October 5, 2006

My students came across vacuum and summarize. Is the base of vacuum - vace? We thought of this because of doubling of the final letter. As well we came across the word summarize. Is the word sum - sum + ar + ize ? If so what is the rule on doubling the final letter in this one?
Mr. Lonergan

October 2, 2006

My students were working with the word courageous and they noticed the final e didn't get dropped. What is the reason for this?
Mr. Lonergan

September 26, 2006

A student of mine asked the question: "What does mischievous mean?' We noticed the prefix (mis-) which means wrongly, badly, amiss or ill. We then noticed the suffix (-ous) which makes adjectives meaning characterized by. Then what does the base chiev or chief mean when you look at the word mischief? We are puzzled because chief means head or boss. How can this have anything to do with mischievous? Your help is needed!

Why is there a y in vinyl?

With help from Melvyn I discovered the reason for it. No it doesn't break any rule and it is not an exception. Hint: it has something to do with drinking!

September 24,2006

Welcome to this site which will be where we will discuss our questions, concerns, experiences and findings with working with "Real Spelling". Let the fun begin!