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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 12

Precise Words & Spelling

Spelling rules, word parts and exact vocabulary

What your child practices

Children use word families, prefixes, suffixes and spelling rules, choose precise words for a subject, and use word-processing tools to format a document.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 8.17; 8.21 · precise vocabulary and spelling rules

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Many words ending in f or fe change to v and add -es in the plural: knife → knives.
  2. A derivative is a base word plus a prefix or suffix: help → helpful.
  3. Pick precise subject words, and use word-processor styles to format headings.

Example: What is the plural of “knife”? “Knife” ends in fe. Change it to v and add -es. Answer: knives

Precise Words & Spelling in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 12 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Write It Better and before Media Influence.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which prefix means “not”?

    • un-
    • pre-
    • re-
    • inter-

  2. Question 2

    When adding -ing to “make”, you…

    • keep the e: makeing
    • double the k: makking
    • add a y: makying
    • drop the silent e: making

  3. Question 3

    Which pair is a base word and a derivative?

    • help – hill
    • help – hat
    • help – hop
    • help – helpful

  4. Question 4

    Which word is most precise for a science report?

    • turn into stuff
    • evaporate
    • go away
    • disappear somehow

  5. Question 5

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • necessary
    • neccesary
    • neccessary
    • necesary

  6. Question 6

    Which spelling strategy helps with “rhythm”?

    • guess and move on
    • type it three different ways without checking
    • skip it
    • break it into syllables and use a memory trick

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