /l1.1 ©west nottinghamshire...

Functional SkillsEnglish

Level 1

Learning Resource 3Spelling and Handwriting

Ww/L1.1 Ww/L1.2

Workbook 3 Level 1 Literacy/Communication ©West Nottinghamshire College 2007

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SPELLING AND HANDWRITING LEVEL 1

©West Nottinghamshire College 1

Excellence in skills development 3

Contents 3a Spelling Strategies Ww/L1.1 Pages 2 - 12 3b Homophones Ww/L1.1 Ww/L1.2 Pages 13 - 25 3c Spelling Rules Ww/L1.1 Ww/L1.2 Pages 26 - 39



Excellence in skills development 3 Information As well as applying phonetic clues and spelling rules, there are lots of strategies you can use to learn to spell. We need to know and apply a range of methods to help learn and remember correct spellings. These can be called spelling strategies and can be applied at whatever level we are working at. Examples The following pages contain examples of these strategies. The examples given are very simple but the strategy remains sound for whatever level we are working at. Can you think of examples at your level?


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Spelling Strategies: Syllables

Break the word into syllables.

Remember that every syllable must have a vowel.

Re mem ber


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Spelling Strategies: Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check

Look Look carefully at the word, at its shape, its length, the letters that

make it up. Take a mental ‘photo’ of it.

Say As you ‘take the photo’, say it to yourself.

Cover When you feel you have that mental image, cover over the word so you can’t see it.

Write Try to write the word, remembering the way it looked, while saying it to yourself.

Check Uncover the word and check it, letter for letter, against your attempt. If it wasn’t correct, try again.


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Spelling Strategies: Letter Strings

Learn words together in groups which have the same letter strings.

here there where

mother other

brother


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Spelling Strategies: Mnemonics Give each letter of the word a different word to remember it by. Make the words say something silly to help you remember!

e i g h t elephants in garters hate tights


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Spelling Strategies: Words Within Words

Little words can often be found in the longer words you are trying to learn and can help you remember the longer more difficult word.

Friend (I will be your friend to the end)

Careful (Are you always careful?)


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Excellence in skills development 3 Spelling Strategies: Over Exposure

Stick those tricky words everywhere!! Seeing words frequently is a good way of learning them.

On your purse or wallet

On your college desk

On the coffee jar!

On the stairs at home

Under the toilet seat!!


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Excellence in skills development 3 Spelling Strategies: Word Sums

Lots of words are made up of 2 smaller words added together.

hand + bag = handbag

tea + spoon = teaspoon

sun + day = Sunday


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Excellence in skills development 3 Spelling Strategies: Word Derivation

cent is Latin for 100

There are lots of words which contain the word cent which has a connection to 100.

century century

(100 years) (100 runs at cricket)

centimetre (one hundredth of a metre)

centigrade centipede (a measurement of temperature with 100o (a minibeast with lots of between freezing point and boiling point) legs, possibly 100!)


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Excellence in skills development 3 Spelling Strategies: Highlighting Trouble Spots Highlighting the difficult part of the word draws attention to it and may help you to learn it better.

Wednesday

February

write


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Excellence in skills development

3 Spelling Strategies: Still Having Trouble?

Remember there are lots of places to go for help if you want to spell a new or difficult word.

a dictionary the spelling and grammar check on your PC a spell check machine a confident speller your own personal spelling log


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Homophones There are some confusing words which sound alike but are spelt differently and have different meanings. These words are called homophones. Lots of people find it really hard to know which word to use when. Homophones are words like:

there, their, they’re

to, too, two it’s, its

hear, here

If you are trying to learn which word to use, it’s best not to look at the confusing words together. Learn one before dealing with the other. The following pages deal with only certain homophones. You may like to think of, and investigate, others.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information There There is a word to do with place. There is a word that’s used a lot. There has the same letter pattern as other place words like where and here. Exercise 1 Try to put the right ‘place word’ in the gaps below: It could be there, where or here.

