Spelling Rules

ENGLISH SPELLING RULES
Short and Long Vowels
1. To spell a short vowel sound, only one letter is needed:
 
                 at           red            it            hot           up
2. Tospell a long sound you must add a second vowel. The second may be next to the first, in the VVC pattern (boat, maid, cue, etc.) or it may be separated from the first one by a consonant in the VCVpattern (made, ride, tide, etc.). If the second vowel is separated from the first by two spaces, it does not affect the first one. This is the VCCV pattern in which the first vowel remains short.Thus, doubling a consonant can be called "protecting" a short vowel because it prevents an incoming vowel from getting close enough to the first one to change its sound from short to long: 
         maid,  made,  but  madder;            dine,  diner,  but dinner.
Spelling the Sound /k/
This sound can be spelled in any one of four ways:
1. c     2. cc     3. k        4. ck
1. The singleletter, c , is the most common spelling. It may be used anywhere in a word:
cat
corn
actor
victim
direct
mica
scat 
bacon 
public 
cactus 
inflict 
pecan

2. Sometimes the letter c mustbe doubled to cc to protect the sound of a short vowel:
stucco 
baccalaureate 
hiccups
Mecca 
tobacco 
buccaneer
occupy
raccoon 
succulent 

3. The letter k is substituted for c if /k/is followed by an e, i, or y.
kin 
make 
sketch 
poker 
kind 
risky
skin 
token 
skill 
keep 
liking 
flaky

(Boring examples? How about kyphosis, kylix, keratosis, and dyskinesia?)4. Similarly, the spelling ck, is substituted for cc if the following letter is an e, i, or y:
lucky 
picking 
rocking 
finicky
blackest 
mackintosh 
frolicked 
ducking
Kentucky picnicking 
stocking 
Quebecker

5. The letters, k and ck are more than substitutes for c and cc. They are used to spell /k/ at the end of a monosyllable. The digraph, ck, ALWAYS follows a short...