C's and S's etc

I've always been quite good at spelling, but I am not sure how. I think it is just from reading a lot when small and familiarity, rather than from rules. As you noted, rules seem inconsistent and arbitrary.

Double letters are another confusion. When to have two n, m, s, etc. Plus you have words like borough or cough which make little spelling sense. 

Knowing that English is a mixture of Anglo Saxon (Germanic), Norse (from the Vikings), French (from the Normans), Latin and Greek (from the church and scholars), plus some Celtic names and other adopted words from all over, does not make spelling easier, but explains the mixed rules.

Apparently, a thing called 'the great vowel shift' in the 14-16th centuries is a reason words aren't spelt how they sound, when spelling was standardized. Making some letters silent happened at the same time.

Words like 'precise' exercise' 'neice' 'nice, when to use an S or a C and as for nessercary I can never remember how to spell it, so I rarely use it when writing.

When to use two letter in the middle of a word is another muddle.

Then you've got Q's and K's, how do you decide which of those to use, let alone which witch?

I wasn't taught phonetics, I don't think, I know I wasn't taught grammar, the thinking at the time was that we'd pick it up just from reading.

I'm dyslexic too

Now I get the C/S thing. Tricky. 

Now I get the C/S thing. Tricky.