Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

Would you spell that for me?
Misspelled and misused words

Use this last section as a checklist for frequent review. I compiled and published a similar list of frequently misspelled and misused words years ago when our company began leading writing and grammar workshops, and I have been adding to it ever since.

Feel free to send your personal favorites to me at mailroom @booher.com, and I’ll get them into either our Communication Tip of the Month (sign up at www.booher.com) or my blog (Communicate With Confidence at www.Booher.com/BooherBanter).

Or, if you haven’t already done so before beginning this book, you may want to assess your mastery of some of these with our free online assessment (www.BooherRules.com).

Let’s tackle these last few traps.

93. Would you spell that for me?

FREQUENTLY MISSPELLED WORDS

Mark Twain once said of the U.S. copyright laws: “Whenever the copyright law is to be made or altered, then the idiots assemble.” The same could be said about English spelling.

Of course, we didn’t have a Czar of Spelling at any particular time in our history to dictate our spelling rules; instead, English has incorporated words from many other languages. That’s the reason for the current spelling mess and why we have, for example, several ways to spell the same sound: fun, fluff, phone, enough.

The most common spelling errors stem from these questions:

Does that word end in —ible or —able?

Is there a double n or just one? Just one t or two?

Should that be —ei or —ie?

Which —ceed is that—ceed? cede? sede?

Enough whining. The following list includes the most commonly misspelled words. As you review these, either memorize them or relate them to the rules following the list. Just don’t give up and jump out an 87th-floor window.

Misspelled words generally fall into these categories: (1) those caused by the ei versus ie dilemma, (2) double consonants, or (3) adding the suffix —ible or —able.

EI Rules:

Use —i before —e, except after —c, to make the long —e sound (achieve, relieve, believe). The five exceptions to this rule can be summed up in this sentence: “It’s weird that neither of us seized this rule and learned it either at school or at leisure.”

Use —e before —i after —c to make the long —e sound (receive, deceive, receipt).

Use —e before —i when the sound is not a long —e (eight, weight, neighbor).

Suffixes —able and —ible:

Adding these suffixes to verbs and nouns forms adjectives. The spelling problem involves knowing whether to add —ible or —able because they have generally the same meaning: “capable of being.”

justify + able = justifiable

quote + able = quotable

repair + able = repairable

do + able = doable

verify + able = verifiable

response + ible = responsible

permission + ible = permissible

As a general rule, you can determine the correct spelling by considering related words. Do they end in —ation? If so, use —able. If the related word ends in —ion or —ive, then use —ible.

Prefixes

Very few prefixes still require hyphenation: all-, self-, ex-, and occasionally anti-. That’s it.

Write all the remaining prefixes solid with the root words:

Note two exceptions to the above list:

1. Use a hyphen when the root word is a proper noun or adjective (un-American, pro-Democracy, mid-April, pre-Elizabethan).

2. Use a hyphen when its omission would cause misreading. (Recover versus recover: “He kept trying to re-cover the merchandise on the truck because of the forecasted hailstorm.” Or: “He kept trying to recover the stolen truck.” Re-count versus recount: “They insisted we re-count the votes.” Or: “He wanted to recount the whole story of the accident.” Re-sort versus resort: “They should re-sort these brochures.” Or: “I made our reservations at a five-star resort.”)

Suffixes

Suffixes are added to the end of a word. Sometimes the spelling of the word changes, and sometimes it doesn’t. There are too many categories and exceptions to make memorization of suffix “rules” helpful. But it is helpful to know that only one suffix always requires a hyphen: —elect.

foursome

restless

carefully

counterclockwise

squeamish

wholesomeness

sphere-like (but childlike doesn’t require a hyphen)

chairman-elect (always requires a hyphen)

Memory tip

For the —ceed/—cede/—sede sound: The only word that ends in —sede is supersede. Only three words end in —ceed. You can remember them all with this sentence: If you want to succeed in life, proceed to exceed. All other words with this sound are spelled with the —cede ending.

For the ei dilemma: Remember this little ditty: “You’ll get salt in your eyes (I’s) if they get too close to the seas (C’s).”