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SPELLING
(including commonly misspelled words and a plurals checklist)
English spelling is notoriously illogical and there are historical reasons for this. It is not very useful to
offer „rules‟ for correct spelling simply because English is so inconsistent that there would be very few
of them and even they may not always apply. The one good one is perhaps the rule we were all
taught at school, „i‟ before „e‟ (friend, believe) except after „c‟ (receive). Thereafter, however, one
might just as well learn them by heart since any „rule‟ one devises will have at least some exceptions.
This can partly be achieved (note the position of the „i‟ and the „e‟) by being much more aware of how
words are spelt as you read; read for the medium as well as for the message.
Proofreading
Many spelling errors remain in a document because it has not been properly proofread – 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) for all work
you submit for any qualification in British Higher Education. 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.
Finally, the Study Advice Service has a leaflet on Proofreading on its website
www.hull.ac.uk/studyadvice and an online course on Proofreading in eBridge as a joinable site.
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)
(After Wing & Baddeley 1980 in Crystal 1987 : 213)
This might be useful to know when typing or checking spellings.
Tel:
Web:
Email:
01482 466199
www.hull.ac.uk/studyadvice
[email protected]
Commonly misspelt words
In addition to homophones (below), there is a small set of words which are commonly misspelt. It is
interesting to identify which category of error (above) each one falls into. The following sites give
good lists of these and the BBC one also has them in the form of a quiz.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/spellingcommonmisp (A quick reference guide to the top
misspellings according to the Oxford English Corpus, which is 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).
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quiznet/pdfs/80_misspelled_words.pdf (A
quiz on commonly misspelled words from BBC Learning English)
Aids to memory
Many people have spelling „blind spots‟ – 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:
to, too, two
there, their, they‟re
its, it‟s
your, you‟re
where, were, we‟re
principal, principle
past, passed
accept, except
ensure, insure, assure
here, hear
licence, license
compliment, complement
practice, practise
affect, effect
straight, strait
discrete, discreet
stationary, stationery
dependent, dependant
whose, who‟s
enquire, inquire
aloud, allowed
advice, advise
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 – 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 – to do something, e.g. “I practised my vocabulary last night”; “he practised his
speech in front of a mirror.”
Affect or effect?
To affect is a verb – 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 – 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 – or laid?
To lie is an intransitive verb – i.e. it has no object. You lie down.
To lay is a transitive verb – i.e. it has an object. You lay something down.
Confusingly, the past tense of to lie is lay: “She lay down for a moment at three o‟clock”. The past
tense of to lay is laid: “They laid down their weapons”.
The Study Advice Service website has a quiz on homophones which you would find useful and
enjoyable to do. Go to:
http://www2.hull.ac.uk/student/Files/Homophonesnap.swf
Plurals – 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.
English words – regular plurals
Singular form
Plural form
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 – irregular plurals
child
man
woman
fish
sheep
species
series
die
goose
children
men
women
fish
sheep
species
series
dice
geese
criterion
phenomenon
curriculum
medium
stadium
bacterium
referendum
stimulus
syllabus
fungus
analysis
axis
appendix
hypothesis
thesis
crisis
emphasis
criteria
phenomena
curricula
media
stadia
bacteria
referenda
stimuli
syllabi
fungi
analyses
axes
appendices
hypotheses
theses
crises
emphases
Some Latin plurals commonly used
in academic English
References & further reading
Arscott, D. (n.d.) Good English: the witty, in-a-nutshell language guide, Lewes, Sussex : Pomegranate
Press - A brilliant little book, very readable and highly recommended.
Crystal, D. (1987) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Cambridge : CUP - The authority on
English, for use as a reference on any aspect of our language only.
nd
Peck, J. & Coyle, M. (2005) The Student’s Guide to Writing, 2 edn. Basingstoke : Palgrave - A very
good guide on writing. Part 2 chapter 6 is on spelling.
All web addresses in this leaflet were correct at the time of publication
The information in this leaflet can be made available in an alternative format on
request. Telephone 01482 466199.
© 06/2011