Spelling Practice

Spelling

Directions:

Circle the word that is spelled correctly and write the correct spelling for the word in the space to the right.

1.	Est	Eas	Eastt	East	____________
2.	Sid	Sai	Saidd	Said	____________
3.	Meatt	Mat	Mea	Meat	____________
4.	Hoope	Hopi	Hope	Hape	____________
5.	Tube	Tbe	Tubbe	Tue	____________
6.	Mep	Ma	Map	Mapp	____________
7.	Jt	Jet	Jett	Je	____________
8.	Orangge	Orenge	Orange	Orannge	____________
9.	Runing	Running	Rnning	Runninng	____________
10.	Ovir	Over	Ovr	Overr	____________
11.	Brother	Brothe	Brther	Brothir	____________
12.	Whho	Wh	Wo	Who	____________
14.	Liki	Lie	Lke	Like	____________
15.	Jum	Jup	Jump	Jmp	____________

Modals

MODALS: CAN, MAY, MUST, HAVE TO CAN MUST 1) Ability I can drive 2) Possibility I can come 1) Obligation I must do my homework. 2) For an opinion that you think has a good possibility of being true. Look at his uniform. He must be a policeman. MAY HAVE TO 1) Probability She may come tomorrow. 2) In a very polite question May I open the window? 1) In the affirmative: HAVE TO has a meaning similar to MUST. I have to go to the school. 2) In the negative: HAVE TO has a different meaning: "you don't need to dot that" It's Sunday! I don't have to go to school.

TEST : Fill in the gaps with CAN/CAN'T, MAY/MAY NOT, MUST/MUSTN'T, HAVE TO/DON'T HAVE TO JOHN: "_________ you come to the match this afternoon?" PETER: "I'm sorry. I _________ . I _________ wash my father's car." JOHN: "But it's raining! You _________ wash it!" PETER: "I know, but my parents say the rain _________ stop soon. And I _________ go out with you tonight because I _________ go to my grandmother's birthday party and I _________ come back late."

ANSWERS JOHN: "CAN you come to the match this afternoon?" PETER: "I'm sorry. I can't . I MUST wash my father's car." JOHN: "But it's raining! You DON'T HAVE TO wash it!" PETER: "I know, but my parents say the rain MAY stop soon. And I CAN'T go out with you tonight because I MUST go to my grandmother's birthday party and I MAY come back late."

English is not Phonetic

"Ghoti" = "Fish"

Josef Essberger

Some languages are "phonetic". That means that you can look at a word and know how to say it. English is not phonetic. You cannot always look at an English word and know how to say it. You cannot always hear an English word and know how to spell it.

George Bernard Shaw (GBS) was a famous Irish writer. He wanted to reform English spelling so that it was more logical. He asked the following question as an example:

How do we pronounce the word "ghoti؟

His answer was "fish".

How can "ghoti" and "fish" sound the same? GBS explained it like this:

• the gh = f as in rouGH
• the o = i as in wOmen
• the ti = sh as in naTIon

Of course, this was a joke. The word "ghoti" is not even a real word. But it showed the inconsistency of English spelling.

It is very important to understand that English spelling and English pronunciation are not always the same.

Same spelling - different sound

Do not place too much importance on the spelling of a word. The more important thing in understanding English is the sound.

Here are five words that end in "ough". In each word, the "ough" has a different pronunciation:

• bough rhymes with cow
• cough rhymes with off
• rough rhymes with puff
• though rhymes with Jo
• through rhymes with too

Many words have exactly the same spelling but are pronounced differently when the meaning is different. These words are called "homographs". Here are some examples:

• bow (noun: front of ship) rhymes with cow
• bow (noun: fancy knot) rhymes with go
  
• lead (verb: to guide) rhymes with feed
• lead (noun: metal) rhymes with fed
  
• wind (noun: airflow) rhymes with pinned
• wind (verb: to turn) rhymes with find

Different spelling - same sound

Many words have different spellings but are pronounced exactly the same. These words are called "homophones". Here are some examples:

• sea, see
• for, four
• hear, here
• one, won
• knight, night
• him, hymn
• to, too, two

What can we learn from all this? We can learn that the sound of a word is more important than the spelling.

Of course, it is good to spell correctly. But to help you understand spoken English and many rules of English, you should think first about the sound of the words. Do not worry too much at first about the spelling.

Take, for example, the rule about pronouncing the past simple "-ed" ending of regular verbs. You have probably learned that when a verb ends in "d" or "t", we add "-ed" and pronounce it /Id/ as an extra syllable.

        /Id/
wanT wantED

So why do we have:

           /Id/
divide dividED

???

"Divide" does not end in "d". It ends in "e". But it does end in a /d/ sound. With this rule, it is the sound at the end of a word that matters, not the letter. You must think about the spoken word, not the written word.

This is only one example of the importance of sounds in English. There are many more examples!