Correct English

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Correct English

ANGELA BURT 2nd edition
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Published by How To Books Ltd, 3 Newtec Place, Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RE. United Kingdom. Tel: (01865) 793806. Fax: (01865) 248780. email: info@howtobooks.co.uk
www.howtobooks.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in an information retrieval system (other than for purposes of review) without the express permission of the publisher in writing.
# Copyright 2002 Angela Burt
First edition 2000 Second edition 2002
Angela Burt has asserted the right to be identified as the author of this work, in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover Design by Baseline Arts, Oxford
Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions Typeset by PDQ Typesetting, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs. Printed and bound by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wiltshire

NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances on statements made in the book. Laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should check the current position with the relevant authorities before making personal arrangements.

Introduction

The A–Z of Correct English is a reference book which has been written for the student and the general reader. It aims to tackle the basic questions about spelling, punctuation, grammar and word usage that the student and the general reader are likely to ask.

Throughout the book there are clear explanations, and exemplar sentences where they are needed. When it’s helpful to draw attention to spelling rules and patterns, these are given so that the reader is further empowered to deal with hundreds of related words. The aim always has been to make the reader more confident and increasingly self-reliant.

This is a fast-track reference book. It is not a dictionary although, like a dictionary, it is arranged alphabetically. It concentrates on problem areas; it anticipates difficulties; it invites cross-references. By exploring punctuation, for example, and paragraphing, it goes far beyond a dictionary’s terms of reference. It is not intended to replace a dictionary; it rather supplements it.

Once, in an evening class, one of my adult students said, ‘If there’s a right way to spell a word, I want to know it.’ On another occasion, at the end of a punctuation session on possessive apostrophes, a college student said rather angrily, ‘Why wasn’t I told this years ago?’

This book has been written to answer all the questions that my students over the years have needed to ask. I hope all who now use it will have their questions answered also and enjoy the confidence and the mastery that this will bring.
Angela Burt
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How to use this book

For ease of reference, all the entries in this book have been listed alphabetically rather than being divided into separate spelling, usage, punctuation and grammar sections.

You will therefore find hypocrisy following hyphens; paragraphing following paraffin; who or whom? following whiskey or whisky?; and so on.
WANT TO CHECK A SPELLING?
Cross-referencing will help you locate words with tricky initial letters.
aquaint Wrong spelling. See ACQUAINT.
Plural words are given alongside singular nouns, with crossreferencing to relevant rules and patterns.
knife (singular) knives (plural). See PLURALS (v).
There is also a general section on plurals and another on foreign plurals.
If it’s the complication of adding an ending that is causing you trouble, you will find some words listed with a useful crossreference.
dining or dinning? dine + ing = dining (as in dining room) din + ing = dinning (noise dinning in ears)
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
There are individual entries for confusing endings like -able/-ible;
-ance,-ant/-ence,-ent; -cal/-cle; -ise or -ize? and for confusing beginnings like ante-/anti; for-/fore; hyper-/hypo; inter-/intraand many others.
vii
abandon
abattoir
abbreviate
abbreviations
-able/-ible
A
abandoned, abandoning, abandonment (not -bb-)
(not -bb-)
abbreviated, abbreviating, abbreviation (not -b-)
See CONTRACTIONS.
Adjectives ending in -able or -ible can be difficult to spell because both endings sound identical. You’ll always need to be on guard with these words and check each word individually when you are in doubt, but here are some useful
guidelines:
(i) Generally use -able when the companion word ends in -ation: abominable, abomination
irritable, irritation
(ii) Generally use -ible when the
companion word ends in -ion: comprehensible, comprehension digestible, digestion
(iii) Use -able after hard c and hard g: practicable (c sounds like k)
navigable (hard g)
(iv) Use -ible after soft c and soft g: forcible (c sounds like s)
legible (g sounds like j)
See also ADDING ENDINGS (ii); SOFT C AND SOFT G.
ABRIDGEMENT/ABRIDGMENT
abridgement/ abridgment abscess
absence absolute absorb
abstract nouns accept or except?
accessary
or accessory?
accessible accidentally
accommodation
accross
accumulate Both spellings are correct. Use either but be consistent within one piece of writing.
This is a favourite word in spelling quizzes.
(not absess or abcess)

absent ( not absc-)
absolutely (not absoloute, absoloutely)
absorption. Notice how b changes to p here.
See NOUNS.
We ACCEPT your apology.
Everybody was there EXCEPT Stephen.
If you want to preserve the traditional distinction in meaning between these two words, use ACCESSARY to refer to someone associated with a crime and ACCESSORY to refer to something that is added (a fashion accessory or car
accessories). However, the distinction has now become blurred and it is perfectly acceptable to use one spelling to cover both meanings. Of the two, accessory is the more widely used, but both are correct.
(not -able)
The adverb is formed by adding -ly to accidental.
(not accidently)

This is a favourite word in spelling quizzes and is frequently seen misspelt on painted signs.
(not accomodation or accommadation)
Wrong spelling. See ACROSS.
(not -mm-)
achieve
acknowledgement/ acknowledgment
acquaint
acquaintance
acquiesce
acquiescence
acquire
acreage
across
adapter or adaptor?
addendum (singular)
adding endings achieved, achieving, achievement (not -ei-)
See also ADDING ENDINGS (ii.); EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Both spellings are correct but be
consistent within one piece of writing.
acquainted ( not aq-)
(not -ence)
acquiesced, acquiescing (not aq-)
(not -ance)
acquired, acquiring, acquisition
(not aq-)
Note that there are three syllables here. (not acrage)
(not accross)
Traditional usage would distinguish between these two words and reserve
-er for the person (an adapter of novels, for instance) and -or for the piece of electrical equipment. However, the distinction has become very blurred and the two spellings are considered by many authorities to be interchangeable. Use either for both meanings but be consistent within a single piece of writing.
addenda (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Usually endings (suffixes) can be added to base words without any complications. You just add them and that is that!

e.g. iron + ing = ironing
steam + er = steamer
list + less = listless

However, there are four groups of words which need especial care. Fortunately, there are some straightforward rules which save your learning thousands of words individually.
(i) The 1-1-1 rule
This rule applies to:
words of
ending with preceded by e.g. drop, flat, sun, win.

When you add an ending beginning with a consonant to a l-l-l word, there is no change to the base word: ONE syllable ONE consonant ONE vowel

drop + let flat + ly
win + some = droplet = flatly
= winsome

When you add an ending beginning with a vowel to a l-l-l word, you double the final letter of the base word:

drop + ed = dropped
flat + est = flattest
win + ing = winning
sun + *y = sunny
*y counts as a vowel when it sounds like i or e.
See VOWELS.
Treat qu as one letter:
quit + ing = quitting
quip + ed = quipped
Don’t double final w and x. They would look very odd and so we have correctly:
tax + ing = taxing
paw + ed = pawed
(ii) The magic -e rule
This rule applies to all words ending with a silent -e.
e.g. hope, care, achieve, sincere, separate.
When you add an ending beginning with a consonant, keep the -e:
hope + ful = hopeful
care + less = careless
sincere + ly = sincerely separate + ly = separately achieve + ment = achievement
When you add an ending beginning with a vowel, drop the -e:
hope + ing
care + er
sincere + ity separate + ion achieve + ed = hoping
= carer
= sincerity = separation = achieved

Do, however, keep the -e in words like singeing (different from singing) and dyeing (different from dying) and whenever you need to keep the identity of the base word clear (e.g. shoeing, canoeing).

Do remember to keep the -e with soft c and soft g words. It’s the e that keeps them soft (courageous,
traceable). (See SOFT C AND SOFT G.)
Don’t keep the -e with these eight exceptions to the rule: truly, duly, ninth, argument, wholly, awful, whilst, wisdom.

(iii) -y rule
This rule applies to all words ending in -y. Look at the letter before the -y in the base word.

It doesn’t matter at all what kind of ending you are adding. When you add an ending to a word ending in a vowel + y, keep the y:
portray + ed = portrayed employ + ment = employment
When you add an ending to a word ending in a consonant + y, change the y to i:

try +al
empty + er pity + less lazy + ness = trial
= emptier = pitiless = laziness

Do keep the y when adding -ing. Two i’s together would look very odd, despite our two words ski-ing and taxi-ing.
try + ing = trying
empty + ing = emptying
Don’t apply the rule in these fourteen cases: daily, gaily, gaiety, laid, paid, said, slain, babyhood, shyly, shyness, dryness, slyness, wryly, wryness.

(iv) The 2-1-1 rule
This rule applies to:
words of
ending with preceded by TWO syllables ONE consonant ONE vowel.

With this rule, it all depends on which syllable of the word is stressed. The 2-1-1 words below are stressed on the first syllable, and both vowel and consonant endings are added without any complications:

gossip gossiping
target targeted
limit limitless
eager eagerness
But note that kidnap, outfit, worship, always double their final letter: kidnapped, outfitter, worshipping

Take care with 2-1-1 words which are stressed on the second syllable. There is no change when you add a
consonant ending:

forget + ful equip + ment = forgetful = equipment
Double the final consonant of the base word when you add a vowel ending:
forget + ing equip + ed forbid + en begin + er = forgetting = equipped = forbidden = beginner
This rule is really valuable but you must be aware of some exceptions:
" 2-1-1 words ending in -l seem to have a rule all of their own. Whether the stress is on the first or the second syllable, there is no change when a consonantendingisadded:

quarrel + some instal + ment = quarrelsome = instalment
Double the -l when adding a vowel ending:
quarrel + ing instal + ed excel + ent = quarrelling = installed = excellent
" Notice how the change of stress in these words affects the spelling:
confer conferred defer deferred infer inferred prefer preferred refer referred conferring deferring inferring preferring referring conference deference inference preference reference ADDRESS

transfer transferred transferring transference See also -ABLE/-IBLE; -ANCE,-ANT/-ENCE,-ENT;
-CAL/-CLE; -FUL;-LY.
address
adieu (singular)
adrenalin/adrenaline adress
advantageous
adverse or averse?
advertisement
advice or advise?
adviser or advisor?
advisory aerial
affect or effect? (not adr-)
adieus or adieux (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Both spellings are correct.
Wrong spelling. See ADDRESS.
advantage + ous
Keep the -e in this instance.
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
These two words have different meanings.
The ferries were cancelled owing to ADVERSE weather conditions.
(= unfavourable)
She is not AVERSE to publicity.
(= opposed)
advertise + ment
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
My ADVICE is to forget all about it. (noun = recommendation)
What would you ADVISE me to do? (verb = recommend)

Adviser is the traditionally correct British spelling. Advisor is more common in American English.
(not -ery)
Use the same spelling for the noun (a television AERIAL) and the adjective (an AERIAL photograph).
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Heavy drinking will AFFECT your liver. (verb)
The EFFECT on her health was
immediate. (noun)
The new manager plans to EFFECT sweeping changes. (verb = to bring about)
ALLEY OR ALLY?
afraid
ageing or aging?
aggravate
aggressive
agreeto/agreewith
agreeable agreement
agressive
alga (singular)
allege
alley or ally? (not affraid)

Both spellings are correct but many would prefer ageing as it keeps the identity of the base word (age) more easily
recognised.
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
Strictly speaking, aggravate means to make worse.
His rudeness AGGRAVATED an already explosive situation.
It is, however, widely used in the sense of to irritate or to annoy. Be aware that some authorities would regard this second usage as incorrect.
(not agr-)
The choice of preposition alters the meaning of the verb:
IAGREEDTO do what he advised. IAGREEDTO all the conditions.
IAGREEDWITH all they said.
See PREPOSITIONS.
(not agreable)
For grammatical agreement, see SINGULAR
OR PLURAL?.
Wrong spelling. See AGGRESSIVE.
algae (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not -dge)
An ALLEY is a little lane.
An ALLY is a friend.
alley (singular), alleys (plural)
ally (singular), allies (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
ALL MOST OR ALMOST?
all most or almost?
allowed or aloud?
all ready or already?
all right or alright?
all so or also?
all together or altogether?
allude or elude? There is a difference in meaning. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
They were ALL (= everyone) MOST kind. The child was ALMOST (=nearly) asleep. There is a difference in meaning. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Are we ALLOWED (= permitted) to smoke in here?
I was just thinking ALOUD (= out loud).
There is a difference in meaning. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
We are ALL (= everyone) READY. It is ALL (= everything) READY.
She was ALREADY dead (= by then).

Traditional usage would consider ALL RIGHT to be correct and ALRIGHT to be incorrect. However, the use of ‘alright’ is so widespread that some would see it as acceptable although the majority of educated users would take care to avoid it.
There is a difference in meaning. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: You are ALL (= everyone) SO kind. You are ALSO (= in addition) generous. There is a difference in meaning. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
They were ALL (= everybody) huddled TOGETHER for warmth.
His situation is ALTOGETHER (= totally) different from yours.
There is a difference in meaning.
ALLUDE means to refer to indirectly. ELUDE means to evade capture or recall.
ALTERNATIVES
allusion, delusion or illusion?
all ways or always?
almost alot
aloud
already
altar or alter?
alternate or alternative?
alternatives There is a difference in meaning.
An ALLUSION is an indirect reference. A DELUSION is a false belief (often associated with a mental disorder). An ILLUSION is a deceptive appearance.
There is a difference in meaning.
These three routes are ALL (= each of them) WAYS into town.
She ALWAYS (= at all times) tells the truth.
See ALL MOST OR ALMOST?.
Write as two words, not as one. Bear in mind that this construction is slang and not to be used in a formal context.
See ALLOWED OR ALOUD?.
See ALL READY OR ALREADY?.
There is a difference in meaning.
The bride and groom stood solemnly before the ALTAR.
Do you wish to ALTER (= change) the arrangements?

We visit our grandparents on
ALTERNATE Saturdays. (= every other Saturday)
I ALTERNATE between hope and despair. (= have each mood in turn)
An ALTERNATIVE plan would be to go by boat. (= another possibility)
The ALTERNATIVES are simple: work or go hungry. (= two choices)
Strictly speaking, the choice can be between only two alternatives (one choice or the other).

However, the word is frequently used more loosely and this precise definition is becoming lost.
ALTOGETHER
altogether
Alzheimer’s disease amateur
ambiguity
See ALL TOGETHER OR ALTOGETHER?.
( not Alze-)
(not -mm-)

Always try to anticipate any possible confusion on the part of your reader. Check that you have made your meaning absolutely clear.
(i) Bearinmindthatpronounscan be very vague. Consider this sentence:
My brother told his friend that HE had won first prize in the local photographic exhibition.
Who is ‘he’, my brother or his friend? Rewrite more clearly:
(a) My brother congratulated his friend on winning first prize in the local photographic exhibition.

(b) My brother, delighted to have won first prize in the local photographic exhibition, told his friend.
The other possibility is rather clumsy but is otherwise clear:
(c) My brother told his friend that he (his friend) had won first prize.
(d) My brother told his friend that he (my brother) had won first prize.

(ii) Position the adverb ONLY with great care. It will refer to the word nearest to it, usually the word following. This may not be the meaning you
intended. See how crucial to the meaning the position of ‘only’ can be:

ONLY Sean eats fish on Fridays. (= No one else but Sean eats fish on Fridays.)
AMBIGUITY
Sean ONLY eats fish on Fridays. (= Sean does nothing else to the fish on Fridays but eat it. He doesn’t buy it, cook it, look at it, smell it . . . .)

Sean eats ONLY fish on Fridays. (= Sean eats nothing but fish on Fridays.)

Sean eats fish ONLY on Fridays. Sean eats fish on Fridays ONLY. (= Sean eats fish on this one day in the week and never on any other.)
(iii) Take care with the positioning of BADLY.
This room needs cleaning BADLY. Does it? Or does it not need cleaning well? Rewrite like this:
This room BADLY needs cleaning.
(iv) Beware of causing initial bewilderment by not introducing a comma to indicate a pause.
The shabby little riverside cafe´ was empty and full of wasps and flies. Empty and full?
The shabby little riverside cafe´ was empty, and full of wasps and flies.
See COMMAS (ix).
(v) Avoid the danger of writing nonsense!
DRIVING slowly along the road, THE CASTLE dominated the landscape. The castle is driving?
Rewrite:
As we drove slowly along the road, we saw how the castle dominated the landscape.
AMEND OR EMEND?
amend or emend?
ammount
among
among/amongst
among or between?
COOKED slowly, the FAMILY will enjoy the cheaper cuts of meat. Rewrite:
If the cheaper cuts of meat are cooked slowly, the family will enjoy them.
See PARTICIPLES.
(vi) Make sure the descriptive details describe the right noun!
For sale: 1995 Peugeot 205 – one owner with power-assisted steering. Rewrite:
For sale: 1995 Peugeot 205 with power-assisted steering – one owner.
Both words mean ‘to make changes in order to improve’. Use AMEND or EMEND when referring to the correction of written or printed text.
Use AMEND in a wider context such as AMENDING the law or AMENDING behaviour.

Wrong spelling. See AMOUNT.
(not amoung)
Either form can be used.

Use BETWEEN when something is shared by two people. Use AMONG when it is shared by three or more.

Share the sweets BETWEEN the two of you.
Share the sweets AMONG yourselves.

However, BETWEEN is used with numbers larger than two when it means an exact geographical location or when it refers to relationships.
amoral or immoral?

amoung
amount
amount or number?
analyse
analysis (singular)
-ance,-ant/-ence,-ent
-ANCE,-ANT/-ENCE,-ENT
Sardinia lies BETWEEN Spain, Algeria, Corsica and Italy.
It will take a long time before the rift BETWEEN the five main parties heals.
There is a difference in meaning.
AMORAL means not being governed by moral laws, acting outside them.
(note -m-)
IMMORAL means breaking the moral laws. (note -mm-)

Wrong spelling. See AMONG.
(not ammount)
AMOUNT is used with non-count nouns:
asmall AMOUNT of sugar; a surprising AMOUNT of gossip.
NUMBER is used with plural nouns: a NUMBER of mistakes; a NUMBER of reasons.
(not -ize as in American English)
analyses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Words with these endings are difficult to spell and you’ll always need to be on your guard with them. Check each word individually when in doubt, but here are some useful guidelines:

(i) People are generally -ant: attendant, lieutenant, occupant, sergeant, tenant (but there are exceptions like
superintendent, president,
resident . . . .).

(ii) Use -ance, -ant, where the companion words ends in -ation: dominance, dominant, domination,
variance, variant, variation.
AND/BUT
and/but
angsiety
angsious
annex or annexe?
annoint
announce
(iii) Use -ence, -ent after qu:
consequence, consequent,
eloquence, eloquent.

(iv) Use -ance, -ant after hard c or hard g: significance, significant (c sounds like k) elegance, elegant (hard g)

(v) Use -ence, -ent after soft c or soft g: innocence, innocent (c sounds like s) intelligent, intelligence (g sounds like j)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
Many of us have been taught never to begin a sentence with AND or BUT. Generally speaking this is good advice. Both words are conjunctions and will therefore be busy joining words within the sentence:

Ishouldlovetocome AND I look forward to the party very much.
They wanted to come BUT sadly they had to visit a friend in hospital some miles away.

However, there are some occasions when you may need the extra emphasis that starting a new sentence with AND or BUT would give. If you have a good reason to break the rules, do so!

