Lesson 1

cial in 11 words:

facial                                      racial                                      glacial

official                                   beneficial                              artificial

superficial                             judicial                                  special

crucial                                    social

tial in 18 words:

residential                             presidential                           credential

prudential                             confidential                            potential

existential                             influential                              essential

referential                             consequential                       sequential

substantial                             circumstantial                       partial

martial                                   nuptial                                    prenuptial

Exceptions:

financial                                commercial                           provincial

initial                                     spatial                                    palatial

controversial

Lesson 2

Do we spell the sound of "f" with an "f" as in "font" or with a "ph" as in "geography" or with a "gh" as in "enough"?

Rule: 1) As in "enough," the "gh" that sounds like an "f" occurs in approximately eight words.  2) The letter "f" is not allowed in long words, and if a word is long (two or more syllables), then the "f" sound is spelled with a "ph," as in "geography."

gh in 8 words:

enough                                   tough                          rough

cough                                     laugh                          slough

trough                                    sough

ph in long words; the f is not allowed in long words:

geography                              philosophy                biography

autobiography                       apostrophe                 peripheral

hyphenated                            nephew                       atmosphere

euphemism                           physician                    Philadelphia

Philippine                             amphibian                  amphitheater

sophisticated                        graphics                     elephant

pharmacy                               pharmacist                alphabet

emphasize                             emphasis                   symphony

phonology                             phobic                       phonics

phonetic                                 phoneme                  metaphor

photograph                            triumph                     paragraph

ophthalmology                      pamphlet                  diphthong

schizophrenia                        paraphrase                Euphrates

Exceptions of the f in 21 long words:

refer                                        prefer                         transfer

felony                                     feminine                     finite

fidelity                                   infant                           fanatic

fabulous                                 facilitate                     family

fantasy                                   fallacy                         fantastic

famine                                    comfort                     fugitive

furious                                   furniture                     refuge

Lesson 3

Do we spell with "tion" as in "nation" or "sion" as in "expression" or "cian" as in "musician"?

Rule: 1) As in "musician," spell with "cian" in approximately 18 words that describe a person's profession or hobby.  We spell with "sion" in approximately 47 words.  The "sion" is in 27 words that end with "ss" as in express"expression and in 10 other words that contain the word "mission" as in "admission."  We spell with "tion" in the rest of such words as in "action."

cian in 18 words:

musician                                magician                    electrician

physician                               politician                   statistician

mathematician                      logician                      arithmetician

optician                                 pediatrician                obstetrician

patrician                                technician                   theoretician

beautician                              dietician                     cosmetician

sion in 47 words:

expression                             impression                 oppression

depression                             repression                   progression

suppression                           regression                   aggression

egression                               congressional             recession

procession                             succession                  accession

excision                                 obsession                    confession

profession                             obsession                    possession

discussion                              concussion                 passion

compassion                            percussion                  session

concession                             mission                       admission

intermission                          transmission               emission

remission                              commission                 commissioner

permission                            tension                          intension

extension                                pretension                   apprehension

comprehension                      pension                        dimension

mansion                                  expansion

Exceptions:

suspicion                               complexion                    ocean

Lesson 4

Rule: The ending "sion" as in "vision" has a special sound, which is different from the sound of "sion" as in "expression."  When you hear yourself saying this special sound of "sion" as in "vision," spell it with "sion."  The "sion" as in "vision" occurs in approximately 38 words and a few of these words have to do with seeing "visual" through the eyes as in "television" or through the mind as in "supervision."

vision                                     television                               envision

revision                                  supervision                            division

decision                                  incision                                 precision

collision                                 confusion                              diffusion

infusion                                  transfusion                             conclusion

inclusion                                exclusion                                preclusion

intrusion                                illusion                                    elusion

delusion                                 explosion                                erosion

corrosion                               occasion                                  invasion

evasion                                   abrasion                                   lesion

version                                   aversion                                   inversion

subversion                             submersion                              conversion

immersion                             excursion                                 [Persian]

Lesson 5

Do we spell with "ege" as in "college" or with "age" as in "cabbage"?

