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00:00:14Hi, I'm Carl Weber. Welcome to Video Aided Instruction's English Grammar Series. This
00:00:21is the program on spelling and capitalization. Of all the languages in the world, English
00:00:27may be the most difficult to spell. In some other languages, Italian for instance, each
00:00:33letter represents only one sound. So if you know how to say a word in Italian, you know
00:00:39how to spell it. In English, however, the relationship between sound and spelling is unpredictable.
00:00:46For example, in the following words, the sound of O is represented by ten different letters
00:00:52or combinations of letters. So, so, so, oh, oh, dough, dough, bow, soak, and soul. And the same
00:01:08letter may represent many different sounds in English. For example, in these words, the letter
00:01:13O represents seven different sounds. So, to, on, honey, horse, women, burrow. No wonder English
00:01:27is hard to spell. Perhaps you wonder why someone hasn't tried to fix English spelling by making
00:01:33it match the pronunciations of words. Actually, some people have tried. Such well-known figures
00:01:39as the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the novelist Mark Twain, and the dictionary maker Noah
00:01:46Webster have all proposed simplified systems for spelling English. None of these systems
00:01:52have been adopted, however. There are several reasons. First, if words are to be pronounced
00:01:57as they are spelled, whose pronunciation will we follow? As you know, English sounds very different
00:02:03in New York City, Liverpool, England, Atlanta, Georgia, Bombay, India, and Sydney, Australia. If we had
00:02:12different spelling systems for every style of pronunciation, communication would be more difficult,
00:02:17not easier. Furthermore, if children were to learn a new system of spelling, they would find it hard or
00:02:24impossible to read the millions of existing books that are printed with traditional spelling, and it would
00:02:30cost billions of dollars to convert and reprint those books. For these reasons, the crazy spelling
00:02:36of English is simply something that we have to live with, like traffic jams or bad weather. In this lesson,
00:02:43you'll learn some rules and techniques that will make it easier for you to spell English words correctly.
00:02:48And when you're still in doubt, consult a dictionary.
00:02:58There are quite a few words in English that are hard to spell. Luckily, it's not necessary to learn
00:03:03each of these words individually. Some of the hard words fall into groups that can be learned together.
00:03:09In this lesson, we'll look at a few rules that can help you remember how to spell some of these
00:03:14groups
00:03:15of hard words. Our first rule deals with the letter combination I-E or E-I. Many words in English
00:03:24contain these combinations, but it's not always easy to remember whether to use I-E or E-I in a
00:03:30particular word.
00:03:32Our first rule takes the form of a little poem that can help you remember. Here's how it goes.
00:03:38I before E except after C or when sounded like A as in neighbor and way.
00:03:47Let's take a closer look at this rule. It tells you that I-E is usually correct, I before E.
00:03:55However, when the letter combination comes after the letter C, then E-I is used instead.
00:04:01So, for example, a word like receive is spelled R-E-C-E-I-V-E.
00:04:08Because the letter combination comes after the letter C, E-I is correct.
00:04:14Furthermore, we use E-I when the sound of the vowel combination is A.
00:04:20For example, in the word neighbor or the word way. In both of those words, the letter combination sounds like
00:04:27A,
00:04:28and therefore it's spelled E-I rather than I-E.
00:04:32Now, there are a few other English words that are exceptions to this rule.
00:04:37Words that use E-I even though they don't follow the letter C, nor does it sound like A.
00:04:44You can remember most of the most common words that are exceptions to this rule
00:04:49if you memorize this rather strange sentence. Here it is.
00:04:54Neither leisurely, foreign, chic, seized their weird height.
00:05:01Does this sentence make a lot of sense? Not really.
00:05:05But it is easy to remember and it's a good way to make a note of these exceptional words in
00:05:11English
00:05:11which are spelled E-I even though they don't fit into our rhyming rule.
00:05:18Our next rule has to do with the sound able or ible which comes at the end of many words.
00:05:24It means able to be done.
00:05:26Now, it sometimes can be difficult to remember whether to spell this suffix A-B-L-E or I-B
00:05:34-L-E.
00:05:34Here are a couple of rules that will help you distinguish able words from ible words.
00:05:40The ending is usually I-B-L-E if the root is not a complete word.
00:05:47For example, look at the word credible. This means able to be believed.
00:05:51It comes from a Latin root credere which means to believe.
00:05:55But in English, the root cred is not a complete word.
00:05:59No one can use the word cred in English.
00:06:01Since it's not a complete word, I-B-L-E would be the expected spelling and that is correct.
00:06:08So credible is spelled with ible, not able.
00:06:11Other examples in English include impossible and plausible
00:06:17because impasse and plause are not complete words in English.
00:06:21Now, there's another group of words that are also commonly spelled I-B-L-E rather than A-B-L
00:06:27-E.
00:06:27These are words where the root ends in N-S, S-S, soft C, or soft G.
00:06:37Examples include defensible, admissible, enforceable, and legible.
00:06:45Because the root in these cases ends with that soft sound, I-B-L-E is also correct.
00:06:53Otherwise, words with this suffix usually are spelled with A-B-L-E.
00:06:59So in this rule, we've defined two groups of words that usually end in I-B-L-E.
00:07:04Otherwise, A-B-L-E is correct.
00:07:07Our next rule deals with another common ending, effy or iffy.
00:07:12There are four words in English that end in E-F-Y.
00:07:16Memorize these four and you'll know how to spell them correctly.
00:07:19They are liquify, which means to make liquid.
00:07:24Putrefy, which means to rot.
00:07:27Rarify, which means to make more rare or more pure.
00:07:31And stupefy, which means to make something or someone stupid or dull.
00:07:35Those four words are spelled E-F-Y.
00:07:38Other words with the same suffix are spelled with I-F-Y.
00:07:42For example, magnify, beautify, and identify.
00:07:47So when you have a word that ends with this sound, you would usually spell it I-F-Y.
00:07:52Only the four exceptions with E-F-Y need to be memorized.
00:07:57And our last rule also deals with commonly confused endings.
00:08:01These are all endings that sound like seed.
00:08:04Once again, we have a group of exceptional words that you can memorize.
00:08:08And otherwise, all the other words that have that seed ending will fall into a single category.
00:08:14Here's the rule.
00:08:16Three words end in C-E-E-D.
00:08:19Those three words are exceed, proceed, and succeed.
00:08:26One word ends in S-E-D-E, supersede.
00:08:31All other words that end with the seed sound are spelled with C-E-D-E.
00:08:37For example, concede, reseed, and precede.
00:08:42Again, if you memorize the words that are exceptions to the general principle,
00:08:46you shouldn't have too much difficulty with these seed words.
00:08:51Okay, the rules you've learned in this lesson will help you spell many dozens of English words.
00:08:56Do you think you've mastered them?
00:08:58Turn to your study guide in which we've provided an exercise which will test your knowledge of these rules.
00:09:12In this exercise, we provided you with five sentences, some of which contain spelling errors.
00:09:18Your job is to locate any spelling errors and correct them.
00:09:21And you are allowed to use a dictionary if you find that helpful.
00:09:24Let's look at the first sentence.
00:09:26The telescope at the city observatory can magnify images from space thousands of times,
00:09:33making distant stars and galaxies clearly visible.
00:09:37Now, in this sentence there are two spelling errors.
00:09:39Did you catch both of them?
00:09:40The first one is magnify.
00:09:43Magnify in this sentence was spelled with E-F-Y.
00:09:46But remember, there are only four words in English that end in E-F-Y,
00:09:50and magnify isn't one of them.
00:09:52The correct spelling is I-F-Y.
00:09:54The second error is the word visible.
00:09:57Here the suffix able was spelled with an A-V-I-S-A-B-L-E.
00:10:03This is incorrect.
00:10:04Remember that if the root is not a complete word in English,
00:10:08the usual spelling is I-B-L-E.
00:10:12Vis is not a complete word in English,
00:10:15and therefore I-B-L-E would be the expected spelling,
00:10:18and that would be correct in visible.
00:10:21Let's look at the next sentence.
00:10:23After entering the auditorium,
00:10:25the members of the graduating class are supposed to proceed directly to their seats.
00:10:30Here, seed has been spelled S-E-D-E in the word proceed.
00:10:35But that's wrong.
00:10:37Remember that S-E-D-E is used in only one word in English, supersede.
