Chapter XI: Spelling

Correct spelling marks the well-educated man or woman. This simple fact constitutes the reason why one must learn to spell.

English spelling offers difficulty partly because it is somewhat archaic—that is, because pronunciation has changed since spelling became fixed by printers about three hundred years ago; partly because the English alphabet is inadequate—it has only twenty-six characters, and there are forty-two sounds in spoken English.

But however irrational may be the spelling of many English words, every student must master spelling. Nor is this a difficult task if attacked with persistence and determination. The chief obstacles are carelessness and lack of courage. Of the 450,000 words in the largest dictionaries, probably not more than one thousand are commonly misspelled by any one person—even the worst speller alive. Completely mastering a few words each day for one year, therefore, will enable any one to become a good speller.

But no short cut method has ever been discovered which will give skill to the writer who finds spelling difficult. Every separate word which he habitually misspells must be thoroughly and permanently learned by a distinct effort of the memory, aided by regular practice. Practice, in fact, is the only means of acquiring fluent and permanent control over one’s pet failings. But the memorizing and the practice may well be facilitated by an intelligent attack on the problem.

Human beings remember things in different ways, or in a combination of different ways. Some remember most easily and clearly what they have carefully looked at; these are of the visualizing type. Some remember what they have heard spoken aloud; these are of the auditory type. And others remember best certain motions which their muscles have performed; these are of the motor type. It follows that some persons learn to spell most easily by looking carefully at a difficult word letter by letter or syllable by syllable; others by hearing it spelled aloud or by spelling it aloud; and still others by writing it over and over. But of whatever type a person may be, he learns best by combining all three methods, and by assiduously practicing the last, for the only time he needs to spell is when he is writing.

The problem of spelling can be mastered by writing every word five or ten times while the writer has his eyes fixed upon the correct form and is spelling the word aloud. Practice on the same word for three successive days is almost certain to fix it for all time in the memory.

The weak speller cannot dispense with a dictionary. Asking a fellow student how to spell a word marked incorrect by an instructor is fatal, for the fellow student is often as ignorant as the questioner. Look up the misspelled word in _Webster’s_, the _Standard_, or the _Century Dictionary_.

RULES

Many misspellings fall into classes which can be covered by simple rules. Following are the most helpful of these rules.

=700. Words with a last syllable consisting of a single short accented vowel followed by a single consonant, double the consonant when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.=

dip-p-ed
occur-r-ed
occur-r-ence
stop-p-ing
forget-t-ing
unforget-t-able
sad-d-en
forbid-d-en
tranquil-l-ity

Observe that the conditions are three:

1. Accent on the last syllable
2. Single short vowel
3. Single final consonant

=701. Words with a last syllable ending in a short vowel and a single consonant, but _not_ accented on the last syllable, do _not_ double the final consonant.=

worship-ed
level-ing
travel-er

=702. Words ending in final silent _-e_ drop the _-e_ before a suffix beginning with a vowel. They do NOT double the consonant.=

hope, hop-ed
fine, fin-er
dine, din-ing
crude, crud-ity
wide, wid-en
subside, subsid-ence

=703. Words ending in _-ce_ or _-ge_ keep the _-e_ before a suffix beginning with _-a_ or _-o_, to show that _-c-_ or _-g-_ is soft.=

change-able
peace-able
courage-ous
notice-able
advantage-ous
service-able

=704. Words with an accented double vowel, or with an accented diphthong, do NOT double a final single consonant.=

stoop-ed
loud-er
meet-ing
roar-ing
sweet-en
join-ing

=705. CEI. _EI_ regularly follows _c-_.=

conceive
ceiling
deceive
conceit
receive
deceit
perceive
receipt

Observe also: _either_, _neither_, _leisure_, _seize_, _weird_, _their_, _counterfeit_, _foreign_.

