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Common misspellings

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Lyn Bradley
Lyn Bradley

This document provides guidance on common spelling mistakes and proofreading. It includes: 1) A table listing common misspellings, the correct spelling, and advice for remembering them. 2) Information on the importance of proofreading and the limitations of spellcheckers. It notes four categories of spelling errors. 3) Suggestions for aids to memory such as creating flashcards and using mnemonics. 4) A list of commonly confused homophones with examples to illustrate the difference between words like advice/advise and principal/principle.

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Business, IT and Engineering Division Learning to Learn Spelling 1
Contents Page Common Misspellings 3 Proofreading 5 Types of errors 5 Aids to memory 5 Confused words 5 Plurals 7 2
Common misspellings Here¡¯s a quick-reference guide to the top misspellings according to the Oxford English Corpus ¨C an electronic collection of over 2 billion words of real English that helps us to see how people are using the language and also shows us the mistakes that are most often made.The table gives the correct spelling of the word, handy tips on getting it right, and also the most common misspellings that we¡¯ve found in our research, so you can check to see if any of the same mistakes have been tripping you up. Correct Spelling Spelling Advice Incorrect Spelling accommodate, two cs, two ms accomodate, accomodation accommodation achieve i before e acheive apparently -ent not -ant apparantly appearance ends with -ance appearence basically ends with -ally basicly beginning double n before the -ing begining believe i before e beleive, belive business begins with busi- buisness calendar -ar not -er calender colleague -ea- in the middle collegue coming one m comming committee double m, double t, double e commitee completely ends with -ely completly definitely -ite- not ¨Cate- definately dilemma -mm- not -mn- dilemna disappear one s, two ps dissapear disappoint one s, two ps dissapoint embarrass two rs, two s¡¯s embarass environment n before the m enviroment existence ends with -ence existance familiar ends with -iar familar finally two ls finaly foreign e before i foriegn foreseeable begins with fore- forseeable forty begins with for- fourty forward begins with for- foward friend i before e freind further begins with fur- futher glamorous -mor- in the middle glamourous government n before the m goverment guard begins with gua- gaurd Correct Spelling Spelling Advice Incorrect Spelling 3
happened ends with -ened happend harass, harassment one r, two s¡¯s harrass, harrassment honorary -nor- in the middle honourary humorous -mor- in the middle humourous immediately ends with -ely immediatly incidentally ends with -ally incidently independent ends with -ent independant interrupt two rs interupt irresistible ends with -ible irresistable knowledge remember the d knowlege liaise, liaison remember the second i: liais liase, liason necessary one c, two s¡¯s neccessary noticeable remember the middle e noticable occasion two cs, one s ocassion, occassion occurred, occurring two cs, two rs occured, occuring occurrence two cs, two rs, -ence not occurance, occurence ance piece i before e peice possession two s¡¯s in the middle and two posession at the end preferred, preferring two rs prefered, prefering remember -mem- in the middle rember, remeber separate -par- in the middle seperate tomorrow one m, two rs tommorow, tommorrow unfortunately ends with -ely unfortunatly until one l at the end untill weird e before i wierd wherever one e in the middle whereever which begins with wh- wich 4
Proofreading Many spelling errors remain in a document because it has not been properly proofread ¨C or not at all. It is essential that you do this before handing in any assignment but do NOT rely on your computer¡¯s (grammar and) spellchecker to do this for you. It is unreliable and often wrong. It will miss some errors and occasionally suggest something is wrong when it is not. One of the simple principles it relies on is ¡°that word is in my dictionary, so it¡¯s OK¡±, which clearly does not always work. A typing error may not be picked up by spellcheckers since the word does exist, such as ¡°form¡± for ¡°from¡±; ¡°fiend¡± or ¡°fried¡± for ¡°friend¡±; ¡°three¡± for ¡°there¡± or ¡°apologies¡± for ¡°apologise¡±. You must also ensure that any document written in Word is set to English (UK), not (US). You can make it your default setting. Do make use of a good dictionary to check your spelling; that is one reason we have them. Types of error Spelling errors could be placed into one of four categories: ? omissions (e.g. buton) ? additions (e.g. hopefull) ? substitutions (e.g. attendence) ? inversions (e.g. tabel) This might be useful to know when typing or checking spellings. Aids to memory Many people have spelling ¡®blind spots¡¯ ¨C they find that there are certain words which they always need to check or always hesitate over (is that ¡®-ite¡¯ or ¡®-ate¡¯? ¡®ei¡¯ or ¡®ie¡¯?). Try writing each one of these on its own Post-it note and stick them in places where you will see them during the day. Highlight the correct letter(s). Or simply compile a list of these words as you go. If you search the internet you will find lots of little clever ways (mnemonics) of remembering difficult spellings e.g. separate = never separate a para from his chute. You may also like to compile a list of your own common misspellings to aid checking, especially to bear in mind in exams when you are writing by hand. Commonly confused words (known as Homophones) A homophone is a word that sounds like another word but it is spelled differently and, importantly, also has a different meaning. Knowing which one to use often needs a knowledge of grammar or parts of speech (e.g. if it is a noun, adjective or verb), plus use of a dictionary. The following is a short list of such words: 5
advice, advise aloud, allowed accept, except affect, effect compliment, complement dependent, dependant discrete, discreet enquire, inquire ensure, insure, assure here, hear its, it¡¯s licence, license past, passed principal, principle practice, practise straight, strait stationary, stationery there, their, they¡¯re to, too, two where, were, we¡¯re whether, weather whose, who¡¯s your, you¡¯re These are a few of the pairs that are often used wrongly. Compliment or complement? A compliment, or a complimentary remark, is something you pay someone when you want to be nice: ¡°What a nice dress!¡± ¡°That¡¯s very clever¡±. ¡°You played very well¡± etc. Sometimes complimentary means ¡®free¡¯: e.g. complimentary tickets. A complement, or a complementary thing, is something that completes something: e.g. a ship¡¯s complement is her crew; her assignment has a complementary guide to experimental techniques; yin is complementary to yang. Principle or principal? A principle is an underlying idea, or a moral belief, etc. A principal is either a Head (e.g. a sort of Head-teacher); or an adjective describing the most important thing, ¡°The principal point in this lecture is¡­¡± Practice or practise? A practice is a noun ¨C something that you do, ¡°there is a football practice tonight¡±; ¡°I did 5 hours¡¯ piano practice yesterday¡±; ¡°my usual practice is to warm up for five minutes first¡±; ¡°she is in General Practice¡±. (If you can say ¡°a practice¡± in your sentence, then it is practice.) To practise is a verb ¨C to do something, e.g. ¡°I practised my vocabulary last night¡±; ¡°he practised his speech in front of a mirror.¡± 6
Affect or effect? To affect is a verb ¨C to do something, e.g. ¡°she was affected deeply by the death of her husband¡±; ¡°to raise taxes affects everyone¡±. An effect is a noun ¨C a thing, or result. Cause and effect are opposites. ¡°The effects of the war were¡­¡±. Sometimes effects means possessions: ¡°Carry your personal effects with you¡±. Lie or lay ¨C or laid? To lie is an intransitive verb ¨C i.e. it has no object. You lie down. To lay is a transitive verb ¨C i.e. it has an object. You lay something down. Plurals ¨C a Checklist Although nearly all nouns (=names of things) form their plurals by adding an ¡®s¡¯, the spelling of some plural words can cause difficulty. There is often no rule to help you predict or work out the correct form of plural. You have to learn particular words and their plurals one by one. Below is a list of most of the irregular or other forms. Note that this is not an exhaustive list but illustrates the plurals of those words which often occur in academic writing. Singular form Plural form English words ¨C regular plurals Most nouns in English form their plurals by adding an ¡®s¡¯ table tables Words ending in ¡®-y¡¯ change to ¡®-ies¡¯ party parties melody melodies quantity quantities English words ¨C irregular plurals child children man men woman women fish fish sheep sheep species species series series die dice goose geese 7
