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Unit 29: Spelling the endings -ous and -us

Page 7 of 9

Unit 29: Word ending: -ous, -us

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Page 7 of 9

Spelling the word endings ous and us

As you’ve seen, adding ous to a root word ending in y gives the ending ious:

fury + ous = furious glory + ous = glorious

Teaching point There are words where the same /ious/ sound is spelt eous:
hideous erroneous

When ous follows the letter u, then you can hear the u say its name clearly. We've included examples of all three in the table below.

Learn to spell English words ous and us Learn to spell English words ous and us Learn to spell English words ous and us
eous as in hideous ious as in hilarious uous as in strenuous
aqueous
courteous
erroneous
gaseous
instantaneous
miscellaneous
nauseous
simultaneous
spontaneous
amphibious
bilious
curious
copious
delirious
devious
dubious
furious
harmonious
impervious
ingenious
laborious
melodious
notorious
oblivious
obvious
precarious
previous
rebellious
serious
studious
supercilious
tedious
uproarious
various
victorious
ambiguous
arduous
conspicuous
contemptuous
continuous
deciduous
impetuous
incongruous
innocuous
sumptuous
superfluous
tempestuous
tenuous
tortuous
tumultuous
virtuous
Note (1)
These words are seldom used today; it is more common to use the suffix ful:
beauteous
bounteous
piteous
plenteous
Note (2)
In these words the e is there to soften g and does not form an extra syllable:
advantageous
courageous
gorgeous
outrageous
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Note:
Words ending in the /shƏs/ sound are spelled cious or tious. These words are in Unit 30.

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a final test on the endings us ous eous ious uous

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