You will always find exceptions to the rule, such as “biz,” but they are often exceptions for a reason. “Biz,” for instance," is a slang abbreviation for “business,” so it doesn’t have a double “z” at the end. Other examples include “shell,” “lass,” “fizz,” and “ball. "
If the vowel before the consonant is short, you double the consonant when adding the suffix, such as in the words “winning,” “panned,” “stopping,” and “penning,” formed from “win,” “pan,” “stop,” and “pen,” respectively. A suffix is an added ending to a word. If the vowel before the consonant is long, you use a single consonant when adding the suffix, such as in the words “pined,” “paring,” “condoned,” and “naming,” formed from “pine,” “pare,” “condone,” and “named. " Only double the consonant in 2-syllable words if the stress is on the second syllable, such as in “preferred,” “admitted,” or “committed. “[4] X Research source
For instance, “fierce,” “tried,” and “friend” all have “i” before “e. " However, “perceive,” “receive,” and “conceive” all use “ei” because they come after the “c. " The “/ay/"-sound rule comes into effect with words like “neighbor,” “heinous,” “weigh,” and “feign. " Of course, there are always exceptions. “Weird,” “seizure,” “leisure,” “sieve,” “friend,” and “mischief” don’t follow these rules, for instance.
For example, “pore” becomes “porous”; “forage” becomes “foraging”; “response” turns into “responsible”; and “move” turns into “movable. " An exception to this rule is when you need to keep the soft pronunciation of “-ce” or “-ge. " Then, keep the “e,” such as in “outrage” turning to “outrageous,” “notice” becoming “noticeable,” or “manage” becoming “manageable. " Also, keep the second “e” when there’s a double “e” at the end of the word, such as “see” in “seeable” or “flee” in “fleeing. " These “Es” are kept so that the pronunciation is correct.
For instance, “you have” becomes “you’ve,” and “they are” becomes “they’re. " For possessive words, “the book Jessie owns” becomes “Jessie’s book,” while “the cake the man owns” changes to “the man’s cake. " It gets a little more confusing with the word “it. " “It’s” seems like it is possessive because of the apostrophe, but it is actually joining “it is” in a contraction. “Its” is the possessive form of “it. "
For instance, “apple” becomes “apples”; “tree” turns to “trees”; “book” changes to “books”; “painting” becomes “paintings”; and “signal” changes to “signals. "
For instance, words like “crush,” “buzz,” “fox,” “dish,” “loss,” and “echo” become “crushes,” “buzzes,” “foxes,” “dishes,” “losses,” and “echoes. " Some exceptions to this rule include words like “radios,” “typos,” “altos,” and “epochs. " In the case of “epochs,” the “-ch” sounds like a hard “k,” which is why you don’t add “-es. "
For example, “knife” becomes “knives”; “wife” turns into “wives”; and “life” becomes “lives. "
These words would become “spies,” “shies,” “applies,” and “supplies,” respectively.
“To” usually indicates going somewhere, so to remember it, think of “go” and “to” each having just one “o” and one other letter. “To” is used as a preposition and an infinitive phrase conjunction. You can tell “too” means excessive because it has too many “Os” in it.
Another way to remember the difference is think of cause and effect, replacing “cause” with “affect. " “Cause” is causing the effect, so “affect” is affecting the effect. “Affect” is only used as a noun when it means it produced a feeling or “affect. " It’s the root of words like “affection. " It’s also the root of “affectation,” as another meaning of the verb “affect” is to “put on a pretense. " Likewise, “effect” is used as a verb when talking about bringing about change, as in, “to effect change. “[13] X Research source
Remember, “there” shows you places, so it has “here” in it.
Another common mix-up with these words is “we’re,” which is a contraction of “we” and “are,” such as “We’re eating oatmeal. " Remember to look for “here” in “where” to help you remember it’s a place word.
For instance, you’d say, “She’s smarter than him,” or “They ate more bananas than the other table. " For “then,” you could write, “We ate better back then,” or “The area was quieter then. "
For example, you may write, “I accept your gift,” or “I accept the situation. " On the other hand, for “except,” you may write, “We need everyone working hard on this project, except for Roger, who will be heading up the secondary team. "
If you’re trying to decide between 2 similar words, you can put both in the search engine, such as “their and there. " Often, you’ll find a page that lists the differences between the 2 words. If you don’t always have access to the Internet, keep a print dictionary on hand. You can also download dictionary apps that you can use when you’re not online.
Spellcheck isn’t right 100% of the time, but when it does pop up, you should definitely take a closer look at the word and maybe look it up somewhere else.
Programs like Grammarly and the Hemingway Editor can help you check for things that spellcheck misses, like passive voice or improper word use. These don’t replace careful editing, but they can supplement it.
For instance, common words people have trouble with include “definitely,” “separate,” “environment,” “judgment,” and “February. " You could also include short explanations of words that sound similar (homophones) but have different spellings, such as “your and you’re. " That way, you don’t have to look them up each time.
For instance, the word “espresso” is often said “expresso,” which may lead you to spell it with an “x. " Try repeating “espresso” out loud until it sticks in your brain. You could even make up a funny saying, such as “I don’t express myself until I espresso myself. "
