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There are some general rules that can help when checking your spelling.

'i' before 'e' except after 'c'

Notice how the ‘i’ comes before the ‘e’ in believe, achieve and retrieve.

But after a ‘c’ the ‘e’ comes before the ‘i’ as in receive, ceiling and deceit (beware that the word weird likes to break this rule - perhaps because it is weird!).

Past tense

Take care when using the past tense. You usually need to add ‘-ed’ to a verb, though some verbs need extra consonants as well.

Here are some examples of verbs that add ‘-ed’ in the past tense:

If a verb is three letters in length and ends in a consonant, you will usually need to double the consonant before you add ‘-ed’. For example:

Some verbs have irregular spellings in the past tense. You might need to invent mnemonics to remember these. For example:

Silent letters

Some words contain silent letters. These are not spoken aloud. For example:

Silent w - wrong, write, wrap, wrist

Silent b - climb, comb, thumb, lamb

Silent k - knowledge, knuckle, knee, knife

Some commonly misspelt words

Look at the list of commonly misspelt words and notice those that you are less confident about. Spend some time coming up with a mnemonic to remember the spelling and practise using the words when you can:

• accommodation
• assessment
• interesting
• weird
• knowledge
• acceptable
• concentration
• argument
• listening
• receive
• atmosphere
• collectable
• proportion
• development
• beginning
• mischief
• daughter
• noticeable
• conclusion
• permanent
• abandoning
• fierce
• jealous
• visible
• evaluation
• contentment
• compromising
• believe
• explanation
• invincible
• appreciation
• independent
• confirming
• foreign
• liaison
• negligible

Tip - it’s better to learn one or two a day than all of them at once!

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