10 Common Rules and Confusing Words

Affect and Effect Are and Our Have and Of It's and Its Know and No Lead and Led Lose and Loose Passed and Past Quiet and Quite and

Quit

Than and Then They're and Their

and There To and Two and Too Weather and

Whether Were and Where and

Wear Who's and Whose Woman and Women Your and You're

Affect (verb) - To influence something.

Effect (noun) – What an event causes.

◦ The politician hoped to affect his audience, but the effect was the opposite of what he planned.

◦ The devastating effects of the hurricane affected thousands of people.

◦ The effect of sunlight on mold is that it affects the rate of growth.

Are (verb) - The plural present tense of “to be”.

Our (pronoun) - Plural first person possessive case.

◦ We are working hard for our money.

◦ Where are the rewards for our hard work?

Have (verb) - to hold or possess.

Of (preposition).

◦ I should have bought more of that ice cream.

◦ They must have left for good because of the robbery.

It’s (contraction) - It is.

Its (possessive pronoun) - Belonging to it.

◦ We aren’t sure if it’s tame, so place its food in the cage carefully.

◦ When it’s over, we will tell its story.

Know (verb) - to understand or have knowledge about.

No (Interjection/Adjective) – Without; not having any.

◦ I know there are no rules, but this is ridiculous!

◦ No, you don’t know the first thing about my problems.

Loose (adjective/verb) - not tight; let go a little.

Lose (verb) - to misplace.

◦ When I lose weight, my clothes are loose.

◦ Loose the rope, but don’t lose the horse.

Lead (noun/adjective) - a heavy metal.

Led (past tense verb) – having guided someone or something.

◦ The fireman led the victims past the lead plated beams that had fallen.

◦ The FDA led the fight to get lead-based paint banned.

Passed (verb) – something that went by.

Past (noun) - a time after the present.

◦ In the past, I would have passed you in a bike race.

◦ After Lance was passed by the other riders, we knew his victories were a thing of the past.

Quiet (adjective) - not loud. Quite (adverb) - a bit. Quit (verb) - to stop.

◦ We were quite surprised when the quiet man quit after voicing his complaints.

◦ The children were actually quite quiet after they quit playing that ridiculous Pictionary game.

Than (adverb) - a comparison.

Then (adverb) - following “if”.

◦ If you are smarter than I am, then you should be able to solve this problem.

◦ Then the turtle, who was faster than the hare, took a bow.

They’re (contraction) - they are.

Their (possessive pronoun) - belonging to them.

There (pronoun) - not here.

◦ They’re going there to pick up their new puppy.

◦ Their new house is in the city, and they’re planning on living there a long time.

To (preposition).

Two (adjective) - a number greater than one and less than three.

Too (adverb) - also.

◦ You gave two dollars to the charity, too.

◦ To run two miles, you must concentrate and breathe, too.

Weather (noun) - temperature, rain, etc.

Whether (conjunction) – a conditional word.

◦ Whether or not the weather is warm and sunny, we will be going to the beach tomorrow.

◦ The weather will be whatever it is, whether or not we do the rain dance.

Were (verb) - plural past tense of “to be”.

Where (adverb) - in a location.

Wear (verb) - to put on.

◦ What did the girls wear when they went where the models were hanging out?

◦ That café is where we were when we saw the waiters who wear top hats.

Who’s (contraction) - who is.

Whose (possessive pronoun) - belonging to someone.

◦ Who’s the idiot whose car is parked across my driveway?

◦ Who’s auditioning for the part of the boy whose bike gets stolen?

Woman (noun singular) - one adult female.

Women (noun plural) - more than one adult female.

◦ A tall woman is locked in the women’s restroom.

◦ What all women want is man who thinks like a woman.

Your (possessive pronoun) - belonging to you.

You’re (contraction) - you are.

◦ You’re not serious about cutting off all your hair, are you?

◦ Your friend Anna said you’re coming to the concert with us tonight.

1. No words end in i, u, v

2. Order of i and e 3. Making the “sh”

sound4. Soft and Hard c

and g5. All syllables must

have a vowel

6. Ending with double f, l, and s

7. Dropping the second l

8. Changing y to I9. When to add -es10. Suffixes and

silent e

i, u, and v never come at the end of English words.

We do not write happi; we write happy.We do not write hav; we write have.We do not write blu; we write blue.

EXCEPTIONS: flu.

"i" comes before "e" except after "c" or when saying “a" as in neighbor or weigh.

ReceiveBelieveSleigh

EXCEPTIONS: weird.

"s-h" is used to say "sh" at the beginning of a word or end of a syllable, but not at the beginning of a syllable after the first one. "Ti", "si”, and "ci" are used then.

Wish Shape Motion Special Tension

EXCEPTIONS: fashion.

“e", "I”, or "y" may make a "c" or "g" soft. Put an "e" at the end of a word when you want the "c" or "g" at the end to be soft. (rice or change) Keep the "e" there when adding suffixes that begin with "a" or "o". (changeable, noticeable). Add a “k” after the “c” to end a word with a hard “c” sound

Cent vs. Can’t Gentle vs. Goal Recycle vs. Trick

EXCEPTIONS: Gimmick.

All syllables must have a vowel (a, e, i, o, u, or y). That is why we have an "e" at the end of apple, bottle, table, etc.

Hap-py In-san-it-y

At the end of a one syllable word that has a single vowel, "f", "l", and "s" are usually doubled

Full Will Stuff Dress

ll, full, and till are written with only one "l" when combined with another syllable. (This does not hold true for compound words like pillbox)

Almost Wonderful Until

EXCEPTIONS (ing and er suffixes): Willing, Killer.

Single vowel "y" at the end of a word changes to "i" when a suffix is added, except for suffixes that begin with "i." (cry...cries....but crying. Double vowels do not follow this rule: boys)

Shy -> shies ->shying Lie -> lies -> lying

x“, “ch”, and “sh” are never followed by "s".

Excellent Excited Boxes Churches Wishes

When a word ends in a silent e, remove the e before you add a suffix that begins with a vowel, but keep the e when you add a suffix that begins with a consonant.

Price -> priceless -> pricy Scare -> scaring

EXCEPTION (Words ending with a soft c or g that depend on the e to keep sound): Change -> Changeling -> Changeable