Wrong spelling. See ANXIETY.
Wrong spelling. See ANXIOUS.

To ANNEX is to take possession of a country or part of a country.
An ANNEX is another word for an appendix in an official document.
An ANNEXE is a building added to the main building.
Wrong spelling. See ANOINT.
announced, announcing, announcer, announcement
(not -n-)
APOLOGY
annoy
annul
anoint
anounce anoy
ante-/anti
antecedent
antediluvian
antenna
anticlimax
antirrhinum antisocial
anxiety
anxious
apologise/apologize apology
annoyed, annoying, annoyance
(not anoy or annoied)
annulled, annulling, annulment
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
( not -nn-)
Wrong spelling. See ANNOUNCE.
Wrong spelling. See ANNOY.

ANTE means before.
antenatal = before birth
ANTI means against.
antifreeze = against freezing
This means earlier in time or an ancestor. (not anti-)
See ANTE-/ANTI-.
This means very old-fashioned and primitive, literally ‘before the flood of Noah’. (not anti-)
See ANTE-/ANTI.
This word has two plurals, each used in a different sense:
Use ANTENNAE to refer to insects. Use ANTENNAS to refer to television aerials.
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not ante-)
See ANTE-/ANTI.
(not -rh-)
(not ante-)
See ANTE-/ANTI.
( not angs-)
(not angs-)
Both spellings are correct. (not -pp) apologies (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
APON
apon Wrong spelling. See UPON.
apostrophes (i) Apostrophes can be used to show that letters have been omitted:
" in contractions
didn’t
o’clock
you’ve
won’t

" in poetry
o’er vales and hills
where’er you walk
" in dialect
’Ere’s, ’Arry
" in retail
pick ’n’ mix
salt ’n’ vinegar

(ii) Apostrophes can be used to show ownership. Follow these simple guidelines and you’ll never put the apostrophe in the wrong place.

Singular nouns or ‘owners’
The tail of the dog
The dog’s tail

Who ‘owns’ the tail? Put the apostrophe
after the owner.
Add -s.
Add what is ‘owned’.
The smile of the princess The princess’s smile
Who ‘owns’ the smile? Put the apostrophe
after the owner.
Add -s.
Add what is ‘owned’. the dog

the dog’
the dog’s
the dog’s tail
the princess
the princess’ the princess’s the princess’s smile
APOSTROPHES
With proper names ending in -s, you have a choice, depending upon how the name is pronounced.
Keats’ poetry or Keats’s poetry
But St James’s Square, London, SW1 St James’ (two syllables)
St James’s (three syllables)

Plural nouns or ‘owners’
Don’t worry about whether you use ’s or s’ in the plural. It will sort itself out.
The tails of the dogs The dogs’ tails
Who ‘owns’ the tails? Put the apostrophe
after the owners.
Add -s if there isn’t one. Add what is ‘owned’ the dogs

the dogs’
(no need here) the dogs’ tails
The laughter of the women
The women’s laughter
Who ‘owns’ the laughter? the women Put the apostrophe
after the owners.
Add -s if there isn’t one. Add what is ‘owned’. the women’ the women’s the women’s laughter
And so, when reading, you will be able to distinguish singular and plural ‘owners’. The princess’s suitors.
The princesses’ suitors.
The ‘owner’ is the word before the apostrophe.
(iii) Apostrophes are also used in
condensed expressions of time.
The work of a moment.
Amoment’s work.
APPAL
appal
appearance appendix
appologise/-ize appology
appreciate

approach
aquaint
aquaintance
aquarium (singular)
The work of three years.
Three years’ work.
If you follow the guidelines in (ii) above, you will never make a mistake.
appalled, appalling (not -aul-)
See also ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
(not -ence)
This word has two plurals, each used in a different sense.
Use APPENDIXES in an anatomical sense. Use APPENDICES when referring to supplementary sections in books or formal documents.
See also FOREIGN PLURALS.
Wrong spelling. See APOLOGISE/APOLOGIZE.
Wrong spelling. See APOLOGY.
There are three distinct meanings of this word.
I APPRECIATE your kindness
(= recognise gratefully).
I APPRECIATE that you have had a difficult time lately (= understand). My cottage HAS APPRECIATED in value already (= increased).

Some people would choose to avoid the second use above (understand, realise) but the verb is now widely used in this sense and this has become acceptable.

approached, approaching ( not apr-) Wrong spelling. See ACQUAINT.
Wrong spelling. See ACQUAINTANCE. aquaria or aquariums (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
ARTIST OR ARTISTE?
aquiesce Wrong spelling. See ACQUIESCE. aquiescence Wrong spelling. See ACQUIESCENCE. aquire Wrong spelling. See ACQUIRE. arange Wrong spelling. See ARRANGE.

arbiter or arbitrator? An ARBITER is a judge or someone with decisive influence (an arbiter of fashion). In addition, an ARBITER may intervene to settle a dispute (-er).
An ARBITRATOR is someone who is officially appointed to judge the rights and wrongs of a dispute (-or).

arbitrator or mediator? An ARBITRATOR reaches a judgement but is not necessarily obeyed. A MEDIATOR attempts to bring two opposing sides together and to settle a dispute.
archipelago There are two interchangeable plural forms: archipelagoes, archipelagos. arctic (not artic, although frequently mispronounced as such)
argument
arrange
(not arguement)
arranged, arranging, arrangement (not -r-)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
artic
article
Wrong spelling. See ARCTIC.
(not -cal)
See -CAL/-CLE.
artist or artiste? Traditionally, an ARTIST is skilled in one or more of the fine arts (painting, for example, or sculpture).

Traditionally, the term ARTISTE is reserved for a performer or entertainer (a music-hall ARTISTE). However, ARTIST is now being used to cover both meanings in the sense of ‘skilled practitioner’, and ARTISTE is becoming redundant.
AS OR LIKE?
as or like?
asma
asphalt
aspirin
assassin
assma
assume or presume?
assurance
or insurance?
asthma
astrology
or astronomy?
athlete athletics Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

You look AS if you have seen a ghost. You look AS though you have seen a ghost.
AS I expected, he’s missed the train. You look LIKE your mother.
Wrong spelling. See ASTHMA.
(not ashphalt, as it is frequently
mispronounced)
(not asprin, as it is frequently
mispronounced)
( not assasin or asassin)
Wrong spelling. See ASTHMA.

To ASSUME something to be the case is to take it for granted without any proof. To PRESUME something to be the case is to base it on the evidence available.

Insurance companies distinguish between these two terms.
ASSURANCE is the technical term given for insurance against a certainty (e.g. death) where payment is guaranteed. INSURANCE is the technical term given for insurance against a risk (such as fire, burglary, illness) where payment is made only if the risk materialises.
(not asma or assma)
ASTROLOGY is the study of the
influence of the stars and planets on human life and fortune.
ASTRONOMY is the scientific study of the stars and planets.
(not athelete)
(not atheletics)
AXIS
attach
audible
audience
aural or oral?
authoritative
autobiography or biography?
automaton (singular)
avenge or revenge?
averse
awkward
axis (singular) attached, attaching, attachment (not -tch) (not -able)
(not -ance)

AURAL refers to the ears and hearing. ORAL refers to the mouth and speaking. In speech these words can be very confusing as they are pronounced
identically.
(not authorative)
An AUTOBIOGRAPHY is an account of his or her life by the author.
A BIOGRAPHY is an account of a life written by someone else.
automata, automatons (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
The words are very close in meaning but AVENGE is often used in the sense of just retribution, punishing a wrong done to another.
Hamlet felt bound to AVENGE his father’s death.
REVENGE is often used in the sense of ‘getting one’s own back’ for a petty offence.
See ADVERSE or AVERSE?.
Notice -wkw-. The spelling itself looks awkward!
axes (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
babyhood
bachelor
bacillus (singular)
bacterium (singular)
badly
banister/bannister
bargain
basically
batchelor
bath or bathe?
beach or beech?
B
(not -i-)
This word is an exception to the -y rule.
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(not -tch-)
bacilli (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
bacteria (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
This word is often carelessly positioned with disastrous effects on meaning.
See AMBIGUITY (iii).
banisters, bannisters (plural)
Although the first spelling is more widely used, both spellings are correct.

( not -ian)
basic + ally (not basicly)
Wrong spelling. See BACHELOR.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

Ihavea BATH every morning (= I have a wash in the bath).
I BATHthe babyevery day(= washina bath).
I have had a new BATH fitted.
We BATHE every day (= swim).
BATHE the wound with disinfectant (= cleanse).
We have a BATHE whenever we can (= a swim).

Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: Budleigh Salterton has a stony BEACH. BEECH trees shed their leaves in autumn.
BETWEEN YOU AND I
beautiful
before begin
beginner beige
belief
believe
benefit
berth or birth?
beside or besides?
between
between you and I Use your knowledge of French beau to help you.
( not befor)
Note these forms and spellings:
I begin, I am beginning.
I began, I have begun.
(not -n-)
(not -ie-)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
(not -ei)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
believed, believing, believer
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
benefited, benefiting
It is a common mistake to use -tt-. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
We have a spare BERTH on our boat. We are proud to announce the BIRTH of adaughter.
Use BESIDE in the sense of next to, by the side of:
Your glasses are BESIDE your bed. May I sit BESIDE you?
Use BESIDES in the sense of also, as well as:
BESIDES , I can’t afford it.
BESIDES being very clever, Ann also works hard.
See AMONG OR BETWEEN?.
Incorrect. Write: between you and me.
See PREPOSITIONS.
BI
bi
biannual or biennial?
bicycle
bidding or biding?
biege
biennial
bimonthly

binoculars biography biscuit
biulding bivouac

This prefix means ‘two’.
Hence bicycle
bifocals
bigamy, and so on.
Note, however, that some words
beginning with ‘bi’ can be ambiguous.
See BIMONTHLY and BIWEEKLY.
See also BIANNUAL OR BIENNIAL?.
BIANNUAL means twice a year (not -n-). BIENNIAL means every two years (a biennial festival) or lasting for two years (horticultural, etc). (not -ual)
bi + cycle
(not bycycle or bycicle)
bid + ing = bidding
The BIDDING at the auction was fast and furious.
BIDDING farewell, the knight cantered away.
bide + ing = biding.
Her critics were just BIDING their time.
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
Wrong spelling. See BEIGE.
See BIANNUAL OR BIENNIAL?.
Avoid using BIMONTHLY as it has two conflicting meanings. It can mean both every two months and also twice a month. (Compare BIWEEKLY.)
(not -nn-)
See AUTOBIOGRAPHY OR BIOGRAPHY?
( not -iu-)
Wrong spelling. See BUILDING.
bivouacked, bivouacking
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
BORROW OR LEND?
biweekly
bizarre
blond or blonde?
board or bored?
boarder or border?
boisterous
boney/bony
border
bored
bored by, bored with born or borne?

borrow or lend? This word has two conflicting meanings and is perhaps best avoided. It can mean both every two weeks (i.e. fortnightly) and also twice a week. (Compare
BIMONTHLY.)
(not -zz-)
BLOND is used to describe men’s hair. BLOND is used to describe women’s hair. A BLONDE is a woman.

A BOARD is a piece of wood, also a committee or similar group of people. To BOARD means to get on (train, etc.) and also to pay for living in someone’s house and having food provided.
BORED means uninterested.

A BOARDER is a person who pays to live in someone’s house.
A BORDER is the edge or boundary of something.
(not boistrous, although often
mispronounced as two syllables)
Both spellings are correct, although the second spelling is more commonly used.
See BOARDER OR BORDER?.
See BOARD OR BORED?.
( not bored of)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

Dickens was BORN in Portsmouth. She has BORNE five children.
He has BORNE a heavy burden of guilt all his life.

May I BORROW your pen? (= use your pen temporarily)
Please LEND me your pen. (= pass it to me and allow me to use it)
BOTH...AND
both . . . and
bought or brought?
bouncy
brackets Take care with the positioning of each half of this paired construction. Each must introduce grammatically similar things:
He is BOTH clever AND hardworking. (not: He both is clever and hardworking!)
He BOTH paints AND sculpts.
He bought BOTH the gardening tools AND the DIY kit.

Notice, however, the ambiguity in the last example. It could mean that there were just two gardening tools and he bought both of them. In the case of possible confusion, always replace:

He bought the gardening tools and also the DIY kit.
He bought the two gardening tools and also the DIY kit.
He bought both of the gardening tools and also the DIY kit.

BOUGHT is the past tense of to buy. She BOUGHT eggs, bacon and bread. BROUGHT is the past tense of to bring. They BROUGHT their books home. (not -ey)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
Round brackets enclose additional
information which the writer wants to keep separate from the main body of the sentence.

Jane Austen (born in 1775) died in Winchester.
My neighbour (have you met her?) has won £250,000.
Notice how sentences in brackets are not fully punctuated.
breath or breathe?
brief, briefly
Britain
Brittany
broach or brooch?

broccoli
broken
brought
buffalo (singular)
building buisness
BUISNESS
They don’t begin with a capital letter or have a full stop at the end if they occur within another sentence as in the example above. They do, however, have a question mark or an exclamation mark, if
appropriate.

Square brackets indicate the material has been added to the original by another writer:

When I [Hilaire Belloc] am dead, I hope it may be said:
‘His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.’
BREATH is the noun, and rhymes with ‘death’.
He called for help with his dying
BREATH.
BREATHE is the verb and rhymes with ‘seethe’.
BREATHE deeply and fill those lungs! (not -ei-)
(not -ian)
(not Britanny)

You BROACHadifficult topicor
BROACHabottle.
You wear a BROOCH.
(not brocolli)
(not brocken)
See BOUGHT OR BROUGHT?.
buffaloes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
(not -iu-)
Wrong spelling. See BUSINESS.
BUREAU
bureau
bureaucracy burglar
burned/burnt business
but
buy/by
bureaux, bureaus (plural)
Both forms are correct.
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
( not -sy)
(not burgular, as often mispronounced) Both forms are correct.
(not buisness)
See AND/BUT.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Ineedto BUY some new jeans.
The book is BY Charlotte Bronte¨. Wait BY the gate.
The children rushed BY.
cactus (singular)
caffeine
-cal/-cle
C
cactuses or cacti (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not -ie-)
Adjectives end in -cal.
calculator calendar
calf (singular)
Nouns end in -cle.
e.g. critical
logical
magical
musical
nautical
physical
practical
theatrical
tropical
whimsical

( not -er)
article
bicycle
circle
cubicle
cuticle
miracle particle spectacle uncle
vehicle
calves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
callous or callus?
can or may? CALLOUS means cruel, insensitive, not caring about how others feel.
CALLUS means a hard patch of skin or tissue.
Interestingly, skin may be CALLOUSED (made hard) or CALLUSED (having calluses).

Strictly speaking, CAN means ‘being able’ and MAY means ‘having permission’. It is best to preserve this distinction in formal contexts. However, informally, CAN is used to cover both meanings:
CANING OR CANNING?
caning or canning?
canister
cannon or canon?
cannot or can not?
canoe
canon
can’t
canvas or canvass?

capital letters You CAN go now (= are permitted). cane +ing =caning
CANING is now banned in all schools. Can + ing = canning
The CANNING factory is closing down.
(See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).)
( not -nn-)
A CANON is a cleric.
A CANNON is a large gun.
Both forms are acceptable but the second is rarely seen.
canoed, canoeing, canoeist
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
See CANNON OR CANON?.
Contraction of CANNOT.
CANVAS is a rough cloth.
To CANVASS is to ask for votes.
Use a capital letter in these circumstances: " to begin a sentence:
My father will be fifty tomorrow. " to begin sentences of direct speech:

‘You will be sorry for this in the morning,’ she said.
She said, ‘You will be sorry for this in the morning. You never learn.’
" for the pronoun ‘I’ wherever it comes in the sentence:
You know that I have no money. " for all proper nouns – names of:
people (Mary Browne)
countries (Malta)
CAPITAL LETTERS
languages (French)
religious festivals (Easter, Diwali) firms (Express Cleaners)
organisations (the British Broadcasting Corporation)
historical periods (the Renaissance)

(the Neolithic Period) days of the week (Monday)
months of the year (September)
but not usually the seasons.
Note these adjectives derived from proper nouns also have a capital letter:
a Jewish festival; a German poet
However, the capital is dropped when the connection with the proper noun becomes lost:
venetian blinds, french windows
Note also that titles are capitalised only when part of a proper noun:
Bishop Christopher Budd, otherwise the bishop
Aunt Gladys, otherwise my aunt
Captain Llewellyn, otherwise the captain

" to begin lines of poetry (although some poets like e.e. cummings dispense with this convention)
" to mark the first word and the subsequent key words in titles: The Taming of the Shrew
An Old Wives’ Tale
" for emphasis:
And then – BANG!
" for some acronyms and initialisms:
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT OR CORPORAL PUNISHMENT?
NATO
UNESCO
CAFOD
OXFAM
PTO
RSVP

Note that some acronyms have now become words in their own right and are no longer written in capitals: laser, sauna, radar.

Note also that some initialisms are usually written in lower case: i.e., e.g., c/o, wpm.
" for the Deity as a mark of respect and for sacred books:
God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Almighty, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas
" for each word of an address:
Mrs Anna Sendall
10 Furze Crescent
ALPHINGTON
Hants PD6 9EF

" for the salutation in a letter (first word and key words only) and for the first letter of the complimentary close:

Dear Sir
Dear Mrs Hughes
My dear niece
Yours faithfully
Yours sincerely
With much love
With best wishes
capital punishment or corporal punishment?
cappuccino
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT=death CORPORAL PUNISHMENT = beating
(not -p-)
CAULIFLOWER
capsize
captain
capuccino
career
cargo (singular)

Caribbean carreer
carrying
cast or caste?
caster or castor?
catagorical
catagory
catarrh
catastrophe
categorical
category (singular) cauliflower

This is the only verb in the English language of more than one syllable that must end in -ize.

( not -ian)
Wrong spelling. See CAPPUCCINO.
(not -rr-)
cargoes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
( not -rr-, not -b-)
Wrong spelling. See CAREER.
carry + ing
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
Use CAST for a group of actors in a play and for a plaster CAST and a CAST in an eye.
Use CASTE when referring to a social group in Hindu society.

Both caster sugar and castor sugar are correct.
Both sugar caster and sugar castor are correct.
Both casters and castors can be used when referring to the little wheels fixed to the legs of furniture.
But castor oil, not caster oil.

Wrong spelling. See CATEGORICAL.
Wrong spelling. See CATEGORY.
(not -rh)
(not -y)
categorically (not cata-)
categories (plural) (not cata-)
(not -flour)
CEILING
ceiling
Cellophane
censer, censor or censure?
centenarian or centurion?
century (singular)
cereal or serial?
ceremonial or ceremonious? (not -ie-)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
(not Sello-)
A CENSER is a container in which incense is burnt during a religious ceremony. A CENSOR is a person who examines plays, books, films, etc. before deciding if they are suitable for public performance or publication.
To CENSOR is to do the work of a CENSOR.

CENSURE is official and formal
disapproval or condemnation of an action. To CENSURE is to express this
condemnation in a formal written or spoken statement.