=706. EI occasionally spells the sound of long _i_ and of long _a_.=

height
sleight
weigh
freight
neighbor

=707. IE regularly follows all consonants except _c-_.=

believe
pier
field
niece
piece
relieve
belief
wield
achieve
pierce
retrieve
relief
yield
brief
bier
siege
fiend
grief

Observe also: _financier_, _friend_, _sieve_.

=708. Nouns ending in a vowel and _-y_ form the plural by adding _-s_.=

days
boys
chimneys
valleys

=709. Verbs ending in a vowel and _-y_ form the third person singular, present indicative, by adding _-s_.=

lays
enjoys
employs

=710. Nouns ending in a consonant and _-y_ form the plural by changing the _-y_ to _-i_ and adding _-es_.=

fly, fli-es
sky, ski-es
lady, ladi-es

=711. Many nouns ending in _-f_ or _-fe_ form the plural in _-ves_.=

wolf, wolves
self, selves
life, lives
half, halves
leaf, leaves
wife, wives
calf, calves
loaf, loaves
knife, knives

=712. Some foreign nouns form the plural according to the inflectional laws of their own language.=

alumna, alumnae
axis, axes
datum, data
stratum, strata
alumnus, alumni
parenthesis, parentheses
formula, formulae
phenomenon, phenomena
analysis, analyses
crisis, crises
basis, bases

=713. _Don’t_, _won’t_, _can’t_, _aren’t_, _hasn’t_, _haven’t_, have the apostrophe between _n_ and _t_, where a vowel has been omitted.=

=714. _It’s_ is the colloquial form of _it is_. The apostrophe marks the omission of _i_.=

=715. _Its_, _yours_, _hers_, _ours_, _theirs_, _his_, _whose_ (possessive pronouns), do NOT have an apostrophe.=

=716.= Following is a list of words most frequently misspelled by college freshmen.

accept
accidentally
accommodate
acknowledgment
across
affects
aggravate
airplane
all right
already
altogether
amateur
analyze
apparatus
appearance
arctic
argument
athlete
athletic
balance
beginning
believing
benefited
biscuit
Britain
business
busy
calendar
can’t
center
certain
changeable
chauffeur
choose
clothes
coarse
column
committee
compel
concede
conceivable
Connecticut
conscience
conscientious
controlled
course
deceitful
deferred
definite
descend
describe
desperate
development
dining room
disappear
disappoint
discipline
dissatisfied
dissipate
divide
don’t
dying
ecstasy
embarrass
enemy
envelop
equipped
especially
exaggerate
exceed
excellent
except
exhaust
existence
familiar
fascinate
February
fifth
finally
financier
forfeit
formerly
forty
fourth
friend
fulfil
generally
good-by
government
governor
grammar
grievous
harass
having
height
hoping
hurriedly
hygienic
imaginary
immediately
incidentally
inclose
independence
indispensable
infinite
inquire
instance
intercede
irresistible
its
it’s
itself
judgment
knowledge
laboratory
laid
led
library
lightning
lose
maintenance
Massachusetts
mathematics
medicine
mischievous
Mississippi
misspelled
muscle
mysterious
necessary
neither
noticeable
occasion
occurred
occurrence
o’clock
omission
opinion
opportunity
original
paid
parallel
parliament
particularly
partner
perceive
perform
perhaps
permissible
pervade
physical
possession
precede
preferred
preparation
principal
principle
privilege
proceed
professor
program
promissory
pronunciation
prove
quiet
quite
really
receive
recognize
recommend
reference
repetition
restaurant
ridiculous
seize
sentence
separate
shining
siege
similar
skilful
speech
stationary
stationery
stopped
stopping
strictly
superintendent
supersede
sure
surprise
syllable
theater
their
there
therefore
till
together
too
tract
tragedy
tranquillity
transferred
trouble
truly
Tuesday
until
using
usually
village
villain
weather
Wednesday
weird
welfare
whether
which
wholly
who’s
whose
women
you’re