Questions tagged [spelling]
This tag is for questions which a dictionary cannot answer concerning the written representation of the English language, especially spelling and word breaks (including hyphenation).
215
questions
1
vote
2answers
55 views
Is ”Physical”'s IPA spelling not unique?
Could you come up with an explanation why the same adjective "physical" has two IPA renderings of the same pronunciation?
Oxford Learners Dictionary: /ˈfɪzɪkl/ (that is the /ə/ is missed in ...
14
votes
3answers
3k views
Why are “LOse” and “LOOse” pronounced differently?
I know that both the words are pronounced and used differently. I also found another question on this site: "Use of loose and lose [closed]", but that is about the usage of the word. My ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Pronunciation of adjectives ending with “-ate” [closed]
Legitimate
How should I pronounce it?
It's confusing me. There are so many vocabularies of adjectives ending with "ate"
as in meet or as in "it" : like "tim -it"
as in ...
4
votes
2answers
502 views
Why does “wind” have two different pronunciations?
The word "wind" seems to be problematic (with almost all other English words that behave strangely). When it is used as a noun to mean the movement of air, it is pronounced to rhyme with &...
-1
votes
1answer
22 views
Visualize and Visualise national recognition? [duplicate]
Which spelling is recognized more as the proper spelling globally?
12
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is the <th> in “posthumous” pronounced as <ch> (/tʃ/)?
I have always pronounced the th in "posthumous" as if it was the "th" in think (/θ/), but when I searched itd it was actually the ch /tʃ/:
UK: /ˈpɒs.tʃə.məs/
US: /ˈpɑːs.tʃə.məs/
...
28
votes
1answer
6k views
Was “twelve” pronounced as “TPELF”?
I came across this piece of text and I for the life of me can't understand why "twelve" is written tpelf. I have encircled other numbers that are strange.
My friend who lives in New York ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
Any there other pairs similar to “advise/advice” and “devise/device”?
I was wondering if there are other similar pairs for "advise/advice" and "devise/device"?
Updarte: I found this useful tip here
(b) remember that 'ice' is a noun and therefore the ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
“Backyard” vs “Front yard” - same but different
Not really a serious English question, more like a curiosity.
I am wondering, why "backyard" is written as one word but "front yard" is written as two separate words. Equivalently, ...
0
votes
1answer
72 views
Why does “don't be” sometimes sound like “dombe”?
Why does "don't be" sometimes become "DOMBE"? There is no M in the spelling then why?
4
votes
3answers
265 views
Why the K is silent in “know” and “knowledge”? [duplicate]
Why is the K silent in "knowledge" and "know"? I have heard many non-natives pronounce the K but not natives. In dictionaries there is no K in the pronunciation but there is a K in ...
25
votes
2answers
3k views
Why is there a 'p' in “assumption” but not in “assume”?
I know a little bit about the suffix -tion. It is usually added to verbs.
Examples:
-domination (from dominate),
-admiration (admire),
-deviation (deviate),
-ejection (eject).
"Exemption (...
-2
votes
2answers
139 views
Reason or rule for pronunciations [closed]
I am not a native English speaker and I am learning English.
Sometimes I will get baffled by the pronunciations used in English. It is very difficult to pronounce something just by looking at it. ...
0
votes
0answers
56 views
Why “admit” with T but “admissible” with SS?
I just noticed that when the suffix -ible is added to "admit", it becomes "admissible" rather than "admittible".
There are few other examples:
"omit" = "...
30
votes
1answer
8k views
Why is the W silent in “sword” but not in “swore”?
The word "sword" is pronounced /sɔːd/ (AmE: /sɔrd/) while "swore" is pronounced /swɔː/ (AmE: /swɔr/). The W in "sword" is silent because of the following round vowel; the ...
39
votes
3answers
11k views
Why is “iron” pronounced “EYE-URN” but not “EYE-RUN”?
I just noticed that the word iron is pronounced EYE-URN in standard Englishes instead of what the spelling suggests. I have always been pronouncing it "EYE-RUN" but I just checked its ...
