SPELLINGS:
There is hardly any exam in recent times that spellings have not been an integral part of its questionnaire as such this makes spellings an easy but slippery aspect of the Use of English. So it is best that as a candidate of any exam you know as many words as possible and their correct spellings. That notwithstanding, certain words have two different spellings which are (1) The American Spelling [AmE] and (2) The British Spelling [BrE]. It is also worthy of note at this juncture that the English language recognized in this part of the world is the British or Queen’s English. So your spellings should strictly be in line with it.
Words in English are not always spelled as they are pronounced. Spelling in English follows some basic rules and the majority of English words [around 75%] follow these rules. You can learn the rules but there are always exceptions to the rules that need to be learned too.
The basic spelling rules of English relate to: prefixes and suffixes; spelling and plurals [this has been treated extensively in Chapter 2 – Nouns]; doubling letters; dropping and adding letters; verb forms. This section focuses on British English but also covers some basic differences in spelling between British and American English.
§ SPELLING: Prefixes
When there is a prefix, we do not normally add or take away more letters:
dis + obey → disobey mis + spell → misspell
| dis + satisfied → dissatisfied | over + hear → overhear |
| in + humane → inhumane | super + human → superhuman |
| inter + national → international | un + sure → unsure |
| mis + rule → misrule | under + pass → underpass |
When spelling, we commonly change the prefix in- to il-, im- or ir- when the first letter of a word is L, M, P, or R:
in-becomes il- before L in-becomes im- before M or P in-becomes ir- before R
| illegible | immoral | irrelevant |
| illiterate | immature | irresponsible |
| illogical | impossible | irreplaceable |
§ SPELLING: Doubling Consonants
We often double the final consonant of a word (b, d, g, l, m, n, p, r, t) when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added (-ed, -er, -est, -ing).
hop + -ed hopped
| red + -ish | reddish |
| rub + -ed | rubbed |
| sit + -ing | sitting |
| slim + -ing | slimming |
| thin + -er | thinner |
| travel + -er | traveller |
| wet + -er | wetter |
When we add a suffix to a word with more than one syllable, we double the consonant only when the word ends in a stressed syllable (the stressed syllable of the base form is in bold).
admit+ -ing admitting
| forget + -ing | forgetting |
| occur + -ence | occurrence |
| prefer + -ed | preferred |
| transmit + -ed | transmitted |
| upset + -ing | upsetting |
SPELLINGS
| Correct Spelling | Wrong Spelling |
| 1. Somersault | Summersault |
| 2. Veterinary | Vertinary |
| 3. Hippopotamus | Hipoppotamus |
| 4. Commission | comission |
| 5. Almighty | All mighty |
| 6. Dysentery | Dysentry |
| 7. Harass | Harrass |
| 8. Omission | Ommission |
| 9. Pornography | Ponography |
| 10. Cigarette | Cigrette |
| 11. Rheumatism | Romantism |
| 12. Preferential | Prefrential |
| 13. Umbrella | Umbrela |
| 14. Excursion | Excortion |
| 15. Ecstasy | Ecstacy |
| 16. Pyjamas/pajamas | Pijamas |
| 17. Tetanus | Tatanus |
| 18. Souvenir | Suvenir |
| 19. Alcohol | Alchohol |
| 20. Vernacular | Vanacular |
| 21. Thoroughly | Thoroghly |
| 22. Earrings | Earings |
| 23. Library | Libary |
| 24. Umbilical | Umblical |
| 25. Dodge | Durge |
| 26. Tyrannical | Tyranical |
| 27. Metre | Meter |
| 28. Denouement | Denowment |
| 29. Synecdoche | Synedoche |
| 30. Comparison | Comparism |
| 31. Omnibus | Ominibus |
| 32. Blouse | Blause |
| 33. Hierarchy | Highrachy |
| 34. Interpret | Interprete |
| 35. Miscellaneous | Miscellanous |
| 36. Sacrilege | Sacriledge |
| 37. Referee | Refree |
| 38. February | Febuary |
| 39. Pomposity | Pompousity |
| 40. Eczema | Ezima |
| 41. Fulfil | Fulfill |
| 42. Continuous | Continous |
| 43. Mischievous | Mischievious |
| 44. Recurrence | Reoccurrence |
| 45. Axe | Ax |
| 46. Chauffeur | Chaufeur |
| 47. Encyclopaedia | Encyclopedia |
| 48. Plough | Plow |
| 49. Programme | Program |
| 50. Guitar | Jitar |
Post a Comment