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MODULE 2

SPELLING RULES

UNIT 1

DOUBLING THE FINAL CONSONANT

I. Lead-in

1. Look at the list of words below and say why a final single consonant letter is doubled in A and is not doubled in B.

A:red-redden, begin-beginner, thin-thinner, sit-sitting, shop-shopping, bigbigger, hot-hottest, forget-unforgettable.

B:open-opened, limit-limited, look-looked, turn-turned, hot-hotly, forgetforgetful.

Say why the words below are exceptions:

handicap-handicapped, kidnap-kidnapped, outfit-outfitted, worshipworshipping.

2. Look at the list of words with the final ‘r’ and say why it is doubled in A and is not doubled in B.

A: occur-occurred, prefer-preferred, refer-referred, infer-inferred, conferconferred, abhor-abhorrent.

B: differ-differed, appear-appeared, infer-inference, confer-conference, preferpreferable.

3. Look at the list of words with the final ‘l’ and say why it is doubled in A and is not doubled in B.

A: travel-travelling, expel-expelled, cancel-cancelled, rebel-rebelled, levellevelled, signalsignalling.

B: reveal-revealed, deal-dealing, sail-sailing, boil-boiled, heal-healed, concealconcealed, kneel-kneeled.

4. Alternate spellings.

When adding suffixes to certain words, American spellings differ from British

American dictionaries will often show that both spellings of these words are acceptable.

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There are also other words with two acceptable spellings:

EITHER canceled, canceling, cancelation OR cancelled, cancelling, cancellation; benefited, benefiting OR benefitted, benefitting

Write your preferred spelling of these words:

pencil + ed __________ carol + er __________ travel + ing ____________

cancel + ing __________ benefit + ed __________ model + ing ____________

II. Practice

1. Explain the cases of doubling in the sentences below.

1.I grabbed his shirt to slow him down. ‘Don’t grab my shirt!’ he shouted.

2.He was sad because Arsenal had lost, sadder than I’d ever seen him before.

3.Bergkamp doesn’t like travelling by air. He prefers to travel by train.

4.If you want to stay slim or be slimmer, just have some salad for lunch.

5.I think you shouldn’t ban smoking in pubs, but banned it soon will be.

6.He was gulping, not sipping his wine. ‘You should sip wine’, I said.

7.My wife prefers red wine, but I’ve always preferred white.

8.It’s going to be hot today. It may prove to be the hottest day of the year.

9.I’m just slipping out for a coffee. Do you want some? – Don’t bother. I’m go-

ing to slip out myself for some fresh air.

10.He had conferred with his lawyers before he came to a final decision.

2.Which of these words doubles its final consonant in the Past Indefinite?

1) differ-occur-appear;

2) fear-thin-start;

3) cook-rub-want;

4) kidnap-look-turn;

5) reveal-expel-conceal;

6) open-answer-equal;

7) repeat-develop-worship;

8) refer-limit-heal;

9) boil-infer-fear; 10)pour-water-shrug.

3.Fill in the sentences with the forms of the words given.

1.My puppy gave me the (big + est) ________, (wet + est) ________ kiss ever!

2.The back tire is even (flat + er) ________ than the front one. We’ll need to get it (repair + ed) ________.

3.The boss (refer + ed) ________ to problems in the (propel + er) ________.

4.It (occur + ed) ________ to the struggling player that he didn’t want to be known as a (quit + er) ________.

5.We’ll be (get + ing) ________ dinner after we finish our (shop + ing)

________.

6.I (conceal + ed) ________ the sound of the (drip + ing) ________ faucet.

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4.Circle the correct spelling in each word pair. If both words are acceptable,

circle both of them.

1) modeling – modeling;

2) forgotten – forgotten;

3) benefitted – benefited;

4) traveller – traveler;

5) referred – refered;

6) droping – dropping;

7) siter – sitter.

5.Circle the misspelled words in this story. Spell them correctly.

It just so happened that while we were picnicking, we noticed a small skunk traped under a log. He was clearly in pain, sufferring from a broken leg. It was, indeed, an unusual occurence.

We enterred into a discussion. Were we really equiped to help the animal? In all deferrence to him, we did not want to receive any propelant the little guy might spray.

Finally, we felt compeled to assist the poor creature. Just as we were begining to release his leg, his “gift” was transmitted. It was, sadly, for us a regretable rescue.

6. Circle the misspelled words. Spell them correctly.

Mary listened carefully before enterring the room. Once she decided it was safe, she quietly openned the door and crept inside. Suddenly, an earspliting sound sent her runing outside. She spotted the thieves joging to their car. Prefering not to get involved in a chase, she dialled 9-1-1.