0
votes
1answer
118 views
Is it “glowed” or “glown” when conjugating “glow”?
I want to say he's glown with brilliance but the spell checker barks at me for misspelling, like if it prefers glowed.
This resource commands the latter, while this one the exact opposite. I've also ...
0
votes
1answer
884 views
Is 'resetted' a word?
Link 1
Link 2
I entered "resetted" and for the spell check, I searched and got the first link. I thought it is correct because (I thought all words are not included in a spell checker)1 and ...
-1
votes
1answer
42 views
Capitalization and hyphenation in words like 'southeastern' [closed]
Is it
South-Eastern Ukraine,
Southeastern Ukraine, or
South Eastern Ukraine
? What about capitalization? I saw various spellings. Which one is the most advisable? Don't close the question.
3
votes
3answers
247 views
The silent “u”: “forty” and “fourteen”
We all know that the cardinal and ordinal numbers 4 and 4th are spelled ‘four’ and “fourth” respectively. Then we have 14 and 14th which are spelled “fourteen” and “fourteenth”. Yet the numbers 40 and ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
Why “Acquire” instead of “Aquire”?
What does the "c" add to the word "aquire" when it already sounds correct meaning the verb "to gain; to possess"?
1
vote
1answer
54 views
General spelling rule: no double (repeated) consonant after another consonant?
Is it correct to tell ESL students that there aren't any words in English that have a double repeated consonant after another consonant?
For example:
Sttrugle
Inffection
dispposal
Thanks!
0
votes
2answers
110 views
How many vowels in each syllable?
I'm trying to improve my spelling, and I came across this article, which states that "Every syllable has one vowel'.
How can this be true while words like room, pain, eat, grow, etc. Have one ...
1
vote
0answers
34 views
What is the effective way to practice spelling for new words
I'm learning GRE vocab and they are quite a lot. Roughly in the range of 1000-3000 words. Reading, probably, is the most effective way to gain new words and reinforce them but I'm facing an issue with ...
4
votes
1answer
134 views
Expressing potayto-potahto, tomayto-tomahto correctly in writing
There's a saying expressing that the presented concepts are distinct without a difference. It's based on the pronunciation of potato and tomato. How would one go about writing that differnece in an ...
2
votes
1answer
28 views
Do I need to make the following changes when writing an abbreviation?
In math, there is a concept called random variable, and for convenience people usually just write r.v. I have some questions regarding writing the abbreviation r.v. in a sentence.
Would a native ...
0
votes
1answer
47 views
Is the correct spelling “fulfil” or “fulfill”? [closed]
Which of the spelling is correct? “fulfil” or “fulfill”? I can find both spellings on the web, although “fulfil” is more common.
0
votes
0answers
11 views
“inflight” vs. “in-flight”
From Wikipedia
Dragon 2 In-Flight Abort Test (officially known as SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test and Crew Dragon Launch Escape Demonstration) was a test of the Crew Dragon abort system. The test was ...
11
votes
6answers
5k views
Why is there one P in “hoping” and two P's in “hopping”?
Hoping is the present participle of hope. hopping is the present participle of hop. Hoping has only one p while hopping has two. What difference does it make? Why is hoping not hopping?
Edit: I ...
16
votes
1answer
2k views
“the US.” or “the US”
When I said
"in my field, people earn triple in the US. for the same work in China."
a native speaker told me I should have got rid of that ".", is it a more modern style to refer to America?
0
votes
1answer
26 views
Is there any rule that governs whether we will use hyphen or concatenate two words like homemade?
I mean is there any rule to avoid spelling mistakes in these cases?
Why we write homemade but we cannot write readymade, and we write ready-made instead?
Also why shut down and hand over are verbs ...
0
votes
2answers
117 views
How To Spell Dates Written In Cardinal Numbers In American And British English
How do you spell the following date:
December 6 (AmE)
6 December (BrE)
Do you spell this date as 'December six' or 'December the sixth' in American English?
And in British English, do you spell it ...
