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Unit 30: Spelling the endings -cial -tial -cious -tious

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Unit 30: Words with ci and ti e.g. ancient, special, initial, gracious

Unit Startpage 1Course Testpage 3page 4Course Testpage 6page 7Unit End

Page 7 of 7

Endings ceous and xious

Rule Breakers - these words break spelling rules

Mostly, /shƏs/ is spelled cious or tious but:

A few words use ceous:
cretaceous Cretaceous means chalk-like.
The Cretaceous era was when dinosaurs died out.
curvaceous The film star has a curvaceous figure.
herbaceous Type of plant:
We have a herbaceous border in our garden.
sebaceous To do with fat:
Sebaceous glands provide oil for skin and hair.
Also note:
righteous, which keeps the t from right.

A few words use xious:
anxious Mum's illness has made the family very anxious.
noxious The factory fire produced noxious smoke.
obnoxious His rowdy behaviour was obnoxious.
Learning tip to help your spelling To remember anxious, think of anxiety, where x is used to spell the sound /z/.

Learn the Words:
homophones - learn to spell similar sounding words Only one homophone from this section:

marshal -
1. senior officer
2. person who controls races or organises people.
3. (verb) to arrange in order


martial - to do with warfare
1. The Field Marshal led the parade.
2. The track marshal stopped the cars.

3. He marshalled his troops.
(US: marshaled)

Karate is a martial art.

This completes the work on the endings cial tial cious tious .

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