III. On Your Own

1. Take a piece of paper. Distribute the sentences below among the members of your group. Copy your sentence at the top of the piece of paper. Pass it over to your partner and get one from another partner. Look at the sentence, memorise it in 30 seconds, fold the paper so that you can’t see the sentence and write it down. Unfold it and check your spelling. Pass the paper again to your partner and get a new paper from your other partner. Do the same.

1.The girl was so embarrassed by her brother’s behaviour that her face began to redden immediately.

2.The earth was scarred with hoof prints and wheels and the vegetables were mashed into the soil.

3.It was the hard work, the many children and the nagging husband that had changed her.

4.He took her hand, pulled her to her feet and propelled her into an orderly room.

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5.Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries must have been a fearsome chaos of warring tribes and kingdoms.

6.The king conferred a knighthood on several distinguished men.

7.The man was digging a hole in his garden when something happened behind his house.

8.The bus driver was an olive-skinned young man with beautifully combed hair and a pleasant smile.

9.The performance of that theatre company was cancelled because only ten tickets had been sold out.

10.My friend is a regular globe-trotter, he has travelled all over the world.

11.It never occurred to him that he could be expelled from school for such behavior.

12.He was a hot-tempered man, though he usually controlled his anger no matter how hard it sometimes was.

2. Group work.

a)Distribute the extracts below between the members of your group. Don’t look at the other extracts! Learn your extract by heart. Dictate it to the rest of the group to write it down. Let other students do the same with their extracts.

b)Once you have written down all the extracts, find all the cases of doubling the final consonant in them. Check your spelling.

c)Together decide how to arrange the extracts to make a logical story. How do you think the story will continue?

Extract 1.

“Oh”, said the men, we could have another drink, we have enough time to catch the train. We can make it.” They had another drink and were planning to get on the train, but their train had already left the station.

Extract 2.

Three men were sitting in a railway station bar. They had asked the railway porter to tell them when the next train, which one of them was going to take, was due at the station. Some time later the porter came to say that the train was arriving at platform 2 in 5 minutes.

Extract 3.

“I don’t know, where they are going to,” the man stirred in his chair and answered. “They just came to see me off.”

Extract 4.

They returned to the bar. An hour later another train arrived and the same thing occurred. The missed the train again. Two hours later the porter told them that the last train was due in 5 minutes.

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Extract 5.

“By the way,” the barman asked him when he sat down at a table. “What town are your friends travelling to?”

Extract 6.

Again the men preferred to take another drink and when they came to the platform, the train had already started. Two of them could catch the train, but the third one missed it and walked back to the bar.

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Then get together into small groups and try to reconstruct the whole text. After that open the book and check your work.

Kathy was twelve and always played with the boys. Her parents decided that she should stop playing with boys and learn to act like a young lady. They decided that Kathy should enroll immediately in the School of Ballet where she would learn to be more graceful and to walk about more delicately. Some neighbours scoffed at the idea, saying that Kathy was completely unchangeable and the lessons would be largely a waste of time. But her parents desperately wanted their daughter to become more manageable, and truly believed that ballet lessons would accomplish this. After talking with the director, who was wholly agreeable to the idea, Kathy was enrolled in the school.

It was very difficult for her at first, but through courageous endurance, she learned the fine art of tiptoeing. After six month, she had been changed from a tomboy into a young lady and the parents rewarded her handsomely for her successful efforts.

3. Read the beginning and the end of a short story. Comment on the cases of dropping or retaining final mute “e”. Think of the main part of the plot and write it down. Compare your version with your group mates. Then read the main part below. It is the same as yours or your group mates’?

Power of Imagination

Beginning

Mr. Brown liked it in America, but he liked travelling very much. He made a trip to Europe and Asia, and he visited India too. Once after a long trip from England to America he arrived at a small country place. There was a small lovely hotel there. Mr. Brown got at the hotel late in the evening. At the hotel he asked the receptionist whether there were any vacant rooms there.

At that moment another traveler arrived at the hotel and asked the receptionist for a room too. The receptionist immediately checked if there were any vacant rooms. Unfortunately, the only vacant room he could offer was a double room.

“Would it be convenient to you if you shared the room” the receptionist asked. “It’d be less expensive for you, you’d each pay half.”

At first they disliked the idea, but just then it began raining heavily and they were too tired to go to another hotel.

End

When they woke up the next morning they were surprised to see that Mr. Brown had broken to pieces a large mirror.

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Main part

They spoke to each other and told the receptionist that they agreed to spend the night in the same room.

A porter showed them to their room, took in their things and wished them a good night. Soon the two men went to sleep.

Suddenly Mr. Brown heard some noise. He opened his eyes but didn’t see anything. It was quite dark.

