Spelling Rules and Patterns

Spelling is a crucial part of the CSSE 11+ English paper. Although there is no separate spelling test in the CSSE exam, your spelling is assessed throughout the English paper — in both your comprehension answers and your creative writing. Accurate spelling creates a strong impression and prevents you from losing marks unnecessarily. This lesson covers the most important spelling rules and patterns you need to know.

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The i Before e Rule

The most famous spelling rule: "i before e, except after c" — but only when the sound is ee (as in "see").

i before e (ee sound)	except after c
believe	receive
achieve	conceive
piece	deceive
niece	perceive

Exceptions to remember: weird, seize, protein, species, neither, either. These are commonly tested, so learn them by heart!

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Adding Suffixes: The Silent e Rule

When you add a suffix that begins with a vowel (like -ing, -ed, -er, -ous, -able) to a word ending in silent e, you usually drop the e.

Base word	+ suffix	Result
make	+ ing	making
hope	+ ed	hoped
fame	+ ous	famous
love	+ able	lovable

But when the suffix begins with a consonant (like -ment, -ful, -less, -ness), you usually keep the e.

Base word	+ suffix	Result
excite	+ ment	excitement
hope	+ ful	hopeful
care	+ less	careless
safe	+ ly	safely

Exceptions: argument (not arguement), truly (not truely), judgement/judgment (both accepted).

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The Doubling Rule

When a short word ends in a single consonant after a single vowel, you double the consonant before adding a vowel suffix (-ing, -ed, -er).

Base word	+ ing	Why?
run	running	Short vowel "u", single consonant "n" — double it
hop	hopping	Short vowel "o", single consonant "p" — double it
sit	sitting	Short vowel "i", single consonant "t" — double it

If the word has a long vowel (often marked by a silent e), do not double:

Base word	+ ing	Why?
hope	hoping	Long vowel — drop the e, do not double
ride	riding	Long vowel — drop the e, do not double

For longer words, double the consonant only if the last syllable is stressed: beGIN becomes beGINNing, but VISit becomes VISiting.

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Plurals

Regular plurals

Most nouns add -s: cat/cats, book/books, tree/trees.

Words ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, -z

Add -es: bus/buses, wish/wishes, church/churches, box/boxes.

Words ending in consonant + y

Change the y to i and add -es: baby/babies, city/cities, family/families.

Words ending in vowel + y

Just add -s: key/keys, day/days, boy/boys.

Words ending in -f or -fe

Some change the f to v and add -es: leaf/leaves, knife/knives, wolf/wolves.