00:10:42Proceed is one of the group of words, three words, that are spelled with C-E-E-D.
00:10:50Remember those three words are exceed, proceed, and succeed.
00:10:55Therefore, the correct spelling of proceed is P-R-O-C-E-E-D.
00:11:00And that's a spelling error you should have caught in this sentence.
00:11:05Next example.
00:11:06Yesterday I received a package in the mail that was supposed to be delivered to my next-door neighbor.
00:11:13Now, in this sentence we have two words that use the I-E or E-I combination of letters.
00:11:19Are they spelled correctly?
00:11:20Well, one is correct and one isn't.
00:11:23First we have the word received, which is spelled I-E in this case.
00:11:27Is that correct?
00:11:27No, it's wrong.
00:11:29Remember our rule, I before E except after C.
00:11:34In this case the word received contains the I-E combination after the letter C,
00:11:40and therefore I should not come before E, but instead the other way around.
00:11:45E-I is correct in the word received.
00:11:48So this word is spelled wrong in this sentence.
00:11:51What about the word neighbor?
00:11:53Neighbor is spelled with E-I, and that's correct.
00:11:55Because remember that when the vowel combination is sounded like A,
00:12:01as in neighbor and way, E comes before I.
00:12:05So in this sentence, one of the words with the I-E, E-I combination is spelled incorrectly, one correctly.
00:12:14Our next example.
00:12:16During the early stages of the war, some feared that Hitler's armies were practically invincible,
00:12:22and a few were ready to concede defeat.
00:12:26Now there are two tricky words in this sentence.
00:12:29Let's see whether you were able to spell them correctly.
00:12:32The first one is invincible.
00:12:34That includes that suffix able or ible, which can sometimes be difficult.
00:12:40Is I-B-L-E the correct spelling as it's done here?
00:12:44Well, remember that when the root ends with a soft C sound, that is a C that sounds like an
00:12:50S,
00:12:51then I-B-L-E is normally correct.
00:12:53Therefore, the I-B-L-E spelling in this case is correct, because invincible, the root there,
00:13:00invince, ends with that soft C sound, the C that sounds like an S.
00:13:05So I-B-L-E is the correct spelling, and the sentence is right so far.
00:13:10What about the word concede?
00:13:12We've seen that that seed ending can be tricky.
00:13:16Well, C-E-D-E is the most common spelling for the seed ending.
00:13:21We saw that there are just four words that don't fit that rule, and concede is not one of them.
00:13:26So concede is correctly spelled in this sentence with the C-E-D-E ending.
00:13:31All the words in this sentence are correct. There's no error here.
00:13:36Last example.
00:13:37As darkness fell over the mountains, the weird cry of a distant coyote was faintly audible.
00:13:44Once again, there are two possibly tricky words in this sentence.
00:13:47Are they spelled correctly or incorrectly?
00:13:49Let's take a look.
00:13:51First, we have the word weird, which contains the I-E or E-I combination.
00:13:56Remember that weird is one of the words that shows up in our little sentence.
00:14:00The sentence which is designed to remind you of words that are spelled E-I, even though they don't fit
00:14:06into the rule.
00:14:07The sentence is, neither leisurely, foreign, chic, seized their weird height.
00:14:13The word weird is in that sentence, and that's there to remind you that it's spelled E-I, not I
00:14:18-E.
00:14:19So in this sentence, it's incorrect and would need to be fixed.
00:14:22What about the word audible?
00:14:25Again, that A-B-L-E or I-B-L-E ending can be tricky.
00:14:31Remember our rule, that when the root is not a complete word in English, very often I-B-L-E
00:14:38is the correct spelling.
00:14:40Is odd a complete word in English?
00:14:43Not at all.
00:14:44Therefore, we would expect audible to be spelled with I-B-L-E.
00:14:49And that is, in fact, the correct spelling.
00:14:51So audible is correctly spelled in this sentence.
00:14:54Weird is not.
00:15:01Prefixes are syllables that are added to the beginning of words or word roots to change their meaning.
00:15:08Suffixes are syllables added to the ends of words or word roots to change their meaning.
00:15:13As we've already seen, both prefixes and suffixes can pose tricky spelling challenges.
00:15:20In this lesson, we'll look at some rules that will help.
00:15:24Let's begin with the prefix in.
00:15:26It usually means not.
00:15:28For example, take the word visible, which means able to be seen.
00:15:32When you add the prefix in in front of that word, it becomes invisible, which means not able to be
00:15:38seen.
00:15:39Now, when added to a word starting with the letter L, the I-N of in changes to I-L.
00:15:46So, for example, the word illegal is spelled I-L-L-E-G-A-L.
00:15:53Legal begins with L.
00:15:55And so, therefore, when we want to add I-N in front of that word, the I-N turns into
00:16:01I-L.
00:16:02Illegal means not legal.
00:16:04Similarly, when we want to add the prefix in in front of the word literate, the I-N turns into
00:16:11I-L, and the word becomes illiterate, which means not able to read and write.
00:16:16I-N also changes when it's added to a word starting with M or P.
00:16:23In this case, the I-N becomes I-M.
00:16:27So, for example, when we want to add the prefix I-N, meaning not, to the word mortal, I-N
00:16:34becomes I-M, immortal.
00:16:36Someone who does not die is immortal.
00:16:39When we add I-N to mature, it becomes I-M, immature.
00:16:45And when we add I-N to the word possible, it also becomes I-M, impossible.
00:16:52That is, not able to be done.
00:16:54So, the prefix I-N, when it's added to the front of words, usually means not.
00:17:00And in most cases, it's a simple matter of adding the I-N.
00:17:03But when the word or word root begins with L, M, or P, the I-N changes.
00:17:10And you need to know that in order to spell the words correctly.
00:17:13Here's a rule that deals with a suffix.
00:17:16When you add a suffix that begins with a vowel to a word that ends in silent E, you drop
00:17:23the E.
00:17:24Many words in English end with an E that is not pronounced, a silent E.
00:17:28When you add a suffix that begins with a vowel to such a word, the silent E simply disappears.
00:17:36Now, suffixes that begin with vowels include A-B-L-E, I-N-G, E-R, and various others.
00:17:46So, this is a rule that comes up quite often.
00:17:48Look at this example.
00:17:50Let's take the verb to move.
00:17:52It ends with a silent E.
00:17:54Although the E is there, we don't pronounce it.
00:17:56We don't say move-ay in English.
00:17:59Simply move.
00:18:00It's as if the E wasn't present.
00:18:02So, we consider it a silent E.
00:18:04Now, what if we want to add the suffix I-N-G to the word move and turn it into
00:18:10moving?
00:18:11According to our rule, because the suffix begins with the vowel I, we drop the silent E.
00:18:17And moving is spelled M-O-V-I-N-G.
00:18:21Or, to take another example, suppose we want to add the suffix A-B-L-E to the word move
00:18:28to create the word movable, meaning able to be moved.
00:18:32Once again, we drop the silent E.
00:18:34And the word movable is correctly spelled M-O-V-A-B-L-E.
00:18:40Now, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule.
00:18:42The most common exception is as follows.
00:18:45When you add a suffix that begins with the letter A to a root that ends in C-E or
00:18:51G-E, you don't drop the silent E.
00:18:55And there's a special reason why this is the case.
00:18:58But first, let's look at a couple of examples.
00:19:00Take the word noticeable.
00:19:03Noticeable is created by adding the suffix A-B-L-E to the root or word notice.
00:19:09It means able to be noticed.
00:19:11Because of our rule, since this root ends in C-E, we don't drop the silent E.
00:19:18And we spell noticeable N-O-T-I-C-E-A-B-L-E.
00:19:24Similarly, the word vengeance is spelled V-E-N-G-E-A-N-C-E because it's created by adding
00:19:33the suffix A-N-C-E, which begins with the letter A, to the root venge, which ends with G
00:19:39-E.
00:19:40In this case, once again, we don't drop the silent E.
00:19:44The reason for this exception to the rule is that if you were to eliminate the silent E from a
00:19:50root that ends in C-E or G-E,
00:19:52it might make the resulting word difficult to pronounce.
00:19:57For example, if noticeable were spelt without the silent E after C, it might at first glance look as though
00:20:04the C is a hard C,
00:20:06and as though the word ought to be pronounced N-O-T-A-C-A-B-L or N-O
00:20:10-T-A-C-A-B-L, and that would be wrong.
