ATIT's Version 7 English Portion: Conventions of English
Spelling Rules
IE and EI Combinations
- Common Errors: Inverting IE and EI in words like achieve, believe, and peace.
- Mnemonic: "I before E except after C" applies when IE represents a long E sound.
- Examples Following the Rule: receive, receipt, sealing, deceive, preconceive.
- Exceptions: Words like ancient, efficient, science, sufficient defy the rule as they don't produce a long E sound.
- EI after Consonants: E.g., there, foreign, weird, leisure.
Dropping the Final E Before Suffixes
- Vowel Suffixes: Involves dropping the final E (e.g., hope + ing → hoping).
- Consonant Suffixes: No need to drop the E (e.g., hope + ful → hopeful).
- Exceptions: Words like notice and change can retain the E before adding suffixes like able or ous to maintain pronunciation.
Doubling the Final Consonant
- 1-1-1 Rule: Double the final consonant if a word has one syllable, ends with a single vowel, and a single consonant (e.g., run → running).
- Exceptions: Do not double H, W, X, Y (e.g., play → play-able).
Changing Y to I
- Final Y + ING: Retain the Y (copy → copying).
- Converting Y to I: Occurs with other suffixes unless the Y follows a vowel (e.g., baby → babies).
Pluralization Rules
General Rule
- Most nouns form plurals by adding S (car → cars).
- Nouns ending in S, X, Z, CH, SH, SS add ES (bus → buses).
Special Endings
- F/FE Endings: Change to VES (calf → calves), with exceptions like roofs, chiefs.
- O Endings: Add S if preceded by a vowel (radio → radios). Add ES if preceded by a consonant (potato → potatoes).
- Y Endings: Change Y to I and add ES if preceded by a consonant (city → cities).
Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms
- Homophones: Words that sound alike but have different meanings (male/mail).
- Homographs: Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings (bow/bow).
- Homonyms: Words that are both homophones and homographs (ring/ring).
Standard English Punctuation
Basic Rules
- Periods: End declarative sentences.
- Capitalization: Start sentences and proper nouns with a capital letter.
- Apostrophes: Used for contractions and possessives.
Sentence Endings
- Question Marks: End interrogative sentences.
- Exclamation Marks: Show excitement, strong emotion, urgency.
Commas
- Lists: Use for items in a list of three or more.
- Independent Clauses: Use before conjunctions like and, but, or.
Colons and Semicolons
- Colons: Used to introduce lists.
- Semicolons: Link closely related independent clauses.
Hyphens
- Compound Adjectives: Link words functioning together as a single adjective.
- Compound Numbers: Hyphenate between 21 and 99.
Grammar Components
Parts of Speech
- Verbs: Action words (run, walk).
- Nouns: People, places, objects (house, teacher).
- Adjectives: Modify nouns (short, beautiful).
- Adverbs: Modify verbs/adjectives (slowly, always).
- Pronouns: Substitute nouns (I, she).
Sentences Structure
- Subjects and Predicates: Subject identifies who/what; predicate describes actions or state.
- Modifiers: Provide additional detail.
Complements
- Subject Complements: Rename/describe the subject.
- Object Complements: Describe the direct object.
Clauses
- Independent: Complete thought.
- Dependent: Needs more information.
Sentence Types
- Simple: One independent clause.
- Compound: Two independent clauses with conjunction.
- Complex: One independent and one dependent clause.
Direct and Indirect Objects
- Direct Objects: Receive action of the verb.
- Indirect Objects: Recipients of the direct object.
These notes provide a comprehensive overview of the conventions of English as discussed in the ATIT's Version 7 English lecture. They cover key rules and examples necessary for understanding English spelling, grammar, and punctuation.