“Did you put the presents ……..……. I told you to?” she asked. “Yes they are over …………… on the table, but I didn’t know …………… you wanted me to put the cards,” he said. “Well, if you bring them over …………… I’ll have a look and see if ……………is room in my bag for them.”

Exercise 2 See if you can write 5 of your own sentences using the word there somewhere in each one of your sentence.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5) Check these with your tutor. If you feel you need more work on using the word there, ask your tutor.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Their Their means “belonging to them”. Their is the plural form of his, her or its. Exercise 3

Try to put these sentences into the plural. Example: The boy shouted at the top of his voice. Becomes: The boys shouted at the top of their voices. The child played with her toy. The children …………………………………………………………… The dog barked at his owner. The dogs ………………………………………………………………. She was angry because her house had been broken into. They were ……………………………………………………………… Has the cat had its tea yet? Have the cats …………………………………………………………..


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Excellence in skills development 3 Exercise 4 Now write 5 of your own sentences using the word their.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Check these with your tutor. If you feel you need more work on using the word their, ask your tutor.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information They’re They’re always means they are. They’re is short for they are. There are other shortened words with the same pattern like you’re and we’re. You’re is short for you are and we’re for we are. Exercise 5 We’re, They’re, You’re Write out the following passage and put the highlighted words into their shortened form. Take care with your handwriting.

We are going to see a local group play tonight. They are doing a charity show so it’s free if you are there before eight o’clock. You are welcome to come with us if you can. We are meeting Sam and Kate there and they are really looking forward to it.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Exercise 6 They’re Write 5 of your own sentences using the word they’re somewhere in each of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Check these with your tutor. If you feel you need more work on using the word they’re, ask your tutor.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information To To is used when we want to describe an action. Examples: I went to the shops. I went to India. I wanted to find him. We also use it to tell people what we will do. Examples: I am going to watch a video. When I get home I am going to have a relaxing bath. Exercise 7 Write 5 of your own sentences using the word to somewhere in each one of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Ask your tutor to check these sentences to make sure you are using the word to in the right way.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Too Too is used when there is too much of something. Too is also used to mean as well. Examples: I was far too hot. There was a storm and it was raining too. Exercise 8 Write 5 of your own sentences using the word too somewhere in each of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

As your tutor to check these sentences for you to make sure you are using the word too in the right way.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Two Two is only used when we need to write the number 2. Examples: There are two brothers and two sisters in my family. We had two hours to travel to the wedding. Exercise 9 Write 5 of your own sentences using the word two somewhere in each of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Make sure your writing is legible. Ask your tutor to make sure you are using the word two in the right way.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Exercise 10 To, Two or Too Now, decide which word to, two, or too is the correct one to fill in the gaps below.

I wanted ……….take my car but my brother wanted ………take his. In the end we

decided ………take ……… cars so that we could travel ……… London. The

journey was ……… long and we all felt ……… tired by the time we got there. All

we wanted ……… do was go ……… sleep.

Remembering how important it is to produce work in legible handwriting with no alterations, write out the passage with the correct spellings.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information It’s, Its It’s is used when we want to shorten it is. The i of the word is, is replaced with an apostrophe. (You may want to look at the workbook called ‘Punctuation’ to see what an apostrophe is and how it is used.) Examples: It’s a lovely day. What happens if it’s raining? Its sounds exactly the same but has no apostrophe. It is used to describe something belonging to someone or something. Examples: The dog was sleepy. Its face looked old and tired. My house is cold because its central heating system does not work. Exercise 11 Remembering how important it is to produce work in legible handwriting with no alterations, write 5 of your own sentences using the words it’s or its somewhere in each of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Check these with your tutor to make sure you are using the words it’s and its in the right way.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Here Here is used when we want to write about places or where things are. Examples: Here are the books you gave me. The library is over here, to your right. The police are here. Exercise 12 Write 5 of your own sentences using the word here somewhere in each of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Check these with your tutor to see if you are using the word here in the right way.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Hear Hear is used to describe listening. You can remember how to spell this by putting h in front of ear. Examples: I can hear you. If you can’t hear the tutor, ask her to repeat things. I could hear the rain hitting the window. Exercise 13 Write 5 of your own sentences using the word hear somewhere in each of your sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Check these with your tutor to see if you are using the word hear in the right way.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information i Before e This is a very useful rule. Put i before e, except after c, when the sound rhymes with bee. Examples