00:20:12So the E makes it clear to the reader that the C or G is soft and ought to be
00:20:19pronounced that way.
00:20:20And that's the technical reason for this exception to the rule.
00:20:24Here's another rule that deals with spelling suffixes.
00:20:27When you add a suffix that begins with a vowel to a one-syllable word that ends with a single
00:20:34vowel and a single consonant, double the consonant.
00:20:39This is a complicated rule, so let's look at each part of the rule separately.
00:20:43First of all, we're talking about one-syllable words, so these are short words that contain only one basic sound.
00:20:50Next, we're talking about one-syllable words that end in a vowel and a consonant, a single vowel and a
00:20:57single consonant.
00:20:57So if the word ends with more than one consonant, such as jump, for example, which ends with M-P,
00:21:05this rule would not apply.
00:21:06Or if the word contains two vowels before a single consonant, such as the word leap, L-E-A-P,
00:21:15again, the rule would not apply because of those two vowels, E-A.
00:21:18This rule only applies to a one-syllable word that ends in one vowel and one consonant.
00:21:24When that's the case, and you're adding a suffix that begins with a vowel, you double the consonant.
00:21:30For example, let's take the word run. Run is a one-syllable word which ends with one vowel and one
00:21:36consonant.
00:21:37The last two letters in the word are U and N. Therefore, the rule applies.
00:21:42So if we're going to add a suffix that begins with a vowel to run, we would double the N.
00:21:50So for example, suppose we want to add the suffix E-R, er, meaning one who.
00:21:55A runner is one who runs.
00:21:57We need to double the N, and runner is spelled R-U-N-N-E-R.
00:22:03In the same way, if we want to add the suffix I-N-G and turn run into running, we
00:22:08double the N,
00:22:09and the word would be spelled R-U-N-N-I-N-G.
00:22:14Here's one more suffix rule.
00:22:16When you add a suffix to a word that ends in Y, the Y usually becomes I.
00:22:23Here are some examples.
00:22:25Take the word beauty, which ends in Y.
00:22:28Suppose you want to add the suffix full to mean full of beauty, beautiful.
00:22:33The Y in beauty becomes an I, and beautiful is spelled as you see it.
00:22:38Let's take the word crazy.
00:22:40That also ends in Y.
00:22:42Suppose you want to add the suffix N-S and turn it into the word craziness to describe the state
00:22:47of things being crazy.
00:22:49Craziness would be spelled with an I.
00:22:51The Y at the end of crazy turns into an I.
00:22:55One more example.
00:22:56The word identify ends in a Y.
00:22:59If you want to add the suffix cation to it and turn it into identification,
00:23:03which means something that names or identifies a person,
00:23:07the Y once again turns into an I,
00:23:09and identification is spelled as you see.
00:23:14Do you think you've mastered these rules about prefixes and suffixes?
00:23:18You can listen to the lesson again if necessary.
00:23:21If you think you understand these rules, try your hand at the exercise,
00:23:24which allows you to test your understanding of the rules.
00:23:27When you finish the questions, come back, and we'll take a look at them together.
00:23:39In this exercise, we gave you ten words and asked you to add a particular prefix or suffix to the
00:23:45word,
00:23:46and then see if you could spell it correctly.
00:23:49Let's look at these ten examples together.
00:23:51First, trace plus ing.
00:23:56Well, remember that when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel to a word that ends with silent
00:24:02e,
00:24:03the e usually disappears.
00:24:05So tracing would be spelled T-R-A-C-I-N-G.
00:24:10The silent e disappears.
00:24:13Second example.
00:24:15In plus mobile.
00:24:17Mobile means able to move.
00:24:19In means not.
00:24:20So when we add those two elements together,
00:24:24it creates a word that means not able to move.
00:24:27Now, I-N added to a word that begins with M,
00:24:30normally changes into I-M.
00:24:33And sure enough, the correct way to spell the word would be immobile.
00:24:36I-M-M-O-V-I-L-E.
00:24:39It's a word that means unable to move.
00:24:43Next example.
00:24:44Loneliness.
00:24:46Here we have a word lonely that ends in a Y.
00:24:49And we've asked you to add the suffix N-E-S-S to it to describe the state of being
00:24:55lonely.
00:24:55Well, remember, when you add a suffix to a word that ends in Y, the Y normally turns into an
00:25:01I.
00:25:02So the correct way to spell loneliness is L-O-N-E-L-I-N-E-S-S.
00:25:10Next, we've given you the verb hit and asked you to add the suffix able to it.
00:25:15Something that is hittable would be something that can be hit.
00:25:18For example, in baseball, a pitch that comes right down the middle of the plate is usually easy for the
00:25:24batter to hit.
00:25:25And it would be described as a hittable pitch.
00:25:27Well, remember that when you're adding a suffix that begins with a vowel, such as A-B-L-E,
00:25:35to a one-syllable word that ends in one vowel and one consonant, the consonant is usually doubled.
00:25:43That's what we have to do here.
00:25:44The word hit is a one-syllable word that ends in the vowel I and the consonant T.
00:25:50So when we're adding the suffix able to it, we need to double the T.
00:25:55And the resulting word would be spelled H-I-T-T-A-B-L-E.
00:26:02Next, logical plus the prefix in.
00:26:06Something that's illogical is reasonable. It makes sense.
00:26:10In means not, so something that's not illogical would be described by the new word that we create.
00:26:15Now, remember, when we add I-N to a word that begins with L, the I-N normally turns into
00:26:22I-L.
00:26:22So the correct spelling of the resulting word would be illogical. I-L-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.
00:26:31Next, we have the word limp, and we've asked you to add the suffix I-N-G to it.
00:26:36Now, remember our rule. When you're adding a suffix that begins with a vowel to a one-syllable word
00:26:42that ends with a single vowel and a single consonant, you would normally double the consonant.
00:26:47Does that rule apply here?
00:26:49Well, limp is a one-syllable word, but it doesn't end with a single vowel and a single consonant.
00:26:54It ends with a vowel I followed by two consonants, M-P.
00:26:59Therefore, no doubling is necessary, and when we add I-N-G, there's really no change in the spelling of
00:27:05the word.
00:27:05The final spelling of the correct word limping is L-I-M-P-I-N-G.
00:27:13Next example, adore plus A-T-I-O-N.
00:27:18Here, we're adding a suffix to a word that ends with a silent E, and the suffix begins with a
00:27:25vowel, ation.
00:27:26Therefore, the silent E needs to be dropped, and the resulting word, adoration, should be spelled A-D-O-R
00:27:34-A-T-I-O-N.
00:27:38Our next word is fly plus E-R.
00:27:41Now, remember that when a suffix is added to a word that ends in Y, the Y normally turns into
00:27:49an I.
00:27:49So the word flyer, which means one who flies, would be spelled F-L-I-E-R.
00:27:55The Y turns into an I when a suffix is added.
00:28:00Next, tangible, with the prefix I-N, or in, added.
00:28:06Something that's tangible is something that can be touched or felt.
00:28:09Anything that's material and physical would normally be described as tangible.
00:28:14Something that is not tangible would be intangible.
00:28:18And there's no change in spelling to the prefix.
00:28:21Remember, the prefix I-N changes its spelling when it is added to a word that begins in L, M,
00:28:27or P.
00:28:28Not when it's added to a word that begins with T.
00:28:31So the correct spelling of intangible is I-N-T-A-N-G-I-B-L-E.
00:28:38Finally, trace plus able.
00:28:41Something that is traceable is able to be traced.
00:28:45Now, trace ends with a silent E.
00:28:47So your immediate thought might be, well, let's eliminate the silent E, since we're adding a suffix that begins with
00:28:54a vowel.
00:28:54But remember our exception.
00:28:56When you add a suffix that begins with the letter A to a root that ends in C-E or
00:29:02G-E, you don't drop the silent E.
00:29:06So the correct way to spell traceable is T-R-A-C-E-A-B-L-E.
00:29:12Remember that if the silent E were dropped in this case, it might be difficult to pronounce the resulting word.
00:29:18And if you eliminate the silent E from traceable, the word might look as though it should be pronounced trackable,
00:29:25which would be incorrect.
00:29:26So the silent E needs to be retained in this particular word.
00:29:31Did you get all of the questions in this exercise right?
00:29:34I hope so.
00:29:35If you're ready, move on to the next lesson.
