Introduction to Spelling

Using the Dictionary

When expanding your vocabulary and learning to spell, the dictionary is your best friend.

Whenever you look up a word you should always look at the following:

• Etymology• Definition(s)• Part of Speech

The etymology of a word tells you what language the word comes from. In English, most words come from German, Latin, Greek or French.

For example, here is the etymology for the word etymology1 :

“late 14c., ethimolegia "facts of the origin and development of a word," from O.Fr. et(h)imologie (14c., Mod.Fr. étymologie), from L. etymologia, from Gk. etymologia, properly "study of the true sense (of a word)," from etymon "true sense" (neut. of etymos "true, real, actual," related to eteos "true") + -logia "study of, a speaking of" (see -logy2). In classical times, of meanings; later, of histories. Latinized by Cicero asveriloquium. As a branch of linguistic science, from 1640s. Related: Etymological; etymologically.”

Using Etymology

If you speak one or more of the languages listed on the previous slide, then you are one step ahead! You can often decipher the meaning of a word or how to spell it solely based on your knowledge of that language.

Since most people do not speak Greek or Latin it is best just to learn the most common roots, prefixes and suffixes (Go to 3 for a fairly comprehensive list)3.

As you will see on the list, to each root there are approximately 2-10 words that contain that root. So every time you learn a common root you are learning several words, which is much more efficient!

To go further, try learning introductory French and/or German. You will quickly pick up on the phonetic nature of the languages and it will really help you spell words you hear.

Making learning fun is always a great idea. If something isn’t fun, then why do it? Below are some free ideas:

Go to 4 for a superb spelling bee game4: It does not display the etymology, but for words that you want to investigate etymonline.com will most likely provide it. It automatically adapts to your skill level so that you are always being challenged and learn something each time.

A lot of words have very intriguing etymologies. I love reading the stories of how words came to be. Some are actually quite tragic and others quite hilarious. You honestly can never know what lies around the corner. In fact, there is a board game that exploits the quirks of etymology, called: The Origin of Expressions5. This isn’t free, but may appeal to some and is not outrageously expensive.

I bought mine for $13 and liked it.

Many people do not ever look at the etymology because they do not know about it or don’t think it is important. I think we have already solved those two problems already.

However, it can be daunting when reading etymologies. There are numerous abbreviations. Have no fear, there are simple reference pages6. Just use this reference page and push “ctrl+f” on your computer to easily search for the abbreviation (it is also sorted alphabetically if you prefer that way more).

Definition(s)Inversely, by knowing the definition of a word you can

try and deduce the roots and their meaning. Definitions are typically the most verbose parts for words in a dictionary. This is ultimately what we want to know, but building a solid structure of etymological roots is much more efficient than memorizing definitions.

For example, I could memorize the def. for “cephalagia” or simply know that “cephalo” is Gk. for “head” and “algia” Gk. for “pain” -> head + pain = headache. In addition, this knowledge also gives us insight into words like nostalgia, cephalopod, and other words.

If you are looking at the definition of a word and the etymology is not present you can attempt to work backwards, using the def. to extrapolate roots. Be careful, however, it is not always the case that roots are separated in coherent pieces, such as by syllables or phonetically.

For example, “anhydrous” and “ankylosaurus” may have similar beginnings, but none of their roots/meanings are the same. This method should only really be used to solidify your knowledge, not expand it. Feel free to guess, but verify!

Parts of SpeechThe parts of speech are: verb, noun, pronoun, adjective,

adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection (Go to 7 for refresher on what these all are)7.

Knowing how the part of speech affects word formation (particularly endings) is important if you wish to spell advanced words you have never seen. For example, take “apostrophe” vs. “atrophy”. There is an “e” at the end because apostrophe is always a noun, while atrophy has a “y” largely because it can function as a verb.

There is no comprehensive compilation of such rules that I know of. Learning foreign languages and many different words derived from a certain language will help you see when to use a “y” or “e”, as in the above example.

• That concludes our Intro to Spelling lesson! I hope you learned something and discovered at least one interesting thing.

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• If you have questions, please ask! If you would like more packets on a topic, please tell me! If you find an error or major piece of info lacking, then message me and I will fix it ASAP. Thanks!