Pterylosis & Other Words We Often Misspell

Tonight at 8:00pm Eastern, the 11 finalists in the Scripps National Spelling Bee will vie for wordsmith glory.  Each will spell (or misspell) words most of us never dream of utilizing.  For example, this afternoon, young Connor Aberle faced the word "pterylosis" (which by the way is "the arrangement of bird's feathers") and sadly fell short.  

Writers may not face the scorching spotlight of the Scripps stage, but we face our own spelling nightmares every day.  Since hiring a Spelling Bee champ isn't in the budget for royalty earning writers, we must pay attention to commonly misspelled words to improve our editing workload.  Here are a few examples you may recognize ... (or not!)

1.  "misspell" vs. "mispell":  Don't misspell it!

2.  "accept" vs. "except":  When you accept something, you take it or agree to it.  Except is an exclusionary word meaning 'other than.'

3.  "affect" vs. "effect": With rare exception, affect is a verb and effect is a noun.  

4.  "alot":  This is two words-- "a lot"

5.  "alright":  This word doesn't exist.  It is not all right.

6.  "capital" vs. "capitol":  The city is the capital, and the building is the capitol.

7.  "embarrass":  You're an ass if you don't spell embarrass with two "r's"

8.  "lay" vs. "lie":  Laying is placing or putting down.  To lie is to recline.

9.  "separate":  Never add the "e".  It is not "seperate"

10.  "accommodate":  When people go on a date, they are a pair.  In this word, you have a pair of pairs--two "c's" and two "m's"

11.  "humorous":  The "o's" of this word support the "r."

12.  "argument":  The "e" got so mad when the suffix "ment" arrived that he up and ran away.

13.  "existence":  An "e" begins this word, so it needs another "e" friend when the ending is included.

For more lists of commonly misspelled words and suggestions, visit http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html 

For suggestions on word usage in simple terms, read Woe is I, Jr.:  The Younger Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English  by Patricia T. O'Conner

Finally, to follow the play by play Twitter action of the Scripps Spelling Bee, visit http://twitter.com/scrippsbee  

~Scott Heydt

"Live, Learn, Teach"

www.scotthbooks.com

http://scotthbooks.blogspot.com