00:29:43People often make spelling errors when they write a word that sounds the same or almost the same as another
00:29:50word with a different meaning and a different spelling.
00:29:53In this lesson we'll look at some of the most commonly confused words and explain how you can tell them
00:29:58apart and therefore spell them correctly.
00:30:02First, there are a couple of words that sound like except.
00:30:05They're spelled differently and have different meanings.
00:30:08To accept, spelled A-C-C-E-P-T, is a verb meaning to take.
00:30:13Except, E-X-C-E-P-T, can be used as either a verb or a preposition.
00:30:18When it's used as a verb, it means to exclude.
00:30:22When it's used as a preposition, which is more common, it means other than.
00:30:26Except for the weather, I enjoyed the picnic.
00:30:30Here are two words that sound like access.
00:30:34A-C-C-E-S-S, access means availability.
00:30:38E-X-C-E-S-S means too much of something.
00:30:43Two words that sound different but have related meanings and therefore are often confused are advice and advise.
00:30:52Advice, spelled with a C, is a noun.
00:30:55Advise, with an S, is a verb.
00:30:57When someone gives you some advice, C, they advise you, with an S.
00:31:05The words affect and affect sound almost the same, but they're spelled differently and have different meanings.
00:31:11A-F-F-E-C-T, affect, is usually used as a verb and it means to influence.
00:31:18The weather may affect your mood.
00:31:21Effect, spelled with an E, E-F-F-E-C-T, is usually used as a noun, meaning influence.
00:31:28The weather can have an effect on your mood.
00:31:32Effect is also used as a verb, meaning to accomplish.
00:31:36The president effected a change in tax policy, meaning the president accomplished a change in tax policy.
00:31:44So, be careful which of these words you're using and be sure to spell correctly.
00:31:49Here are two words that sound practically the same, course and course.
00:31:54Course, with an A, is an adjective meaning rough.
00:31:57For example, the hair on the back of a horse's neck is usually course.
00:32:02Course, spelled with a U, means direction or it can mean a subject at school.
00:32:07What English course are you taking next year?
00:32:10The words complement and complement are spelled slightly differently and have somewhat different meanings.
00:32:17Complement with an E in the middle is a verb meaning to complete.
00:32:22Complement with an I is a verb meaning to praise.
00:32:26You might complement with an I your friend on her dress.
00:32:30And if she chooses a bag and shoes that go with the dress perfectly and complete the outfit, you could
00:32:36say,
00:32:37Oh, those shoes really complement your outfit, spelled with an E.
00:32:43Phase and phase are two different words with different spellings and different meanings.
00:32:47Phase, F-A-Z-E, means to daunt or overwhelmed.
00:32:51He was really phased by all the work he had to do.
00:32:54Phase, spelled P-H-A-Z-E, is a noun that means period.
00:33:01One phase of your life gives way to another.
00:33:05The word its and its are spelled almost the same, except that one contains an apostrophe.
00:33:11And they have an important difference in meaning.
00:33:14Its, without an apostrophe, is a possessive pronoun, which means of it.
00:33:18The cat hurt its paw, meaning the paw of it, of the cat.
00:33:22Its with an apostrophe means it is.
00:33:26When you use its in a sentence, always ask yourself,
00:33:30Could I substitute the words it is for its?
00:33:34If so, then you mean its with an apostrophe, and you need to insert the apostrophe.
00:33:40Otherwise, leave the apostrophe out.
00:33:43Here's a group of three words that people often get tangled up in.
00:33:47First, we have the verb lead, which means to direct.
00:33:50The past tense of the verb lead is led, which means directed.
00:33:56However, there's another word pronounced led, which is spelled the same as lead, L-E-A-D.
00:34:03This led is a noun describing a kind of metal.
00:34:07So, always be careful as to which led you're using.
00:34:10If you're using led as a verb, meaning directed, someone led a group on an expedition, for example,
00:34:17you spell it L-E-D.
00:34:19If you're referring to the metal, the grayish metal that is called lead, it is spelled L-E-A-D.
00:34:26These two words are pronounced somewhat differently, and they have different meanings, but people often confuse them.
00:34:32Loose, with two O's, is usually used as an adjective, meaning slack.
00:34:38These pants are loose on me.
00:34:40Loose, with only one O, is usually used as a verb, meaning to mislead, or perhaps to be defeated in
00:34:47a contest.
00:34:49These two words are pronounced the same, past and past.
00:34:54Past, spelled P-A-S-S-E-D, is the past tense of the verb past, and it means went
00:35:00by.
00:35:01Past, spelled P-A-S-T, is a noun referring to a previous time.
00:35:07It can also be used as an adjective, referring to something from a previous time.
00:35:12But P-A-S-S-E-D, remember, is part of the verb.
00:35:17Peace, spelled P-E-A-C-E, means tranquility.
00:35:21It's the opposite of war.
00:35:23Peace, spelled P-I-E-C-E, means a part, a piece of pie, for example.
00:35:30Poor and poor are pronounced the same, but they have different meanings.
00:35:35Poor, spelled P-O-R-E, means to study.
00:35:39It's often used in the expression to pour over some papers.
00:35:43Poor, spelled P-O-U-R, means to spill.
00:35:47Pour a cup of coffee, for example.
00:35:50Precede, spelled P-R-E-C-E-D-E, means to go before.
00:35:56Proceed, P-R-O-C-E-E-D, is pronounced slightly differently, and it means to go ahead.
00:36:03When one person precedes another in a parade, for example, that means that one person goes before the other.
00:36:11Both of them proceed down the street together, however.
00:36:17Principal and principal are two different words with somewhat different meanings.
00:36:21Principal, spelled with P-A-L at the end, is an adjective or a noun meaning chief.
00:36:27It's usually used as a noun to mean the leader of a school.
00:36:31Principal, spelled P-L-E, is a noun meaning a rule.
00:36:36There are certain important principles of science that every physics student needs to know.
00:36:42One easy way of remembering the P-A-L spelling of the name of a person who's the head of
00:36:48the school is the saying,
00:36:50the principal is your pal.
00:36:52The word pal is spelled P-A-L, and it appears in the end of that word, principal, when it's
00:36:57used to mean the head of a school.
00:37:00There are three words that sound like rain.
00:37:03They're spelled differently, and they have slightly different meanings.
00:37:06R-A-I-N is the most common.
00:37:08That means precipitation, the stuff that falls down, the water that falls from the sky, is rain, R-A-I
00:37:15-N.
00:37:15R-E-I-N, rain, that refers originally to the bridle of a horse.
00:37:22That is, the leather strap that you use to control a horse would be described as a rain or a
00:37:28set of rains.
00:37:29To rain, spelled this way, means to control.
00:37:33And R-E-I-G-N, rain, means rule in the sense that a king rules a country.
00:37:40It's a different type of control, but when rain is used in this way, it refers to a king or
00:37:46another leader who rules a country.
00:37:49Whereas R-E-I-N refers to pulling back or holding back some powerful force, the way a rider uses
00:37:56the rains to hold back a horse.
00:37:59The meanings are somewhat similar, but fundamentally different, and therefore you need to distinguish between those two types of rain
00:38:06in particular.
00:38:08Here are two words that sound the same, but actually have opposite meanings.
00:38:13To raise, spelled R-A-I-S-E, means to lift up.
00:38:17To raise, R-A-Z-E, means to tear down.
00:38:20And it's usually used in reference to buildings.
00:38:24When a building needs to be torn down to be replaced by another building, we might speak of raising it,
00:38:30spelled with a Z.
00:38:32Here's another group of three words with different spellings and different meanings.
00:38:36Sight, spelled S-I-G-H-T, means vision, something that one sees or the ability to see.
00:38:43Sight, spelled S-I-T-E, means a place.
00:38:47The site for a new office building, for example, would be the place where that building is going to be
00:38:52built.
00:38:53To cite, C-I-T-E, means to refer to something.
00:38:57When you're writing a paper for school, for example, you might cite a reference source.
00:39:03That is, you would refer to it or name the book from which a particular piece of information was drawn.
00:39:10Stationary and stationary look almost the same, but they're quite different in meaning.
00:39:15When stationary is spelled A-R-Y, it means still, not moving.
00:39:20Stationary, spelled E-R-Y, refers to paper and envelopes that you buy at a place called a stationary store.
00:39:28Here's another trio of words that sound the same, but have different meanings.