A CENTENARIAN is someone who is at least 100 years old.
A CENTURION is the commander of a company of 100 men in the ancient Roman army.
centuries (plural) (not centua-)
See PLURALS (iii).
CEREAL is food processed from grain. A SERIAL is a book or radio or television performance delivered in instalments.

Both adjectives come from the noun CEREMONY.
CEREMONIAL describes the ritual used for a formal religious or public event (a CEREMONIAL occasion).
CEREMONIOUS describes the type of person who likes to behave over-formally on social occasions. It is not altogether complimentary (a CEREMONIOUS wave of the hand).
CHILDISH OR CHILDLIKE?
ceremony (singular)
certain or curtain
changeable
chaos
character
chateau/chaˆteau (singular)
check or cheque?
cherub (singular)
chestnut
chief (singular)
childish or childlike? ceremonies (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
CERTAIN means sure.
Are you CERTAIN that he apologised? CURTAINS are window drapes.
Do draw the CURTAINS.
Note that the c sounds like s in certain and like k in curtain.
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
(not -gable)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
chaotic
(not charachter)
chateaux or chaˆteaux (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Always CHECK your work.
May I pay by CHEQUE?(not ‘check’ as in the United States)

This word has two plurals.
Cherubim is reserved exclusively for the angels often portrayed as little children with wings.
Cherubs can be used either for angels or for enchanting small children.
(not chesnut, as it is often mispronounced) chiefs (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
The teenager was rebuked by the
magistrate for his CHILDISH behaviour. (i.e. which he should have outgrown) The grandfather has retained his sense of CHILDLIKE wonder at the beauty of the
CHIMNEY
chimney (singular)
chior
chocolate
choice choir
choose
chord or cord?
Christianity Christmas chronic

chrysanthemum chrystal
cieling
cigarette
natural world. (i.e. marvellously direct, innocent and enthusiastic)
chimneys (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
Wrong spelling. See CHOIR.
(not choclat although often
mispronounced as such)
( not -se)
(not -io-)

I CHOOSE my words carefully.
Iam CHOOSING my words carefully. I CHOSE my words carefully yesterday. Ihave CHOSEN them carefully.

CHORD is used in a mathematical or musical context.
CORD refers to string and is generally used when referring to anatomical parts like the umbilical cord, spinal cord and vocal cords.
Note: you will occasionally see CHORD used instead of CORD in a medical context but it seems very old-fashioned now.

( not Cr-)
(not Cristmas or Chrismas)

( not cr-)
This word is often misused. It doesn’t mean terrible or serious. It means longlasting, persistent, when applied to an illness.

( not cry-)
Wrong spelling. See CRYSTAL.
Wrong spelling. See CEILING.
(not -rr)
COLONEL OR KERNEL?
cite, sight or site?
clarity
clothes or cloths?
coarse or course?
codeine
colander
collaborate
collaborator
collapse
collapsible
colleagues
collective nouns college
colloquial
collossal
colonel or kernel?

To CITE means to refer to.
SIGHT is vision or something seen. A SITE is land, usually set aside for a particular purpose.
See AMBIGUITY.
CLOTHES are garments.
CLOTHS are dusters or scraps of material. COARSE means vulgar, rough:
COARSE language, COARSE cloth.
COURSE means certainly:
OF COURSE

COURSE also means a series of lectures, a direction, a sports area, and part of a meal:

an advanced COURSE
to change COURSE
agolf COURSE
the main COURSE

( not -ie-)
(not -ar)
collaborated, collaborating
collaboration
collapsed, collapsing
(not -able)
See NOUNS.
(not colledge)
Wrong spelling. See COLOSSAL.
A COLONEL is a senior officer. A KERNEL is the inner part of a nut.
COLONS
colons (i) Colons can introduce a list:
Get your ingredients together: flour, sugar, dried fruit, butter and milk.

Note that a summing-up word should always precede the colon (here ‘ingredients’).
(ii) Colons can precede an explanation or amplification of what has gone before: The teacher was elated: at last the pupils were gaining in confidence.
Note that what precedes the colon must always be able to stand on its own grammatically. It must be a sentence in its own right.
(iii) Colons can introduce dialogue in a play:
Henry (with some embarrassment): It’s all my own fault.
(iv) Colons can be used instead of a comma to introduce direct speech: Henry said, with some embarrassment: ‘It’s all my own fault.’
(v) Colons can introduce quotations: Donne closes the poem with the moving tribute:
‘Thy firmness makes my circle just And makes me end where I began.’ (vi) Colons can introduce examples as in this reference book.
Compare SEMICOLONS.
colossal (not -ll-)
colour (not color, as in American English) colourful
comemorate comfortable coming
comission commands
commas Wrong spelling. See COMMEMORATE. (four syllables, not three)
come +ing =coming(not comming)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii)
Wrong spelling. See COMMISSION.
(i) Direct commands, if expressed emphatically, require an exclamation mark:

Stop, thief!
Put your hands up!
Stop talking!

If expressed calmly and
conversationally, however, a full stop is sufficient:

Just wait there a moment and I’ll be with you.
Tell me your story once again.

(ii) Reported commands (indirect
commands) never need an
exclamation mark because, when they are reported, they become statements.

He ordered the thief to stop.
She told him to put his hands up. The teacher yelled at the class to stop talking.

Commas are so widely misused that it is worth discussing their function in some detail. First, let us make it very clear when commas cannot be used.

(a) A comma should never divide a subject from its verb. The two go together:

My parents, had very strict views. My parents had very strict views. Take extra care with compound subjects:
The grandparents, the parents, and the children, were in some ways to blame.
The grandparents, the parents, and the children were in some ways to blame.

(b) Commas should never be used in an attempt to string sentences together. Sentences must be either properly joined (and commas don’t have this function) or clearly separated by full stops, question marks or exclamation marks.

Commas have certain very specific jobs to do within a sentence. Let us look at each in turn:
(i) Commas separate items in a list:
I bought apples, pears, and grapes. She washed up, made the beds, and had breakfast.
The novel is funny, touching, and beautifully written.

The final comma before ‘and’ in a list is optional. However, use it to avoid any ambiguity. See (ix) below.
(ii) Commas are used to separate terms of address from the rest of the sentence:
Sheila, how nice to see you!
Can I help you, madam?
I apologise, ladies and gentlemen, for this delay.

Note that a pair of commas is needed in the last example above because the term of address occurs mid-sentence. It is a very common error to omit one of the commas.

(iii) Commas are used to separate
interjections, asides and sentence tags like isn’t it? don’t you? haven’t you?. You’ll notice in the examples below that all these additions could be removed and these sentences would still be grammatically sound:

My mother, despite her good
intentions, soon stopped going to the gym.
Of course, I’ll help you when I can. You’ve met Tom, haven’t you?
(iv) Commas are used to mark off phrases in apposition:
Prince Charles, the future king, has an older sister.
The phrase ‘the future king’ is another way of referring to ‘Prince Charles’ and is punctuated just like an aside.

(v) A comma separates any material that precedes it from the main part of the sentence:

Although she admired him, she would never go out with him.
If you want to read the full story, buy The Sunday Times.

Note that if the sentences are reversed so that the main part of the sentence comes first, the comma becomes optional.

(vi) Commas mark off participles and participial phrases, whenever they come in the sentence:

Laughing gaily, she ran out of the room.
He flung himself on the sofa,
overcome with remorse.
The children, whispering excitedly, crowded through the door.
For a definition of participles see
PARTICIPLES.
(vii) Commas mark off some adjectival clauses. Don’t worry too much about the grammatical terminology here. You’ll be able to decide whether you need to mark them off in your own work by matching them against these examples.

Can you see the difference in meaning that a pair of commas makes here? Read the two sentences aloud, pausing where the commas indicate that you should pause in the first sentence, and the two different meanings should become clear:

The firemen, who wore protective clothing, were uninjured. (= nobody injured)

The firemen who wore protective clothing were uninjured. (but those who didn’t wear it...)

(viii) Commas are used to mark a pause at asuitable point inalong sentence. This will be very much a question of style. Read your own work carefully and decide exactly how you want it to be read.

(ix) Commas are sometimes needed to clarify meaning. In the examples below, be aware how the reader could make an inappropriate
connection:
She reversed the car into the main road and my brother waved goodbye. commemorate
comming
commission commit

She reversed the car into the main road and my brother??
She reversed the car into the main road, and my brother waved goodbye.

In the skies above the stars glittered palely.
In the skies above the stars??
In the skies above, the stars glittered palely.

Notice how the comma can
sometimes be essential with ‘and’ in a list:

We shopped at Moores, Browns, Supervalu, Marks and Spencer and Leonards.

Is the fourth shop called Marks, or Marks and Spencer?
Is the fifth shop called Leonards, or Spencer and Leonards?
A comma makes all clear:
We shopped at Moores, Browns, Supervalu, Marks and Spencer, and Leonards.

( not -m-)
Wrong spelling. See COMING.
(not -m-)
committed, committing, commitment
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
committee
common nouns comparative
comparative and superlative
See NOUNS.
comparatively (not compari-)
(i) Use the comparative form of adjectives and adverbs when comparing two:
John is TALLER than Tom.
John works MORE ENERGETICALLY than Tom.
Use the superlative form when comparing three or more:
John is the TALLEST of all the engineers.
John works THE MOST
ENERGETICALLY of all the
engineers.

(ii) There are two ways of forming the comparative and superlative of adjectives:

(a) Add -er and -est to short adjectives: tall taller tallest happy happier happiest
(b) Use more and most with longer adjectives:
dangerous more dangerous most dangerous successful more successful most successful
The comparative and superlative forms of adverbs are formed in exactly the same way:
(c) Short adverbs add -er and -est. You run FASTER than I do. He runs the FASTEST of us all. (d) Use more and most with longer adverbs.
Nikki works MORE
CONSCIENTIOUSLY than Sarah. Niamh works THE MOST
CONSCIENTIOUSLY of them all.

(iii) There are three irregular adjectives: good better best bad worse worst (iv)
compare to/ compare with
comparitive
competition
compleatly
complement or compliment?
complementary or complimentary?
COMPLEMENTARY OR COMPLIMENTARY?
many more most There are four irregular adverbs: well better best badly worse worst much more most little less least

A very common error is to mix the two methods of forming the comparative and the superlative:

more simpler more easiest simpler easiest

(v) Another pitfall is to try to form the comparative and superlative of absolute words like perfect, unique, excellent, complete, ideal. Something is either perfect or it isn’t. It can’t be more perfect or less perfect, most perfect or least perfect.

Both constructions are acceptable but many people still prefer to use ‘compare with’.

Wrong spelling. See COMPARATIVE.
competitive, competitively.
Wrong spelling. See COMPLETELY.

COMPLEMENT = that which completes Half the ship’s COMPLEMENT were recruited in Norway.
To COMPLEMENT=togowellwith something
Her outfit was COMPLEMENTED by wellchosen accessories.

COMPLIMENT = praise, flattering remarks
To COMPLIMENT=topraise.
Use COMPLEMENTARY in the sense of completing a whole:
COMPLETELY
completely
complex
or complicated?
compliment
compose/comprise
comprise
compromise computer
concede
conceive
COMPLEMENTARY medicine
COMPLEMENTARY jobs
Use COMPLIMENTARY in two senses: (a) flattering
(b) free of charge
COMPLIMENTARY remarks
COMPLIMENTARY tickets
complete + ly (not completly, completley or compleatly)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
Both words mean ‘made up of many different intricate and confusing aspects’. However, use COMPLEX when you mean ‘intricate’, and COMPLICATED when you mean ‘difficult to understand’.
See COMPLEMENT OR COMPLIMENT?.
The report IS COMPOSED OF ten sections. (= is made up of)
The report COMPRISES ten sections. (= contains)
Never use the construction ‘is comprised of’. It is always incorrect grammatically.
( not -ize)
(not -ize)
(not -or)
conceived, conceiving, conceivable
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
concise confer
confidant, confidante or confident?
conferred, conferring, conference See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
A CONFIDANT (male or female) or a CONFIDANTE (female only) is someone connection or connexion?

connoisseur conscientious
consist in or consist of?
consistent consonant
contagious or infectious?
contemporary
CONTEMPORARY
to whom one tells one’s secrets ‘in confidence’.
CONFIDENT means assured.
Both spellings are correct, but the first one is more commonly used.
Used for both men and women.
For Belloc, happiness CONSISTED IN ‘laughter and the love of friends’. (consist in = have as its essence)
Lunch CONSISTED OF bread, cheese and fruit.
(not -ant)
There are 21 consonants in the alphabet, all the letters except for the vowels: bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyz
Note, however, that y can be both a vowel and a consonant:
y is a consonant when it begins a word or a syllable (yolk, beyond);
y is a vowel when it sounds like i or e (sly, baby).

Both refer to diseases passed to others. Strictly speaking, CONTAGIOUS means passed by bodily contact, and
INFECTIOUS means passed by means of air or water.
Used figuratively, the terms are
interchangeable:
INFECTIOUS laughter, CONTAGIOUS enthusiasm.
( not contempory, as often mispronounced) Nowadays, this word is used in two senses:
CONTEMPTIBLE OR CONTEMPTUOUS
contemptible or contemptuous
continual
continual or continuous?
contractions
control
controller
(a) happening or living at the same time (in the past)
(b) modern, current

Be aware of possible ambiguity if both these meanings are possible in a given context:

Hamlet is being performed in
contemporary dress (sixteenth-century or modern?).

A person or an action worthy of contempt is CONTEMPTIBLE.
A person who shows contempt is
CONTEMPTUOUS.
continually
CONTINUAL means frequently repeated, occurring with short breaks only.
CONTINUOUS means uninterrupted.

Take care with placing the apostrophe in contractions. It is placed where the letter has been omitted and not where the two words are joined. These happen to coincide in some contractions:

I’d (I would)
they aren’t (they are not)
it isn’t (it is not)
you hadn’t (you had not)
you wouldn’t (you would not)
she won’t (she will not)
we haven’t (we have not)
Ishan’t (Ishall not)

It wascommoninJaneAusten’stimeto use two apostrophes in shan’t (sha’n’t) to show that two sets of letters had been omitted but this is no longer correct today.
controlled, controlling
(not -or)
COURAGEOUS
convenience
convenient
cord
corporal punishment correspond
correspondence
correspondent or co-respondent?
could of
couldn’t
council or counsel?
councillor or counsellor?
counterfeit
courageous (not -ance)
conveniently (not convien-)
See CHORD OR CORD?.
See CAPITAL OR CORPORAL PUBLISHMENT?.
( not -r-)
(not -ance)

A CORRESPONDENT is someone who writes letters.
A CO-RESPONDENT is cited in divorce proceedings.

This is incorrect and arises from an attempt to write down what is heard. Write ‘could’ve’ in informal contexts and ‘could have’ in formal ones.

I COULD HAVE given you a lift. I COULD’VE given you a lift.
Beware also: should of/would of/must of/ might of. All are incorrect forms.
See CONTRACTIONS.
A COUNCIL is a board of elected representatives.
COUNSEL is advice, also the term used for a barrister representing a client in court.

A COUNCILLOR is an elected
representative.
A COUNSELLOR is one who gives professional guidance, such as a study COUNSELLOR, a marriage
COUNSELLOR, a debt COUNSELLOR. This is one of the few exceptions to the IE/EI spelling rule.
See IE/EI SPELLING RULE.
(not -gous)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
COURSE
course
courteous
credible or credulous?
crisis (singular)
criterion (singular)
criticise/criticize criticism
cronic crucial cry

crysanthemum crystal
cupboard
curb or kerb
See COARSE OR COURSE?.
courteously, courtesy
If something is CREDIBLE, it is believable.
If someone is CREDULOUS,theyare gullible (i.e. too easily taken in).
crises (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
criteria (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Both spellings are correct.
This word is frequently misspelt.
Remember critic + ism.
Wrong spelling. See CHRONIC.
cried, crying
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
Wrong spelling. See CHRYSANTHEMUM. (not chr-)
(not cub-)

To CURB one’s temper means to control or restrain it.
A CURB is a restraint (e.g. a curb bit for a horse).
A KERB is the edging of a pavement.

curious
curiosity
curly
currant or current? (not -ious-)
(not -ey)

A CURRANT is a small dried grape used in cooking.
A CURRENT is a steady flow of water, air or electricity.
CURRENT can also mean happening at curriculum (singular)
curriculum vitae curtain
CURTAIN
the present time (as in CURRENT affairs, CURRENT practice).
curriculums/curricula (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(abbreviation: CV)
See CERTAIN OR CURTAIN?.
D
daily (not dayly)
This is an exception to the -y rule.
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
dairy or diary? We buy our cream at a local DAIRY. Kate writes in her DIARY every day. dangling participles See PARTICIPLES.
dashes Dashes are used widely in informal notes and letters.
(i) A dash can be used to attach an afterthought:
Ishouldlovetocome–that’sifIcan get the time off.
(ii) A dash can replace a colon before a list in informal writing:
The thieves took everything – video, television, cassettes, computer, camera, the lot.
(iii) A dash can precede a summary: Video, television, cassettes, computer, camera – the thieves took the lot.
(iv) A pair of dashes can be used like a pair of commas or a pair of brackets around a parenthesis:
Geraldine is – as you know – very shy with strangers.
(v) A dash can mark a pause before the climax is reached:
There he was at the foot of the stairs
–dead.
data (plural)
dates
deceased or diseased?
deceit
DECIET
(vi) Dashes can indicate hesitation in speech:
I – er – don’t – um – know what – what to say.
(vii) Dashes can indicate missing letters or even missing words where propriety or discretion require it:

c – – – l (ship of the desert)
Susan L—- comes from Exeter. He swore softly, ‘– it’.

datum (singular)
Strictly speaking, DATA should be used with a plural verb:
The DATA have been collected by research students.
You will, however, increasingly see DATA used with a singular verb and this use has now become acceptable.
The DATA has been collected by research students.
See NUMBERS for a discussion of how to set out dates.
DECEASED means dead.
DISEASED means affected by illness or infection.
(not -ie)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
deceive
decent or descent?
decide deciet
DECENT means fair, upright, reasonable. DESCENT means act of coming down, ancestry.
decided, deciding (not decied-)
Wrong spelling. See DECEIT.
DECIEVE
decieve
decision
de´colletage
decrepit
defective or deficient?
defer
deffinite
deficient
definate
definite
definitely
deisel
delapidated delusion
denouement/ de´nouement dependant or dependent? Wrong spelling. See DECEIVE.
( not de-)
(not -id)

DEFECTIVE means not working properly (a DEFECTIVE machine).
DEFICIENT means lacking something vital (a diet DEFICIENT in vitamin C).
deferred, deferring, deference
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
Wrong spelling. See DEFINITE.
See DEFECTIVE OR DEFICIENT?.
Wrong spelling. See DEFINITE.
(not -ff-, not -ate)
Wrong spelling. See DIESEL.
Wrong spelling. See DILAPIDATED.
See ALLUSION, DELUSION OR ILLUSION?.
Both spellings are correct.
The adjective (meaning reliant) is always
-ent.
She is a widow with five DEPENDENT children.
Iam absolutely DEPENDENT on a pension.

