English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Most Common Spelling Errors
Chapter 6 The 25 Most Common Usage Problems
Part 2 Usage and Abusage
Writers often misspell words because they mispronounce them. The three most common mistakes are
• Dropping a letter or syllable when we say a word.
• Adding an unnecessary letter when we say a word.
• Mispronouncing a word and so misspelling it.
14. Missing letters
Here are 10 words that are frequently misspelled because the speaker drops a letter or syllable.
• Accidentally: The word has five syllables; drop one and accidentally becomes accidently.
• Accompaniment: The second a and the only i are the problems with accompaniment. To remember the i, you might want to use this mnemonic: there’s a lot of animal in accompaniment.
• Acreage: The e presents the spelling problem because it is rarely stressed in speech. That’s how people end up with acrage. It’s also common for writers to misplace the e, as in acerage.
• Anecdote: Letters get dropped when writers mispronounce anecdote as anedote. Then there’s antidote—a legitimate word, but the wrong one in context.
• Asked: This word gets mangled as ast or even axed. This results in such curious spellings as askd, askt, and axst.
• Asterisk: This word can end up spelled aterisk, askterisk, or even acksterisk.
• Broccoli: It’s not hard to drop a c and add an l with this veggie. The correct pronunciation isn’t going to do you much good here, so try breaking the word into two parts: broc and coli.
• Calisthenics: Stress the first i and the e to avoid dropping these letters when you spell calisthenics. Otherwise, you could end up with calesthenics or calesthinics.
• Category: Make sure to say that e as an e rather than an a to avoid the misspelling catagory.
• Cemetery: Cemetary is the result when the third e is pronounced as an a.
15. Extra letters
Because of errors in pronunciation, spellers often insert an unnecessary vowel between two letters. Here are some of the most commonly misspelled words:
• Athlete: Often mispronounced as athalete, resulting in that unnecessary a.
• Disastrous: The word ends up with disaster stuck in there: disasterous. What extra letter do you see?
• Grievous: Another common speech slip results in grieveous or grievious. No extra e or i, please.
• Hindrance: This word falls prey to the same problem as disastrous: add hinder to hindrance and you get hinderance. Too many syllables!
• Lightning: The bolt of electricity on a stormy night is often mispronounced and thus misspelled as lightening. Now, lightening is a legitimate word; it means that something is getting less dark. Say each letter to help you spell the word you want.
• Mischievous: A surprising number of people mispronounce the word as mischievious, adding an extra i.
• Perseverance: People often add an extra r, resulting in perserverance. Saying the word correctly will prevent this error.
Quick Tip
Long-time speakers and readers of English have learned basic connections between sounds and letter combinations that help them spell a large number of words. However, for historical reasons, certain combinations of letters are not always pronounced in the same way. For example, ough can be pronounced differently as in thought, bough, through, drought.
16. Transposed letters
Mispronunciation can also result in scrambled letters. Here are some words especially prone to switched letters.
aesthetic
auxiliary
gauge
mileage
allegiance
bureaucrat
gorgeous
psychology
analysis
diaphragm
irrelevant
resuscitate
analyze
entrepreneur
khaki
rhyme
anonymous
gasoline
lingerie
rhythm
17. Incorrect plurals
Remember that plural nouns name more than one person, place, or thing. There are regular plurals and irregular ones. The regular plurals rarely result in spelling errors, but irregular plurals often cause trouble. Keep regular and irregular plurals straight and you’ll eliminate a bunch of spelling errors. Below are some spelling rules to help you form the correct plurals.
• Most regular plurals are formed by adding s to the end of the word.
• Add es if the noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x.
• If the noun ends in y preceded by a consonant, change the y to i and add es.
• If the noun ends in y preceded by a vowel, add s.
Exception: Words that end in -quy, as in soliloquy, which becomes soliloquies.
• Words that end in -ly keep the y when they become plural.
• If the noun ends in o preceded by a vowel, add s.
Exceptions: dollies lilies
• If the noun ends in o preceded by a consonant, the noun can take es, s, or either s or es.
• Add s to most nouns ending in f. However, the f endings are so irregular as to be nearly random. If you have any doubts at all, consult a dictionary.
Exception: In some cases, change the f or fe to v and add es:
Exception: This rule doesn’t hold for names. In that case, just add an s: Mr. and Ms. Wolf becomes The Wolfs.
