Say these words out loud: action, accommodation, decision, admission, permission, occasion, electrician, politician, station, television.
Did you notice that the endings -tion, -sion, -cian all have a 'shun' sound?
The endings sound much the same but are spelt different so it's difficult to remember which to use. Good spellers know what looks right so you just have to learn the most popular words.
Watch the video below or read on.
-tion ending is the most common and are all nouns.
Also pension, persuasion, occasion, suspension, decision...
-ssion endings.
When words end in -ss just add –ion.
discuss - discussion, confess - confession, obsess - obsession, possession, expression, recession, profession, procession.
Also mission, passion, session
There are a few nouns with -cian endings and they usually mean occupations or jobs: optician, politician, musician, beautician, dietician, electrician, technician, statistician, physician, magician...
-tian
There are only a few -tian endings and they usually mean place of origin or a belief: Martian, Dalmatian, Christian, Faustian.
Let's do a spelling test.
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