English Grammar Demystified - A Self Teaching Guide

(^296) Most Commonly Misspelled Words
a lot: If you allot some time for learning that this expression is two words, you
should master it after a while.
altar: Be sure you do not alter (change) the spelling of altar when writing about
churches.
amateur: Amateurs may or may not be mature, but you always spell these two
words differently.
apparent: It should be apparent to all that apparent has two p’s and a parent
in it.
argument: The silent e at the end of argue can’t argue with a suffi x bigger than
it is, so it gets out of argument.
atheist: Remember religiously that this word is built on the same -the- “god” that
we fi nd in theology.
believe: You must believe the “i-before-e rule”: that icomes before e except
after c or when it is pronounced like “ay” as in neighbor and weigh. However,
beware of exceptions like foreign.
bellwether: A bellwether is not a bell that predicts the weather but a gelded ram
( a wether) with a bell around his neck, chosen to lead the herd by virtue of
the greater likelihood that he will remain ahead of the ewes.
broccoli: You don’t have to like broccoli to spell it correctly with two c’s and
one l.
calendar: You might put a review of this word on your calendar: remind yourself
that it ends with -ar, not -er.
camoufl age: Even though we shorten this word to camo, we should always
remember u in the middle of the full form.
cantaloupe: Here is another place we often forget u: don’t be misled by signs
that say “Lopes for sale.”
Caribbean: As any Carib bean tells you, this word has one r and two b’s.
category: Spelling category like catastrophe isn’t catastrophic, but it could be
embarrassing.
cemetery: Don’t let this word bury you: except for the fi nal y, the only vowel in
it is e.
changeable: The silent e on change is able to live with the suffi x -able, so it
remains to remind us that the g is soft, pronounced like j. (See also
noticeable.)
chili: You’ll never fi nd a chilly chili, but do keep their spellings straight.
collectible: Even if you collect tables, what you collect is collectible, with an i.
Unfortunately, there is no rule for this one.
colonel: There is more than a kernel of truth in the claim that colonel is pro-
nounced exactly like kernel—but spelled colonel.
column:E is not the only letter in English that can be silent: column has a
silent N.