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