Spelling

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации

Уральский федеральный университет

имени первого Президента России Б. Н. Ельцина

Орфография

Учебно-методическое пособие

Екатеринбург

УрФУ

2010

УДК

ББК

Составители А. В. Антропова, Е. В. Жучкова

SPELLING : учеб.-метод. пособие / сост. А. В. Антропова, Е. В. Жучкова. Екатеринбург : УГТУ – УПИ, 2010. 36 с.

Данная работа представляет собой сборник упражнений и методических указаний по орфографии современного английского языка, материалы которого могут быть использованы для проведения практических занятий по орфографии и самоконтроля студентов.

Пособие предназначено для студентов английских отделений факультетов иностранных языков, преподавателей, аспирантов и всех интересующихся проблемами орфографии английского языка.

Подготовлено кафедрой иностранных языков.

Ответственный за английский текст Ж. А. Храмушина.

УрФУ, 2010

Contents

Introduction

GENERAL RULES

UNIT 1. Combinations -ei-/-ie- in the middle of words

UNIT 2. Adjective endings -able/-ible. Prefixes of negation in-/im-/ir-/il-/un-/dis /mis-

UNIT 3. Adding suffixes to words ending in ‘y’. Words with endings -s/-es

UNIT 4. Doubling final consonants

UNIT 5. Silent ‘e’ at the end of words. Letter combinations ‘-ch’/‘-tch’, ‘-ge’/‘-dge’, ‘-c’/‘-ic’ at the end of words

UNIT 6. Suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’. Adding ‘-ly’ to form adverbs

UNIT 7. Differences between American and English spelling

UNIT 8. Additional rules

UNIT 9. Homonyms

UNIT 10. REVISION

SILENT LETTERS

UNIT 1. Silent letters ‘b’, ‘n’, ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘z’.

UNIT 2. Silent letters ‘gh’, ‘g’, ‘h’

UNIT 3. Silent letters ‘l’, ‘w’

UNIT 4. Silent letters ‘p’, ‘d’, ‘f’, ‘c’, ‘ch’, ‘t’

UNIT 5. REVISION

TEST YOUR PRONUNCIATION SKILLS

Introduction

English spelling is difficult, isn’t it? English people also think so. No wonder! There are so many ways to represent one and the same sound in writing! Just read “A Spelling Rhyme” written by an English teacher:

It’s easy: should and would and could

all rhyme with stood and wood and good.

But then we find another – mould,

which rhymes instead with bold and gold.

Thought, bought and fought all rhyme with sort,

but so do caught and taught (and taut).

Light, might, night, sight, tight, height, but wait

for neigh and sleigh and eight and weight.

Though, bough and cough are not enough,

there’s also dough and rough and tough.

I haven’t even mentioned ‘through’

or ‘ought’ and ‘brought’

Because I threw my pencil at the teacher’s head

and with a naughty laugh I fled!

Task:

1. Consult the dictionary for the pronunciation (and meaning) of the underlined words.

2. Think of a reason of such a disparity between spelling and pronunciation (phonetics).

3. Recall and write down several other examples of the difficulties the English language presents.

4. Learn the poem by heart.