English Grammar Demystified - A Self Teaching Guide

(^300) Most Commonly Misspelled Words
necessary: It is necessary to use two s’s but only one c to write this word right
every time.
no one: Let no one tell you this is one word; it is always two.
noticeable: Don’t forget to leave the fi nal e of notice before the suffi x -able so
everyone will know the c is soft (pronounced like s.) See also changeable.
occasion: Now is a good occasion to remember that this word has two c’s and
one s.
occasionally: Ditto for this word, but also remember the al-rule: if an adjective
may end with -al, its adverb must contain -al before -ly.
occurrence: Never forget the two occurrences of c and the two occurrences of r
in this word. (See other words that double r before -ence.)
pastime: Even though a pastime is a good way to pass time, you need only one s
to spell it correctly.
perseverance: Too much perseverance of the e is bad for the spelling of this
word: all e’s except the next to the last. Also notice that there is no r before
the v.
personnel: Funny story: The assistant vice-president of personnel notices that
his boss, the vice-president himself, upon arriving at his desk each morning,
opens a small locked box, looks inside, smiles, and locks it up again. Some
years later when the assistant is promoted to his boss’s position, he comes to
work early one morning and opens the secret box to see what was inside. He
fi nds a single piece of paper on which is written: “Two n’s, one l.” That’s the
way you spell personnel.
pigeon: If you aren’t speaking pidgin English, you must spell pigeon without a d
and with an -eon.
playwright: If you play right, you are a right player, but folks who write plays
were fi rst called “play-makers” or to use the word of the time, playwrights, like
cartwrights, wagonwrights, wheelwrights.
plenitude: It takes a plenitude of self-restraint to resist the temptation of inclu-
ding a t in this word: plenty but plenitude.
possession: The word possession possesses more s’s than a snake—four
altogether.
precede: Coming before is to precede; coming after is to succeed. Don’t you
love the consistency of English spelling? Precede is spelled like accede,
antecede,concede,intercede,recede, and secede, but not like proceed or
supersede.
principal: Just remember your principal is a prince and a pal in principle,
especially if your principal is a man or woman of principles.
privilege: Consider it a privilege to know that this word contains two i’s in a row
followed by two e’s.