00:39:32Their, spelled T-H-E-I-R, means of them.
00:39:36You might speak of a married couple and their child, the child of them.
00:39:40Their, T-H-E-R-E, means in that place.
00:39:45And their, spelled T-H-E-Y apostrophe R-E, means they are.
00:39:51When you're using their in a sentence, ask yourself, could I substitute they are for their?
00:39:58If so, then you want the word with the apostrophe, T-H-E-Y-R-E.
00:40:03If you couldn't make that substitution, then one of the other two theirs is necessary.
00:40:09Here's another group of three, words that sound the same, but are used very differently, and are spelled differently.
00:40:16To, spelled T-O, is a preposition meaning toward, in the direction of.
00:40:21To, spelled T-O-O, is an adverb, which means also.
00:40:26T-W-O is usually used as a noun or an adjective, and it refers to the number two.
00:40:34Weather and weather sound almost the same, but have different meanings.
00:40:38Weather, spelled W-E-A-T-H-E-R, means the state of the atmosphere.
00:40:44If it's raining, sunny, or whatever.
00:40:47Weather, spelled W-H-E-T-H-E-R, means if.
00:40:51You might look outside to see whether it is sunny or raining.
00:40:56That would be spelled W-H-E-T-H-E-R.
00:40:59But you would look outside to see the weather, spelled W-E-A-T-H-E-R.
00:41:05And finally, your and your.
00:41:08Y-O-U-R is, again, a possessive adjective meaning of you, you and your best friend.
00:41:15Your, spelled Y-O-U-A-P-O-T-H-E-R-E, means you are.
00:41:20Once again, when you use your in a sentence, stop and ask yourself,
00:41:25could I substitute the words you are for your?
00:41:29If so, then you want your with the apostrophe.
00:41:33Otherwise, use Y-O-U-R with no apostrophe.
00:41:44Once again, we gave you several sentences and challenged you to find any misspelled words they contain.
00:41:50Let's look at the first sentence.
00:41:51The American Civil Liberties Union works to defend freedom of speech
00:41:55and the other basic principles of our democratic society.
00:41:59The misspelled word here is principles.
00:42:01Remember that when principle refers to a rule, which is the use here,
00:42:07it should be spelled P-L-E at the end.
00:42:10So, spelling it P-A-L-S is incorrect here.
00:42:14Remember that principle spelled with P-A-L usually refers to the head of a school.
00:42:19So, if the American Civil Liberties Union went to court to defend the rights of a principal of a school,
00:42:26then it would be spelled P-A-L.
00:42:28But in this case, the sentence is talking about the basic rules of democracy,
00:42:33and therefore P-L-E would be the correct spelling for that kind of principle.
00:42:39Our next sentence.
00:42:40Traces of lead have been found in early Italian pottery,
00:42:44causing some scientists to suspect an epidemic of lead poisoning among the ancient Romans.
00:42:50Here we have the word lead appearing twice,
00:42:52and as we saw, the word lead can often be confusing.
00:42:56Is it spelled correctly here?
00:42:58L-E-A-D is correct.
00:43:01In this sentence, lead refers to the grayish metal,
00:43:05which is somewhat poisonous and therefore shouldn't be used in a cooking or food utensil,
00:43:11but was used in such a way in ancient Rome.
00:43:14So, lead has been spelled correctly here.
00:43:17Remember that when lead is being used as the past tense of the verb to lead,
00:43:21it's spelled L-E-D.
00:43:23But that's not the case here,
00:43:25so this sentence doesn't contain any spelling error.
00:43:29Next example.
00:43:30This empty lot will be the site of the new physics laboratory scheduled to be built in the next two
00:43:36years.
00:43:37Now, remember from the lesson we saw that there are three ways to spell the word that is pronounced site.
00:43:43The way it's spelled in this sentence, S-I-G-H-T, isn't correct for this usage.
00:43:49Sight spelled that way means the power to see, vision, or something that you see.
00:43:54When we're talking about a location or a place, we want to spell site S-I-T-E,
00:44:00and that would be the correct spelling here.
00:44:04Next.
00:44:05The reign of King Arthur is described in English legends as a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity.
00:44:11Well, we gave you two errors in this sentence, not just one.
00:44:15I hope you caught them both.
00:44:16The first error is with the spelling of rain, R-E-I-N.
00:44:20Remember that there are three different forms of the word rain.
00:44:24The way it's spelled here, R-E-I-N, would refer to the piece of leather that's used to hold
00:44:30back a horse.
00:44:31Or it could be used as a verb, meaning to restrain, control, or hold back.
00:44:37In this case, however, the author of the sentence is trying to use the word rain,
00:44:42spelled R-E-I-G-N, meaning the rule of a king.
00:44:47Since he's referring to the time when King Arthur ruled or reigned over England,
00:44:52it should be spelled with a G.
00:44:54The other misspelling is the word peace.
00:44:56Remember that peace spelled P-I-E-C-E means a bit or part of something.
00:45:02In this case, however, the author is talking about a time of peace, meaning of tranquility, the absence of war.
00:45:10So the correct spelling would be P-E-A-C-E.
00:45:15Final example.
00:45:16The third and fifth holes offer the most difficult challenge on this golf course.
00:45:21Here, course has been misspelled.
00:45:24C-O-A-R-S-E means rough, and it's an adjective.
00:45:29In this case, the word course is being used as a noun, and it's being used in this particular sentence
00:45:37to refer to a series of holes that go to make up a game of golf, the place on which
00:45:43a game of golf is played.
00:45:45That noun is spelled C-O-U-R-S-E, and that spelling would have to be corrected to make
00:45:51the sentence correct.
00:45:52Did you catch all these spelling errors?
00:45:54If not, take a look at the lesson and remind yourself of the principles behind the differentiation among all these
00:46:01different words
00:46:02that sound similar but are spelled differently.
00:46:05And when you're ready, move on to the next lesson.
00:46:12Changing nouns from singular to plural sometimes leads to tricky spelling situations.
00:46:18The following rules will help.
00:46:21Most nouns become plural simply by adding S.
00:46:24Thus, car becomes plural by adding S and turning it into cars.
00:46:29House becomes plural by adding S and turning it into houses.
00:46:33And nation becomes plural by adding S and turning it into nations.
00:46:38In some cases, add ES if the plural noun is pronounced with an extra syllable.
00:46:45So, for example, we refer to one glass, two glasses.
00:46:48Notice that the word glass is only one syllable long, whereas glasses has two syllables in it.
00:46:55Therefore, we need to add ES at the end of the word glass to turn it from singular to plural.
00:47:01In the same way, we refer to one dish, two dishes.
00:47:06Dish is a one-syllable word.
00:47:08Dishes is a two-syllable word.
00:47:10Therefore, we add ES to the end of dish to turn it into the plural dishes.
00:47:16So far, so simple.
00:47:18Now it gets a little more complicated.
00:47:21Some nouns have irregular plurals.
00:47:24That is, plurals that are formed in a different way that's hard to predict.
00:47:28You just have to memorize these few difficult irregular plurals.
00:47:33Luckily, there aren't too many common words in English that have irregular plurals.
00:47:37Here are the most common.
00:47:40Man becomes plural by turning it into men.
00:47:44Woman becomes plural by turning it into women.
00:47:48Child becomes children.
00:47:51Foot becomes feet.
00:47:53Mouse becomes mice.
00:47:56And louse becomes lice.
00:47:59If you memorize these few irregular plurals, you'll know most of the irregular plurals that are likely to come up
00:48:05in the sentences you write.
00:48:08Some nouns have singular and plural forms that are the same.
00:48:12For some reason, the most common examples all refer to animals.
00:48:16Here they are.
00:48:18Fish, deer, sheep.
00:48:21Whether you're referring to one fish or many fish, one deer or many deer, one sheep or many sheep, we
00:48:29use the same word.
00:48:32In some cases, plurals are formed differently depending on the last letter of the word.
00:48:38Here are the rules you need to know.
00:48:40Nouns ending in a vowel plus y add s to form the plural.
00:48:45In other words, they follow the usual rule.
00:48:47Thus, the word boy, which ends in the vowel o plus the letter y, turns into the plural form simply
00:48:55by adding s, boys.
00:48:57In the same way, key becomes keys and monkey becomes monkeys.
00:49:02However, nouns ending in a consonant plus y form the plural differently.
