Spelling and Vocabulary
What to master
Spelling questions test patterns, not memorization alone: homophones such as their/there/they're, affect/effect, principal/principle, and stationary/stationery; commonly misspelled words such as accommodate, occurrence, receive, separate, definitely, maintenance, and personnel; doubling a final consonant before a suffix; and the i-before-e rule. Vocabulary questions ask for synonyms, antonyms, and the meaning of a word in context. Roots and prefixes (bene-, mal-, aud-, cred-, pre-, anti-) help when the exact word is unfamiliar.
Traps
- Sound-alike pairs where both words are real.
- Words that look similar but differ in meaning (compliment/complement, allusion/illusion).
- Choosing a synonym that fits a different sense of the word.
- Suffixes that change spelling: begin + ing = beginning, hope + ing = hoping.
Worked example
The office ordered new ______ for the printer. Stationary means not moving; stationery means paper and office supplies. Remember the e in stationery matches envelope.
Rule of thumb
For i/e, use i before e except after c, or when sounded like ay as in neighbor and weigh. For vocabulary, substitute each option into the sentence and check the surrounding words for a clue.