The noun (meaning someone who is dependent) has traditionally been spelt
-ant. However, the American practice of writing either -ant or -ent for the noun has now spread here. Either spelling is now considered correct for the noun but descent

describe
description
desease
desert or dessert?
desiccated desirable
desperate
dessert
dessiccated destroy
detached deter
deteriorate
deterrent
develop
development device/devise
DEVICE/DEVISE
be aware that some conservative readers would consider this slipshod.
She has five DEPENDANTS/
DEPENDENTS.
See DECENT OR DESCENT?.
( not dis-)
(not -scrib-)
Wrong spelling. See DISEASE.
A DESERT is sandy.
A DESSERT is a pudding.
(not dess-)
(not desireable)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
( not desparate)
The word is derived from spes (Latin word for hope). This may help you to remember the e in the middle syllable.
See DESERT OR DESSERT?.
Wrong spelling. See DESICCATED.
destroyed, destroying (not dis-)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(not detatched)
deterred, deterring
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
(not deteriate, as it is often
mispronounced)
( not -ant)
developed, developing (not -pp-)
(not developement)
DEVICE is the noun.
A padlock is an intriguing DEVICE.
DIAGNOSIS
diagnosis (singular)
diagnosis or prognosis?
DEVISE is the verb.
Try to DEVISE a simple burglar alarm. diagnoses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
DIAGNOSIS is the identification of an illness or a difficulty.
PROGNOSIS is the forecast of its likely development and effects.
diarrhoea
diary (singular)
dictionary (singular)
didn’t
diesel
dietician/dietitian differcult
difference
different
different from/to/than
difficult diaries (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
See DAIRY OR DIARY?.
dictionaries (plural) (not -nn-)
See PLURALS (iii).
(not did’nt)
See CONTRACTIONS.
(not deisel)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Both spellings are correct.
Wrong spelling. See DIFFICULT.
(not -ance)
(not -ant)
‘Different from’ and ‘different to’ are now both considered acceptable forms. My tastes are DIFFERENT FROM yours. My tastes are DIFFERENT TO yours.
Conservative users would, however, much prefer the preposition ‘from’ and this is widely used in formal contexts.

‘Different than’ is acceptable in
American English but is not yet fully acceptable in British English.
(not differcult, not difficalt)
DISCOVER OR INVENT?
dilapidated dilemma
dinghy or dingy?
dingo (singular)
dining or dinning?
diphtheria
diphthong
direct speech disagreeable disappear
disappearance disappoint
disapprove
disassociate or dissociate?
disaster
disastrous
disc or disk?
disciple
discipline
discover or invent? (not delapidated)

This word is often used loosely to mean ‘a problem’. Strictly speaking it means a difficult choice between two possibilities.
A DINGHY is a boat (plural – dinghies).
See PLURALS (iii).
DINGY means dull and drab.
dingoes or dingos (plural)

dine + ing = dining (as in dining room) din + ing = dinning (noise dinning in ears)
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
(not diptheria as it is often mispronounced) (not dipthong as it is often mispronounced)
See INVERTED COMMAS.
dis + agree + able
dis + appear
(not -ence)
dis + appoint
dis + approve
Both are correct, but the second is more widely used and approved.
(not disasterous, as it is often mispronounced)
Use ‘disc’ except when referring to computer disks.
(not disiple)
You DISCOVER something that has been there all the time unknown to you (e.g. a star).
DISCREET OR DISCRETE?
discreet or discrete?
discrepancy (singular) discribe
discribtion
discription
discuss
discussion
disease
diseased
dishevelled
disintegrate

disinterested or
uninterested?
You INVENT something if you create it for the first time (e.g. a time machine).

You are DISCREET if you can keep secrets and behave diplomatically. Subject areas are DISCRETE if they are quite separate and unrelated.

discrepancies (plural)
Wrong spelling. See DESCRIBE.
Wrong spelling. See DESCRIPTION. Wrong spelling. See DESCRIPTION. discussed, discussing
See DECEASED OR DISEASED?.
(not disintergrate)
Careful users would wish to preserve a distinction in meaning between these two words. Use the word DISINTERESTED to mean ‘impartial, unselfish, acting for the good of others and not for yourself’.

My motives are entirely
DISINTERESTED;itisjustice Iam seeking.
Use UNINTERESTED to mean ‘bored’.
His teachers say he is reluctant to
participate and is clearly UNINTERESTED in any activities the school has to offer.

Originally, DISINTERESTED was used in this sense (= having no interest in, apathetic), and it is interesting that this meaning is being revived in popular speech.
disiple
disk
displace or misplace?
dissappear
dissappoint
dissapprove
dissatisfied
dissociate
distroy
divers or diverse
does or dose?
doesn’t
DOESN’T
Avoid this use in formal contexts, however, for it is widely perceived as being incorrect.
Wrong spelling. See DISCIPLE.
See DISC OR DISK?.
To displace is to move someone or something from its usual place:
A DISPLACED hip; a DISPLACED person.
To misplace something is to put it in the wrong place (and possibly forget where it is):
A MISPLACED apostrophe; MISPLACED kindness.
Wrong spelling. See DISAPPEAR.
Wrong spelling. See DISAPPOINT.
Wrong spelling. See DISAPPROVE.
(dis + satisfied)
See DISASSOCIATE OR DISSOCIATE?.
Wrong spelling. See DESTROY.
The first is rarely used nowadays except jokingly or in mistake for the second. DIVERS means ‘several’, ‘of varying types’: DIVERS reference books.
DIVERSE means ‘very different’:
DIVERSE opinions, DIVERSE interests.

DOES he take sugar? He DOES.
(pronounced ‘duz’).
Take a DOSE of cough mixture every three hours.
(not does’nt)
See CONTRACTIONS.
DOMINO
domino (singular) dominoes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
don’t (not do’nt)
See CONTRACTIONS.
dose See DOES OR DOSE?.
double meaning See AMBIGUITY.
double negatives The effect of two negatives is to cancel each other out. This is sometimes done deliberately and can be effective:

I am not ungenerous. (= I am very generous.)
He is not unintelligent. (= He is quite intelligent.)

Frequently, however, it is not intentional and the writer ends up saying the opposite of what is meant:

I haven’t had no tea. (= I have had tea.) You don’t know nothing. (= You know something.)

Be particularly careful with ‘barely’, ‘scarcely’, ‘hardly’. These have a negative force.
Iwasn’t SCARCELY awake when you rang. (= I was very awake.)
Be careful too with constructions like this: I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t come.

Sayeither: Iwouldn’tbesurprised if he came.
or: I would be surprised if he didn’t come.

Sometimes writers put so many negatives in a sentence that the meaning becomes too complicated to unravel:

Mr Brown denied vehemently that it was doubling rule doubt

Down’s Syndrome downstairs
draft or draught?
drawers or draws?
dreamed/dreamt drier or dryer?
DRIER OR DRYER?
unlikely that no one would come to the concert.
Does Mr Brown think that the concert will be popular or not?
Rewrite as either:
Mr Brown was certain the concert would be well attended.
Or: Mr Brown feared that no one would come to the concert.
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (iv).
( not dout)
The word is derived from the Latin word dubitare, to doubt. It may help you to remember why the silent b is there.

( not Downe’s)
(one word)

A DRAFT is a first or subsequent attempt at a piece of written work before it is finished.
A DRAUGHT is a current of cool air in a room.
One also refers to a DRAUGHT of ale, a game of DRAUGHTS and a boat having a shallow DRAUGHT.

DRAWS is a verb.
She DRAWS very well for a young child. DRAWERS is a noun.
The DRAWERS of the sideboard are very stiff.
Both spellings are correct.
DRIER is generally used for the
comparative form (DRIER=more dry). DRYER is generally used for a drying machine (hair DRYER, clothes DRYER).
DRUNKENNESS
drunkenness dryness
dual or duel?
duchess
due to/owing to
duel duly
dutchess
dwelled/dwelt However, both spellings are
interchangeable.
drunken + ness
(exception to the -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
DUAL means two (e.g. DUAL controls, DUAL carriageway).
DUEL means fight or contest.
(not dutchess)
Strictly speaking, ‘due to’ should refer to anoun:
His absence was DUE TO sickness. (noun) The delay was DUE TO leaves on the line. (noun)
‘Owing to’, strictly speaking, should refer to a verb:
The march was cancelled OWING TO the storm. (verb)
OWING TO an earlier injury, he limped badly. (verb)

However, in recent years, the use of ‘due to’ where traditionally ‘owing to’ would be required has become widespread. Nevertheless, some careful writers
continue to preserve the distinction and you may wish to do so too in a formal context.
See DUAL OR DUEL?.
(not duely)
This is an exception to the magic -e rule.
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
Wrong spelling. See DUCHESS.
Both spellings are correct.
DYEING OR DYING?
dyeing or dying? DYEING comes from the verb to dye. She was DYEING all her vests green. DYING comes from the verb to die. She cursed him with her DYING breath. earnest or Ernest?
echo (singular)
economic or economical?
ecstasy (singular)
Ecstasy eczema
-ed or -t?
eerie or eyrie?
effect
effective, effectual or efficient?
E
EARNEST = serious and sincere
ERNEST = masculine first name
echoes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
ECONOMIC = related to the economy of the country, or industry or business ECONOMICAL = thrifty, avoiding extravagance
ecstasies (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
illegal drug
These can be either:
burned burnt
dreamed dreamt
dwelled dwelt
kneeled knelt
leaned leant
leaped leapt
learned learnt
smelled smelt
spelled spelt
spilled spilt
spoiled spoilt
EERIE = strange, weird, disturbing EYRIE = an eagle’s nest
See AFFECT OR EFFECT?.
EFFECTIVE =abletoproduce aresult an EFFECTIVE cure
an EFFECTIVE speech
EI/IE SPELLING RULE
EFFECTUAL = likely to be completely successful:
EFFECTUAL prayer
EFFECTUAL legislation
EFFICIENT = working well without wasting time, money or effort: an EFFICIENT secretary
an EFFICIENT engine
ei/ie spelling rule Remember the jingle:
i before e
except after c
or when sounded like a
as in ‘neighbour’ and ‘weigh’.
Here are some examples which follow the rule. There are plenty of others.
ie
achieve believe chief
field
friend
hygiene priest
relief
retrieve shield
shriek
thief
ei after c
ceiling
conceited
conceive
perceive
receive
ei sounding like a eight
reign
reindeer skein
sleigh
vein

18 exceptions caffeine
codeine
counterfeit
either
Fahrenheit
foreign
forfeit heifer height leisure neither protein seize
sheikh
sovereign surfeit
weir
weird
EIGHTH
Proper names (e.g. of people or countries) don’t follow the rule: Deirdre, Keith, Neil, Sheila, Madeira, etc.
eighth (notice -hth)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
either (not -ie-) An exception to the EI/IE SPELLING
RULE.
either . . .or (i) Take care with singular and plural verbs.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Either Jack or Tom was there. (singular verb to match Jack (singular) and Tom (singular))

Either Jack or his brothers were there. (plural verb to match ‘brothers’ (plural) which is closer to it than ‘Jack’ (singular) )

Either his brothers or Jack was there. (singular verb this time because ‘Jack’ (singular) is closer to the verb than ‘brothers’)
(ii) Be careful to place each part of the ‘either...or’ construction correctly. I have decided either that I have to build an extension or I have to move. I have decided that either I have to build an extension or I have to move. In the example above, there are these two possibilities:
I have to build an extension. Ihavetomove.
‘Either’ precedes the first one and ‘or’ precedes the second.
elf (singular) eligible or legible?
EMIGRANT OR IMMIGRANT?
The second one could be shortened:
I have decided that either I have to build an extension or (I have to) move.
I have decided that either I have to build an extension or move.

It is important that the two
constructions following ‘either’ and ‘or’ should be parallel ones:

either meat or fish
either green or red
either to love or to hate
either with malice or with kindness.

If the second construction is shortened to avoid repetition, this is fine. The missing words are obvious and can be supplied readily.
elves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
ELIGIBLE = suitably qualified
LEGIBLE=able toberead
eloquent
elude
embargo (singular)

embarrass
embarrassment
emend
emergency (singular)
emigrant or immigrant?
See ALLUDE OR ELUDE?.
embargoes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
embarrassed, embarrassing (not -r-)
See AMEND OR EMEND?.
emergencies (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
An EMIGRANT leaves his or her country to live in another.
An IMMIGRANT moves into a country to live permanently.
EMINENT OR IMMINENT?
eminent or imminent? EMINENT=famous
IMMINENT = about to happen emperor
emphasise/emphasize
encyclopaedia/
encyclopedia
endeavour
end stops
endings
enemy (singular)
enormity Both spellings are correct. Both spellings are correct.

There are three end stops: a full stop (.), an exclamation mark (!), and a question mark (?).

Use a full stop to end a statement. There are five eggs in the fridge.
Use an exclamation mark with a command or an exclamation.
Get out!
Use a question mark to end a question. Where do you live?

See EXCLAMATION MARKS.
FULL STOPS.
QUESTION MARKS.
See ADDING ENDINGS.
enemies (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
This means a grave sin or a crime, or describes something that is a grave sin or a crime or a disaster on a huge scale.
We gradually realised the full ENORMITY of the tragedy.
It is often used in popular speech to mean ‘enormousness’, ‘hugeness’, ‘immensity’. This should be avoided in a formal context.
ERUPT
enquiry or inquiry?
enrol
enrolment
ensure or insure?
enthusiasm enthusiastic envelop

envelope (singular) environment
epigram or epitaph?
equip
Ernest
erratum (singular)
erring erupt
Both spellings are correct and there is no difference in meaning. British English favours the first and American English the second.

Some writers reserve the first for a general request for information and the second for a formal investigation, but this is by no means necessary.

enrolled, enrolling
(British English – enrol; American English
– enroll)
(British English – enrolment; American English – enrollment)
to ENSURE=tomakesure
to INSURE = to arrange for financial compensation in the case of loss, injury, damage or death
(not -ou-)
enveloped, enveloping, envelopment (stress on second syllable)
envelopes (plural) (stress on third syllable) (not enviroment)

EPIGRAM = a short witty saying EPITAPH = an inscription on a
tombstone
equipped, equipping, equipment
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
See EARNEST OR ERNEST?.
errata (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
err + ing (not -r-)
(not -rr-)
ESPECIALLY OR SPECIALLY?
especially or specially? The two words are very close in meaning
estuary (singular)
etc. and sometimes overlap. However, use these exemplar sentences as a guide to exclusive uses:

I bought the car ESPECIALLY for you (= for you alone).
We are awaiting a SPECIALLY
commissioned report (= for a special purpose).
estuaries (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
(not e.t.c. or ect.)
(i) etc. is an abbreviation of the Latin et cetera which means ‘and other things’. It is therefore incorrect to write ‘and etc.’.

(ii) Avoid using ‘etc.’ in formal writing. Either list all the items indicated by the vague and lazy ‘etc.’, or introduce the given selection with a phrase like ‘including’, ‘such as’ or ‘for example’.

eventually
exaggerate
examination
exausted
excellent
except
exceptionable or exceptional?
excercise
excite
exclaim eventual + ly (not eventully) (not exagerate)
Wrong spelling. See EXHAUSTED.
(not -ant)
See ACCEPT OR EXCEPT?.
EXCEPTIONABLE = open to objection EXCEPTIONAL=unusual
Wrong spelling. See EXERCISE.
excited, exciting, excitement
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
exclaimed, exclaiming
EXPLICIT OR IMPLICIT?
exclamation
exclamation mark
exercise
exhausted
exhausting or exhaustive?
( not -claim-)
Use an exclamation mark:
(i) with exclamations
Ouch! Oh! Hey!
(ii) with vehement commands Stop thief! Help! Jump!
See COMMANDS.
( not excercise)
(not exausted)

EXHAUSTING = tiring
EXHAUSTIVE = thorough, fully comprehensive

exhibition exhilarated expedition

expendable expense
expensive experience

explain
explanation
explicit or implicit? (not -er-)

( not expidition)
The second syllable is derived from the Latin word pes, pedis (foot, of the foot). This may help you to remember -ped-. The words pedal, pedestrian, pedometer all come from this same Latin root.
(not -ible)
( not expierience, not -ance)
The second syllable is derived from the Latin word per, meaning through. (Experience is what we gain from going ‘through’ something.)

explained, explaining
(not -plain-)

EXPLICIT = stated clearly and openly IMPLICIT = implied but not actually stated
EXSPENSE
exspense
exspensive
exstremely
extraordinary extravagance extravagant extremely
extrordinary exuberance exuberant
eyrie
Wrong spelling. See EXPENSE.
Wrong spelling. See EXPENSIVE. Wrong spelling. See EXTREMELY. extra + ordinary
(not -ence)
(not -ent)
extreme + ly
Wrong spelling. See EXTRAORDINARY. (not -ence)
(not -ent)
See EERIE OR EYRIE?.
facetious
facilities or faculties?
facinate
factory (singular)
Fahrenheit
faithfully
familiar
family (singular) farther or further?
fascinate
F
(All five vowels occur in this word once only and in alphabetical order.)
FACILITIES = amenities
FACULTIES = mental or physical aptitudes
Wrong spelling. See FASCINATE.
factories (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
(not -ie-)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
faithful + ly
See SINCERELY for guidelines when punctuating a complimentary close to a letter (fully blocked and also traditional layout).

