๐๏ธ Introduction
Abbreviations
๐๏ธ Abbreviations
Punctuation
๐๏ธ Contractions: Iโll, donโt, etc
General rules
๐๏ธ Prefixes and suffixes
The following are some of the most common and useful English prefixes and suffixes.
๐๏ธ -ic and -ical
Many adjectives end in \-ic or \-ical. There is no general rule to tell you which form is correct in a particular case.
๐๏ธ Apostrophes
We use apostrophes (โ) for three main reasons.
๐๏ธ Capital letters
We use capital (big) letters at the beginning of the following kinds of words:
๐๏ธ Hyphens
What are hyphens?
๐๏ธ -ise and -ize
Many English verbs and some nouns can be spelt with either \-ise or \-ize. In American English, \-ize is preferred in these cases. Examples:
๐๏ธ *-able* and *-ible*
The suffix \-able, as in readable, is far more common than \-ible, as in audible. (Both are pronounced the same
๐๏ธ -ly
Adverb formation
๐๏ธ Final e
Final -e dropped before vowels
๐๏ธ Doubling final consonants
Doubling before vowels
๐๏ธ y and i
Changing y to i
๐๏ธ Ch and tch, k and ck
After one vowel, at the end of a word, we usually write \-ck and \-tch for the sounds /k/ and /tส/.
๐๏ธ Ie and ei
The sound /iห/ (as in believe) is often written ie, but not usually ei. However, we write ei after c for this sound. English-speaking children learn a rhyme: โi before e, except after cโ.
๐๏ธ Spelling and pronunciation
In many English words, the spelling is different from the pronunciation. This is mainly because our pronunciation has changed a good deal over the last few hundred years, while our spelling system has stayed more or less the same. Here is a list of some difficult common words with their pronunciations.