3 Spelling: Adding endings – Dropping final e
Category: Spelling
Concept: Adding endings: Dropping the final e
Connections to The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Language (2023):
_____B2 Language Foundations for Reading and Spelling
__________B2.1 Word Level Reading and Spelling
Prior Knowledge:
- Understanding the concepts of base words and suffixes
- Understanding the concepts of consonants and vowels, including silent e
What’s the definition?
Sometimes the spelling of a base word changes when a suffix is added. This chapter deals with adding suffixes to base words ending in silent e, using the following rules:
- Drop the e when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel (-ed, -es, -ing, -y, -er, -ire, -en, -able, – est, -ish, -or, -ory).
- Do not drop the e when adding a suffix beginning with a consonant (-s, -ful, -less, -ly, -ness, -ment).
What does it look/sound like?
In these examples, the base word ends in silent e. When the suffix also begins with a vowel, the base word drops the silent e:
| Base Word: | Base word with suffix: |
| excite | exciting, excitable |
| celebrate | celebrating, celebration, celebrated, celebratory |
| admire | admiring, admirable, admirer, admiration |
| illustrate | illustrating, illustrator, illustrated, illustration |
Note that in the cases below, the silent e is retained when adding a suffix that begins with a consonant:
| Base Word: | Suffix: | Base word with suffix: |
| excite | -ment | excitement |
| celebrate | -s | celebrates |
| admire | -s | admires |
| illustrate | -s | illustrates |
Why does it matter?
As students move into middle and later grades, they will need to supplement their knowledge of phonics with spelling patterns for adding endings to base words. The structural patterns above require a knowledge of vowels and consonants, but also of the morphological concepts of base words and suffixes.
Students will use derived forms frequently in their everyday writing. The complexity of the derived words will increase as students encounter them in reading and writing across multiple subject disciplines.
How do I teach this?
Decisions as to how to address this structural pattern should be based on the needs of the class as indicated through assessment of student writing.
If many students are struggling with patterns for adding suffixes to words ending in silent e, the teacher may choose to provide a whole class mini-lesson using misspelled words in students’ writing as a starting point.
In other instances, the pattern could be explored in small group interactions or one-on-one instruction in teacher-student writing conferences.
One teaching strategy is to colour code the words so that the base forms appear in a different colour than the suffix added. Framing this strategy as a word equation is also helpful.
_____entice + ing = enticing
_____entice + ment = enticement
Engage students in exploring the pattern through word sorting. One way to accomplish this is to provide a deck of cards to small groups or individuals on which a variety of words ending in silent e with suffixes are printed (see examples above).
Have students identify the base word in each and sort the pile into those that drop the final e and those that retain it. Then note what is common about the suffixes that are added to the respective piles: one pile will have suffixes starting with a vowel; the second will have suffixes beginning with a consonant.
Another strategy is to create a passage in which words ending in silent e followed by suffixes are sometimes misspelled. Have students work in proofreading pairs to find and correct the errors.
………
Online resources:
The Literacy Nest: Tips for Teaching the Drop E Rule provides a clear explanation with examples and teaching ideas.
This YouTube video (8 minutes) provides a basic review of vowel/consonants and suffixes. It also contains useful examples of the drop e rule
Drop the E/ Phonics and Spelling/ The Good and the Beautiful
A structural element that forms the foundation of a written word; any unit of a word to which affixes can be added. (e.g., act is the base of acted, action, activity, activate, react). Types of bases include:
bound base. A base that requires an affix to form a word (e.g., -ject in inject and project).
free base. A base that forms a word on its own (e.g., eat, date, weak).
A suffix is a morpheme (one or more letters) that is added to a base word to form a derivative ( a new word from the base word that changes its grammatical form)
Example: The base word excite can become excites, exciting, excitable by adding the suffix -s, -ing, -able.