• piece • niece • thief

Exceptions:

• seize • counterfeit • weir • weird • neither

Exercise 14 Read the following words.

brief height rein shield priest deceive veil receipt thief believe ceiling pier leisure piece weight conceit

Put a tick by each word in which the ie or the ei rhymes with bee. Look through the words you have ticked, underline any of them containing ei. Do you notice anything they have in common?


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Hard and Soft c and g The letters c and g are usually hard when they come before the vowels a, o, and u. Examples:

• musical • apricot • cushion • regards • gospel • figure

They are usually soft when they come before i, e and y:

• rejoicing • receive • encyclopedia • regiment • gymnasium

Except for some words beginning with gi e.g. give, girl, gift When adding a suffix to a word ending in ge or ce, we need to retain the e before a suffix beginning with a, o or u to keep the g or c soft. Examples: manage

• drop the e before a suffix beginning with i e.g. manag-ing • keep the e before a suffix beginning with a e.g. manage-able

Exercise 15 What happens to these words? courage + ous space + ous precise + ion change + able notice + able ice + ing price + ing service + able peace + able outrage + ous manage + able grace + ous avenge + ance pronounce + able


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Doubling the Last Letter a) One syllable words ending with a vowel and a single consonant, double the

consonant when adding - ed, - ing, - er. Examples:

• run - running • stop - stopped / stopping • wet - wetting

but:

• grunt - grunting (it ends in 2 consonants) b) One syllable words ending in a silent e do not double the consonant.

Examples:

• plane - planing but plan - planning • fine - fined but fin - finned

c) Words of more than one syllable and with stress on the end of the word, double

the consonant.

• refer - referred/referring/referral d) If the stress is not on the final syllable, the consonant is usually not doubled. Examples:

• profit profiting • gossip gossiped • benefit benefited

exceptions:

• worship worshipping • handicap handicapped


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Excellence in skills development 3 Exercise 16 Adding Suffixes to Verbs Write out the following with the appropriate form of verbs given in brackets. (Run) to catch the train, she nearly (trip) over a small boy who was (hop) from one side of the platform to the other. In her haste she had (pass) the ticket barrier without (notice) the ticket collector, who, not (believe) that she (possess) a ticket, (call) her back to him, (stop) her from (get) on the train. While searching through her handbag for the ticket, she suddenly remembered her two suitcases and (hurry) back to the ticket office, where she thought she had left them. Bitterly she remembered the long walk up the hill from the bus stop, (carry) two heavy cases, several carrier bags – she had been (shop) on the way – and an umbrella. Now she (regret) not having (travel) in a taxi! Her luggage had gone. Worse still, she had (omit) to check if it had been (label) correctly. She was not (surprise) to see the train (leave) the platform on her return from the lost property office. Use a word processor to produce a copy of this text complete with the correct spelling of the verbs in brackets. (Dispute) the management’s decision, the union wanted to explore other possibilities. (Compare) the foreman’s conduct with that of other employees, the management thought their complaints were (exaggerate), and (decide) to replace him with a trainee, (believe) that this would settle the dispute. (Fascinate) by the advertisement, and (prefer) a job demanding some responsibility, she (apply) for the vacancy and was successful. On her first day she was (accompany) by the manager, who (introduce) her to her new colleagues. Although at first a little (embarrass), and often (confuse) their names, she (persevere) and was soon (satisfy) that in (choose) to leave her previous job she had made the wisest decision of her career.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Adding Suffixes Beginning With a Vowel A suffix is something which is added to the end of a word. Common suffixes are:

• -ed • -ing • -ful

This exercise is about adding vowel suffixes (-ed, -ing, etc) and concerns only words of one syllable that do not end in w, x, or y. The rule is: when you are adding a vowel suffix, double the last letter if it follows immediately after a single vowel. Examples:

• stop, stopped • wet, wetting

but:

• leap, leaped • wet, wetness

Exercise 17 Make two (or three) words from each of the following words, using the suffixes shown in the brackets. Do not use your dictionary until you have finished; then check your answers and correct any mistakes.

step (-ed, -ing) read (-able, -er) drop (-ed, -ing) rob (-ed, -er)

dread (-ed, -ing, -ful) hot (-er, -est) hop (-ed, -ing) flat (-en, -er)

sad (-er, -est, -ness) greet (-ed, -ing) brim (-ing) hat (-ed, -less)

sharp (-en, -est, -ly) thin (-er, -est) break (-able, -ing) sin (-er, -ing, -ful)

big (-er, -est) great (-er, -est, -ly) red (-est, -ish, -ness) fat (-er, -est)


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Adding Suffixes The rules for adding suffixes to words ending in y are as follows: If the letter before the y is a consonant, change the y to i when adding suffix – except when the suffix is –ing. Examples:

• beauty - beautiful • happy - happiness • tidy - tidier, tidiest, tidily, but - tidying

If the letter before the y is a vowel, keep the y when adding a suffix.

• play - player, played, playing Exercise 18 Obeying the above rules, supply the missing words in the following sentences, using the words in brackets as clues. 1) Have you ……………………. yourselves? (enjoy)

2) We were ……………………. by fog. (delay)

3) The story has been shortened and ……………………. ( simplify)

4) I am …………………….. to solve this puzzle. (try)

5) And there I …………………….. a fair pretty maid. (espy)

6) Three shops were ……………………. by fire. (destroy)

7) He was disqualified for not ……………………. the rules. (obey)

8) She is now ……………………. biology. (study)

9) The factory gives ……………………. to many people. (employ)

10) They turned and…………………….. to the Queen. (curtsy)

11) The notices were prominently…………………….. (display)

12) Is my dog ……………………. you? (annoy)

13) The land has not yet been …………………….. (survey)

14) They stood firm, ……………………. all attempts to move them. (defy)

15) He bolted the door and ……………………. us admission. (deny)


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Suffixes –able and –ible From the word prevent we get preventable, spelt with a, but convert gives us convertible, with an i. There is no easy rule for deciding whether to use –able or –ible when making adjectives of this kind; your best plan is to learn each word as you meet it, and to use a dictionary whenever you are not sure. Exercise 19 With a coloured pen write in the missing letters. 1) What makes him so irrit ble?

2) This is a sens ble suggestion.

3) He would make an admir ble prefect.

4) Is the disease cur ble?

5) Smoking is not permiss ble in this hall.

6) Do you think it advis ble for us to go without coats?

7) The frost did a neglig ble amount of damage.

8) Her stockings are almost invis ble.

9) Strong boots are indispens ble for rock climbing.

10) She is a very excit ble girl.

11) I hold you respons ble for the safe keeping of this book.

12) His insulting manner was contempt ble.

13) They told us an almost incred ble story of hardship and danger.

14) The village is not approach ble from the north.

15) The village is easily access ble from the west.

16) Is it poss ble for man to reach Mars?

Now check your spellings in a dictionary.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Exercise 20 Investigating Doubling the ‘l’ Using a dictionary to help, see what happens to the final letter in all these words when –ed or –ing are added.

ROOT WORD + -ed + -ing propel feel control cool fail label unseal travel reveal expel signal

Make two lists of the root words, one which doubles the ‘l’ and one which doesn’t. Highlight the two letters before the l.

Double l Single l

What do you notice? Can you make up a rule to help you remember when you double the ‘l’ and when not to?


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Excellence in skills development 3 Investigating Doubling the ‘t’ Now try a similar exercise with the following words and see what happens to the ‘t’. jot, seat, coat, plot, knot, treat, bat, get, put, hoot.