00:49:08The y is usually changed to i and then es is added.
00:49:13So, for example, consider the word berry.
00:49:15This ends with the consonant r and the vowel y.
00:49:20To make it plural, we change the y to i and add es.
00:49:23So, berry becomes berries.
00:49:26In the same way, emergency becomes emergencies and company becomes companies.
00:49:34The letter o can also be tricky at the end of a word.
00:49:37Some nouns ending in a consonant plus o form the plural by adding es.
00:49:43For example, potato becomes potatoes and veto becomes vetoes.
00:49:50Unfortunately, there are some exceptions.
00:49:52There are some words that end in a consonant plus o which form the plural simply by adding s with
00:49:58no e.
00:49:58The most common examples are pianos, solos, and sopranos.
00:50:05Notice that all three have to do with music.
00:50:07Maybe that will help you to remember them.
00:50:09Most nouns that end in a vowel plus o simply add s.
00:50:14For example, radio, which ends in the vowel i plus o becomes plural simply by adding s, radios.
00:50:22In the same way, stereo becomes plural simply by adding s, stereos.
00:50:29Finally, some English words use a foreign plural form.
00:50:34Remember that the English language borrows lots of words from other languages.
00:50:38And those other languages have their own ways of forming plurals.
00:50:42And in a few cases, the English language still follows the foreign rule for whatever reason.
00:50:49Here are the most common words that you need to know which use a foreign plural form.
00:50:54The singular word medium refers to a form of communication.
00:50:59Television, for example, is a communications medium.
00:51:02The plural form is media, m-e-d-i-a.
00:51:07People often talk about the media by which they mean, for example, television, movies, radio, the internet,
00:51:15the print media such as books and magazines, and so forth.
00:51:19When you hear people talking about the media, they are really talking about all the different things.
00:51:26So, media is a plural word referring to one medium and another medium and yet another.
00:51:33Another singular word that follows the foreign rule for pluralization is phenomenon.
00:51:40A phenomenon is a happening.
00:51:42When you're referring to more than one phenomenon, we call it phenomena.
00:51:46The on at the end turns into a.
00:51:50So, when we are speaking of more than one phenomenon, we speak of phenomena.
00:51:56Unusual phenomena, for example.
00:51:58A criterion is a rule or yardstick.
00:52:02Again, when we want to turn this into a plural, we change the on at the end into an a.
00:52:08So, when we're referring to more than one rule or yardstick, we refer to criteria.
00:52:13The criteria by which we judge whether a movie is good or not.
00:52:17The most important criterion, however, might be the acting.
00:52:22Finally, the word crisis means a turning point or a time of difficulty.
00:52:26We turn it into a plural by turning the final I into an e. Crises.
00:52:31Richard Nixon wrote a book about his political career which referred to several crises through which he had lived.
00:52:40One last point under the pluralization issue.
00:52:45There are a couple of words in English that people often confuse as to whether they are singular or plural.
00:52:51So, we put these under the heading of is it singular or plural.
00:52:55Take the word data, for example.
00:52:57Technically, the word data is a plural word.
00:53:00It refers to several pieces of information.
00:53:03A single piece of information, if you want to refer to that, would be called a datum, D-A-T
00:53:10-U-M.
00:53:11That's the singular form of data.
00:53:13It's rarely used, however.
00:53:15The important thing to remember is when you do refer to data that you are using a plural word.
00:53:20So, for example, if you were writing a paper about a scientific experiment, you might say the data are complex.
00:53:27You would use the plural verb are, not a singular verb, because data is plural.
00:53:33Well, now that you've seen these rules about how to turn singular words into plural words and spell them correctly,
00:53:38try the exercise, which will give you a chance to test your knowledge of these rules.
00:53:43When you're done, come back and we'll see how well you did with the exercise.
00:53:54For this exercise, we gave you a number of singular nouns and simply asked you to create the plural form.
00:54:01If you understood the rules in the lesson, you probably didn't find this exercise too difficult.
00:54:05Let's see how well you did.
00:54:06First, studio.
00:54:08How do we turn this into a plural?
00:54:10Well, remember our rule that most nouns ending in a vowel plus O turn into a plural simply by adding
00:54:17S.
00:54:18And that would be correct here.
00:54:20So, studio becomes studios simply by adding an S.
00:54:24And the correct spelling would be S-T-U-D-I-O-S.
00:54:28Next, pony.
00:54:30Well, remember most nouns that end in a consonant plus Y turn into a plural by transforming the Y into
00:54:38an I and then adding ES.
00:54:40So, the correct spelling of ponies is P-O-N-I-E-S.
00:54:45Next, bunch.
00:54:47Well, when you turn bunch into bunches, notice that an extra syllable gets added.
00:54:53So, you are adding an S, but because bunch turns into bunches and becomes a one turning into a two
00:55:00-syllable word, we have to add ES.
00:55:02So, the correct spelling of bunches is B-U-N-C-H-E-S.
00:55:07Remember that when adding the S adds another syllable onto the word, you add ES rather than simply the letter
00:55:14S.
00:55:15Next, deer.
00:55:16This is a little bit of a tricky question.
00:55:18Remember that deer is one of those few unusual words that have the same form in both singular and plural.
00:55:25So, the singular form is deer.
00:55:27The plural form is also deer.
00:55:30Next, zero.
00:55:32How do we turn zero into zeros?
00:55:34Well, most nouns that end in a consonant plus the letter O turn into a plural by adding ES.
00:55:41And that would be correct with zeros.
00:55:43The right spelling is Z-E-R-O-E-S.
00:55:47Crisis.
00:55:48How do we turn crisis into a plural?
00:55:50Remember that crisis is one of a handful of English words that use a foreign form for the plural.
00:55:57So, rather than turning crisis into crises, for example, we simply change the final I into an E.
00:56:04The correct plural of crisis is crises.
00:56:07C-R-I-S-E-S.
00:56:10How do we make tray into a plural?
00:56:13Well, this is a word that ends in a Y.
00:56:15But remember, our unusual or special rule only applies to a word that ends in a consonant plus Y.
00:56:22When a word ends in a vowel plus Y, we simply add an S as usual.
00:56:27So, tray becomes plural by simply adding an S and turning it into trays.
00:56:32Our next question was a truly tricky one.
00:56:35Here's an example of an irregular English plural that we didn't provide to you in the lesson.
00:56:41Perhaps you knew this.
00:56:42If not, you might have noticed it if you looked it up in a dictionary.
00:56:45The plural of ox is not oxes, but rather oxen.
00:56:50We gave in the lesson a few examples of some unusual irregular English plurals.
00:56:57Men, women, children, feet, mice, and lice.
00:57:02Oxen is one more example to add to your list.
00:57:06Our next question, triangle.
00:57:08How do we turn this into a plural?
00:57:10This is a very easy one.
00:57:12This is, in fact, the only truly normal word on this list.
00:57:15Simply add an S at the end.
00:57:17Triangle becomes triangles.
00:57:19Good job.
00:57:21Turn to the next lesson.
00:57:27In this lesson, we're going to talk about one final aspect of spelling, namely capitalization.
00:57:34Capitalization refers to using a large letter at the beginning of a particular word.
00:57:38Now, the rules for capitalization can be very complicated, and they do vary from one type of publication or one
00:57:46situation to another.
00:57:48In fact, for example, newspapers and magazines often have their own style manuals, which are guides that their writers and
00:57:55editors follow, which cover rules such as capitalization.
00:57:59And they may have their own specific form of capitalization, which may differ from what other magazines and newspapers follow.
00:58:07Your teacher may ask you to use a particular style manual in writing papers for his or her class.
00:58:14And if so, you'll want to look at the rules on capitalization that are provided in that specific style manual.
00:58:20What we're going to do in this lesson is provide the basic rules for capitalization.
00:58:25We're not going to try to get into all the possible details that we could address.
00:58:29But we'll provide you with some basic rules which will cover 90% of the situations that are likely to
00:58:35arise in your writing,
00:58:37and which you won't make any serious mistakes if you follow.
00:58:41Here they are.
00:58:42First, always capitalize the first word of a sentence.
00:58:47Next, capitalize the name of a specific person, place, or organization.
00:58:54For example, you would capitalize the first letter in each of these names.
00:58:58Brad Pitt.
00:59:00Minneapolis.
00:59:02Swarthmore College.
