Add an S This is the most common way to make a plural e.g. bike- bikes.
Words ending in y If there is a consonant before the y, change the y to i before adding es, e.g. lady- ladies.
If there is a vowel before the y, just add s, e.g. toy - toys.
(Vowel - The five vowels in the alphabet are a e i o u . Consonants - All the other letters in the alphabet that are not vowels are called consonants).
Words ending in x, sh, ch or s For words ending in x, sh, ch or s add es, e.g. church = churches.
Words ending in f or fe For most of these words, change the f or fe to v before adding es, e.g. leaf - leaves.
Watch out for the words that don't fit this rule, e.g. chief - chiefs. To help work out the exceptions to the rule listen for the change in the sound when you say the word. some exceptions: roof = roofs, chief = chiefs, belief = beliefs, chef = chefs, cafe = cafes, handkerchief = handkerchiefs, safe = safes.
Irregular plurals Irregular plurals are plural word forms that don't follow any of the plural rules! .e.g.
Singular ~ Plural
man ~ men
woman ~ women
child ~ children
foot ~ feet
tooth ~ teeth
mouse ~ mice
deer ~ deer
sheep ~ sheep
ox ~ oxen
fish ~ fish or fishes
English - Words
What are root words?
A root word is a word that has nothing added at the beginning or the end. It stands on its own as a word, it has a meaning. New words can be made from root words by adding beginnings (prefixes) and endings (suffixes).
A root word is a real word and you make new words from it by adding prefixes and suffixes.
For example, clear is a root word. By adding prefixes and suffixes you can make these new words: unclear, clearly, cleared.
All of these words have grown from their root word. They share parts of the same spelling and they are linked in terms of meaning. They are known as a word family.
In a word family all the words share parts of the same spelling and have linked meaning.
Root words are helpful because:
1. You can use a root word to help you with other spellings.
2. If you recognise the root of a word when you are reading it can help you to work out what the word is and what it means.
There are spelling rules for adding suffixes and prefixes to root words. To find out more visit the Skillswise Suffixes and Prefixes modules.
Here are some more examples of root words and the word families that grow from them:
1. use: useless, usable, used, using, user, misuse
2. employ: employment, unemployment, employer, employee, employing
3. manage: manager, managing, manages, manageable, unmanageable
4. beauty: beautiful, beautifully, beautician
5. faith: faithful, faithfully, unfaithful, unfaithfully
More root words
Here are some more root words and their word families:
act- action, acting, acted, inaction
add- addition, additional
apply- application, applicant
beauty- beautiful, beautician, beautifully
care- careful, careless, caring, cared, cares, carefully
complete-completely, completed, completing, completion, incompletely
confuse- confusing, confused
cook- cooker, cooking, cooked, cooks
correct- correctly, incorrect, incorrectly, corrected
dark- darker, darkest
decide- decided, deciding, decisive, indecisive, decision, indecision
diet- dieter, dieting, dietician
electric- electricity, electrician
employ- employment, unemployment, employer, employee, employing
engine- engineer, engineering, engineered
enjoy- enjoyment, enjoyable, enjoyed
excite- excitement, excitable, excited, exciting, unexciting
faith- faithful, faithfully, unfaithful, unfaithfully
freeze- freezer, freezing
friend- friendly, friendship, unfriendly, friendless
happy- happiness, unhappy, unhappiest, unhappiness, happier, unhappier
hope- hopeful, hopeless
love- lover, loving, loveable, loved, unloved, lovely, lovelier, loveliest
produce- producer, produced, production
sad- sadness, saddest, sadder,
suit- suitable, unsuitable, suited, unsuited
use- usable, useless, used, using, user, misuse
A root word is a word that has nothing added at the beginning or the end. It stands on its own as a word, it has a meaning. New words can be made from root words by adding beginnings (prefixes) and endings (suffixes).
A root word is a real word and you make new words from it by adding prefixes and suffixes.
For example, clear is a root word. By adding prefixes and suffixes you can make these new words: unclear, clearly, cleared.
All of these words have grown from their root word. They share parts of the same spelling and they are linked in terms of meaning. They are known as a word family.
In a word family all the words share parts of the same spelling and have linked meaning.
Root words are helpful because:
1. You can use a root word to help you with other spellings.
2. If you recognise the root of a word when you are reading it can help you to work out what the word is and what it means.
There are spelling rules for adding suffixes and prefixes to root words. To find out more visit the Skillswise Suffixes and Prefixes modules.
Here are some more examples of root words and the word families that grow from them:
1. use: useless, usable, used, using, user, misuse
2. employ: employment, unemployment, employer, employee, employing
3. manage: manager, managing, manages, manageable, unmanageable
4. beauty: beautiful, beautifully, beautician
5. faith: faithful, faithfully, unfaithful, unfaithfully
More root words
Here are some more root words and their word families:
act- action, acting, acted, inaction
add- addition, additional
apply- application, applicant
beauty- beautiful, beautician, beautifully
care- careful, careless, caring, cared, cares, carefully
complete-completely, completed, completing, completion, incompletely
confuse- confusing, confused
cook- cooker, cooking, cooked, cooks
correct- correctly, incorrect, incorrectly, corrected
dark- darker, darkest
decide- decided, deciding, decisive, indecisive, decision, indecision
diet- dieter, dieting, dietician
electric- electricity, electrician
employ- employment, unemployment, employer, employee, employing
engine- engineer, engineering, engineered
enjoy- enjoyment, enjoyable, enjoyed
excite- excitement, excitable, excited, exciting, unexciting
faith- faithful, faithfully, unfaithful, unfaithfully
freeze- freezer, freezing
friend- friendly, friendship, unfriendly, friendless
happy- happiness, unhappy, unhappiest, unhappiness, happier, unhappier
hope- hopeful, hopeless
love- lover, loving, loveable, loved, unloved, lovely, lovelier, loveliest
produce- producer, produced, production
sad- sadness, saddest, sadder,
suit- suitable, unsuitable, suited, unsuited
use- usable, useless, used, using, user, misuse
Sunday, May 25, 2008
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