( not fammiliar)
families (plural) (not -mm-)

Both words can be used to refer to physical distance although some writers prefer to keep ‘farther’ for this purpose.
I can walk FARTHER than you.
I can walk FURTHER than you.
FURTHER is used in a figurative sense: Nothing was FURTHER from my mind.
FURTHER is also used in certain expressions:
FURTHER education
until FURTHER notice
(not facinate)
FAVOURITE
favourite feasible February
fewer or less?
fiance´ or fiance´e?
fictional or fictitious? (not -ate)
(not -able)
Notice the word has four syllables and not three as it is often mispronounced. FEWER is the comparative form of ‘few’. It is used with plural nouns:
FEWER vegetables
FEWER responsibilities
FEWER children

LESS is the comparative form of ‘little’. It is used in the sense of ‘a small amount’ rather than ‘a fewer number of’:

LESS enthusiasm
LESS sugar
LESS petrol
LESS THAN is used with number alone, and expressions of time and distance:
LESS THAN athousand
LESS THAN ten seconds
LESS THAN four miles

It is considered incorrect to use ‘less’ instead of ‘fewer’ although such confusion is frequent in popular speech.
As a rule of thumb, remember:
FEWER=not so many
LESS=not so much
FIANCE ´ = masculine
FIANCE´E = feminine
Notethe accentinbothwords.
FICTIONAL = invented for the purpose of fiction, related to fiction
FICTIONAL texts
FICTIONAL writing
fiery
fifteen
fifth
fifty
finally
finish
firey
flamingo (singular)
flammable or
inflammable
flee
flexible
flu or flue?

fluorescent fly
focus
for- or fore-?
FOR- OR FORE-?
FICTITIOUS = false, not true
a FICTITIOUS report
a FICTITIOUS name and address
Either word can be used to describe a character in a work of fiction: a FICTIONAL or FICTITIOUS character.
(not firey)
fifteenth
fiftieth
final + ly (not -aly)
finished, finishing (not -nn-)
Wrong spelling. See FIERY.
flamingoes or flamingos (plural)

Both words mean ‘easily bursting into flame’. People often think that
inflammable is the negative form but the prefix ‘in’ here means ‘into’.
The opposite of these two words is non-flammable or non-inflammable.
they fled, have fled, are fleeing
(not -able)

FLU = influenza (not ’flu although an abbreviation)
FLUE = a pipe or duct for smoke and gases

( not flourescent)
they flew, have flown, are flying
focused or focussed (both correct)
focusing or focussing (both correct) A useful rule of thumb is to remember the usual meaning of the prefixes:
FORBEAR OR FOREBEAR?
forbear or forebear?
forbid
forcible
forecast
forefend/forfend foregather/forgather forego/forgo
foreign

foreign plurals FOR = not, or something negative (forbid, forfeit, forget, forsake)
FORE=before
(foreboding, forecast, forefathers)
See individual entries for
FORBEAR OR FOREBEAR?
FOREWORD OR FORWARD?.
FORBEAR (stress on second syllable) = restrain oneself
FORBEAR or FOREBEAR (stress on first syllable) = ancestor
forbad or forbade (both correct),
forbidden, forbidding
( not -able)
(not forcast)
Either spelling can be used.
Either spelling can be used.
Either spelling can be used.
An exception to the rule.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Some foreign words in English have retained their foreign plurals. Some have both foreign and English plurals. Take care, however, with the words that are asterisked below because the foreign plural of these is used in a different sense from the English plural. Check these words under individual entries for the distinction in meaning.

singular -a alga
antenna
formula
larva
nebula
vertebra
foreign plural algae
antennae
formulae
larvae
nebulae
vertebrae
FOREIGN PLURALS

English plural
–
antennas*
formulas*
–
nebulas
vertebras

singular -eau
-eu
adieu
bureau
chateau
milieu
plateau
tableau

singular -ex
-ix
appendix
index
matrix
vortex

singular -is analysis
axis
crisis
diagnosis
hypothesis
parenthesis synopsis

singular -o graffito
libretto
tempo
virtuoso

singular -on automaton
criterion
ganglion
phenomenon

singular -um aquarium
bacterium
curriculum
datum
erratum
memorandum millennium referendum stratum
ultimatum
foreign plural English plural
adieux
bureaux chateaux milieux plateaux tableaux adieus
bureaus
–
milieus plateaus
–

appendices indices
matrices
vortices
appendixes* indexes*
matrixes
vortexes

analyses
axes
crises
diagnoses hypotheses parentheses synopses
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

graffiti libretti tempi
virtuosi
–
librettos tempos virtuosos

automata
criteria
ganglia
phenomena automatons
–
ganglions
–

aquaria
bacteria
curricula
data
errata
memoranda millennia
referenda
strata
ultimata
FORESAKE

aquariums
–
curriculums
–
–
memorandums millenniums referendums
–
ultimatums

foresake
forest
foreword or forward?
forfeit
forfend
forgather
forgo
formally or formerly?
singular -um ovum
singular -us bacillus
cactus
fungus
hippopotamus nucleus
radius
stimulus
syllabus
terminus
tumulus
foreign plural ova
English plural
–

bacilli
cacti
fungi
hippopotami nuclei
radii
stimuli
syllabi
termini
tumuli
–
cactuses
funguses
hippopotamuses
–
radiuses
–
syllabuses
terminuses
–
The Hebrew plural -im is found in these three words:
cherub cherubim cherubs kibbutz kibbutzim –
seraph seraphim –

This list is by no means comprehensive but it does contain most of the words that are commonly used.

Wrong spelling. See FORSAKE.
(not forrest)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

The Poet Laureate had written a
FOREWORD for the new anthology. I am looking FORWARD to the holiday. Will you please FORWARD this letter?
(not -ie-, exception to the rule)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See FOREFEND/FORFEND.
See FOREGATHER/FORGATHER.
See FOREGO/FORGO.
FORMALLY = in a formal manner FORMERLY = previously, at an earlier time
FUCHSIA
formula
forrest forsake
fortunately
forty
forward frantic
frantically freind
frequent
fresco (singular)
friend frieze
frighten
frolic
fuchsia (singular)
There are two plurals.
Use formulae in a scientific or mathematical context.
Use formulas in all other cases.
Wrong spelling. See FOREST. (not fore-)
See FOR OR FORE?.
fortunate + ly (not -atly)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(not fourty)
See FOREWORD OR FORWARD?.
frantic + ally ( not franticly)
Wrong spelling. See FRIEND.

( not -ant)
Use as an adjective (stress on first syllable):

There were FREQUENT interruptions. Use as a verb (stress on second syllable): They FREQUENT the most terrible pubs. frescoes or frescos (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not -ei-)
(not -ei-)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
frightened, frightening
(not frightend, frightning)
frolicked, frolicking, frolicsome
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
(named after Leonhard Fuchs, German botanist)
-FUL
-ful
fulfil
full stops
fungus (singular)
further fuschia When full is used as an ending to a word, it is always spelt -ful:
beautiful
careful
wonderful
hopeful, etc.
fulfilled, fulfilling, fulfilment
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
See END STOPS.
See COMMAS (b).
fungi or funguses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See FARTHER OR FURTHER?.
Wrong spelling. See FUCHSIA.
gaiety
gaily
gallop
ganglion (singular)
gaol
garage
gastly
gateau (singular)

gauge
genealogical generosity generous
get
ghastly
gipsy/gypsy
glamorous glamour
G
gay + ety – an exception to the y rule
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
gay + ly – an exception to the y rule
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
galloped, galloping (not -pp-)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
ganglia or ganglions (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
An alternative spelling is ‘jail’.
Wrong spelling. See GHASTLY. gateaus or gateaux (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
( not guage)
(not geneo-)
(not -ous-)

they get, have got, are getting (not gastly)
Both spellings are correct. gipsies or gypsies (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
(not -our-)
good will or goodwill? Always write as one word when referring to the prestige and trading value of a business.
GORGEOUS
gorgeous
gorilla or guerilla?
gossip He bought the GOODWILL for five thousand pounds.

Use either two words or one word when referring to general feelings of kindness and support.
As a gesture of GOOD WILL,she cancelled the fine.
(not -gous)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
A GORILLA is an animal.
A GUERILLA is a revolutionary fighter. gossiped, gossiping (not -pp)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
gourmand or gourmet? A GOURMAND is greedy and overindulges where fine food is concerned. A GOURMET is a connoisseur of fine food.
government (not goverment as it is often mispronounced)
(not -er)
governor
gradual
gradually graffiti

graffito (singular) gradual + ly (not gradully)

This is increasingly used in a general sense (like the word ‘writing’) and its plural force is forgotten when it comes to matching it with a verb:
There was GRAFFITI all over the wall.
A few conservative writers would like a plural verb (There were GRAFFITI all over the wall).
graffiti (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
GUTTURAL
grammar
gramophone
grandad/granddad grandchild
granddaughter grandfather
grandma
grandmother
grandparent
grandson
grate or great?

grateful
grief
grievance
grievous
grotto (singular) guage
guarantee
guardian
guess
guest
guttural
(not -er)
(not grama-)
Both spellings are correct.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
The fire was burning brightly in the GRATE.
GRATE the potato coarsely.
Christopher Wren was a GREAT architect.

( not greatful)
(not -ei-)
(not -ence)
(not -ious)
grottoes or grottos (plural)
Wrong spelling. See GAUGE.

( not -er-) hadn’t
haemorrhage half (singular)
halo (singular)
handkerchief (singular)
hanged or hung?
happen
harass
hardly
hasn’t
haven’t
headquarters hear or here?
heard or herd?
heifer
height
heinous herd

H

( not had’nt)
(not -rh-)
halves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
haloes or halos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
handkerchiefs (plural) (not -nk-)
See PLURALS (v).
People are HANGED.
Things like clothes and pictures are HUNG.
happened, happening (not -nn-) (not -rr-)
See DOUBLE NEGATIVES.
( not has’nt)
(not have’nt)
(not headquaters)
You HEAR with your ear.
Use HERE to indicate place:
Come over HERE.
We HEARD their voices outside. We photographed the HERD of deer.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See HEARD OR HERD?.
HISTORIC OR HISTORICAL?
here
hero (singular)
heroin or heroine?
hers
hiccough or hiccup?
hiccup
hieroglyphics
high-tech or hi-tec?
hindrance
See HEAR OR HERE?.
heroes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
HEROIN is a drug.
A HEROINE is a female hero.
No apostrophe is needed.
This is mine; this is HERS.
HERS has a yellow handle.
Both words are pronounced ‘hiccup’ and either spelling can be used. The second spelling (hiccup) is more usual.
hiccuped, hiccuping (not -pp-)
Both spellings are correct for the adjective derived from high technology:
A HI-TEC factory
A HIGH-TECH computer system
Without the hyphen, each word can be used as a noun replacing ‘high
technology’:
A generation familiar with HIGH TECH The latest development in HI TEC (not hinderance)
hippopotamus (singular) hippopotami or hippopotamuses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
historic or historical? HISTORIC means famous in history, memorable, or likely to go down in recorded history:
a HISTORIC meeting
HISTORICAL means existing in the past or representing something that could have happened in the past:
HOARD OR HORDE?
hoard or horde?
hoarse or horse?
hole or whole?
homeoepathy/ homeopathy honest
honorary
honour
hoof (singular)
hoping or hopping?
horde a HISTORICAL novel
a HISTORICAL fact

Note It would not be wrong to say or write an historic meeting, an historical novel, an historical fact. However, this usage of an before words like hotel, historic and historical is becoming much less common, now that the h beginning these words is usually voiced.

To HOARD is to save something in a secret place.
A HOARD is a secret store.
A HORDE is a large group of people, insects or animals.

HOARSE means croaky, sore or rough (a HOARSE whisper).
HORSE is an animal.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: She ate the WHOLE cake by herself. You have a HOLE in your sock.
Both spellings are correct.
(not onnist or honist)
( Note: this word has four syllables not three.)
An HONORARY secretary of an
association is one who works voluntarily and receives no payment.
honourable
hoofs or hooves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
hope + ing = hoping
hop + ing = hopping
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
See HOARD OR HORDE?.
HYPERTHERMIA OR HYPOTHERMIA?
horrible
horse
human or humane?
humour
hundred hung
hygiene
hyper- or hypo-?
hypercritical or hypocritical?
hyperthermia or hypothermia? (not -able)
See HOARSE OR HORSE?.
HUMAN beings are naturally competitive. There must be a more HUMANE way of slaughtering animals.
humorous (not humourous)
humourless
(not hundered)
See HANGED OR HUNG?.
(not -ei-)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
The prefix ‘hyper’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘over’, ‘beyond’. Hence we have words like these:

hyperactive (= abnormally active) hypermarket (= a very large self-service store)
hypersensitive (= unusually sensitive)

The prefix ‘hypo’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘under’. Hence we have words like these:

hypochondria (the melancholy associated with obsession with one’s health was originally believed to originate in the organs beneath the ribs)
hypodermic (= under the skin)

HYPERCRITICAL = excessively critical HYPOCRITICAL = disguising one’s true nature under a pretence of being better than you really are
See HYPER- OR HYPO-?.
HYPERTHERMIA = having an
abnormally high body temperature HYPOTHERMIA = having an abnormally low body temperature
See HYPER- OR HYPO-?.
HYPERVENTILATE OR HYPOVENTILATE
hyperventilate or hypoventilate
hyphens HYPERVENTILATE = to breathe at an abnormally rapid rate
HYPOVENTILATE = to breathe at an abnormally slow rate
See HYPER- OR HYPO-?.
(i) Hyphens are used to indicate wordbreaks where there is not space to complete a word at the end of a line.

Take care to divide the word at an appropriate point between syllables so that your reader is not confused and can continue smoothly from the first part of the word to the second part.

There are dictionaries of
hyphenation available that will indicate sensible places to break words. They don’t always agree with each other! You will also notice a difference in practice between British English and American English.

Increasingly, however, the trend is towards American English practice, i.e. being guided by the way the word is pronounced. Break the word in such a way as to preserve the overall
pronunciation as far as possible. It is really a matter of common sense. For this reason you will avoid breaking:

father into fat-her
legend into leg-end
therapist into the-rapist manslaughter into mans-laughter notable into not-able
and so on!
Note : that the hyphen should be placed at the end of the first line (to indicate that the word is to be continued). It is not repeated at the beginning of the next.
HYPHENS
The children shouted enthusiastically as they raced towards the sea.
If you are breaking a word that is already hyphenated, break it at the existing hyphen:
Both my parents are extremely absentminded.
Breaking a word always makes it look temporarily unfamiliar. You will notice that in printed books for very young readers word-breaks are always carefully avoided. Ideally, you also will try to avoid them. Anticipate how much space a word requires at the end of a line and start a new line if necessary. Whatever happens, avoid breaking a word very close to its beginning or its end, and never break a one-syllabled word.
(ii) Hyphens are used to join compound numbers between 21 and 99:
twenty-one fifty-five
ninety-nine twenty-five fifty-fifth
ninety-ninth

Hyphens are also used to join
fractions when they are written as words:
three-quarters
five-ninths
(iii) Hyphens are used to join compound words so that they become one word:
my son-in-law
a twenty-pound note
her happy-go-lucky smile
You will sometimes need to check in a dictionary whether a word is
HYPOCRISY
hypocrisy
hypocrite
hypocritical hypothermia

hyphenated or not. Sometimes words written separately in a ten-year-old dictionary will be hyphenated in a more modern one; sometimes words hyphenated in an older dictionary will now be written as one word.

Is it washing machine or washingmachine, wash-basin or washbasin, print-out or printout?
Such words need to be checked individually.
(iv) Hyphens are used with some prefixes: co-author, ex-wife, anti-censorship
Check individual words in a dictionary If you are in doubt.
Always use a hyphen when you are using a prefix before a word that begins with a capital letter:
pro-British, anti-Christian, un-American
Sometimes a hyphen is used for the sake of clarity. There is a difference in meaning between the words in these pairs:

re-cover and recover
re-form and reform
co-respondent and correspondent
(v) Hyphens arealsousedtoindicatea range of figures or dates:
There were 12 - 20 people in the room.
He was killed in the 1914 - 18 war.
(not -asy)
See HYPERCRITICAL OR HYPOCRITICAL?.
See HYPERTHERMIA OR HYPOTHERMIA?.
HYPOVENTILATE
hypothesis (singular)
hypoventilate hypotheses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See HYPERVENTILATE OR HYPOVENTILATE?.
I
I/me/myself These three words are pronouns and cause a great deal of confusion.
(i) Most people use the pronoun ‘I’ correctly when it is used on its own:
I love cats.
I like chocolate.
I mow the lawn every Sunday. I am trying to lose weight. I have two sisters.

Confusion generally arises with phrases like ‘my husband and I’ and ‘my husband and me’. Which should it be?

The simplest method is to break the sentence into two and see whether ‘I’ or ‘me’ sound right:

My husband likes chocolate. I like chocolate.
MY HUSBAND AND I like chocolate.
(ii) Most people use the pronoun ‘me’ correctly when it is used on its own: The burglar threatened ME. It was given to ME.
Once again confusion arises when a pair is involved. The advice remains the same. Break the sentence into two and see whether ‘I’ or ‘me’ sounds right:

The burglar threatened my husband. The burglar threatened ME. The burglar threatened MY HUSBAND AND ME.
IDEA OR IDEAL?
It was given to my husband.
It was given to ME.
It was given to MY HUSBAND AND ME.
(iii) The pronoun ‘myself’ has two distinct functions.
" It can be used in constructions like this where it is essential to the sense: Icut MYSELF yesterday. I did it by MYSELF.
" It can be used to help emphasise a point. In these cases, it can be omitted without changing the overall sense:
I’ll wrap the parcel MYSELF. MYSELF, I would disagree. ‘Myself’ should never be used as a substitute for ‘I’ or ‘me’.
My friend and myself had a wonderful time in Austria.
My friend and I had a wonderful time.

They presented my brother and myself with a silver cup.
They presented my brother and me with a silver cup.
This is from Henry and myself. This is from Henry and me.
-ible See -ABLE/-IBLE.
idea or ideal? Bristolians have particular difficulty distinguishing between these two because of the intrusive Bristol ‘l’. These exemplar sentences should help:

Your IDEA is brilliant.
This is an IDEAL spot for a picnic. His IDEALS prevent him from eating meat.
IDIOSYNCRASY
idiosyncrasy
-ie
illegible or ineligible?
illusion
imaginary or imaginative?
imformation immediately immense
immigrant
imminent
immoral
implicit
imply or infer?
impossible
imposter/impostor
impractical or impracticable? (not -cy)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
ILLEGIBLE = not able to be read INELIGIBLE = not properly qualified
See ALLUSION, DELUSION OR ILLUSION?.
IMAGINARY = existing only in the imagination
IMAGINATIVE = showing or having a vivid imagination, being creative, original

Wrong spelling. See INFORMATION.
(not immeadiately or immediatly)
immensely (not immensly)
See EMIGRANT OR IMMIGRANT?.
See EMINENT, OR IMMINENT?.
See AMORAL OR IMMORAL?.
See EXPLICIT OR IMPLICIT?.
To IMPLYsomethingistohintatit:
She IMPLIED that there were strong moral objections to his appointment but didn’t say so in so many words.
To INFER is to draw a conclusion: Am I to INFER from what you say that he is unsuitable for the post?
(not -able)
Both spellings are correct. The second form (-or) is, however, more common.
IMPRACTICAL = could be done but not worth doing
IMPRACTICABLE = incapable of being done
INDISPENSABLE
incidentally
incredible
indefensible indelible
independence independent index (singular)
indexes or indices?
indirect speech/ reported speech
indispensable incidental + ly (not incidently)
(not -able)
(not -able)
(not -able)
(not -ance)
(not -ant)
indexes or indices (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See INDEXES OR INDICES?.
Both are acceptable plural forms of ‘index’ but they are used differently.
Use INDEXES to refer to alphabetical lists of references in books.
Use INDICES in mathematical, economic and technical contexts.

Unlike direct speech where the words actually spoken are enclosed within inverted commas, indirect speech requires no inverted commas.
Direct: ‘I am exhausted,’ said Sheila. Indirect: Sheila said that she was
exhausted.
Note how direct questions and commands become straightforward statements when they are reported in indirect speech. A full stop at the end is sufficient.

Direct : ‘What is your name?’ Mr Brown asked the new boy.
Indirect: Mr Brown asked the new boy his name.
Direct: ‘Fire!’ commanded the officer. Indirect: The officer commanded his men to fire.
(not -ible)
INDIVIDUAL
individual
industrial or industrious?
ineffective or ineffectual?
ineligible
inexhaustible in fact
infectious
infer
infer
inflammable
inflammable or inflammatory?
information (five syllables)
This noun should correctly be used to distinguish one person from the rest of a group or community:
the rights of the INDIVIDUAL in society Informally it is also used in the sense of ‘person’:
an untrustworthy INDIVIDUAL
Avoid this use in formal contexts.

