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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 16

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 8L2; 8L6 · 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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 10 of 16 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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 word is the best fit: “The scientist ___ the results carefully.”

    • liked
    • got
    • analyzed
    • did

  2. Question 2

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

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

  3. Question 3

    Which spelling uses the root “photo” (light)?

    • paragraph
    • telegraph
    • phonograph
    • photograph

  4. Question 4

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • necessary
    • neccessary
    • necesary
    • neccesary

  5. Question 5

    Which word is spelled correctly?

    • enviroment
    • environment
    • envirenment
    • enviornment

  6. Question 6

    Which word comes from the Latin root “aud” (hear)?

    • animal
    • ancient
    • adventure
    • audience

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