New Work for Years 3 & 4

Teachers should continue to emphasise to pupils the relationships between sounds and letters, even when the relationships are unusual. Once root words are learnt in this way, longer words can be spelt correctly, if the rules and guidance for adding prefixes and suffixes are also known.

Outcomes

  • The suffix -ly
    The suffix -ly is added to an adjective to form an adverb. The rules already learnt still apply. The suffix -ly starts with a consonant letter, so it is added straight on to most root words. Example words: adly, completely, usually (usual + ly), finally (final + ly), comically (comical + ly) Exceptions: (1) If the root word ends in -y with a consonant letter before it, the y is changed to i, but only if the root word has more than one syllable. Example words: happily, angrily (2) If the root word ends with -le, the -le is changed to -ly. Example words: gently, simply, humbly, nobly (3) If the root word ends with -ic, -ally is added rather than just -ly, except in the word publicly. Example words: basically, frantically, dramatically (4) The words truly, duly, wholly.
    Examples
  • Endings which sound like /ʒən/
    If the ending sounds like /ʒən/, it is spelt as -sion. Example words: division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television
    Examples
  • Endings which sound like /ʃən/, spelt -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian
    Strictly speaking, the suffixes are -ion and -ian. Clues about whether to put t, s, ss or c before these suffixes often come from the last letter or letters of the root word. -tion is the most common spelling. It is used if the root word ends in t or te. Example words: invention, injection, action, hesitation, completion -ssion is used if the root word ends in ss or -mit.Example words: expression, discussion, confession, permission, admission -sion is used if the root word ends in d or se.Example words: expansion, extension, comprehension, tension Exceptions: attend - attention, intend - intention. -cian is used if the root word ends in c or cs. Example words: musician, electrician, magician, politician, mathematician
    Examples
  • Words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey
    Example words: vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, they, obey
    Examples
  • Homophones and near-homophones
    Example words: accept/except, affect/effect, ball/bawl, berry/bury, brake/break, fair/fare, grate/great, groan/grown, here/hear, heel/heal/he'll, knot/not, mail/male, main/mane, meat/meet, medal/meddle, missed/mist, peace/piece, plain/plane, rain/rein/reign, scene/seen, weather/whether, whose/who's
    Examples