Double t Single t Now write a rule to help? Investigate if this happens with any other consonants. Make a note of some examples of them here.


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Excellence in skills development 3 Information Plurals 1) Simple Plurals The most common way of forming a plural noun from a singular noun is to add s: Examples:

• hat, hats • coat, coats

2) Nouns ending in s, z, sh, ch or x add –es: Examples:

• gases, brushes, churches, watches • boxes, topazes (precious stones), businesses • careful with quiz = quizzes

3) Nouns ending in f or fe Either change the f to v and add es or s – or simply add s You have to learn which is which. Here is a list of common words:

half - halves knife - knives leaf - leaves life - lives loaf - loaves shelf - shelves thief - thieves wolf - wolves chief - chiefs cliff - cliffs roof - roofs handkerchief - handkerchiefs


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Excellence in skills development 3 4) Nouns ending in y

If the letter immediately before the y is a consonant (there are 21 consonants in the alphabet) change the y into i and add –es.

Examples:

• penny - pennies • industry - industries • company - companies

If the letter immediately before the y is a vowel a, e, i, o u) simply add s Examples:

• valley - valleys • monkey - monkeys

5) Nouns ending in o If ‘o’ is preceded by a vowel, simply add ‘s’ Examples:

• radio - radios • cameo - cameos • studio - studios • zoo - zoos

If the ‘o’ is preceded by a consonant, some nouns take ‘s’, some take ‘es’ You need to learn the common examples. Examples:

• piano - pianos • solo - solos • soprano - sopranos

but

• echo - echoes • hero - heroes • cargo - cargoes • volcano - volcanoes • mosquito - mosquitoes • tomato - tomatoes


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Excellence in skills development 3 6) Some words are the same in the plural as in the singular. Examples:

• deer • sheep • salmon • trout • corn • wheat

7) Some words are always plural. Examples:

• scissors • measles • trousers


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Excellence in skills development 3 Exercise 21 Plurals Taking care to make your handwriting legible, write the plurals of these words. 1) alley 26) half 2) apology 27) handkerchief 3) article 28) housewife 4) badge 29) inquiry 5) balcony 30) knife 6) berry 31) lady 7) box 32) leaf 8) branch 33) licence 9) bridge 34) lorry 10) brush 35) notice 11) bus 36) patch 12) butterfly 37) pedal 13) ceremony 38) piece 14) chimney 39) quantity 15) cigarette 40) query 16) cliff 41) shelf 17) colliery 42) storey 18) company 43) story 19) difficulty 44) thief 20) dress 45) tornado 21) factory 46) turkey 22) ferry 47) valley 23) fox 48) volcano 24) grocery 49) wife 25) guarantee 50) wolf


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Excellence in skills development

3 Exercise 22 Plurals Using a word processor to present your work, put every noun in the following sentences into the plural. Be careful, you may have to change other words in the sentences as well for it to still make sense. 1) This valley would be suitable for making the film.

2) The ship’s cargo has to be inspected at the custom’s shed.

3) A new firm has been employed to repair the roof of this house.

4) I have heard that John now has a stepchild.

5) The team has a real problem at the moment as so many of the players have an

injury.

6) The removal man was not too pleased at having to move such a large piano.

7) The army is on manoeuvres in the desert.

8) A glass was broken during the party.

9) Diane’s son has broken a tooth.

10) The farmer has planted a field of wheat.

11) The bristles on this new brush are not very good.

12) My brother-in-law is coming to stay for three days.

13) Chris suspects that he has a mouse in the cellar.

14) The police caught a thief last night breaking into a house.

15) I have lost a watch recently.

16) The recipe said, “Take a handful of rice”.

17) I have a busy schedule today. I have to visit a business in town.

18) The secretary had to deal with a difficult query.

19) There is a volcano in the Philippines which is always likely to explode.

20) That lorry was pulled up and found to have faulty brakes. N.B. Many word processors originate in the United States and the default language is the US version of English. When using a spell checker make sure that the language is set to English (UK) and NOT English (US).

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