Collins Spell Like a Champion

SPELL LIKE A

CHAMPION

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Contents editorial staff

iv

introduction: Why is Spelling Important?

1

chapter one: Why We Misspell 9 chapter two: The Spelling Rules You Really Need to Know 47 chapter three: Ways to Improve Your Spelling 70 chapter four: Where Does English Spelling Come From?

90 chapter five: Prefixes and Suffixes 125 chapter six: Further Building Blocks in Spelling 149 puzzles 173 answers to exercises 233 answers to puzzles 245 subject spelling lists 261 Art

261

D&T

264

Drama

269

English

271

Geography

281

History

285

ICT

289

Library

292

Mathematics

295

Music

299

PE

301

PSHE

303

RE

306

Science

glossary

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INTRODUCTION Why is Spelling Important?

The main reason spelling is important is communication.

Communication is a two-way process – understanding others and making yourself understood.

Understanding other people If you are a confident speller, you will be able to read and understand written material easily and efficiently.

Reading will probably be more fun, so you will read more.

As a result, your reading, spelling and writing are likely to improve.

Making yourself understood If your writing is full of spelling mistakes, other people may find it hard to understand what you are trying to say.

If a word is spelled incorrectly, they may struggle to work out which word you meant. If you are trying to persuade them to take your side in an argument, it may be more difficult to convince them. Poor spelling reduces the appeal and effectiveness of written work.

The spelling debate Do you think that your school is wasting your time teaching you how to spell? Do you think that it’s fine as

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CHAPTER ONE Why We Misspell English is generally considered to be a hard language to spell. Why is that? Well, there are four main reasons.

1. Words that sound the same have different spellings.

These are known as homophones, from Greek homos meaning ‘same’ and phōnē meaning ‘sound’. There are a large number of these in English and people often get confused about which spelling is correct. For example: altar alter

part of a church to change

break brake

to damage to stop a vehicle

coarse course

vulgar route

cue queue

prompt line of people waiting

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10 • Why We Misspell

dual duel

double fight between two people

flair flare

talent flame

hoard horde

hidden store large crowd

led lead

past tense of verb ‘lead’ metal

licence license

certificate giving permission to grant a licence

miner minor

person who digs for coal of lesser importance

practice practise

repetition of an activity to repeat an activity

principal principle

most important and the most important person standard or rule

stationary stationery

not moving writing materials

their they’re there

belonging to them short for ‘they are’ in that place

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20 • Why We Misspell

Some Commonly Misspelled Words a aardvark

actually

agility

ability

addict

agricultural

able

addiction

agriculture

abroad

addition

alcohol

abscess

address

alkaline

abseil

adieu

alliteration

absorb

adjacent

alphabet

abstract

advertise

alphabetical

accelerate

advertisement

alternate

accommodation

aerate

although

achieve

aeronautical

amateur

achievement

aerosol

ameliorate

acid

aesthetic

amenity

acquire

aficionado

amount

acrylic

aggravate

amphibian

active

aggressive

anaesthesia

activity

agile

anaesthetic

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Why We Misspell • 21

analgesic

apparatus

athletic

analyse

apparent

atlas

analysis

applause

atmosphere

androgynous

approval

audacious

angle

approve

audible

anoint

approximately

audience

Antarctic

apropos

auspicious

antediluvian

aqueduct

author

anthology

arbitrary

authority

apartheid

archaeology

autumn

apartment

archetypal

average

apocryphal

argument

axes

apostrophe

artefact

axis

appal

article

appalling

athlete

b bachelor

beguile

biased

bait

beige

Bible

baptism

believe

biblical

baroque

beneath

bicep

beautiful

besiege

binary

beginning

bias

bivouac

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Why We Misspell • 43

EXERCISE 1 _____________ walked down the street. It was an ____________ day and the colourful trees _______________ in the morning light.

“What a wonderful ________,” he said to himself.

He was a _______________ who studied _________________ as a student. He was looking for a road _____________ to find his tutor. He had _____________ an essay showing off his _______________ and he was keen to show his tutor. He _____________ his step. He mustn’t take the __________ road.

He gave a __________ smile to himself; he _____________ he would get A+ for this work – no _____________ at all.

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