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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.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 8.L.2; 8.L.6 · 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 Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, 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: Arizona Department of Education

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 suffix turns “care” into a word meaning “without care”?

    • -ing
    • -ful
    • -less
    • -ness

  2. Question 2

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • definately
    • defanitely
    • definitely
    • definitly

  3. Question 3

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • govenment
    • goverment
    • govermment
    • government

  4. Question 4

    When adding -ing to “make”, you…

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

  5. Question 5

    When adding -ly to “happy”, the y changes to…

    • o: happoly
    • i: happily
    • nothing: happyly
    • e: happyly

  6. Question 6

    Which formatting choice helps readers scan a report?

    • one huge paragraph
    • many colors and fonts
    • text in all capitals
    • headings and short paragraphs

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