What the question looks like
Spelling items on the Language section have their own set of directions. They tell you to look for errors in spelling and to choose D if there are none. Then you see three sentences labeled A, B, and C. One sentence may contain a single misspelled word. Choice D is "No mistakes."
The misspelled word is never a rare word. It is a word you have probably written many times, spelled in the way that looks almost right. That is what makes these items tricky: a familiar misspelling can slide past your eye if you read for meaning instead of letters.
The rules that get tested
- I before e, except after c. "Believe, friend, piece." But "receive, ceiling."
- Ei when it sounds like ay. "Neighbor, weigh, eight."
- Exceptions you memorize. "Weird, seize, height, their."
- Double the final consonant before a vowel suffix in short stressed syllables. "Stop becomes stopped, begin becomes beginning." But "visit becomes visited."
- Drop a silent e before a suffix that starts with a vowel. "Hope becomes hoping, write becomes writing."
- Keep the silent e before a suffix that starts with a consonant. "Hope becomes hopeful, care becomes careless." Exceptions: "truly, argument, judgment."
- Change y to i before most suffixes. "Happy becomes happiness, cry becomes cried." But keep y before ing: "carrying."
- Plurals after s, x, ch, and sh add es. "Boxes, churches, dishes."
- Consonant plus y becomes ies. "Party becomes parties." Vowel plus y just adds s: "days."
- Some f words become ves. "Leaf becomes leaves, knife becomes knives." But "roofs."
- Some o words add es. "Heroes, potatoes, tomatoes." But "pianos, photos."
- Homophones. "Their, there, they're. Principal, principle. Weather, whether."
- Words that are just hard. "Separate, definitely, necessary, occasion, embarrass, calendar, privilege, receive, government, environment, restaurant, recommend, immediately, familiar, library, February, Wednesday, tomorrow, surprise, business, describe, achieve, similar, until, a lot."
How to solve it
- Read all three sentences once for meaning so you know what each word is supposed to be.
- Go back and read each sentence a second time, this time looking at letters rather than words. Slow down on any word longer than five letters.
- When a word looks off, apply the rule. Is there an ie or ei? A doubled consonant? A dropped or kept e? A plural ending?
- If nothing fails your letter check, choose D. On spelling items, "No mistakes" is correct as often as any other letter.
Worked examples
Example 1
A. We need to seperate the recycling from the trash.
B. The concert was definitely worth the long drive.
C. Grandma made a special dessert for the occasion.
D. No mistakes.
- A.Sentence A
- B.Sentence B
- C.Sentence C
- D.No mistakes
Show answer
Answer: A: Sentence A
The correct spelling is separate, with an a in the middle. A common trick is to remember that there is a rat in separate. Sentence B is correct because definitely has no a in it, even though many students write definately. Sentence C is correct, and occasion has two c's and one s.
Example 2
A. It is a privilege to represent our school at the tournament.
B. My cousin recieved a scholarship to a school in Boston.
C. The government building was closed on the holiday.
D. No mistakes.
- A.Sentence A
- B.Sentence B
- C.Sentence C
- D.No mistakes
Show answer
Answer: B: Sentence B
Receive follows the rule i before e except after c, so the e comes first after the c. Sentence A is a tempting wrong pick because privilege is often misspelled with a d, but it is written correctly here. Sentence C is correct, and government keeps the n from govern even though it is barely pronounced.
Example 3
A. He was embarrassed when his phone rang during the movie.
B. The library extends its hours during exam week.
C. We planned the party on the calender in the kitchen.
D. No mistakes.
- A.Sentence A
- B.Sentence B
- C.Sentence C
- D.No mistakes
Show answer
Answer: C: Sentence C
The correct spelling is calendar, ending in ar. Sentence A is the trap, because embarrassed looks like it has too many letters, but two r's and two s's is correct. Sentence B is fine, and library keeps both r's even though people often say it with one.
Example 4
A. Please write the date on your paper immediately.
B. The weather tomorrow should be similar to today.
C. Our neighbors argued about the fence for weeks.
D. No mistakes.
- A.Sentence A
- B.Sentence B
- C.Sentence C
- D.No mistakes
Show answer
Answer: D: No mistakes
All three sentences are spelled correctly. Immediately has a double m and ends in ately. Tomorrow has one m and two r's, which students often reverse. Neighbors follows the ei-sounds-like-ay rule, and argued keeps the e that argument drops.
Traps to watch for
- The almost-right spelling. Definately, seperate, occassion, recieve, and untill each look normal at reading speed. Read letters, not words.
- Doubled letters in the wrong place. Tommorow, embarass, and neccessary are all wrong. Tomorrow doubles the r, embarrass doubles both r and s, necessary has one c and two s's.
- Homophones spelled correctly but used incorrectly. On a spelling item, the test is asking whether a word is spelled correctly for its meaning, so "the whether was cold" counts as a spelling error.
- Picking D because nothing jumped out. A misspelling is designed not to jump out. Do the second read before choosing "No mistakes."
Pacing
You have about 25 seconds per Language item. Read all three sentences before you answer, because the misspelled word is spread across A, B, and C about equally. If a word is nagging you but you cannot decide, pick the sentence that bothers you most and move on. There is no guessing penalty on the HSPT.
Practice
Check your spelling accuracy under the real clock in our free diagnostic.
Shaky on the skill itself? Start with the lessons on verb tense and form for the irregular verbs and apostrophes and quotation marks for the possessives, then come back to the question format.