Page 106 - Birmingham City Schools 2020-2021

ENGLISH
Tips for Spelling
Below are a few examples of rules that can be used to help decode the spelling of an unfamiliar word.
• I before E, except after C, unless it says “A”, as in neighbor and weigh.
Examples include perceive, receipt, ceiling. Examples of I before E include friend and thief.
• The letter Q is always followed by U. In this case, the U is not considered to be a vowel.
• The letter S never follows X.
• The letter Y, not I, is used at the end of English words.
Examples include my, shy, by, why.
• To spell a short vowel sound, only one letter is needed. Examples include at, red, it, hot, up.
• Drop the E. When a word ends with a silent final E, it should be written without the E when adding an ending that begins with a vowel.
For example, come becomes coming and hope becomes hoping.
• When adding an ending to a word that ends with Y, change the Y to I if it is preceded by a consonant. Supply becomes supplies and worry becomes worried.
• All, written alone, has two Ls. When used as a prefix, however, only one L is written. Examples: also, almost, always.
• Generally, adding a prefix to a word does not change the correct spelling.
Examples of this include word and reword.
• Words ending in a vowel and Y can add the suffix –ed or –ing without making any other change. For example, play becomes played, and employ becomes employing.
Rules of Capitalization
Use capital letters for the following types of words: • Days, months, and public holidays
Examples: Monday,January,Thanksgiving • Proper names of people and places
Examples: Jack,Susie,California,England • Titles for people
Examples: Ms.,Dr.,General
• Nationalities and regions (both nouns and adjectives)
Examples: Dutch,Swedish,German
• Titles of books, art, etc.
Examples: AmericanJournalofMedicine,MonaLisa
Punctuation
Period: put at the end of a sentence that makes a statement.
Declarative sentence: The sky is blue.
Indirect question: I wonder what’s wrong.
Imperative sentence that does not express a strong emotion: Sign the paperwork when you have time.
Comma: used to separate phrases and words in a series. Example: The meal included an appetizer, an entrée, a drink,
and dessert.
Question Mark: used to indicate that information is being sought.
Formal usage: Did Charlie like his birthday cake? Information usage: You said that we were going to the
baseball game?
Exclamation Point: used to indicate strong emotion, or it can be found after an interjection.
Declarative sentence: That was the best movie I have ever seen! Interjection: Whoops! Ohno! Darnit!
Quotation Marks: use quotation marks before and after direct quotes.
Example: He said, “You are hired.” Colon: used at the beginning of a list.
Example: The professor has given me three options: to retake the exam, to accept the extra credit assignment, or to fail the class.
Semicolon: separates the clauses of a compound sentence having no coordinating conjunction.
Example: I have a big test tomorrow; I can’t go out tonight. Apostrophe: used to show possession or ownership
of something.
Example: Ms. Jones’class was very hard.
Slash: used between terms to indicate that either term would be acceptable.
Example: You can call/e-mail me with plans for tonight
Hyphen: used to create a compound word. Example: My first car was a gas-guzzler.
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