名人教英文：spelling 拼字
why is spelling so important?
it is important because good spelling helps people say what they mean without causing confusion. correct spelling is particularly important in its written form. good spelling matters in examinations, in academic pursuits and in job applications.
the first task in learning to spell well is to recognise your mistake about a certain word. having a good memory improves spelling.
how does one improve one's memory?
the mnemonic technique (助记忆的技巧) involves four basic steps :
1.to love the subject: learning by heart starts from the heart.
2.to recognise the word visually: to get a mental picture of the word.
3.to spot the difference between similar words.
4.to repeat and repeat: practice makes perfect.
in spelling, there are certain ground rules to remember. for example :
a.the "e" at the end of a word is dropped before a suffix starting with a vowel is added on : "ing", "ed", "er", "en", "y" or "ous" .
eg.love→loving; hope→hoped; broke→broken; noise→noisy; fame→famous.
b.the last consonant of a one-syllable word is doubled before "ing", "ed", "en" or "est" is added on.
eg.hop→hopping; rot→rotten; hot→hottest.
c.when a word ends with "y", the "y" is changed to "ies".
eg.baby→babies; lady→ladies; hurry→hurries.
good spellers should distinguish between commonly used words, illustrated below.