Some Latin plurals commonly used in academic English criterion criteria phenomenon phenomena curriculum curricula medium media stadium stadia bacterium bacteria referendum referenda stimulus stimuli syllabus syllabi fungus fungi analysis analyses axis axes appendix appendices hypothesis hypotheses thesis theses crisis crises emphasis emphases 8

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Common misspellings

  • 1. Business, IT and Engineering Division Learning to Learn Spelling 1
  • 2. Contents Page Common Misspellings 3 Proofreading 5 Types of errors 5 Aids to memory 5 Confused words 5 Plurals 7 2
  • 3. Common misspellings Here¡¯s a quick-reference guide to the top misspellings according to the Oxford English Corpus ¨C an electronic collection of over 2 billion words of real English that helps us to see how people are using the language and also shows us the mistakes that are most often made.The table gives the correct spelling of the word, handy tips on getting it right, and also the most common misspellings that we¡¯ve found in our research, so you can check to see if any of the same mistakes have been tripping you up. Correct Spelling Spelling Advice Incorrect Spelling accommodate, two cs, two ms accomodate, accomodation accommodation achieve i before e acheive apparently -ent not -ant apparantly appearance ends with -ance appearence basically ends with -ally basicly beginning double n before the -ing begining believe i before e beleive, belive business begins with busi- buisness calendar -ar not -er calender colleague -ea- in the middle collegue coming one m comming committee double m, double t, double e commitee completely ends with -ely completly definitely -ite- not ¨Cate- definately dilemma -mm- not -mn- dilemna disappear one s, two ps dissapear disappoint one s, two ps dissapoint embarrass two rs, two s¡¯s embarass environment n before the m enviroment existence ends with -ence existance familiar ends with -iar familar finally two ls finaly foreign e before i foriegn foreseeable begins with fore- forseeable forty begins with for- fourty forward begins with for- foward friend i before e freind further begins with fur- futher glamorous -mor- in the middle glamourous government n before the m goverment guard begins with gua- gaurd Correct Spelling Spelling Advice Incorrect Spelling 3
  • 4. happened ends with -ened happend harass, harassment one r, two s¡¯s harrass, harrassment honorary -nor- in the middle honourary humorous -mor- in the middle humourous immediately ends with -ely immediatly incidentally ends with -ally incidently independent ends with -ent independant interrupt two rs interupt irresistible ends with -ible irresistable knowledge remember the d knowlege liaise, liaison remember the second i: liais liase, liason necessary one c, two s¡¯s neccessary noticeable remember the middle e noticable occasion two cs, one s ocassion, occassion occurred, occurring two cs, two rs occured, occuring occurrence two cs, two rs, -ence not occurance, occurence ance piece i before e peice possession two s¡¯s in the middle and two posession at the end preferred, preferring two rs prefered, prefering remember -mem- in the middle rember, remeber separate -par- in the middle seperate tomorrow one m, two rs tommorow, tommorrow unfortunately ends with -ely unfortunatly until one l at the end untill weird e before i wierd wherever one e in the middle whereever which begins with wh- wich 4
  • 5. Proofreading Many spelling errors remain in a document because it has not been properly proofread ¨C or not at all. It is essential that you do this before handing in any assignment but do NOT rely on your computer¡¯s (grammar and) spellchecker to do this for you. It is unreliable and often wrong. It will miss some errors and occasionally suggest something is wrong when it is not. One of the simple principles it relies on is ¡°that word is in my dictionary, so it¡¯s OK¡±, which clearly does not always work. A typing error may not be picked up by spellcheckers since the word does exist, such as ¡°form¡± for ¡°from¡±; ¡°fiend¡± or ¡°fried¡± for ¡°friend¡±; ¡°three¡± for ¡°there¡± or ¡°apologies¡± for ¡°apologise¡±. You must also ensure that any document written in Word is set to English (UK), not (US). You can make it your default setting. Do make use of a good dictionary to check your spelling; that is one reason we have them. Types of error Spelling errors could be placed into one of four categories: ? omissions (e.g. buton) ? additions (e.g. hopefull) ? substitutions (e.g. attendence) ? inversions (e.g. tabel) This might be useful to know when typing or checking spellings. Aids to memory Many people have spelling ¡®blind spots¡¯ ¨C they find that there are certain words which they always need to check or always hesitate over (is that ¡®-ite¡¯ or ¡®-ate¡¯? ¡®ei¡¯ or ¡®ie¡¯?). Try writing each one of these on its own Post-it note and stick them in places where you will see them during the day. Highlight the correct letter(s). Or simply compile a list of these words as you go. If you search the internet you will find lots of little clever ways (mnemonics) of remembering difficult spellings e.g. separate = never separate a para from his chute. You may also like to compile a list of your own common misspellings to aid checking, especially to bear in mind in exams when you are writing by hand. Commonly confused words (known as Homophones) A homophone is a word that sounds like another word but it is spelled differently and, importantly, also has a different meaning. Knowing which one to use often needs a knowledge of grammar or parts of speech (e.g. if it is a noun, adjective or verb), plus use of a dictionary. The following is a short list of such words: 5
  • 6. advice, advise aloud, allowed accept, except affect, effect compliment, complement dependent, dependant discrete, discreet enquire, inquire ensure, insure, assure here, hear its, it¡¯s licence, license past, passed principal, principle practice, practise straight, strait stationary, stationery there, their, they¡¯re to, too, two where, were, we¡¯re whether, weather whose, who¡¯s your, you¡¯re These are a few of the pairs that are often used wrongly. Compliment or complement? A compliment, or a complimentary remark, is something you pay someone when you want to be nice: ¡°What a nice dress!¡± ¡°That¡¯s very clever¡±. ¡°You played very well¡± etc. Sometimes complimentary means ¡®free¡¯: e.g. complimentary tickets. A complement, or a complementary thing, is something that completes something: e.g. a ship¡¯s complement is her crew; her assignment has a complementary guide to experimental techniques; yin is complementary to yang. Principle or principal? A principle is an underlying idea, or a moral belief, etc. A principal is either a Head (e.g. a sort of Head-teacher); or an adjective describing the most important thing, ¡°The principal point in this lecture is¡­¡± Practice or practise? A practice is a noun ¨C something that you do, ¡°there is a football practice tonight¡±; ¡°I did 5 hours¡¯ piano practice yesterday¡±; ¡°my usual practice is to warm up for five minutes first¡±; ¡°she is in General Practice¡±. (If you can say ¡°a practice¡± in your sentence, then it is practice.) To practise is a verb ¨C to do something, e.g. ¡°I practised my vocabulary last night¡±; ¡°he practised his speech in front of a mirror.¡± 6
  • 7. Affect or effect? To affect is a verb ¨C to do something, e.g. ¡°she was affected deeply by the death of her husband¡±; ¡°to raise taxes affects everyone¡±. An effect is a noun ¨C a thing, or result. Cause and effect are opposites. ¡°The effects of the war were¡­¡±. Sometimes effects means possessions: ¡°Carry your personal effects with you¡±. Lie or lay ¨C or laid? To lie is an intransitive verb ¨C i.e. it has no object. You lie down. To lay is a transitive verb ¨C i.e. it has an object. You lay something down. Plurals ¨C a Checklist Although nearly all nouns (=names of things) form their plurals by adding an ¡®s¡¯, the spelling of some plural words can cause difficulty. There is often no rule to help you predict or work out the correct form of plural. You have to learn particular words and their plurals one by one. Below is a list of most of the irregular or other forms. Note that this is not an exhaustive list but illustrates the plurals of those words which often occur in academic writing. Singular form Plural form English words ¨C regular plurals Most nouns in English form their plurals by adding an ¡®s¡¯ table tables Words ending in ¡®-y¡¯ change to ¡®-ies¡¯ party parties melody melodies quantity quantities English words ¨C irregular plurals child children man men woman women fish fish sheep sheep species species series series die dice goose geese 7
  • 8. Some Latin plurals commonly used in academic English criterion criteria phenomenon phenomena curriculum curricula medium media stadium stadia bacterium bacteria referendum referenda stimulus stimuli syllabus syllabi fungus fungi analysis analyses axis axes appendix appendices hypothesis hypotheses thesis theses crisis crises emphasis emphases 8