Guide to Spelling: Hooked on Phonics: Follow the Rules! Spelling Rules

Follow the Rules! Spelling Rules

Who can trust the rules of life? You really can go swimming right after you eat; men do buy the cow even after they've gotten the milk for free. Spelling, fortunately, has some valid rules. Here are three nifty ones that will serve you well.

1. The -ceed/-cede rule. There are only three verbs in English that end in -ceed: succeed, proceed, and exceed. All the other verbs with that sound end in -cede. For example:
   • secede
   • intercede
   • concede
   • accede
   • cede
   • precede
2. The -ful rule. Remember that the sound full at the end of a word is spelled with only one l. For example:
   • careful
   • graceful
   • healthful
   • hopeful
3. i before e except after c … Remember this baby from the eighth grade? (Or were you too busy putting Clearasil on your nose and ogling the teacher to pay attention to something as mundane as spelling?) Here's the rule (and it even has a bouncy rhyme to it):
   • i before e except after c or when sounded as a as in neighbor and weigh
   • Here are some words that fit the rule.

   i before e	except after c	sounded as a
   achieve	conceit	neighbor
   believe	ceiling	weigh
   siege	receive	freight
   relief	conceive	reign
   grief	deceit	sleigh
   chief	deceive	vein
   fierce	perceive	weight
   fiend	receipt
   piece	receive
   shriek

   • And here are some words that don't:
   • either
   • neither
   • foreign
   • height
   • leisure
   • seize
   • weird
   • (Hey, is anything perfect? I never promised you a rose garden, only some neat-o spelling rules.)

ieeeeeeeeeeeee!

Add ie or ei to complete each word.