50 Important Rules of English Spelling For LNAT Essays for 2024 and 2025

Try this little experiment – Open Notepad – the plain text editor, on your laptop. Write a three-paragraph essay (around 200 words) on ‘Why do you want to study Law?’ Next, copy-paste the paragraphs into a new Microsoft Word document, and it should automatically highlight any spelling or grammar mistakes.

If you have not made any errors, congratulations! You are in the top 1% of students who are able to type in impeccable English without any assistance – the remaining 99% will see at least 2 or more spelling or grammatical errors.

The Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT) is designed to assess the linguistic and analytical skills of aspiring law students. A crucial aspect of this assessment is the essay portion – section B, where students must write a 500-600 word essay on one of the three given topics, to demonstrate their ability to present coherent and persuasive arguments.

The LNAT essay screen does not have any spelling check or grammar check functions. These days, when we type into our browser, text messaging apps, or office applications (e.g., Word, PowerPoint), spelling errors are automatically highlighted, auto-corrected, or suggestions are offered via popup. These helpful tools have actually reduced our attention to spellings and grammar.

The LNAT essay showcases the student’s aptitude for the precise use of language; proper spelling & grammar are indispensable for clear and effective communication.

Remember, the essays are not assessed by the LNAT consortium (or Pearson Vue). The essays are sent ‘as is’ to the colleges you have chosen – where they will be read and evaluated by the admissions personnel of the university.

Any spelling or grammatical errors can detract from the clarity and persuasiveness of their argument. A well-structured essay free of errors demonstrates a high level of linguistic proficiency, which is a key quality sought after by law schools.

Accurate spelling and grammar are indicative of attention to detail, an essential skill for any successful law student and legal practitioner. Law professionals are required to meticulously analyze complex legal documents and draft persuasive arguments. Spelling and grammatical errors in an LNAT essay can reflect poorly on a candidate’s ability to fulfill these tasks in a professional setting.

In this article, we have listed 50 important rules of English spelling, which you should read thoroughly and practice as much as possible, to help you ace section B of the LNAT in 2024 and 2025.

1. “i” before “e” except after “c” or when sounded as “a” in neighbor and weigh.

2. Silent “e” at the end of a word can help make a vowel sound long (e.g., make, ride, note).

3. When adding a suffix to a word that ends in a silent “e,” drop the “e” if the suffix begins with a vowel (e.g., create + ing = creating), but keep the “e” if the suffix begins with a consonant (e.g., wise + dom = wisdom).

4. Double consonants often indicate that the preceding vowel is short (e.g., hopped, running).

5. When adding a suffix to a one-syllable word ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant (e.g., hit + ing = hitting).

6. When adding a suffix to a word ending in “y,” change the “y” to “i” (except for -ing) (e.g., cry + ed = cried, try + ing = trying).

7. For words ending in a consonant followed by “y,” keep the “y” when adding a suffix that begins with a consonant (e.g., happy + ness = happiness).

8. When a word ends with a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, and the stress is on the last syllable, double the final consonant before adding a vowel suffix (e.g., occur + ence = occurrence).

9. Use “k” after a short vowel (e.g., sick, kick) and “ck” after a long vowel or a diphthong (e.g., back, seek).

10. In compound words, keep the original spelling of the base words (e.g., greenhouse, makeup).

11. Use “ph” to represent the /f/ sound in words of Greek origin (e.g., photograph, phonetic).

12. Use “gh” to represent the /f/ sound in words of Germanic origin (e.g., laugh, tough).

13. Use “s” to represent the /z/ sound in plural forms of nouns and third person singular of verbs (e.g., dogs, cries, realizes).

