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© 2016 Rising Stars UK Ltd.
What are the spelling rules for adjectives?
Focus: -
ous
endings
In a nutshell
Teacher subject knowledge for this unit:
The suffix -ous means ‘full of’. When it is added to words ending in -e, the ‘e’ is removed and
-ous is added, e.g. fame + -ous = famous. With words ending in -y pronounced /i/, the ‘y’ is
changed to an ‘i’ and -ous is added, e.g. mystery + -ous = mysterious.
Word list
fame famous poison poisonous
danger dangerous mountain mountainous
adventure adventurous hazard hazardous
joy joyous nerve nervous
ridicule ridiculous space spacious
fury furious mystery mysterious
prosper prosperous
1
Introduce/Review
● Write up the following sentences:
a) The singer became famous overnight after being on television.
b) The guide told us to take care on our walk because the route was mountainous.
● Ask the children to work with a partner to decide on the word class that the underlined
words belong to (adjectives). Ask what the words have in common (they end in -ous).
● Challenge the children to work out the root word in each adjective and to write up their
responses (fame, mountain). Discuss the word class of these words (nouns).
● Ask them to identify the changes made to the root words to make them into adjectives, e.g.
the ‘e’ in fame is removed then the suffix -ous is added; -ous is added to the end of mountain.
● Demonstrate how to spell the word famous by writing up the word fame, crossing out the
‘e’ and adding -ous:
fame
+ -ous = famous.
● Demonstrate how to spell the word mountainous:
mountain + -ous = mountainous.
● Discuss with the children what they think the suffix -ous might mean based on the
sentences you wrote up (full of).
● Write up the following sentences:
c) I felt nervous when it was my turn to sing.
d) The lady’s 100th birthday was a joyous event.
● Ask the children to identify the adjective in each sentence (nervous, joyous).
● Ask the children to work in pairs to identify the root word in each adjective (nerve, joy). Ask
them what changes have been made to these root words in order to turn them into adjectives
(the ‘e’ in nerve is removed then the suffix -ous is added; -ous is added to the end of joy).
● Demonstrate how to spell the words nervous and joyous, in the same way as before.
2
Teach
● Give each pair of children a set of Focus word cards (see You will need). Ask them to match
the cards in pairs. Each pair should consist of a noun or verb and an adjective, e.g. joy/joyous,
adventure/adventurous.
You will need:
Access online
resources at My
Rising Stars: www.
risingstars-uk.com
● Focus word
cards, cut out
per pair
● A4 whiteboards
and pens
● The Golden
Goblet passage
per child
● The Golden
Goblet (answers)
for display
● Missing words
with -ous
endings per child
● Missing
words with
-ous endings
(answers) for
display
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4
© 2016 Rising Stars UK Ltd.
Spring term, Unit
● Remind the children of the investigations they did into the spelling of famous,
mountainous, nervous and joyous.
● Ask the children to look closely at the root word and the adjective in each word pair.
Challenge them to sort the root words into those that end in ‘e’ and those that do not.
Discuss whether all the words ending in ‘e’ follow the rule of dropping the final ‘e’. Ask
whether the words that do not end in ‘e’ just have the suffix -ous added to the end.
Identify that with the words fury and mystery, where the final ‘y’ is pronounced /i/, the ‘y’
is replaced with ‘i’ and the suffix -ous is added.
● Write up the words: disaster, disastrous; mischief, mischievous. Challenge the children to
spot the changes in the spelling of the root words when -ous is added.
● Summarise the spelling rules and display them on the working wall, e.g.
If the word ends in ‘y’ (pronounced /i/), change the ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add -ous.
If the word ends in ‘e’, delete the ‘e’ and add -ous.
● Add the following sentences to illustrate the exceptions to the rule:
‘Mischief is mischievous because ‘f’ becomes ‘v’ when it turns into an adjective.’ ‘It is a
disaster if the ‘e’ is kept in the adjective disastrous’.
3
Practise
● Re-visit the spelling rules. If necessary, demonstrate changing some root words into
adjectives by adding the suffix -ous.
● Give an A4 whiteboard and a pen to each child. Work through four or five of the root words
in the focus word list, asking individual children to write them on their whiteboards and to
stand at the front of the class. Challenge the rest of the class to create Living words, turning
the words into adjectives by adding the suffix -ous and making any necessary changes to
the spellings of the root words.
● Involve the children in developing and writing up sentences that include the adjectives.
4
Apply
● Tell the children that you have found a piece of writing that contains some spelling
mistakes and that you need their help to put the spelling right. If necessary, re-visit the
spelling rule displayed on the working wall.
● Give each child a copy of The Golden Goblet reading passage (see You will need). Ask them
to read it through carefully and to find the spelling mistakes and to correct them. You may
wish to underline the misspelled words for some children.
● Ask the children to work in pairs and to check which words they have identified and corrected.
● Read The Golden Goblet passage aloud. Ask the children to stop you when you come to a
misspelled word. Discuss how the children have spelled the words, writing them up correctly
as you do so and displaying The Golden Goblet (answers) resource on the working wall (see
You will need).
5
Review
● Remind the children of the spelling rule for this unit and re-visit examples of the changes in
some root words when the suffix -ous is added.
● Give each child a copy of the Missing words with -ous endings sentences (see You will need).
Explain that they should read each sentence and change the root word in brackets to an
adjective by adding the suffix -ous and making any necessary changes to the root word.
● Ask the children to compare their spellings. Take children through the correct answers in the
Missing words with -ous endings (answers) resource (see You will need).
● Ask any children who are not confident spelling words ending in -ous to re-visit the spelling rules
displayed on the working wall and to try out some of the rules on words where they are unsure.
Challenge!
Use the Spelling
Fox Challenge
What are the
spelling rules for
adjectives? to kick
off or consolidate
the learning. The
children must help
the Spelling Fox
find the correct
answers! Access
online via My
Rising Stars.
