Focus On: Spelling, Capitalization, and
Punctuation
1.
Write two rules for spelling words correctly.
(a) Sound it out if your having trouble. _________________________________________________________
(b) Look it up in the dictionary if you don’t know how to spell it. ____________________________________
2.
Bold the misspelled words in these sentences.
(a) The windoe was smashd by a basebal travelling at a hig speed.
(b) My canarey is a very intelligent bird, and she can sing many songs, I thingk.
(c) A wanderng minstrel played his guiter for the townspeeple everwere he went.
3.
When are capital letters usually needed? Give at least three situations where they are used.
The beginning of every sentence. _____________________________________________________________
Names, places and street names. ______________________________________________________________
The months and days of the year. ______________________________________________________________
4.
Bold the letters that should be capitalized.
(a) i found the way to hingle’s treasure palace by following sendle street to prathmore avenue.
(b) We are not going to listen to dr. watson tell us any more about sherlock holmes.
(c) the program who wants to buy some pizza? was not a very big success in regina or calgary.
5.
6.
Identify these punctuation marks.
! An exclamation mark___
semicolon____________
“ ” quotation marks__________
;
’ apostrophe _____________
period________________
, comma__________________
.
: colon_________________
dash___________________
– dash_________________________-
Add commas where you think they are needed in these sentences.
(a) We need to bring sandwiches, milk, cake, soda, water and a large picnic basket.
(b) The bright, beautiful sun shone on towns fields and the sea.
Spelling Rules
1.
Tips
Words ending in e: Drop the e when adding an ending or suffix beginning with a vowel. Keep the e if
the suffix starts with a consonant.
tame + ing = taming
2.
Words ending in a consonant and y: Change the y to i before adding endings. Keep the y if the
ending begins with i.
beauty + ful = beautiful
3.
same + ness = sameness
fly + ing = flying
Words ending in a vowel and y: Leave the y when adding endings.
play + ing = playing
4.
One-syllable words: If the word ends in a single vowel with a single consonant, double the consonant
when you add an ending beginning with a vowel.
stop + ing = stopping
5.
slam + ed = slammed
Multi-syllable words: If the word ends with a single vowel and consonant, with the accent (stress) on
the last syllable, double the consonant when you add an ending that begins with a vowel.
begin + ing = beginning
6.
With i and e: Use i before e except after c, or when it sounds like a as in sleigh.
receive
believe
weigh
These rules should help you in your spelling. However, here are some spelling and
proofreading tips to think about as you spell words in your everyday writing.
• Read as much and as often as you can. This will show you the correct spellings of words used in
context.
• Use a dictionary for spell checking.
• Use a computer spell checker, but remember that it will often give you many words to choose from.
You need to have a good idea how to spell the word or you might choose one that doesn’t fit your
context.
• Read your work forwards and backwards, word for word, looking for words that don’t look right.
• Use memory tricks to help you spell words: This is so B-E-A-U-tiful!
• Break larger words into their syllable parts. A dictionary will help you with this.
• Look for smaller words in larger ones: TO - mor - ROW
• Check the phonetic spellings of words to help you pronounce them correctly.
Use the ideas on this page as a self-check whenever you spell words.
Spelling Rules
Usage
Use the rules and tips from the page above to help you with the activities on this page.
1.
Bold the words that are spelled incorrectly. Write the correct spellings below.
reciept
believe
receipt
wiegh
sleigh
weigh
acheive
chief
achieve
greif beleif
grief
eight
receive
belief _________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
3.
Add the endings to these words.
beauty + ful = beautiful _____________________
stop + ing = stopping __________________________
shame + less = shameless ____________________
shame + ing = shaming _________________________
exist + ence = existence _____________________
apart + ment = apartment _______________________
Bold the smaller words you see in these larger words.
reprimand
4.
5.
suburban
coordinator
superintendent
behavior
adolescents
Break these words into syllables. Place an accent mark on the stressed syllable. Check your work in a
dictionary.
gymnasium: gym-na-si-um___________________
technology: tech-nol-o-gy_______________________
intelligence: in-tell-i-gence ___________________
following: foll-o-wing _________________________
community: com-mun-i-ty ___________________
destructive: de-struc-tive _______________________
channels: chan-nels ________________________
computer: comp-ut-er __________________________
argument: ar-gu-ment _______________________
immature: im-mat-ure __________________________
Check this movie listing for spelling mistakes. Rewrite the copy with the corrected words.
Mason’s Ghost: This chiling tale of things that go bump in thu nigt centres around Mason, a
fourtenth centery ghost. At one time, Macon was a soldier in the Kng’s army. When he was
betrayed and killed during a batle, Mason’s ghost vowed revenge on anyone entring the
battlefield area. The movie traces the hiestory of the ghost and his final confrontation with
Kilgallen, the historian. Watch for this ecksciting movie, coming soon to a theatre near yu!
Mason’s Ghost: This chilling tale of things that go bump in the night centers around Mason, a
fourteenth century ghost. At one time, Mason was a soldier in the King’s army. When he was betrayed
and killed during a battle, Mason’s ghost vowed to revenge on anyone entering the battlefield area. The
movie traces the history of the ghost and his final confrontation with Kilgallen, the historian. Watch for
this exciting movie, coming to a theatre near you! _______________________________________________
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