Children and adults don't always use simple spelling rules

What is it about?

"Everyone" knows that in English, plurals and some verbs are spelled with an -s on the end (three cats, she walks). However, this shows that when they're asked to choose the spelling of made-up words that should follow these same rules, many children and even many adults don't choose the right spelling. It seems that people might spell many words just from a memorised store, rather than being aware of helpful rules that would make it easier to spell new words.

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Why is it important?

When we're spelling words that we already know, it's easy to get them right by using their memorised spelling. But when we have to write a new word, it's useful if we have a reliable rule to help get it right. If children are taught more explicitly about simple grammatical rules (such as that plurals and third-person singular verbs need to be spelled with a final -s, even when they might sound like a "z" as in "legs"), it would help them spell new words correctly more often.