There is nothing predictable about this base spelling change: you just have to know it. By contrast, the noun made from maintain is not *main tainance but main tenance, and is easily misspelt as a result. Unexpected Vowels in Derived Words, a survey of words that are not spelt as one would expect when familiar with words of very similar meaning and spelling.Īn example of a word that is spelt as the spelling of a related word would suggest is the noun improvement it merely adds to the base spelling of the verb improve without altering it. One is the topic of the entire Guinlist post 41. There are various ways in which a spelling mistake can be caused by the spelling of another word.

Silent Consonants), spelling mistakes resulting from it seem quite rare – indeed pronunciation errors, such as pronouncing both “b”s in bombing, seem more likely.Ĭommon spelling mistakes involving silent consonants include *caracter, *enviroment and *wether, which respectively lack “h”, “n” and “h” again. Silent ConsonantsĪlthough this is a surprisingly widespread phenomenon in English (see 155. Logical Errors in Written English.Įach of the following seems to explain a variety of spelling mistakes. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly and 170. In this post I wish to present a variety of spelling error types and show how each one links together a group of commonly-misspelt words. I believe that acquiring an understanding of the deeper reasons behind language errors is one way of helping them to be remembered and consciously tackled. After becoming aware of a particular spelling that you always struggle with, you will probably benefit from noting it and making a conscious effort to memorise it (see 202. It is always useful to have your writing looked over by a friend, tutor or spellcheck in order to identify or confirm your weaknesses. Strategies for eliminating mistakes of this kind are well established.

The few mistakes that persist long enough to become deeply ingrained and hard to overcome usually do so as a result of more than just the inconsistency of the rules. Fortunately, most are temporary, disappearing as we become more aware of the rules and more familiar with the correct spellings through reading. The inconsistency of English spelling rules means that spelling mistakes by learners of the language are inevitable and even necessary. It can be useful to classify spelling mistakes according to their likely cause THE VALUE OF ANALYZING SPELLING MISTAKES

One two english spelling