http://spellingblog.howtospell.co.uk/ by Joanne Rudling

Spelling Mistakes Spelling Stress – start to love spelling

As adults we get anxious when we

make mistakes, and making

spelling mistakes or not knowing how

something is spelled is not only

frustrating but can put us off writing all

together.

  Most people think English spelling is crazy and illogical. But as soon as

we understand why English is the way it is and start taking an interest 

in words, understanding the history, see the patterns and rules we

start to love it and gain confidence in our spelling.

To learn to spell you have to write. If you don't write you won't

improve. But first you need to identify the problems and then use

strategies to help. Go to my Spelling Strategies blog and take the

spelling test and then read the explanation on how you can improve

spelling by using simple memory tricks. 

Using a good dictionary and the spellchecker on the computer can

help but it won't help with homophones – these are the same sound,

different spelling and meaning: there/their/they're, to/too/two,

been/bean, stationary/stationery, isle/aisle/I’ll. Go to my homophone

spelling blog at http://spellingblog.howtospell.co.uk/)

60% of English words have silent letters in them

which can cause all sorts of problems spelling

the word or looking for the word in a dictionary.

The good news is there are some rules about

what letters are silent before or after certain

letters (but like all English spelling rules there

are exceptions to the rule). 

Some of the silent letters are left there because

http://spellingblog.howtospell.co.uk/ by Joanne Rudling

we see the history and origin of the word through the silent letter.

One way to start to love spelling and improve it is to take an interest in words, to discover the logic in the spelling system and to understand the background and history of words.

Hopefully the following quiz will raise your interest in words and understanding.

1. What's the origin of words with the silent k and g? Knife, knock, know, knee, gnat, gnaw?

2. Why is there a silent b in plumber?

3. Why are there silent letters in doubt, debt, receipt?

4. Why is there a silent ‘s’ in island?

5. What's the origin of the words with the silent 'gh' like daughter, night, light, bright, dough, bough (branch of a tree) and why is 'gh' in cough and enough pronounced with a 'f'?

For the answers and more information go to my spelling blog on silent letters.

I’ll be putting slides up when they’re ready, in the mean time all this and more on my blog.

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