Lesson 31: 25 Most Common Problems that a Writer Has….

· Please bring the notes from lesson 30 (contain 1-13)
· Discuss about the remaining agenda


Writers often misspell words because they mispronounce them. The three most common mistakes are
_ Dropping a letter or syllable when we say a word.
_ Adding an unnecessary letter when we say a word.
_ Mispronouncing a word and so misspelling it.

14. Missing letters

Here are words that are frequently misspelled because the speaker drops a letter or syllable.

_ Accidentally: The word has five syllables; drop one and accidentally becomes accidently.

_ Asked: This word gets mangled as ast or even axed. This results in such curious
spellings as askd, askt, and axst.

_ Asterisk: This word can end up spelled aterisk, askterisk, or even acksterisk.

_ Broccoli: It’s not hard to drop a c and add an l with this veggie. The correct pronunciation isn’t going to do you much good here, so try breaking the word into two parts: broc and coli.

_ Category: Make sure to say that e as an e rather than an a to avoid the misspelling catagory.

_ Cemetery: Cemetary is the result when the third e is pronounced as an a.


15. Extra letters

Because of errors in pronunciation, spellers often insert an unnecessary vowel between two letters. Here are some of the most commonly misspelled words:

_ Athlete: Often mispronounced as athalete, resulting in that unnecessary a.

_ Disastrous: The word ends up with disaster stuck in there: disasterous. What extra letter do you see?

_ Lightning: The bolt of electricity on a stormy night is often mispronounced and thus misspelled as lightening. Now, lightening is a legitimate word; it means that something is getting less dark. Say each letter to help you spell the word you want.

_ Mischievous: A surprising number of people mispronounce the word as mischievious, adding an extra i.

_ Perseverance: People often add an extra r, resulting in perserverance. Saying the word correctly will prevent this error.


16. Transposed letters

Mispronunciation can also result in scrambled letters. Here are some words especially prone to switched letters.

aesthetic allegiance analysis analyze anonymous
auxiliary bureaucrat diaphragm entrepreneur gasoline
gauge gorgeous irrelevant khaki lingerie
mileage psychology resuscitate rhyme rhythm


17. Incorrect plurals

Remember that plural nouns name more than one person, place, or thing. There are regular plurals and irregular ones. The regular plurals rarely result in spelling errors, but irregular plurals often cause trouble. Keep regular and irregular plurals straight and you’ll eliminate a bunch of spelling errors. Below are some spelling rules to help you form the correct plurals.

· Most regular plurals are formed by adding s to the end of the word.
· Add es if the noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x.
· If the noun ends in y preceded by a consonant, change the y to i and add es.
· If the noun ends in y preceded by a vowel, add s.
· Words that end in -ly keep the y when they become plural.
· If the noun ends in o preceded by a vowel, add s.
· If the noun ends in o preceded by a consonant, the noun can take es, s, or either s or es.
· Add s to most nouns ending in f. However, the f endings are so irregular as to be nearly random. If you have any doubts at all, consult a dictionary.
Exception: In some cases, change the f or fe to v and add es
Exception: This rule doesn’t hold for names. In that case, just add an s: Mr. and Ms. Wolf becomes The Wolfs.
· Words that end in -ey, -ay, or -oy do not have -ies plurals.
· In compound words, make the main word plural.
Exceptions: If there is no noun in the compound word, add an s to the end of the word, as in mix-ups, takeoffs. If the compound word ends in -ful, add an s to the end of the word, as in cupfuls.
· Some nouns change their spelling when they become plural.
· Some nouns have the same form whether they are singular or plural.
· The only plurals formed with apostrophes are the plurals of numbers, letters, and words highlighted as words.


18. Errors in confusing word pairs (such as weather/whether)

Some words in English have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings, such as bay/bay and beam/beam. We also have words with the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings, such as coarse/course or bridal/bridle. Distinguishing between these confusing words is crucial because it helps you write exactly what you mean.

Below are some of the most often misspelled words. They’re mangled because they’re so close in sound and/or spelling. After you study the list, however, you’ll be able to tell them apart and use them correctly.

· air: atmosphere There’s no air in a vacuum—hence his empty head.
· err: make a mistake To err is human; to purr, feline.
· a lot: many A lot of people are absent from work today.
· allot: divide Allot the prizes equally among all guests, please.
· all together: all at one time The students spoke all together.
· altogether: completely The job is altogether complete.


19. Missing commas or extra commas

Incorrect: Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
Correct: Avoid commas that are not necessary.

Have you ever been advised to “add commas where you would take a breath”?

Sometimes this advice works—but sometimes it doesn’t. It’s especially dangerous when you’ve gone over and over your writing. At that point, nothing looks correct. To avoid confusion and frustration, don’t use it.


20. Missing or misused apostrophes

Incorrect: Save the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit it where its’ not needed.
Correct: Save the apostrophe for its proper use and omit it where it’s not needed.

The apostrophe (’) is used in three ways: to show possession
(ownership), to show plural forms, and to show contractions (where a letter or number has been omitted).


21. Misused exclamation marks

Incorrect: Of all U.S. presidents, none lived to be older than John Adams, who died at the age of 91!

Correct: Of all U.S. presidents, none lived to be older than John Adams, who died at the age of 91.

Never overuse exclamation marks. Instead of using exclamation marks, convey emphasis through careful, vivid word choice. Exclamation marks create an overwrought tone that often undercuts your point.


22. Misused semicolons

Incorrect: Use the semicolon correctly always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it is not suitable.

Correct: Use the semicolon correctly; always use it where it is appropriate, and
never where it is not suitable.

A semicolon has two primary uses: to separate two complete sentences (“independent clauses”) whose ideas are closely related or to separate clauses that contain a comma.


23. Proper nouns not capitalized.

Incorrect: louisa adams, Wife of john quincy Adams, was the first (and only) foreign born First Lady.

Correct: Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, was the first (and only) foreignborn first lady.

Here are the basic rules of capitalization:

· Capitalize all proper nouns. These include names, geographical places, specific historical events, eras, and documents, languages, nationalities, countries, and races.
· Capitalize the first word at the beginning of a sentence.



24. Errors in titles

Incorrect: The Wind In The Willows
Correct: The Wind in the Willows

Capitalize the major words in titles of books, plays, movies, newspapers, and magazines.

· Do not capitalize the articles: a, an, the.
· Do not capitalize prepositions: at, by, for, of, in, up, on, so, on, to, etc.
· Do not capitalize conjunctions: and, as, but, if, or, nor.


25. Missing words

Incorrect: Proofread carefully to see if you have any words out.
Correct: Proofread carefully to see if you have left any words out.

This is a simple rule, but many people run out of time before they can proofread a document.

Always make the time to proofread your writing. And try to let your writing sit and “cool off” for a few hours. The errors will become much more obvious and easier to isolate.




Going over part of the speech exercise (lesson 27)