00:59:04If you're not referring to a specific person, place, or organization, you would use a lowercase letter.
00:59:10So, for example, if you were writing a sentence that simply referred to colleges in the United States,
00:59:16you would not capitalize the word college because a specific college is not being referred to.
00:59:22Capitalize the name of a day, month, or holiday.
00:59:26For example, you would always capitalize the first letter of Saturday, April, Columbus Day.
00:59:34Don't capitalize the names of seasons.
00:59:36So, for example, use a lowercase letter for the beginning of the words spring and autumn.
00:59:45Capitalize the names of historical eras or events.
00:59:49For example, each of these terms would be capitalized.
00:59:53World War II.
00:59:55The Renaissance.
00:59:56The Cultural Revolution.
00:59:58This last phrase refers to an era from modern Chinese history.
01:00:04Notice that the word the usually is not capitalized.
01:00:07Only the main word in these titles is capitalized.
01:00:12Always capitalize the name of a nationality or region.
01:00:17For example, you would capitalize the first letter in Korean.
01:00:20The Mid-East.
01:00:23The Northwest Territory.
01:00:26Don't capitalize directions.
01:00:29This is different from describing a region.
01:00:32When you're using a directional name to describe a place on the globe, a particular area of the world, such
01:00:40as the Mid-East, you would capitalize it.
01:00:42But when simply referring to a direction of the compass, you would not capitalize it.
01:00:47So, for example, in this sentence, we do not capitalize the word West.
01:00:51Go West, young man.
01:00:53Here, the word West is not referring to a region known as the West.
01:00:58Instead, it's simply pointing in a particular direction.
01:01:01And therefore, capitalization is not used.
01:01:05Capitalize a rank or title when joined to a name.
01:01:09For example, we would capitalize the ranks or titles in the following phrases.
01:01:15President Bush.
01:01:17Secretary General Kofi Annan.
01:01:20Archbishop Moore.
01:01:23Titles and ranks are usually not capitalized when they are not joined to names.
01:01:29For example, in this sentence,
01:01:30the President addressed the crowd.
01:01:33The word President is not capitalized.
01:01:36Of course, it would be if it said President Bush addressed the crowd.
01:01:40Finally, capitalize the first word and other important words in the titles of works of art.
01:01:47Here are some examples.
01:01:49The Old Man and the Sea.
01:01:51This is the name of a famous novel.
01:01:53The first word is the, so we capitalize the T.
01:01:56The Old Man and Sea are all important words, and they are capitalized as well.
01:02:02Another example.
01:02:04Arrangement in black and gray.
01:02:06This is the name of a famous painting.
01:02:08In fact, you probably know the painting by the name of Whistler's Mother.
01:02:12The actual title is Arrangement in Black and Gray.
01:02:15The first word, arrangement, is capitalized, and so are the important words black and gray.
01:02:20Here's the title of a piece of music.
01:02:23Symphony in D, major.
01:02:25Symphony, D, and major are all capitalized.
01:02:28Notice that in all of these examples, we did not capitalize words like AND or OR.
01:02:34We did not capitalize articles, which includes THE, A, and AN, and we did not capitalize prepositions.
01:02:40The rule is that prepositions that are shorter than five letters should not be capitalized when they appear in titles.
01:02:48A preposition that is five letters long or longer should be capitalized.
01:02:53A word that's that long looks a little strange in the title when it is not capitalized.
01:02:58So, for example, if you were writing the title of a work that included the preposition THROUGH, which is longer
01:03:05than five letters,
01:03:06you would capitalize the T at the beginning of THROUGH.
01:03:09Otherwise, most prepositions, which are shorter than five letters, are not capitalized.
01:03:14So, words like TO, IN, FOR, BY, FROM, and so on would not be capitalized unless, of course, they happen
01:03:21to be the first word of the title.
01:03:23So, these are the most important basic rules for when you capitalize words.
01:03:27Otherwise, don't capitalize words that appear in your sentences.
01:03:31It's not necessary.
01:03:34After you've absorbed these rules, try your hand at the exercise that tests your understanding of capitalization.
01:03:40When you're done, come back and we'll see how well you did on the exercise.
01:03:52Here we gave you several sentences, and in some cases words are correctly capitalized, in some cases they are not.
01:03:59Your job is to find all the errors and correct them.
01:04:01Let's take a look at each sentence.
01:04:04First, my favorite book is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Persig.
01:04:11Okay, here we have a sentence that includes the title of a work of art, namely a book.
01:04:16So, we know that there's an important rule that's going to need to be followed.
01:04:20Let's take a look at this sentence and see whether capitalization has been done correctly.
01:04:24The first word of the sentence, my, is capitalized as it should be, so that's fine.
01:04:29Now, let's look at the title, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
01:04:33The first word of the title, Zen, has been capitalized, and that's correct.
01:04:38The author of this sentence has also capitalized the word motorcycle.
01:04:42Well, that's also correct, because that's one of the important words in the title.
01:04:45But the other words have not been capitalized.
01:04:48Is that correct or not?
01:04:49Well, the words and and the should not be capitalized, and neither should the word of.
01:04:54Those are short words, and is one of the kinds of words that we taught you in the lesson shouldn't
01:05:00be capitalized.
01:05:02The is an article, and of is a short preposition, and none of those should be capitalized.
01:05:07However, the other words in the title are all important and should be capitalized.
01:05:12So, the word art should be capitalized, and the word maintenance should also be capitalized.
01:05:17Now, the sentence ends with the name of the author of the book, and the names of specific people should
01:05:22always be capitalized.
01:05:23So, Robert should have a capital R, the middle initial M should be capitalized, and the P in piercing should
01:05:31also be capitalized.
01:05:32So, there are five letters in this sentence that need to be turned from small letters into capital letters, and
01:05:38I hope you caught them all.
01:05:41Next example.
01:05:42The three senators were greeted at the airport by Mayor Bloomberg and his young assistant.
01:05:49Okay, here we have a sentence that includes a number of titles.
01:05:52Which ones should be capitalized, and which ones shouldn't?
01:05:56First of all, the first word of the sentence, the, is capitalized, as it should be.
01:06:00Then we have the word senators, the three senators.
01:06:04This is a rank or title.
01:06:06Should it be capitalized?
01:06:07Well, remember our rule.
01:06:09Normally, when a rank or title is not connected to a name, it should not be capitalized.
01:06:14So, the lowercase s, the non-capital s, is correct in this sentence.
01:06:19So, senators would not be capitalized.
01:06:22What about Mayor Bloomberg?
01:06:24The name Bloomberg is capitalized, as it should be.
01:06:27What about Mayor?
01:06:28That's his rank or title.
01:06:30In this sentence, Mayor is not capitalized.
01:06:33Should it be?
01:06:34Remember our rule, that when a rank or title is connected to a name, it normally should be capitalized.
01:06:40So, the M in Mayor, in this case, should be capitalized.
01:06:43There's one other title that's mentioned here, Mayor Bloomberg and his young assistant.
01:06:48Assistant is another rank or title.
01:06:50Should it be capitalized?
01:06:52Once again, it's not connected to a name.
01:06:55So, therefore, it shouldn't be capitalized.
01:06:57By the way, you might have noticed the word airport and thought, hmm, maybe that should
01:07:01be capitalized.
01:07:02After all, it refers to a place.
01:07:04But only the name of a specific place should be capitalized.
01:07:08If the sentence referred to Kennedy Airport, for example, then Kennedy and airport would
01:07:13both be capitalized.
01:07:15Because here, a specific airport is being named.
01:07:18In this sentence, however, it simply says, the three senators were greeted at the airport.
01:07:23No specific airport is being referred to.
01:07:26So, a lowercase non-capital A for airport is correct.
01:07:31So, in this particular sentence, only one change needs to be made to make it correct.
01:07:35The M in Mayor should be capitalized.
01:07:39In our next sentence, again, only one change is needed.
01:07:42Let's see if you caught it.
01:07:44Many people consider Labor Day weekend the last celebration of summer.
01:07:49Now, remember that the names of specific days, months, or holidays should be capitalized.
01:07:56So, Labor Day should be capitalized, L and D.
01:07:59And, the way the sentence is written, it was capitalized.
01:08:02So, that's correct.
01:08:03Now, what about weekend?
01:08:05Should the W in weekend be capitalized?
01:08:08After all, that's referring to a particular day.