Rule: The "ege" as in "college" occurs in approximately three words and the "age" as in "cabbage" is in the rest of such words.

ege in 3 words:

college                                   privilege                                cortege

ege in the rest:

language                                cabbage                                   baggage

mortgage                               damage                                    rummage

manage                                  orphanage                                savage

salvage                                   postage                                    hostage

shortage                                 outage                                     voltage

footage                                  frontage                                   heritage

cottage                                   advantage                                package

wreckage                                mileage                                  village

cartilage                                 bandage                                   adage

sausage                                   message                                  massage

passage                                   usage                                       average

coverage                                 leverage                                  forage

hemorrhage                            courage                                   discourage

courageous                             carriages                                 marriage

Note: These three words have a silent d: knowledge, acknowledge, cartridge

Lesson 6

The "e" better than the "a" Theory

Theory:

1. The people who developed written English did not like the letter "a" and the "e" is better than the "a" in English.

2. Verbs are always more important than nouns, and nouns are more important than adjectives: 1) Verbs 2) Nouns 3) Adjectives.

3. Therefore, when two words sound the same, English uses "ee" in verbs as in "see" and "ea" in nouns as in "sea"; Furthermore, English uses "ee" in nouns as in "week" and "ea" in adjectives as in "weak."

Analyzing the meaning of the following words that contain "ea" as opposed to "ee," one discovers that those who developed written English did not like the "a" and used "ea" in words that, to them, conveyed some type of a negative connotation:

ea for negative connotations:

cheap (of little value)                                         cheat (to deceive)

freak (abnormal person)                                     rear (not the front)

leash (a restraining chain)                                   fear (to be afraid)

treason (betrayal)                                                weak (not strong)

sleazy (cheap)                                                  weasel (deceitful)

repeat (nothing new)                                         defeat (to be beaten)

sneak (not being frank)                                       smear (to stain)

squeak (unpleasant sound)                                    impeach (discredit)

seal (mere animal)                                              appear (not sure)

appeal (to petition)                                               reveal (to expose)

squeal (to tell on friends)                                    conceal (to hide)

dream (not actual)                                             scream (cry loudly)

wean (give up milk)                                            lean (sign of weakness)

deceased, dead (not alive)                               disease (sickness)

beat (to hit)                                                        leak (a leak of liquid)

beast (brutal)                                                   ear (mere body part)

See how "steal," even though a verb, the "ea" was given to a verb with a negative connotation, but not to the noun "steel."

Apparently, food items and anything associated with eating were considered mundane and perhaps banal items.  Thus, the "ea" was given to most words associated with food:

ea for banal food items:

eat                                   meat                           feast

meal                               veal                             tea

peas                                beans                          peach

wheat                             yeast                            grease

Examining the meanings of the many words that contain al, ar and an as opposed to el, er and en one can see that the "a" was associated with the vulgar and banal class of words.  Analyze the meanings of some such examples:

a for banal:

vulgar (banal)                                                     beggar (jobless)

burglar (thief)                                                     liar (lie"liar)

singular (alone, not many)                                    similar (not the real one)

popular, familiar (too exposed)                            caterpillar (a mere worm)

summary (not the whole thing)                              secretary (not the boss)

standard (basic)                                                  separate (by itself)

drunkard (mere drunkard)                                     lizard (mere lizard)

banal (vulgar)                                                      scandal (public disgrace)

burial (related to death)                                         trivial (of little importance)

decimal (very small amount)                                  sufferance (pain)

resistance (opposing force)                                   assistance (needing aid)

assistant (not superintendent)                                servant (low ranking job)

dependant (needy)                                              dependant (child in need)

Not an "a" in F dependent, independent

Practice: To memorize the spelling of all the words in the above lessons, read them aloud slowly.

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