0
votes
0answers
20 views
What is the difference between Enquiry and Inquiry
I was searching for the meaning of Analysis other day. I got some synonyms of Analysisin Google. Among them, enquiry and inquiry are a little bit confusing. When I searched on Google for enquiry I ...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
how to change spelling to make a silent e sound
My name is June and I am Basque (North of Spain). My name is pronounced almost like in English except for that the final e is not silent.
How do a write my name phonetics to show people how to ...
-2
votes
1answer
75 views
How should I spell websites' names?
For example,
News.Com published an article about demonstrations in Peru.
Should I capitalize 'com' as I did?
0
votes
1answer
264 views
Plural of “computer bus”
I often see the word "bus" (in the sense of interconnect layer of a computer system) to be written in plural as either "buses" or "busses". Which one is the correct form?
Wikipedia uses both on the ...
1
vote
3answers
63 views
e-commerce vs ecommerce
When using words like: ecommerce, ebanking, etc. What is the right way to write them? with dash like: e-commerce, e-banking? or as a one word: ecommerce, ebanking, etc.?
I do not want to use the long ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
AmE vowel pronunciation dilemma
I can't figure out how to spell vowels in AmE. I generally prefer to pronounce "o" letter as "ɑ" as well as sometimes "ə". But it is done intuitively irrespective of any rule. I think there must be an ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
A (imaginary) point or An (imaginary) point
A or An is usually decided by whether you pronounce the beginning of the following word as a consonant or not. Does a word in parentheses count as ' following'?
A (imaginary) point or An (imaginary) ...
1
vote
1answer
68 views
Is “et al.” one or two words?
I use et al. to refer to a paper with more than two authors. However, the word et got separated by a line (due to line end) and the word al. cam in the beginning of a new line.
... Authorname [end ...
0
votes
1answer
468 views
Is 'families' the correct spelling?
We will find something to suit your families needs today!
I do not know whether it should be "families", "families'" or "family's"
3
votes
1answer
601 views
correct spelling of “carruffel” (fuzz, hustle, all that jazz)
I faintly remember learning a word that means an arbitrary hubbub of things, all the to do, a minor inconvenience, etc., I'm not really sure. I thought it was ca. "carruffel", but that does not exist....
1
vote
1answer
82 views
Why is the letter “e” removed when changing some word's verb form to its noun form?
I came across a word which was encumber.
Like this verb there are many words whose noun forms don't include e in that place (before r in that word). Is there any reason behind it or is it just an ...
0
votes
1answer
35 views
Gray or grey? I'm really not sure [duplicate]
Pretty self-explanatory (I know this is a common question). I'm not sure. Can someone help me out?
2
votes
3answers
4k views
Which is the correct version “who's side” or “whose's side”?
Which one is correct in this case?
I need to hear both sides of the story to know who's side I'm on.
I need to hear both sides of the story to know whose side I'm on.
I have seen both ...
0
votes
3answers
92 views
What are some spelling rules for deciding if a verb is regular?
Definition of regular conjugateable verb is that it is not an irregular verb but is there some spelling rules to decide that verb is regular for students until they memorise all the irregular verbs?...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
The state of being read-only: readonlyness / readonliness
This word, spelled readonlyness, is used in the code of a project I'm working on. Readonliness seems to be a more logical spelling, as in ready - readily, beauty - beautiful, lonely - loneliness, etc. ...
6
votes
2answers
732 views
What's the correct spelling of 'shmare'?
I've heard this expression several times in TV shows, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Is it like a small "piece" of some spread? Can I say for example:
"Shmare me some Nutella"?
Or
Can I have ...
0
votes
1answer
203 views
Low-down vs lowdown as noun vs adjective
In an online CPE mock test I was given this question:
The princess's nanny's autobiography really gives the ____ on the life among the royals.
The correct answer was "low-down" which I did choose.
...
0
votes
2answers
3k views
What is the past tense of learn? [duplicate]
What is the past tense of learn? Is it learned or learnt?
I've seen people use "learnt" in articles I've read on the internet and I didn't or haven't seen crazy words like this when I was in jr high ...
