Some words just beg to be spelled wrong or otherwise abused. Here are some of them:
Common misspellings
(The bold words are spelled correctly.)
accommodate
Don’t you just want to take out that extra “c”?
a lot
A lot of the time, you see this written as “alot,” which it’s not.
cemetery
I’ve misspelled this with an “a” replacing the third “e” more times than I want to admit.
easement
I tend to want to ease out that second “e” and make it “easment” but that would be incorrect.
fiery
What a strange spelling to indicate something that’s on fire. This word seems more suited to a mythical forest creature than to indicate the hot nature of one of the planet’s basic elements.
foreclosure
Here’s another example of a word with an “e” (after “for”) that gets left off a lot of the time.
gauge
I always have to look twice at this word to make sure I’m not confusing it with gouge.
judgment
Unlike “easement” and “foreclosure,” the proper American form of this word doesn’t contain an “e.” If the writer is British, however, chances are you will find the “e” in place, making “judgement” an acceptable spelling.
liaison
You can blame this one on the people who lived in France about 400 years ago. We’ve had to live with that extra “i” ever since.
misspell
This one has always bothered me. It’s not that the spelling doesn’t make sense, it does. It’s just that it looks funny to me. Other people must agree because it is often misspelled.
occurrence
Not only does it have two pesky double consonants, but every time I spell it, I want to replace that last “e” with an “a.”
perseverance
So many people pronounce this purs-er-veer-ance, it’s easy to think it has a third “r.”
supersede
If precede is spelled with a “c” and means “to go before,” then why would supersede, which means “to take the place of,” be spelled with an “s”? I have no idea. They both indicate movement and would seem to be related.
words with “or” instead of “er”: lessor, grantor, mortgagor
There are many words that seem like they should end in “er” but instead terminate in “or.” In some cases, such as in “lessor,”swapping the “or” for an “er” (“lesser”) changes the meaning entirely.
You might also be interested in these related posts:
- Grammar Myth #1
- Grammar Myth #2
- Keywords 101
- Using Quotations
- Writing Tools for Bloggers
- Posting Checklist
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* The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)
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There are a lot of grammar myths floating around, perpetuated by well-meaning people who are, unfortunately, a little behind the times. But don’t blame them (or yourself, if you’re one of them); the English language is a work in progress. Rules that were actually taught in school years ago have been debunked, and others have taken their place. One rule that has no basis in fact but has been widely taught anyway is the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition. I used to buy into this one myself.