INDUSTRIAL =associated with
manufacturing
INDUSTRIOUS = hard-working
INEFFECTIVE = not producing the desired effect
an INEFFECTIVE speech
INEFFECTUAL=not capableof producing the desired effect.
an INEFFECTUAL speaker
See ILLEGIBLE OR INELIGIBLE?.
(two words)
See CONTAGIOUS OR INFECTIOUS?.
See IMPLY OR INFER?. See also next entry. inferred, inferring, inference
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
See FLAMMABLE OR INFLAMMABLE?.
See also next entry.
INFLAMMABLE = easily bursting into flames
INFLAMMATORY = tending to arouse violent feelings.

( not im-)
in front
ingenious or ingenuous? two words (not frount)
INGENIOUS = skilful, inventive, original INGENUOUS = innocent, unsophisticated
inhuman or inhumane? INHUMAN = lacking all human qualities INHUMANE = lacking compassion and kindness
innocence
innocent
innocuous
innuendo (singular)
inoculate
inquiry
instal/install

insurance intelligence intelligent intentions inter-/intra

interesting
interrogate
interrupt
invent
inverted commas innuendoes or innuendos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
(not -nn-)
See ENQUIRY OR INQUIRY?.
Both spellings are correct.
installed, installing, installment/instalment
See ASSURANCE OR INSURANCE?.
( not -ance)
(not -ant)
(not intensions)

The prefix INTER means between or among (e.g. international).
The prefix INTRA means within, on the inside (e.g. intravenous).

(four syllables, not intresting)
(not -r-)
(not -r-)
See DISCOVER OR INVENT?.
Inverted commans can be double (‘‘ ’’) or single (‘ ’). Use whichever you wish as long as you are consistent, In print, single inverted commas are generally used; in handwriting, double inverted commas are frequently used for enclosing direct speech and single inverted commas for enclosing titles and quotations. There are no hardand-fast rules.

Direct speech
Inverted commas should enclose the actual words of speech that are being quoted.

‘You are very welcome,’ she said.
She said, ‘You are very welcome.’ ‘You are,’ she said, ‘very welcome.’

Note the punctuation conventions in the sentences above. These will be examined more closely now.
" Speech first and narrative second.
‘You are very welcome,’ she said. ‘Are you tired?’ she asked.
‘Not at all!’ he exclaimed.

Notice that the appropriate
punctuation is enclosed with the words spoken.
Note that the narrative continues with an initial small letter: she/he.
" Narrative first and speech second.
Brian said, ‘You’re very late.’
Brian asked, ‘What kept you?’
Sarah snapped, ‘Don’t cross-question me!’
Notice that a comma always divides the narrative from the direct speech. Note that the direct speech always begins with a capital letter.
Note that the appropriate punctuation mark is enclosed within the inverted commas with the words spoken and no further end stop is required. " Speech interrupted by narrative.

‘We have all been hoping,’ said my mother, ‘that you will join us on Christmas Day.’

Note that the two parts of the interrupted spoken sentence are enclosed by inverted commas. Note that a comma (within the inverted commas) marks the break between speech and narrative, and that another comma (after the
narrative and before the second set of inverted commas) marks the
resumption of the direct speech. Note that the interrupted sentence of speech is resumed without the need for a capital letter.
" Longer speeches and the layout of dialogue.
‘I should love to join you on
Christmas Day,’ said Sean.
The children were ecstatic. They cried together, ‘That’s wonderful!’
‘Indeed it is,’ said my mother. ‘When will you be able to get to us?’ ‘By 10 o’clock.’
‘Really? That’s splendid!’

The rule is ‘a new line for a new speaker’ even if the speech is only a word or two. In addition, each new speech should ideally be indented a little to make it easier for the reader to follow the cut and thrust of dialogue.
Note how a speech of two or more sentences is punctuated.
‘Indeed it is,’ said my mother. ‘When will you be able to get to us?’
INVISIBLE
invisible
irational
iridescent
irony or sarcasm?

If this were lengthened further, the close of the second pair of inverted commas would be delayed
accordingly:

‘Indeed it is,’ said my mother. ‘When will you be able to get to us? Need I say ‘‘the earlier the better’’? You know that we’ll be up at the crack of dawn.’
" Inverted commas are used to enclose titles.
Have you read ‘Angela’s Ashes’ by Frank McCourt?
Alternatively, the title can be
underlined or, in print, italicised. Inverted commas will not then be needed.
" Inverted commas are used to enclose quotations.
Like Coriolanus, I often feel that ‘there is a life elsewhere’.
Note that the final full stop comes outside the inverted commas enclosing the quotation. Incorporating a
quotation in a sentence is different from punctuating direct speech.
See INDIRECT/REPORTED SPEECH.
See TITLES.
( not -able)
Wrong spelling. See IRRATIONAL.
(not -rr-)

IRONY is subtle, amusing, often witty. SARCASM is deliberately hurtful and intentionally cruel.
Irony comes from a Greek word meaning ‘pretended ignorance’.
irrational
irrelevant
irreparable irreplaceable irrepressible irresistible irresponsible irrevelant
irreversible irridescent
IRRIDESCENT
Sarcasm comes from a Greek word meaning ‘to tear the flesh with one’s teeth’.

Irony relies on those with insight realising that what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

Mr Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice frequently makes ironical remarks which only his more perceptive listeners will understand. When he tells one of his less musical daughters that she has delighted the company with her piano playing for long enough, she takes his remarks at face value. Jane and Elizabeth, two of her sisters, know exactly what he really meant.

Sarcasm sometimes uses this technique of irony and says in a very cutting way (which will be very clearly understood) the opposite of what is really meant.

When a teacher says, ‘Brilliant!’, to a pupil who fails yet again, he is being sarcastic and ironical at the same time. When a teacher says, ‘Have you lost your tongue?’ to a pupil, he is being sarcastic.
(not -r-)
(not irrevelant: think of ‘does not relate’)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
Wrong spelling. See IRRELEVANT.
Wrong spelling. See IRIDESCENT.
-ISE OR -IZE?
-ise or -ize?
isn’t
itinerary
Most words ending with this suffix can be spelt -ise or -ize in British English. American English is more prescriptive and insists on -ize whenever there is a choice.

House-styles in Britain vary from publisher to publisher and from
newspaper to newspaper. (You may have noticed that in this book I favour -ise.)
When making your choice, bear these two points in mind:
" These nineteen words have to be -ise: advertise, advise, apprise, arise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, despise, devise, disguise, enfranchise, excise, exercise,
improvise, revise, supervise, surprise, televise.
" Only one verb of more than one syllable has to be -ize: capsize. (One syllabled verbs like ‘seize’ still need care, of course.)
Whatever you decide, be consistent within one piece of writing and be consistent with derivatives. If you use ‘realize’ in one paragraph, you must use ‘realization’ and not ‘realisation’ at another point in the same piece. If you use ‘sympathize’, then you must refer to ‘sympathizers’ and not to ‘sympathisers’ elsewhere.

Many authorities prefer to use -ize when there is a choice. In practice, many writers prefer to use -ise because this choice is relatively trouble-free.

The decision is yours!
Place the apostrophe carefully. (not is’nt)
(five syllables, not four as it is often mispronounced and misspelt)
ITS OR IT’S?
its or it’s? ITS is a possessive adjective like ‘her’ and ‘his’:
The book has lost ITS cover. ITS beauty has faded.
IT’S is a contraction of ‘it is’ or ‘it has’: IT’S very cold today. (= it is) IT’S been a long winter. (=it has)
If you are ever in doubt, see if you can expand ‘its/it’s’ to ‘it is’ or ‘it has’. If you can, you need an apostrophe. If you can’t, you don’t.

Remember too that contractions like ‘it’s’ are fine in informal contexts but should be avoided in formal writing. When it’s inappropriate to use slang, it is inappropriate to use these contractions. You have to write the forms in full. jealous

jealousy
jeopardise/jeopardize jeopardy
jewelry/jewellery
jodhpurs
journey (singular)
judgement/judgment judicial or judicious?
J
(not jelous)
Both spellings are correct.
Both spellings are correct.
(not jewlery as the word is often
mispronounced)
journeys (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
Both spellings are correct.
JUDICIAL = pertainingtocourtsoflaw and judges
JUDICIOUS = showing good judgment, wise, prudent
The words are not interchangeable. There is a clear distinction in meaning, as you can see.
A JUDICIAL decision is one reached in a law court.
A JUDICIOUS decision is a wise and discerning one.
keenness

kerb
kernel
kibbutz (singular)
kidnap
kneel
knew or new?
knife (singular) know or no?
K
keen + ness
See CURB OR KERB?.
See COLONEL OR KERNEL?.
kibbutzim (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
kidnapped, kidnapping, kidnapper An exception to the 2-1-1 rule.
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
kneeled or knelt, kneeling
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
I KNEW the answer.
Nanette has NEW shoes.
knives (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: IKNOW the answer.
NO, they cannot come.
We have NO milk left.
knowledge
knowledgeable/ knowledgable Both spellings are correct. laboratory (singular)
labour laid
lain
lama or llama?
landscape
language
larva (singular)
later or latter? lay or lie?
L
laboratories (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
laborious
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii) (exception to rule).
See LAY OR LIE?.
See LAY OR LIE?.
LAMA = a Buddhist priest
LLAMA = an animal of the camel family
( not lanscape)
(not langage)
larvae (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
LATER is the comparative of ‘late’. (late, later, latest)
Iwillsee you LATER.
You are LATER than I expected.
LATTER is the opposite of ‘former’. Cats and dogs are wonderful pets but the LATTER need regular exercise.

Note : use ‘latter’ to indicate the second of two references; use ‘last’ to indicate the final one of three or more.

The various tenses of these verbs cause a great deal of unnecessary confusion. Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

to lay:
ILAY the table early every morning. I AM LAYING the table now.
IHAVELAID it already.
laying
lead or led?
leaf (singular)
leaned/leant
leaped/leapt
learned/learnt leftenant
legend or myth?
LEGEND OR MYTH?
I WAS LAYING the table when you phoned.
ILAID the table before I went to bed.

My hen LAYS an egg every morning. She IS LAYING an egg now.
She HAS LAID an egg already.
She WAS LAYING an egg when you phoned.
She LAID an egg every day last week.

to lie (down)
ILIE down every afternoon after lunch. I AM LYING down now.
IHAVELAIN down every afternoon this week.
I WAS LYING down when you phoned. ILAY down yesterday afternoon.

to lie (= tell a lie)
ILIE regularly.
I AM LYING to you now.
IHAVELIED all my life.
I WAS LYING to you last week.
ILIED to you yesterday as well.
See LAY OR LIE?.
LEAD is the present tense.
LED is the past tense.
Go in front and LEAD us home.
He went in front and LED us home. leaves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
Both spellings are correct.
Both spellings are correct.
Both spellings are correct.
Wrong spelling. See LIEUTENANT.
Both are traditional tales but legends usually have some basis in fact (e.g.
LEGIBLE
legible leisure
lend
less
liaise
libel or slander?
library
libretto (singular)
licence or license?
licorice/liquorice lie
lied
liesure

Robert the Bruce and the spider, King Alfred and the cakes, Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest). Myths are supernatural tales, often involving gods or giants, which serve to explain natural events or phenomena (e.g. Pandora’s Box and the coming of evil into the world, The Seven Pomegranate Seeds and the seasons of the year and so on).
See ELIGIBLE OR LEGIBLE?.
(not -ie-)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See BORROW OR LEND?.
See FEWER OR LESS?.
liaison (not liase/liason)
Both refer to statements damaging to a person’s character: LIBEL is written; SLANDER is spoken.
(not libary)
libretti or librettos (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
LICENCE is a noun. We can refer to a licence or the licence or your licence: Do you have your driving LICENCE with you?
LICENSE is a verb:
The restaurant is LICENSED for the consumption of alcohol.
Both spellings are correct.
See LAY OR LIE?.
See LAY OR LIE?.
Wrong spelling. See LEISURE.
LITERATURE
lieutenant life (singular)
lighted/lit
lightening or lightning?
likable/likeable like
likelihood
liqueur or liquor?
liquorice literally
literati
literature lives (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
Both forms are correct.
LIGHTENING comes from the verb ‘to lighten’ and so you can talk about: LIGHTENING a heavy load or
LIGHTENING the colour of your hair. LIGHTNING is the flash of light we get in the sky during a thunderstorm.
Both spellings are correct.
See AS OR LIKE?.
A LIQUEUR is a sweet, very strong, alcoholic drink usually taken in small glasses after a meal.
LIQUOR refers to any alcoholic drink.
See LICORICE/LIQUORICE.
Beware of using ‘literally’ to support a fanciful comparison:
My eyes LITERALLY popped out of my head when I saw her in a bikini. (They didn’t!)
My eyes popped out of my head when I saw her in a bikini.
Everybody will understand that you are speaking figuratively (i.e. it was as if . . .).
See METAPHOR.
See SIMILE.
( Not litterari)
This word is used to describe well-read and well-educated people who love literature.
(four syllables)
LIVELIHOOD
livelihood
loaf (singular)
loath, loathe or loth?
loathsome
loaves
lonely
loose or lose?
loping or lopping?
alot
lovable/loveable luggage
loaves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
LOATH and LOTH are interchangeable spellings and mean unwilling or reluctant:
Iwas LOATH/LOTH to hurt his feelings. LOATHE means to detest:
I LOATHE snobbery.
loathe + some = loathsome
This word means detestable.
See LOAF.
( not lonley)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

Ihavea LOOSE tooth. (rhymes with moose)
Don’t LOSE your temper. (rhymes with snooze)

lope + ing = loping
He was LOPING along with long strides. lop + ing = lopping
LOPPING the trees will just encourage them to grow taller.
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
(never alot)
Remember that this is a slang expression and should never be used in a formal context. Substitute ‘many’ or recast the sentence altogether.
Both spellings are correct.
(not lugage)
LYING
luxuriant or luxurious?
luxury
-ly
Take care when adding this suffix to a word already ending in -l. You will have double -l:
real + ly
ideal + ly special + ly usual + ly = really
= ideally = specially = usually

lying LUXURIANT = growing abundantly LUXURIANT vegetation

LUXURIOUS = rich and costly, sumptuous
a LUXURIOUS hotel
See LAY OR LIE?.
machinery
madam or madame? magic -e
M

( not -ary)
Use MADAM:
" as a polite term of respect:
Can I help you, madam?
" in letter writing:
Dear Madam (note capital letter)
" as a formal title of respect:
Thank you, Madam Speaker (note capital letter)
Use MADAME as the French equivalent: " We are going to Madame Tussaud’s.
" The famous French physicist, Madame Curie, was born in Poland.
Also known as silent -e and mute -e.
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
mahogany
maintain
maintenance manageable
manager
mango (singular) (not maintainance)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
(not manger, as is so often written!) mangoes or mangos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
manoeuvre mantelpiece mantelshelf margarine (not mantle-) (not mantle-) (not margerine)
MAY OR MIGHT?
marihuana/marijuana marriage
marvel
marvellous
Both spellings are correct.
marvelled, marvelling
masterful or masterly? MASTERFUL = dominating
MASTERLY = very skilful
mathematics
mating or matting?
(not mathmatics)
mate + ing = mating
mat + ing = matting
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) + (ii).
matrix (singular) matrices or matrixes (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
may
may or might?
See CAN OR MAY?.
(i) Use may/might in a present context and might in a past context:
If I receive a written invitation, I MAY/MIGHT accept. (still possible) If I had received a written invitation, I MIGHT HAVE accepted. (possibility over now)
If I don’t hurry, I MAY/MIGHT miss the bus. (possibility exists) If I hadn’t hurried, I MIGHT HAVE missed the bus. (risk now over)

(ii) Convert ‘may’ to ‘might’ when changing direct speech to indirect or reported speech:

‘ MAY I come in?’ she asked. She asked if she MIGHT come in. ‘You MAY be lucky,’ she said. She said that I MIGHT be lucky.

(iii) There is a slight difference between the meaning of ‘may’ and ‘might’ in the present tense when they are used in the sense of ‘asking permission’:
ME
me
meant
medal or meddle?

mediaeval/medieval medicine
mediocre
Mediterranean
medium (singular)
mediums
meet, meet up, meet
MAY I suggest that we adjourn the meeting? (agreement assured)
MIGHT I suggest that we adjourn the meeting? (suggestion more tentative)
See I/ME/MYSELF.
(not ment, not mean’t)
MEDAL = a small metal disc given as an honour
to MEDDLE=tointerfere
Both spellings are correct.
(not medecine) medicinal
media or mediums (plural)
Note, however, that the two plurals differ in meaning.

The MEDIA hounded him to his death. (= radio, television, newspaper journalists) She consulted a dozen MEDIUMS in the hope of making contact with her dead husband. (= people through whom the spirits of the dead are said to
communicate)
See MEDIUM.
British English distinguishes between the up with, or meet with? first and last of these:
You MEETaperson.
You MEET WITH an accident.
Avoid using ‘meet up’ and ‘meet up with’.
They are clumsy expressions.
When shall we MEET UP? When shall we MEET?
We MET UP with friends in town. We MET friends in town.
MIGHT OF
memento (singular)
memorandum (singular)
memory (singular)
ment
mention Mesdames mementoes or mementos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
memoranda or memorandums (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
memories (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
Wrong spelling. See MEANT.
mentioned, mentioning.
(i)
(ii) Plural of French Madame.
Used as a plural title before a number of ladies’ names:
Mesdames Smith, Green, Brown and Kelly won prizes.
Always used with an initial capital letter.

message
messenger metaphor
meteorology
meter or metre?
might
might of (not messanger)
(not metaphore)
A metaphor is a compressed comparison: He wolfed his food. (note the apparent identification with a wolf’s eating habits)
Compare SIMILE.
(six syllables)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

Put these coins in the parking METER. You’ll need a METRE of material to make a skirt.
Sonnets are always written in iambic METRE.
See MAY OR MIGHT?.
This is an incorrect construction.
See COULD OF.
MILAGE/MILEAGE
milage/mileage milieu (singular)
militate or mitigate?
millennium (singular)
millepede/millipede mimic
Both spellings are correct.
milieus or milieux (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
To MILITATE (against) comes from the Latin verb meaning ‘to serve as a soldier’ and it has the combative sense of having a powerful influence on something.

Despite his excellent qualifications, his youthful criminal record MILITATED against his appointment as school bursar.

To MITIGATE comes from the Latin adjective meaning ‘mild’ and it means to moderate, to make less severe.

Don’t condemn the young man too harshly. There are MITIGATING
circumstances.
millennia or millenniums (plural)
(not -n-)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Both spellings are correct.
mimicked, mimicking
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
miniature
minuscule
minute
miracle
miscellaneous mischief
mischievous

misplace
misrelated participles (not miniscule) (not minuit)
miscellany
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
(not mischievious, as it is often mispronounced)
See DISPLACE OR MISPLACE?.
See PARTICIPLES.
MOULDY
misspell
misspelled/misspelt mistletoe
moccasin
modern
moment
momentary or
momentous?
monastery (singular)
mongoose (singular) mis + spell
Both spellings are correct.