• Words that end in -ey, -ay, or -oy do not have -ies plurals.
• In compound words, make the main word plural.
Exceptions: If there is no noun in the compound word, add an s to the end of the word, as in mix-ups, takeoffs. If the compound word ends in -ful, add an s to the end of the word, as in cupfuls.
• Some nouns change their spelling when they become plural.
• Some nouns have the same form whether they are singular or plural.
swine series deer sheep
moose species Portuguese
• The only plurals formed with apostrophes are the plurals of numbers, letters, and words highlighted as words.
How many 3’s make 9? There were too many but’s in the speech.
• Some words from other languages form plurals in other ways, often determined by the grammar of their language of origin.
18. Errors in confusing word pairs (such as weather/whether)
Some words in English have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings, such as bay/bay and beam/beam. We also have words with the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings, such as coarse/course or bridal/bridle. Distinguishing between these confusing words is crucial because it helps you write exactly what you mean.
Below are some of the most often misspelled words. They’re mangled because they’re so close in sound and/or spelling. After you study the list, however, you’ll be able to tell them apart and use them correctly.
• air: atmosphere
There’s no air in a vacuum—hence his empty head.
err: make a mistake
To err is human; to purr, feline.
• a lot: many
A lot of people are absent from work today.
allot: divide
Allot the prizes equally among all guests, please.
• all together: all at one time
The students spoke all together.
altogether: completely
The job is altogether complete.
• allowed: given permission
You are allowed to vote for the candidate of your choice.
aloud: out loud, verbally
Don’t say it aloud. Don’t even think it quietly.
• already: previously
We had already packed.
all ready: prepared
The cole slaw is all ready to serve.
• altar: shrine
The priest placed the prayer book on the altar.
alter: change
She had to alter her dress.
• are: curved line
The walls have an arc rather than a straight line.
ark: boat
Noah loaded the ark with animals.
• are: plural verb
Mae West said, “Brains are an asset, if you hide them.”
our: belonging to us
There’s someone in the corner of our living room.
• ascent: to move up
She made a quick ascent up the corporate ladder!
assent: to agree
I assent to your plan.
• bare: undressed
You can find a lot of bare people in nudist camps.
bare: unadorned, plain
Just take the bare essentials when you go camping.
bear: animal
Look at the bear!
bear: carry, hold
I bear no grudges.
• base: the bottom part of an object, the plate in baseball, morally low
The vase has a wide, sturdy base.
The catcher’s wild throw missed the base. The criminal is base and corrupt.
bass: the lowest male voice, a type of fish, a musical instrument
He sings bass. We caught a striped bass. She plays the bass in the orchestra.
• beau: sweetheart
My beau bought me flowers.
bow: to bend from the waist, a device used to propel arrows, loops of ribbon, the for ward end of a ship The dancer liked to bow to his partner. We shoot deer with a bow and arrow. The baby wore a pretty hair bow. The passengers sat in the ship’s bow.
• board: a slab of wood
The karate master cut the board with his bare hand.
board: a group of directors
The school board meets the first Tuesday of every month.
bored: not interested
The movie bored us so we left early.
• born: native
Born free . . . taxed to death.
borne: endured
Fortunato had borne his insults the best he could.
• bore: tiresome person
What a bore he is!
boar: male pig
They found a boar in the woods.
• brake: a device for slowing a vehicle
Use the car brake!
break: to crack or destroy
Don’t break my back.
• breadth: measurement
The desk has a breadth of more than 6 feet
breath: inhale and exhale
She has bad breath.
• capital: the city or town that is the official seat of government, highly important, net worth of a business Albany is the capital of New York state. What a capital idea! The business has $12 million operating capital.
Capitol: the building in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Congress meets The Capitol is a beautiful building.
• conscience: moral sense
Your conscience helps you distinguish right from wrong. conscious: awake
Being conscious: that annoying time between naps.
• cheep: what a bird says “Cheep,” said the canary.
cheap: not expensive Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.
• deer: animal The deer sneered at the inept hunter.
dear: beloved “You are my dear,” the man said to his wife.
• draft: breeze What’s causing that draft on my neck?
draft: sketch Life: A first draft, with no rewrites.