Spelling Rules

I was trying to help the kids with their homework tonight, and got stuck (again), this time on SPELLING RULES. All I remember from my school days is: "i before e, except after c and sometimes y".

This time, my daughter had to know when to use "tion" or "sion" -- for example, the word permit becomes permission (not permition) and the word complete becomes completion (not complesion).

So, what's the rule? (And what are the exceptions to the rule, because you know there'll be some!)

A couple of straight forward pages of spelling rules can be found at:

Reading From Scratch
and
Just Mommies

The google search I made to find these sites was spelling rules: when to use tion and sion.

OK, back to HW!

Oh, right -- you want the rule. Here it is, from Reading From Scratch:

How do you tell whether to use tion or sion?

1. If the root word ends in /t/, use -tion: complete, completion
2. If the root word ends in /s/ or /d/, use sion: extend, extension
   suppress, suppression
3. If the sound of the last syllable is the "heavy" sound of /zhun/ rather than the light sound, /shun/, use s: confusion, vision, adhesion

Exception: The ending, --mit becomes -mission:

permit - permission	omit - omission
submit - submission	commit - commission

Clear as mud, eh? :-)

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