( not modren)
(not momment)

MOMENTARY =lasting foronly a very short time
MOMENTOUS = of great significance
monasteries (plural)
(not monastry/monastries)
See PLURALS (iii).
mongooses (plural)
(not mongeese)
monotonous
moping or mopping?
moral or morale? mope + ing = moping
mop + ing = mopping
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) + (ii).
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Denise is guided by strong MORAL principles.
My MORALE suffered badly when I failed my exams and I lost all faith in myself for years.

Morocco
mortgage
mosquito (singular)

motto (singular) (not morgage as it is pronounced) mosquitoes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
mottoes or mottos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
mould mouldy
MOUSTACHE
moustache
mucous or mucus?
murmur mustn’t
must of
mute -e
mutual
myself myth
MUCOUS is an adjective, as in MUCOUS membrane.
The name of the thick secretion of the mucous membrane is called MUCUS.
murmured, murmuring (not murmer-)
This is the contracted form of ‘must not’. Take care to place the apostrophe carefully.
This is an incorrect construction.
See COULD OF.
Also known as magic -e and silent -e.
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
reciprocal
Our dislike was MUTUAL.
Their marriage is based on MUTUAL respect.

Some would avoid the use of ‘mutual’ in expressions such as ‘our mutual friend’ because a third person is then introduced and the feelings of each person for the other two are not necessarily identical. It might be best here to describe the friend as one ‘we have in common’.
See I/ME/MYSELF.
See LEGEND OR MYTH?.
naive/naı¨ve
naivete´/naı¨vete´/ naivety/naı¨vety nationalise or naturalise?
nebula (singular)
N
Both forms are correct.
All these forms are correct.
to NATIONALISE=totransfer
ownership from the private sector to the state
to NATURALISE = to confer full citizenship on a foreigner
nebulae or nebulas (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
necessary
necessity
negatives
neighbour
neither
neither . . .nor nephew
-ness

neumonia new
niece
nine
See DOUBLE NEGATIVES.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Compare EITHER . . .OR.
Take care when adding this suffix to a word already ending in -n. You will have double n:

cleanness
openness
suddenness
Wrong spelling. See PNEUMONIA.
See KNEW OR NEW?.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
ninth
NINETEEN
nineteen
ninety
no
no body or nobody?
none
no one nineteenth
ninetieth
See KNOW OR NO?.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
It was believed that he had been
murdered but NO BODY was ever found, and so nothing could be proved. (= no corpse)
NOBODY likes going to the dentist. (= no one)

The problem with ‘none’ is deciding whether to use with it a singular or a plural verb.
Strictly speaking, a singular verb should accompany ‘none’:
NONE of the passengers WAS hurt. (= not one)
NONE of the milk WAS spilt. (= not any)

Colloquially, a singular verb is always used with expressions of quantity but a plural verb is often used when plural nouns follow the ‘none of . . .’ construction:

NONE of the passengers WERE hurt. NONE of my friends LIKE pop music. NONE of the children WANT an icecream.

Some would reserve plural verbs in these cases for informal occasions; others would see them as perfectly acceptable formally as well.
‘No one’ is singular and requires a singular verb:
NO ONE likes meanness.
‘No one’ should be written as two words and not hyphenated.
nosey/nosy Both spellings are correct.
Note: for informal use only.
noticeable (not noticable)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
not only . . . but also Take care with the positioning of each part of this pair:
Denise not only enjoys composing but also conducting.
Denise enjoys two musical activities: composing, conducting.
Put ‘not only’ in front of the first and ‘but also’ in front of the second, and let ‘enjoys’ refer to both.
Denise enjoys NOT ONLY composing BUT ALSO conducting.
Compare BOTH . . .AND; EITHER . . .OR; NEITHER . . .NOR.
nouns There are four kinds of nouns: common, proper, abstract and collective.
" Take care with the punctuation of proper nouns. Because they are the special individual names of people, towns, countries, newspapers, days of the week, businesses, and so on, they require initial capital letters:

Dennis Blakely
Ipswich
Sweden
The Times
Wednesday
Blazing Fireplaces Ltd.

Note that months of the year begin with a capital letter but the seasons generally do not:

April, the spring, but the Spring term. " Do not confuse proper and common nouns.
labrador – common noun
Tinker – proper noun (needs initial capital)
There is a certain flexibility in sentences like this:
Bishop Flynn will be arriving at three o’clock. The bishop/Bishop would like to meet the confirmation candidates before the service begins.

" Abstract nounsarethe namesof ideas, emotions, states of mind, and so on.

The correct form can sometimes be difficult to remember. Do check in a dictionary when you are uncertain. Abstract nouns can have a huge variety of endings:

optimism, pride, complexity, failure, diffidence, depth, bravery, kindness, excitement, exhilaration, and so on

Unsophisticated writers often add
-ness to an adjective in the hope that it will then be converted to an abstract noun. Sometimes this works; often it doesn’t.

" Collective nouns (audience, flock, herd, congregation) are treated as singular nouns if regarded as a single whole:

The audience WAS wildly
enthusiastic.
They are treated as plural nouns when regarded as a number of units making up the whole:
The jury WERE divided over his guilt.
NUMBERS
nucleus (singular) nuclei (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
nuisance number numbers
See SINGULAR OR PLURAL?.
Should numbers be written in figures or in words? In mathematical, scientific, technical and business contexts, figures are used, as you would expect.

The problem arises in straightforward prose (an essay, perhaps, or a short story or a letter).

The rule of thumb is that small numbers are written as words and large numbers are written as figures.

What are small numbers? Some people would say numbers up to ten; others numbers up to twenty; others numbers up to one hundred. If you’re not bound by the house-style of a particular
organisation, you can make up your own mind. Numbers up to one hundred can be written in one or two words and this is why this particular cut-off point is favoured.

There were eight children at the party. There were eighty-four/84 people in the audience.

Remember to hyphenate all compound numbers between twenty-one and ninetynine when they are written as words.

Round numbers over one hundred, like two thousand, five million, and so on, are also usually written in words.

Write dates (21 October 2001) and sums of money (£10.50) and specific
measurements (10.5 cm) in figures.
Time can be written in words or figures (three o’clock/3 o’clock) but 24-hour clock
NURSERY
nursery (singular) times are always written in figures (08.00). Centuries can be written in words or
figures (the 18th century/the eighteenth century).
It is important to be consistent within one piece of writing.
nurseries (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
oasis (singular)
obedience obedient
occasion
occasionally occur
o’clock
of or off? official or officious?
O
oases (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
( not -ance)
(not -ant)
occasional (not -ss-)
occasional + ly
occurred, occurring, occurrence
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
Take care with the punctuation of this contraction. The apostrophe represents the omission of four letters:
o’clock = of the clock
Do not write: o’Clock, O’Clock or o,clock.
These exemplar sentences may help:
He is the youngest OF four children. (pronounced ov)
Jump OFF the bus. (rhymes with cough)
Avoid the clumsy construction:
Jump off of the bus.
Jump off the bus.
OFFICIAL = authorised, formal
an OFFICIAL visit
an OFFICIAL invitation
OFFICIOUS = fussy, self-important, interfering
an OFFICIOUS secretary
an OFFICIOUS waiter
OFTEN
often (not offen)
omission
omit omitted, omitting
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
one This can be a useful impersonal pronoun: ONE never knows.
However, it can be difficult to keep up in along sentence:
ONE never knows if ONE’S husband is likely to approve of ONE’S choice but that is a risk ONE has to take.
Use ‘one’ sparingly and beware the risk of pomposity.
only The position of ‘only’ in a sentence is crucial to meaning.
See AMBIGUITY (ii).
onnist Wrong spelling. See HONEST.
onto or on to? There are circumstances when the words must always be written separately. We will consider these first.

" Always write the words separately if ‘to’ is part of an infinitive (e.g. to eat, to speak, to be, to watch, etc.):
She drove ON TO test the brakes.
As a matter of interest you can double-check the ‘separateness’ of the two words by separating them further:
She drove ON because she wanted TO test the breaks.
" Always write the words separately when ‘to’ means ‘towards’:
We cycled ON TO Oxford. ophthalmologist opinion
opposite
oral
organise/organize original
originally
ought
OUGHT
Once again, the two words can be further separated:
We cycled ON the few remaining miles TO Oxford.
" It is permissible to write ‘onto’ or ‘on to’ when you mean ‘to a position on’:
The acrobat jumped ONTO the trapeze.
The acrobat jumped ON TO the trapeze.

It should be borne in mind, however, that many careful writers dislike ‘onto’ and always use ‘on to’.

‘Onto’ is more common in American English but with the cautions expressed above.
(not opth-)
(not oppinion)
See AURAL OR ORAL?.
Both spellings are correct.
original + ly
‘Ought’ is always followed by an infinitive (to visit, to read, to do, etc).
We OUGHT to write our thank-you letters.
The negativeformis‘oughtnot’
We OUGHT NOT to hand our work in late.
The forms ‘didn’t ought’ and ‘hadn’t ought’ are always wrong.
OURS
ours
outfit
out of
outrageous
over
overreact
ovum (singular)
owing to You didn’t ought to say this. He OUGHT NOT to say this.
He hadn’t ought to have hit her. He OUGHT NOT to have hit her. There are eight possessive pronouns: mine, thine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs. They never need an apostrophe: This house is OURS.
outfitted, outfitting, outfitter
(exception to 2-1-1 rule).
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
Avoid using ‘of’ unnecessarily:
He threw it OUT OF the window. He threw it OUT the window. (not outragous)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
Take care when adding this prefix to a word already beginning with r-. You will have -rr-:

overreact
overripe
overrule, etc.
over + react
ova (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See DUE TO/OWING TO.
packed
paid
paiment
pajamas
palate, palette, pallet
panic paparazzo (singular)
P
We took a pack lunch with us. We took a PACKED lunch with us. (exception to the -y rule; not payed)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
Wrong spelling. See PAYMENT.
American spelling. See PYJAMAS.

PALATE = the top part of the inside of your mouth
PALETTE = a small board with a hole for the thumb which an artist uses when mixing paints
PALLET = a platform used to lift and to carry goods
panicked, panicking, panicky
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
paparazzi (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
paraffin
paragraphing There is no mystery about paragraphing
although many students find it difficult to know when to end one paragraph and begin another.

A paragraph develops a particular point that is relevant to the overall subject. If you wish to write a letter or an essay that develops five or six points, then each point will have its own paragraph and you will add two more, one by way of an introductory paragraph and another at the end as a conclusion.
There are no rules about how long a paragraph should be. Some paragraphs,
PARAGRAPHING
often the introduction or the conclusion, may be a single sentence; other paragraphs may be a page or more long. Too many short paragraphs in succession can be very jerky; too many very long ones can look forbidding. It is best to mix long and short paragraphs, if you can.

You may also find that a paragraph which is becoming very long (a page or more) will benefit from being subdivided. The topic of the paragraph may be more sensibly developed as two or three subsidiary points.

Clear paragraphing is not possible without clear thinking. Think of what you want to say before you begin to write. List the topics or points you want to make in a sensible order. Then develop each one in turn in a separate paragraph.

A paragraph usually contains within it one sentence which sums up its topic. Sometimes the paragraph will begin with this sentence (called a topic sentence) and the rest of the paragraph will elaborate or illustrate the point made. Sometimes the topic sentence occurs during the
paragraph. It can be effective, from time to time, to build up to the topic sentence as the last sentence in a paragraph.

Careful writers will try to move
smoothly from one paragraph to the next, using link words or phrases such as: on the other hand; however; in conclusion.

In handwriting and in typing, it is usual to mark the beginning of a paragraph either by indenting it by 2cm or so, or by leaving a clear line between paragraphs. The only disadvantage of the latter method is that it is not always clear, when a sentence begins on a new page, whether a new paragraph is also intended. paralyse/paralyze

paralysis
paraphernalia
parent
parenthesis (singular)
PARTICIPLES
Compare also the paragraphing of speech.
See INVERTED COMMAS.
Both spellings are correct.
(not perant)
parentheses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
parliament
parliamentary
parrafin
Wrong spelling. See PARAFFIN.
partake or participate? PARTAKE = to share with others (especially food and drink)
PARTICIPATE=tojoininanactivity; to play a part in

They PARTOOK solemnly of lamb, herbs and salt.
Will you be able to PARTICIPATE in the firm’s pension scheme?
partener Wrong spelling. See PARTNER. participles Participles help to complete some tenses. Present participles end in -ing:
Iam COOKING.
They were WASHING.
You would have been CELEBRATING.
Past participles generally end in -d or -ed but there are many exceptions:
Ihave LABOURED.
You are AMAZED.
It was HEARD.
We should have been INFORMED.
Care needs to be taken with the irregular
PARTICLE
forms of the past participle. They can be checked with a good dictionary.
to choose chosen
to teach taught
to begin begun
The past participle is the word that completes the construction:
having been . . . .?
Participles can also be used as verbal adjectives (that is, as describing words with a lot of activity suggested):
a HOWLING baby
a DESECRATED grave
As verbal adjectives, they can begin sentences:
HOWLING loudly, the baby woke everyone up.
DESECRATED with graffiti, the
tombstone was a sad sight.

Take care that the verbal adjective describes an appropriate noun or pronoun. A mismatch can result in unintended hilarity.
See AMBIGUITY (v).
particle
particular
particularly
partner
passed or past? particular + ly
(not partener)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

You PASSED me twice in town
yesterday.
In the PAST, women had few rights. In PAST times, women had few rights. Iwalk PAST your house every day.
PENINSULA OR PENINSULAR?
passenger past
pastime
payed
payment
peace or piece?
peculiar
pedal or peddle? (not passanger)
See PASSED OR PAST?
( not -tt-)
Wrong spelling. See PAID.
(not paiment)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
There were twenty-one years of PEACE between the two wars.
Would you like a PIECE of pie?
(not perc-)
a PEDAL = a lever you work with your foot
PEDDLE = to sell (especially drugs)
penicillin
peninsula or peninsular? PENINSULAisanounmeaning anarrow piece of land jutting out from the
mainland into the sea. It is derived from two Latin words: paene (almost) and insula (island).
Have you ever camped on the Lizard PENINSULA?
PENINSULAR is an adjective, derived from the noun:
The PENINSULAR War (1808–1814) was fought on the Iberian PENINSULA between the French and the British. Note: It may be useful in a quiz to know that the P&O shipping line was in 1837 The Peninsular Steam Navigation Company (it operated between Britain and the Iberian Peninsula). In 1840, when its operation was extended to Egypt, it became the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (hence P&O).
PEOPLE
people
perant
perculiar
perhaps
period
permanent permissible perseverance (not peple)
Wrong spelling. See PARENT. Wrong spelling. See PECULIAR. (not prehaps)
(not pieriod)
(not -ant)
(not perser-)
personal or personnel? Sarah has taken all her PERSONAL belongings with her.
She was upset by a barrage of PERSONAL remarks.
All the PERSONNEL will be trained in first aid.
Write to the PERSONNEL office and see if a vacancy is coming up.

( Note the spelling of personnel with -nn-) Note: Personnel Officers are now often called Human Resources Officers.

perspicacity or
perspicuity?
PERSPICACITY=discernment, shrewdness, clearness of understanding PERSPICUITY = lucidity, clearness of expression
phenomenon (singular) phenomena (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
physical physically physique Piccadilly piccalilli
picnic
picnicked, picnicking, picnicker
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
piece
pieriod
pigmy/pygmy (singular) pining or pinning?
plateau (singular)
See PEACE OR PIECE?.
Wrong spelling. See PERIOD. pigmies/pygmies (plural)
pine +ing = pining
pin + ing = pinning
See ADDING ENDINGS (i), (ii).
plateaus or plateaux (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
plausible pleasant pleasure plural
plurals
(not plesant)
See SINGULAR OR PLURAL?.
(i) Most words form their plural by adding -s:
door doors; word words; bag bags; rainbow rainbows; shop shops; car cars

(ii) Words ending in a sibilant (a hissing sound) add -es to form their plural. This adds a syllable to their
pronunciation and so you can always hear when this has happened:

bus buses; box boxes; fez fezes/fezzes; bench benches; bush bushes; hutch hutches.

(iii) Words ending in -y are a special case. Look at the letter that precedes the final -y. If the word ends in vowel +y, just add -s to form the plural (vowels: a, e, i, o, u):

day days
donkey donkeys
boy boys
guy guys
If the word ends in consonant + y, change the y to i, and add -es:

lobby
opportunity body
century
lobbies
opportunities bodies
centuries

This rule is well worth learning by heart. There are no exceptions. Remember an easy example as a key like boy/boys.
(iv) Words ending in -o generally add -s to form the plural:
piano pianos
banjo banjos
studio studios
soprano sopranos
photo photos
kimono kimonos
There are nine exceptions which add es:
domino echo
embargo hero
mosquito no
potato
tomato
torpedo dominoes echoes
embargoes heroes
mosquitoes noes
potatoes
tomatoes torpedoes

About a dozen words can be either -s or -es and so you’ll be safe with these. Interestingly, some of these words until recently have required -es (words like cargo, mango, memento, volcano). The trend is towards the regular -s ending and some words are in a transitional stage.
(v) Words ending in -f and -fe generally
add -s to form the plural:
roof roofs
cliff cliffs
handkerchief handkerchiefs
carafe carafes
giraffe giraffes

There are 13 exceptions which end in
-ves in the plural. You can always hear when this is the case, but here is the complete list for reference:

knife/knives; life/lives; wife/wives; elf/elves; self/selves; shelf/shelves; calf/calves; half/halves; leaf/leaves; sheaf/sheaves; thief/thieves; loaf/loaves; wolf/wolves.
Four words can be either -fs or -ves: hoofs/hooves; scarfs/scarves;
turfs/turves; wharfs/wharves.
(vi) Some nouns are quite irregular in the formation of their plural.
Some words don’t change:
aircraft, cannon, bison, cod, deer, sheep, trout
Some have a choice about changing or staying the same in the plural: buffalo or buffaloes
Eskimo or Eskimos
Other everyday words have very peculiar plurals which perhaps we take for granted:

man men ox oxen woman women mouse mice child children louse lice foot feet die dice goose geese
PNEUMONIA
After goose/geese, mongoose/ mongooses seems very strange but is correct.
See also FOREIGN PLURALS.
pneumonia possability possable
possess
possession Wrong spelling. See POSSIBILITY. Wrong spelling. See POSSIBLE. possessed, possessing
possessive apostrophes See APOSTROPHES (ii), (iii). possessive pronouns No apostrophes are needed with possessive pronouns:
That is MINE.Thatis OURS. That is THINE.Thatis YOURS. That is HERS.Thatis THEIRS. That is HIS.
That is ITS.

possessor
possibility
possible
possible or probable?
potato (singular)
practical or practicable? (not -able)
POSSIBLE = could happen
PROBABLE=very likelytohappen potatoes (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
A PRACTICAL person is one who is good at doing and making things.
A PRACTICAL suggestion is a sensible, realistic one that is likely to succeed.
A PRACTICABLE suggestion is merely one that will work. The word ‘practicable’ means ‘able to be put into practice’. It does not carry all the additional meanings of ‘practical’.
PREPOSITIONS
practice or practise?
precede or proceed?
prefer
prehaps
prejudice
preparation prepositions Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