01:08:10Labor Day weekend would be the Saturday, Sunday, and Labor Day Monday itself.
01:08:15But, no, not really.
01:08:17The weekend in Labor Day weekend is not strictly part of the holiday.
01:08:22Only the names of days like Saturday, Sunday, Monday should be capitalized, as well as the
01:08:28name of the actual holiday, such as Labor Day.
01:08:30So, if you were referring to Labor Day weekend, the evening of Labor Day, the day before Labor Day,
01:08:36you wouldn't capitalize any of those other words.
01:08:39Only Labor Day itself should be capitalized.
01:08:41However, there is another error in the sentence.
01:08:43The word summer here has been capitalized.
01:08:46And, many students make the mistake of capitalizing the names of seasons.
01:08:50After all, they figure if May, June, and July should be capitalized,
01:08:54why shouldn't summer, spring, and winter be capitalized?
01:08:58However, that's not correct.
01:08:59The names of seasons are specifically not capitalized.
01:09:03And, therefore, the lowercase s should be used.
01:09:05The initial word in the sentence, of course, is capitalized M.
01:09:09That's correct.
01:09:10So, with that one change, change the s of summer from capital to lowercase,
01:09:15the sentence would be correct.
01:09:18Our next sentence also contains the title of a work of art.
01:09:21The Garden of Delights by Hieronymus Bosch is one of the most unusual paintings of the Middle Ages.
01:09:28Let's start with that title.
01:09:30It comes first in the sentence, and let's see whether it's been capitalized correctly.
01:09:34The Garden of Delights is the name of the work.
01:09:37It's a painting.
01:09:37And, remember our rule, the first word in the title and all the important words should be capitalized.
01:09:43So, the should be capitalized.
01:09:45What about garden?
01:09:46Is that an important word?
01:09:48Clearly, it is.
01:09:49What about of?
01:09:50Well, no, that's not.
01:09:51That's a short preposition.
01:09:53Remember that prepositions of less than five letters should not be capitalized.
01:09:57So, this capital O should be turned into a small o.
01:10:01What about delights?
01:10:02Is that an important word?
01:10:04Yes, it is.
01:10:05So, the capital D is correct.
01:10:06The sentence goes on to say, by Hieronymus Bosch, and Hieronymus Bosch is the name of a specific person,
01:10:13and so the capital H and the capital B are correct.
01:10:16Is there anything else in the sentence that needs changing?
01:10:19Well, yes.
01:10:20The sentence ends by referring to one of the most unusual paintings of the Middle Ages.
01:10:26Remember what we learned.
01:10:27A historical era or event should be capitalized.
01:10:30The Middle Ages is certainly an historical era.
01:10:34So, Middle Ages should be capitalized.
01:10:37Capital M and capital A should be used in referring to this particular era of history.
01:10:42So, three changes need to be made to make this sentence correct.
01:10:46Change the capital O in of to lowercase and make Middle Ages capitalized.
01:10:53Capital M and capital A.
01:10:56Now, our last sentence.
01:10:57Before being named President of the University, Professor Meyer taught at several other colleges in New England.
01:11:05Well, we've got some places here.
01:11:07We've got a person being named, as well as some ranks and titles.
01:11:11Let's see whether capitalization has been done correctly here.
01:11:15Let's start with the first phrase.
01:11:16Before being named President of the University.
01:11:19Well, here we have a rank or title, President.
01:11:23Is it connected to a name?
01:11:25In this case, it isn't.
01:11:26It doesn't say President Meyer.
01:11:28It just says before being named President of the University.
01:11:31And normally a title or rank is not capitalized when it's not connected to a name.
01:11:36So, we want to change President into a lowercase p rather than a capital P.
01:11:40What about President of the University?
01:11:43Remember we said that the name of a specific organization would be capitalized.
01:11:47Is a specific organization being referred to here?
01:11:51Well, no.
01:11:51It simply says the University.
01:11:53We don't know what University is being referred to.
01:11:56Suppose it said Columbia University.
01:11:58Then there would be a specific organization being referred to.
01:12:02And Columbia University, both of those words would be capitalized.
01:12:06But when we simply refer to the University, it's not a specific organization.
01:12:11So, we have lowercase u instead.
01:12:14That's a second change that needs to be made.
01:12:16Okay.
01:12:17The sentence goes on to refer to Professor Meyer.
01:12:20Now, Meyer, of course, is capitalized.
01:12:22That's the name of a specific person.
01:12:24What about Professor?
01:12:25It's lowercase here.
01:12:26Is that correct?
01:12:27It's a rank or title.
01:12:29And in this case, it is connected to the name of the person, Professor Meyer.
01:12:33Therefore, it should be capitalized.
01:12:35The P in Professor should be a capital P.
01:12:38So, that's another change that needs to be made.
01:12:41Finally, the sentence says that Professor Meyer taught at several other columns.
01:12:45Colleges in New England.
01:12:47Now, what about the word colleges there?
01:12:49It's the name of an organization.
01:12:50Should it be capitalized?
01:12:52No.
01:12:52Because a specific college is not being referred to.
01:12:55Rather, a group of several other unnamed colleges.
01:12:59Finally, the sentence refers to New England.
01:13:01That is a region of the country.
01:13:04And a region or nationality should always be capitalized.
01:13:09England has been capitalized, but the author of the sentence forgot to capitalize New.
01:13:14And it should also be capitalized because the name of the region being referred to here
01:13:18is not England.
01:13:19It's New England.
01:13:20That's what we call those six states in the northeastern part of the United States.
01:13:25Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts constitute New England.
01:13:30So, those six states make up a specific region, and the whole title of the region, New England,
01:13:36should be capitalized.
01:13:38So, in this sentence, we actually need to make four changes.
01:13:41President and university should be lowercase.
01:13:44Professor and new should be capitalized.
01:13:46I hope you caught all those changes.
01:13:48If you did, you can consider yourself an expert in capitalization.
01:13:57It would be really nice if English spelling were simple, logical, and clear.
01:14:02But it isn't, and it's not going to become that way.
01:14:04So, this is something you simply have to work at and practice in order to become good at it.
01:14:10Misspellings do make your writing look bad, and people who notice the spelling errors
01:14:14will think you're not very bright.
01:14:16It's not fair to judge people's writing that way, but it's something that people tend to do.
01:14:22So, do work at spelling words correctly to make your sentences and your pieces of writing
01:14:27look smarter, more correct, and have people take them more seriously.
01:14:32Here are a couple of final tips that can help you become a better speller.
01:14:36Number one, don't be afraid to use the dictionary.
01:14:38One of the reasons dictionaries were invented was to make it easy to look up the correct spelling of difficult
01:14:44words.
01:14:45But when you sit down to begin writing a piece of work, whether it's for school, for your job, or
01:14:50any other purpose,
01:14:51get into the habit of pulling the dictionary off the shelf and putting it on the desk next to you.
01:14:56And that way, it'll be easy to look up any word that you are in doubt about.
01:15:01If the dictionary is up on the shelf, out of reach, when you set to work writing, and you come
01:15:07upon a word that you're not quite sure about,
01:15:09it's very tempting to simply put down your best guess and not bother to get up from the chair and
01:15:15pull down the dictionary.
01:15:16Getting the dictionary and putting it next to you before you begin work will guarantee that you're more likely to
01:15:22actually use the dictionary,
01:15:23and therefore correct misspelled words as you write.
01:15:27My second tip is this, get a little notebook and begin keeping a list of words that you misspell.
01:15:34Whenever you get a paperback from a teacher, for example, if the teacher has pointed out one or more words
01:15:39that you've misspelled,
01:15:41write down the correct spelling of those words in your notebook.
01:15:44Review the notebook from time to time and add to it every time you catch yourself misspelling a word.
01:15:50Chances are good that the words you write in your spelling notebook will be words that you'll come to learn
01:15:55sooner or later,
01:15:56and in time you'll never misspell them again.
01:16:00So the sooner you begin keeping your own personal spelling notebook,
01:16:03the sooner you will banish your own personal spelling demons and improve the accuracy of the spelling you do in
01:16:10your own writing.
01:16:10Well, thanks for watching.
01:16:12I hope you got a lot out of the techniques for spelling and capitalization that we taught you in this
01:16:17program,
01:16:18and I look forward to seeing you and working with you on other grammar topics
01:16:22as you review the other programs in Video Aided Instruction's English grammar series.
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