14. Use “s” instead of “c” before “e,” “i,” or “y” to represent the /s/ sound (e.g., mice, city)

15. Use “c” instead of “s” before “a,” “o,” or “u” to represent the /k/ sound (e.g., cat, cot, cut).

16. Use “q” followed by “u” to represent the /kw/ sound (e.g., queen, quest).

17. Use “x” to represent the /ks/ sound (e.g., box, taxi).

18. Use “sh” to represent the /ʃ/ sound (e.g., fish, wish).

19. Use “tch” after a short vowel sound to represent the /tʃ/ sound (e.g., catch, match).

20. Use “ch” after a long vowel sound or a consonant to represent the /tʃ/ sound (e.g., reach, lunch).

21. Use “dge” after a short vowel sound to represent the /dʒ/ sound (e.g., bridge, badge).

22. Use “ge” after a long vowel sound or a consonant to represent the /dʒ/ sound (e.g., age, change).

23. Use “th” to represent the /θ/ sound (unvoiced, as in “thin”) or the /ð/ sound (voiced, as in “this”).

24. Use “wh” to represent the /hw/ or /w/ sound at the beginning of words (e.g., what, when, where).

25. Use “tion” to create nouns that represent an action or process (e.g., creation, education).

26. Use “sion” to create nouns that represent an action or process (e.g., tension, version) when the verb ends with “d” or “se” (e.g., divide, revise).

27. Use “ence” or “ance” to create nouns representing a state, quality, or action (e.g., dependence, importance). “ence” is used when the root word ends in “ent” or “ant,” and “ance” is used when the root word ends in “ate” or “y.”

28. Use “er” to create comparative adjectives (e.g., taller, smaller), and “est” to create superlative adjectives (e.g., tallest, smallest).

29. Use “able” when the root word ends in “e” (e.g., agreeable, breathable) and “ible” when the root word does not end in “e” (e.g., visible, audible).

30. Use “ful” as a suffix to indicate “full of” or “having the quality of” (e.g., beautiful, helpful).

31. Use “ly” to turn adjectives into adverbs (e.g., quick, quickly).

32. Use “ment” to create nouns that represent an action or result (e.g., development, achievement).

33. Use “al” to create adjectives from nouns (e.g., national, personal).

34. Use “ing” to form the continuous tense of verbs (e.g., swimming, walking).

35. Use “ed” to form the past tense and past participle of regular verbs (e.g., danced, started).

36. Use “c” before “k” to create the /k/ sound when the following syllable has a long vowel sound or a diphthong (e.g., acknowledge, wicket).

37. Use “our” in British English and “or” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., colour vs. color, honour vs. honor).

38. Use “re” in British English and “er” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., metre vs. meter, centre vs. center).

39. Use “ou” in British English and “o” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., mould vs. mold, plough vs. plow).

40. Use “ll” in British English and “l” in American English after a single vowel in a stressed syllable (e.g., travelled vs. traveled, signalling vs. signaling).

41. Use “ence” in British English and “ense” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., defence vs. defense, licence vs. license).

42. Use “ise” in British English and “ize” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., organise vs. organize, realise vs. realize).

43. Use “yse” in British English and “yze” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., analyse vs. analyze, paralyse vs. paralyze).

44. Use “ogue” in British English and “og” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., dialogue vs. dialog, catalogue vs. catalog).

45. Use “ae” and “oe” in British English and “e” in American English to represent the same sound (e.g., encyclopaedia vs. encyclopedia, foetus vs. fetus).

46. Use “x” to represent the /gz/ sound in some words (e.g., exact, exhaust).

47. Use “ough” to represent various sounds in different words (e.g., through, tough, thought, though, thorough).

48. Use “ei” after “c” to represent the /i:/ sound (e.g., ceiling, deceive).

49. Use “ie” after “c” to represent the /e/ sound (e.g., fancier, glacier).

50. Use “ss” between two vowels to represent the /s/ sound (e.g., possess, expression).

Make sure that you follow all of these rules when you practice writing essays on any of the 90 essay questions that are included in the LawMint LNAT Practice Tests.

If you are not enrolled in our Practice Tests, you can find all the 90 essay questions listed in this article : LNAT Essay Sample Questions for 2024 and 2025.

Practice typing the essays into a simple text editor like Notepad; and then check the essays in Microsoft Word to assess your writing.