“What’s the matter?” Mr. Brown asked in surprise. The second traveler answered, “I’m very sorry, I had to wake you up. I’m not well. Please, open the window quickly.”

Mr. Brown got out of bed and began looking for matches, but he couldn’t find them in the dark, so he tried to find the window. It took him some time and at last he thought he had found it. He couldn’t open the window. As the voice of the traveler became weaker and weaker, Mr. Brown took a chair and broke the window with it. The man said he was much better. The two of them slept until morning.

III. On Your Own

Make up your own exercise on the rules of spelling final mute “e” on a separate card. Exchange your exercises with your group mates, do your group mates’ exercises and check each other’s work.

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UNIT 3

FINAL y AND ITS MODIFICATIONS

I. Lead-in

1. Look at the list of words below and say why final “y” is changed into “i” in A and is retained in B:

A:cry-cried, merry-merriment, pity-pitiful, clumsy-clumsier, happy-happily; gay-gaily, day-daily.

B:day-days, pay-payment; dry-drying, apply-applying; Mary-Marys, Gatsbythe Gatsbys; baby-babyhood, copy-copyist, lady-ladyship, lady-ladylike, anyanything; shy-shyer, shyness.

Note! Final “y” changes to “e” before “-ous”: pity-piteous, beauty-beauteous.

II. Practice

1.Write down five sentences comparing your life now and before. Use appropriate degrees of comparison of the adjectives below. Show your sentences to your partner. Let him/her check the spelling of the adjectives. Ask him/her if the sentences are also true for him/her.

Happy, busy, shy, easy, early, lazy, heavy, merry.

2.Think of 10 nouns ending in “y”, dictate them to your partner and let him/her

write down the plural form of those nouns. Let him/her do the same. Check each other’s spelling.

3.Pair dictation.

Student A, the one whose transcription sheet begins with the unaltered text, begins to read, slowly and clearly. This student (reader) must monitor Student B (writer), who fills in the missing words in the cloze half of the sheet. Student A must not show the text to B, and if a writing error is detected, A must stop reading, and spell out the mistaken word. When the cloze is completed, B then starts reading the bottom half of the text, while A writes.

Student A

A famous English essayist once wrote about an incident that occurred during his babyhood, saying that although he had been too young at the time to remember the event personally, he had heard the story retold many times.

His aunt, Lady Astor, had a glass eye, but this was a well-kept secret that was known only to the family and servants. One evening, his aunt and uncle were giving a party at their home in the English countryside. It was his aunt’s birthday, and the atmosphere was a joyful one. There was one guest present among the ladies and gentlemen who had never met Lady Astor; he decided that matters would be easier if he just walked up to her and introduced himself.

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After________ _________, he _________that her ______ _______

_____________. The ___________ who was ___________ ________ _____

__________, said ___________ ___________, “________, didn’t they do a fine job of ________ ______ ______ _______ _____ _______ ______

____________!” At that ____ ________ _________red and ______________. Lady Astor _______________ ___________ _______ ___________, declaring that she ___________ __________ ________ ________________of the secrets of _______ _____________. The butler ________ ______ _______

______________, but Lady Astor ________ ____________. This ___________

took place in ______ _____ ______ _______ ___________, to the _________

_____________of _________ ____________.

Student B

A ________English ________once wrote about an _______ ________

________during __________, _______that ______ _______ _______ ______

______ at the time____ ________ ____ _____ ________, he had heard the story_______ _______ _________.

______ _______, Lady Astor, _____ ____ _____ ______, but this was ___

____–_____ _______that was known _______ _____ ______ ________ ______

__________. One evening, ______ ________ ______ ________ _______

________ ____ ________at their home in ______ ____________

____________. It was his________ __________, and ______

_______________was a __________ ________. There was one ________

___________among ______ _________ _____ ____________who had never met Lady Astor; he decided that ________ ________ _____ ___________if he just walked up to her and _________ ______________.

After doing so, he remarked that her eyes were beautiful. The butler who was walking by with the trays, said without thinking, “Yes, didn’t they do a fine job of matching her new eye to her old one!” At that the guest turned red and disappeared. Lady Astor immediately fired the butler, declaring that she wouldn’t tolerate this betrayal of the secrets of one’s employer. The butler begged to be reinstated, but Lady Astor was merciless. This incident took place in front of all the guests, to the great enjoyment of everyone present.

Check each other’s spelling. Find in the whole text all the cases of final “y” and its modifications and comment on the spelling rules.

What do you think of the butler’s behaviour?

III. On Your Own

Make up 10 sentences with the words ending in “y” in brackets, where your partner will have to use a suitable derivative of these words to complete the sentences. Check your partner’s spelling.

Example: He was well aware that this particular debt demanded prompt (pay).

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