PRACTICE makes perfect.
An hour’s PRACTICE every day will yield returns.
The young doctor has built up a busy PRACTICE.
In the examples above, ‘practice’ is a noun.
You should PRACTISE every day. PRACTISE now!
In these examples, ‘practise’ is a verb.
PRECEDE =togo infront of
PROCEED = to carry on, especially after having stopped
preferred, preferring, preference
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
Wrong spelling. See PERHAPS.
Prepositions are small words like ‘by’, ‘with’, ‘for’, ‘to’, which are placed before nouns and pronouns to show how they connect with other words in the sentence:
They gave the flowers TO their mother. Let him sit NEAR you.
Two problems can arise with prepositions.
(i) Take care to choose the correct preposition. A good dictionary will help you:

comply with
protest at
deficient in
ignorant of
similar to, and so on.
PRESENT
present
presume
priest
primitive
principal or principle?

privilege
probable
probably
procedure
proceed
proclaim
proclamation

(ii) Don’t take too seriously the oftrepeated advice not to end a sentence with a preposition. Use your
discretion, and word your sentence however it sounds best to you.
Do you prefer the first or the second sentence here?
(a) WITH whom are you?
(b) Who are you WITH?
Which do you prefer here?
(c) She’s a politician FOR whom I have a great deal of respect.
(d) She’s a politician I have a great
deal of respect FOR.
(not -ant)
See ASSUME OR PRESUME?.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
( not -mat-)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

Rebuilding the school is their PRINCIPAL aim. (= chief)
The PRINCIPAL announced the results. (= chief teacher)
His guiding PRINCIPLE was to judge no one hastily. (= moral rule)
(not privelege or priviledge)
See POSSIBLE OR PROBABLE?.
(not propably)
(not proceedure)
See PRECEDE OR PROCEED?.
(not -claim-)
PROPHECY OR PROPHESY?
profession professional professor
profit
prognosis
prognosis (singular)
program or programme?
prominent
pronounceable
pronouns
pronunciation propably
propaganda proper nouns (not -ff-)
profited, profiting
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
See DIAGNOSIS OR PROGNOSIS?.
prognoses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Use PROGRAM when referring to a computer program.
Use PROGRAMME on all other occasions.
(not -ant)
(not pronouncable)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
See I/ME/MYSELF.
See WHO/WHOM.
( not pronounciation)
Wrong spelling. See PROBABLY.
(not propo-)
See NOUNS.
prophecy or prophesy? These two words look very similar but are pronounced differently.
The last syllable of PROPHECY rhymes with ‘sea’; the last syllable of PROPHESY rhymes with ‘sigh’.
Use the exemplar sentences as a guide:
Most of us believed her PROPHECY that the world would end on 31 December. (prophecy = a noun)
In the example above, you could substitute the noun ‘prediction’.
PROPOGANDA
propoganda protein
psychiatrist psychiatry psychologist psychology publicly
punctuation

pyjamas We all heard him PROPHESY that the world would end at the weekend. (prophesy = a verb)
In the example above, you could substitute the verb ‘predict’.
Wrong spelling. See PROPAGANDA.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
(not publically)
See under individual entries:
APOSTROPHES; BRACKETS; CAPITAL LETTERS; COLONS; COMMAS; DASHES; EXCLAMATION MARKS; HYPHENS; INVERTED COMMAS; SEMICOLONS; QUESTION MARKS.
See also END STOPS.
(American English: pajamas)
quarrel
Q
quarrelled, quarrelling
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
quarrelsome quarter
question marks
questionnaire questions (direct and indirect)
queue
quiet or quite?
quotation or quote? A question mark is the correct end stop for a question. Note that it has its own built-in full stop and doesn’t require another.
Has anyoneseenmyglasses?
Note that indirect questions do not require question marks because they have become statements in the process and need full stops.
He asked if anyone had seen his glasses.
See INDIRECT SPEECH/REPORTED SPEECH.
(not -n-)
See QUESTION MARKS.
See INDIRECT SPEECH/REPORTED SPEECH.
queued, queuing or queueing
The children were as QUIET as mice. (quiet = two syllables)
You are QUITE right. (quite = one syllable)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Use as many QUOTATIONS as you can.
Use as many quotes as you can. (quotation = a noun)
QUOTATION MARKS
quotation marks Ican QUOTE the whole poem. (quote = a verb)
See INVERTED COMMAS.
radiator
radically
radius (singular)
raise or rise?
raping or rapping?
rapt or wrapped?
raspberry
ratable/rateable
R

( not -er)
radical + ly
radii or radiuses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Let us look at these two words first as verbs (doing words):
My landlord has decided to RAISE the rent.
He RAISED the rent a year ago.
He has RAISED the rent three times in four years.
My expenses RISE all the time.
They ROSE very steeply last year. They have RISEN steadily this year.
Now let us look at them as nouns (a raise, arise):
You should ask your employer for a RISE.
You should ask your employer for a RAISE.
An increase in salary is called ‘a rise’ in the UK and ‘a raise’ in America.
rape + ing = raping
rap + ing = rapping
See ADDING ENDINGS (i), (ii).
RAPT =enraptured(RAPT in thought) WRAPPED = enclosed in paper or soft material
(not rasberry)
Both spellings are correct.
REALISE/REALIZE
realise/realize really
reason
reasonable
reccomend
receipt
receive
recent or resent? Both spellings are correct. real + ly
Wrong spelling. See RECOMMEND.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
RECENT = happening not long ago RESENT = to feel aggrieved and be indignant

recipe
recognise/recognize recommend
recover or re-cover?

rediculous refectory refer
referee or umpire?
refrigerator
regal or royal?
regret Both spellings are correct.
Bear in mind the difference in meaning that the hyphen makes:
RECOVER = get better, regain possession RE-COVER = to cover again
See HYPHENS (iv).
Wrong spelling. See RIDICULOUS.
(not refrectory)
referred, referring, referee, reference
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
REFEREE = football, boxing
UMPIRE = baseball, cricket, tennis (abbreviation = fridge)
REGAL =fitfor akingorqueen; resembling the behaviour of a king or queen
ROYAL = having the status of a king or queen, or being a member of their family
regretted, regretting, regrettable, regretful
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
RESISTANCE
rehearsal rehearse relevant
relief
remember (not revelant)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
(not rember)
repellent or repulsive? Both words mean ‘causing disgust or
repetition
repetitious or repetitive?
reported speech representative repulsive
resent
reservoir
resistance

aversion’. REPULSIVE,however, isthe stronger of the two; it has the sense of causing ‘intense disgust’, even horror in some circumstances.

REPELLENT can also be used in the sense of being able to repel particular pests (a mosquito repellent) and in the sense of being impervious to certain substances (water-repellent).
(not -pit-)
Both words are derived from ‘repetition’. Use REPETITIOUS when you want to criticise something spoken or written for containing tedious and excessive
repetition. ‘Repetitious’ is a derogatory term.

Use REPETITIVE when you want to make the point that speech, writing or an activity involves a certain amount of repetition (e.g. work on an assembly line in a factory). ‘Repetitive’ is a neutral word.
See INDIRECT SPEECH/REPORTED SPEECH. See REPELLENT OR REPULSIVE?.
See RECENT OR RESENT?.
From ‘reserve’. (not resevoir) RESON
reson
resonable
responsibility
responsible
restaurant
restaurateur
resuscitate
revelant
revenge
reverend or reverent?

reversible rheumatism rhubarb
rhyme
rhythm
ridiculous
rigorous or vigorous?
robing or robbing? Wrong spelling. See REASON. Wrong spelling. See REASONABLE. (not -ability)
(not -able)

( not restauranteur)
(not rescusitate)
Wrong spelling. See RELEVANT.
See AVENGE OR REVENGE?.
REVEREND = deserving reverence; title for a cleric.
The Revd. C. Benson
The Rev. C. Benson
REVERENT = showing reverence REVERENT pilgrims
(not -able)
( not rediculous)
The word comes from the Latin ridere, meaning ‘to laugh’.

RIGOROUS = exhaustive, very thorough, exacting physically or mentally
VIGOROUS = full of energy
robe + ing = robing
rob + ing = robbing
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
rococo
ROYAL
Romania/Rumania
roof (singular) royal
Both spellings are correct.
A third variant, Roumania, is now considered old-fashioned and should be avoided.
roofs (plural) (not rooves)
See REGAL OR ROYAL?.
sacrifice sacrilege safely
said

S

( not sacra-)
(not sacra-)
safe + ly
(exception to the -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
salary
salmon
sanatorium (singular)

sandwich sarcasm sat
satellite Saturday saucer
scan
sanatoria or sanatoriums (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not sanwich)
See IRONY OR SARCASM?.
See SIT.
Scan has a number of meanings in different subject areas:
" It can mean to analyse the metre of a line of poetry.
" It can mean ‘to look at all parts carefully in order to detect
irregularities’ (as in radar SCANNING and body SCANNING).

" It canmean toreadintentlyand quickly in order to establish the relevant points.
When we talk of ‘just SCANNING the headlines’, we shouldn’t mean ‘glancing scarcely scarf (singular)
scaring or scarring?
scarsly
scenery
sceptic or septic?
SCOTCH, SCOTS OR SCOTTISH?
quickly over them without taking them in’. Scanning is a very intensive and selective process.
This word needs care both in spelling and in usage.
See DOUBLE NEGATIVES.
scarfs or scarves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
scare + ing = scaring
scar + ing = scarring
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
Wrong spelling. See SCARCELY.
(not -ary)

A SCEPTIC is one who is inclined to doubt or question accepted truths. SEPTIC is an adjective meaning ‘infected by bacteria’ (a SEPTIC wound).
It also describes the drainage system in country areas which uses bacteria to aid decomposition (SEPTIC drainage, a SEPTIC tank).

schedule
scheme
scissors

Scotch, Scots or Scottish?
Use SCOTCH only in such phrases as SCOTCH broth, SCOTCH whisky, SCOTCH eggs, SCOTCH mist and so on.

When referring to the people of Scotland, call them the SCOTS or the SCOTTISH. The term SCOTCH can cause offence.
The words SCOTS is often used in connection with aspects of language: He has a strong SCOTS accent.
SEARCH
The SCOTS language is quite distinct from English.
What is the SCOTS word for ‘small’?
We also talk about SCOTS law being different from English law.
In connection with people, we have the rather formal terms Scotsman/Scotsmen and Scotswoman/Scotswomen.
Remember also the Scots Guards.

SCOTTISH is used rather more
generally to refer to aspects of landscape and culture:

SCOTTISH history, SCOTTISH dancing, SCOTTISH traditions, SCOTTISH universities, the SCOTTISH Highlands
search
seasonable or seasonal?
secretary (singular)
seize
self (singular)
Sellophane Sellotape semicolons

SEASONABLE = normal for the time of year (SEASONABLE weather)
SEASONAL = happening at a particular season (SEASONAL employment)
secretaries (plural) (not secer-)
See PLURALS (iii).
(not -ie-; an exception to the EI/IE SPELLING
RULE)
selves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
Wrong spelling. See CELLOPHANE.
(not cellotape)
Semicolons have two functions:
(i) They can replace a full stop by joining two related sentences.
Ian is Scottish. His wife is Irish. Ian is Scottish; his wife is Irish. (ii) They can replace the commas in a list which separate items. Semicolons are sensual or sensuous? sentence
sentiment or sentimentality?
sentimental
separate
separate
SEPARATE
particularly useful with longer items where commas might be needed for other reasons.

Emily has bought some lovely things for her new flat: five huge, brightly coloured floor cushions; some woven throws, in neutral colours and of wonderful textures; an Afghan rug; a brilliant blue glass vase; and a winerack, very elegant, shaped like two Ss on their backs.

SENSUAL = appealing to the body (especially through food, drink and sex) SENSUOUS = appealing to the senses aesthetically (especially through music, poetry, art)
(not -ance)
SENTIMENT = a sincere emotional feeling
SENTIMENTALITY=over-indulgent, maudlin wallowing in emotion (sometimes with the suggestion of falseness and exaggeration)

This adjective comes from both
‘sentiment’ and ‘sentimentality’ and so can be used in a fairly neutral way as well as apejorativeway:

SENTIMENTAL value (from sentiment) for SENTIMENTAL reasons (from
sentiment)
sickly SENTIMENTAL songs (from sentimentality)

( not seperate)
Remember that there is A RAT in
sep/A/RAT/e.
separated, separating, separation
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
SEPTIC
septic
sequence of tenses
sergeant
serial
servere
serviceable
sesonable
sesonal
several severe
See SCEPTIC OR SEPTIC?.
This means that tenses must match within a sentence. You have to keep within a certain time-zone:

I telephoned everyone on the committee and tell them exactly what Ithought.
I telephoned everyone on the committee and TOLD them exactly what I thought.

He said that he will ask her to marry him.
He said that he WOULD ask her to marry him.

I should be grateful if you will send me an application form.
Ishouldbegratefulifyou WOULD send me an application form.

Fergal smiles at us, waves goodbye and was gone.
Fergal smiles at us, waves goodbye and IS gone.
(not sergant)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
See CEREAL OR SERIAL?.
Wrong spelling. See SEVERE.
(not servicable)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
Wrong spelling. See SEASONABLE OR
SEASONAL?.
Wrong spelling. See SEASONABLE OR
SEASONAL?.
(three syllables)
(not servere)
SHALL OR WILL?
severely
sew or sow?
sewage or sewerage?
shall or will? severe + ly
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

Sarah can SEW and knit beautifully. She is SEWING her trousseau now. She SEWED my daughter’s christening gown by hand.
She has SEWN all her life.
The best time to SOW broad beans is in the autumn.
He’s out now SOWING parsley and sage. He SOWED seed that he saved from the year before.
He has SOWN the last of the lettuce seed.

SEWAGE = the waste products carried off by means of sewers
SEWERAGE = the provision of a drainage system

The simple future tense uses ‘shall’ with I and we and ‘will’ with the other
pronouns:

I shall drive
you (singular) will drive
he/she/it will drive
we shall drive
you (plural) will drive
they will drive
By reversing ‘shall’ and ‘will’ you
introduce a note of determination.
Iwilldrive
you shall drive
he/she/it shall drive
we will drive
you shall drive
they shall drive

This distinction is lost in the contraction: I’ll drive. However, in speech, the tone of voice will indicate which is intended.
SHAMING OR SHAMMING?
shaming or shamming? shame + ing = shaming
shan’t
sheaf (singular)
shear or sheer?
sheikh
shelf (singular)
sheriff
shining or shinning?
shoe
should or would? sham + ing = shamming
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
This contraction for ‘shall not’ would at onetimehavebeen punctuatedwithtwo apostrophes to indicate where letters have been omitted (sha’n’t).
Use just one apostrophe nowadays (shan’t).
See CONTRACTIONS.
sheaves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
SHEAR is a verb (a doing word) and means to cut off.
SHEER is an adjective and means very thin (SHEER material), almost
perpendicular (a SHEER cliff) or wholehearted (SHEER delight).
(also sheik, shaikh, shaykh – but these are less usual spellings)
shelves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
(not -rr-)
shine + ing = shining
shin + ing = shinning
(See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).)
These are the tricky tenses of the verb ‘to shoe’:
The blacksmith SHOES the horse. He is SHOEING the horse now.
He SHOD the horse last week.
He has SHOD the horse regularly.
‘Should’ and ‘would’ follow the pattern of ‘shall’ and ‘will’.
Ishouldwork (ifIhad thechoice) you (singular) would work
shouldn’t should of
shriek
shy
shyly
shyness
siege
sieve sieze sight
SIGHT
he/she/it would work
we should work
you (plural) would work
they would work
The correct construction often needed in aformalletteris:
I SHOULD be grateful if you WOULD send me . . .
In the sense of ‘ought to’, use ‘should’ in all cases:
IknowI SHOULD apologise.
You SHOULD write to your parents. She SHOULD understand if you explain. He SHOULD understand.
We SHOULD repair the shed.
You all SHOULD work harder.
They SHOULD resign.
(note the position of the apostrophe) This is an incorrect construction.
See COULD OF.
(not shreik)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
shyer, shyest
Follows the -y rule.
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(exception to the -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(exception to the -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(not -ei)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Wrong spelling. See SEIZE.
See CITE, SIGHT OR SITE?.
SILENT -E
silent -e
silhouette
silicon or silicone?
similarly simile
sincerely SILICON = element used in electronics industry (SILICON chip)
SILICONE = compound containing silicon and used in lubricants and polishes and in cosmetic surgery (SILICONE implants)
similar + ly
( not similie)
A simile is a comparison, usually beginning with ‘like’ or ‘as’/‘as if’.
You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. Her hair was like silk.
Compare METAPHOR.
sincere + ly ( not sincerly)
Note the punctuation required when ‘sincerely’isusedaspartofa
complimentary close to a letter.
Traditional layout:
Yours sincerely, Aisling Hughes
singeing or singing? Fully blocked layout:
Yours sincerely
Aisling Hughes
singe + ing = singeing sing + ing = singing
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
singular or plural? Also known as magic -e and mute -e.
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
(i) Always match singular subjects with singular verbs. Always match plural subjects with plural verbs.
The dog (singular) is barking (singular). The dogs (plural) are barking (plural).
SINGULAR OR PLURAL?
These pronouns are always singular:
everyone, everybody, everything anyone, anybody, anything
someone, somebody, something no one, nobody, nothing
either, neither, each
Everybody (singular) loves (singular) a sailor.
Remember that double subjects (compound subjects) are plural.
The Alsatian and the Pekinese (two dogs = plural subject) are barking (plural).
(ii) ‘Either . . .or’ and ‘neither . . .nor’ are followed by a singular verb.
Either James or Donal is lying and that’s certain. (singular)
(iii) The choice between ‘there is’
(singular) and ‘there are’ (plural) will depend on what follows.
There is (singular) a good reason (singular) for his bad behaviour. (iv) Take care to match nouns and pronouns.
Ask any teacher (singular) and they (plural) will tell you what they (plural) think (plural) about the new curriculum.
Ask any teacher (singular) and he or she (singular) will tell you what he or she (singular) thinks (singular) about the new curriculum.
(v) Don’t be distracted by any additional details attached to the subject.
SIROCCO/SCIROCCO
sirocco/scirocco sit
site The variety (singular) of courses available at the colleges were (plural) impressive.

The variety (singular) of courses available at the colleges was (singular) impressive.
The addition (singular) of so many responsibilities makes (singular) the job very stressful.

(vi) Collective nouns are singular when considered as a whole but plural when considered as combined units.

The audience (singular) was divided (singular) in its (singular) response. The audience (here seen as a crowd of single people) were divided (plural) in their (plural) response.
Both spellings are correct.
Don’t confuse the grammatical formation of tenses:
We SIT by the fire in the evening and relax.
We ARE SITTING by the fire now. We ARE SEATED by the fire.
We HAVE BEEN SITTING here all evening.
We HAVE BEEN SEATED here all evening.
We SAT by the fire yesterday.
We WERE SITTING by the fire when you phoned.
We WERE SEATED by the fire when you phoned.
Never write or say:
We were sat.
say We were sitting/we were seated.
See CITE, SIGHT OR SITE?.
SOCIAL OR SOCIABLE?
siting or sitting?
sizable/sizeable skein
skilful
skilfully
slain
slander
slily/slyly
sloping or slopping?
sly
slyly
slyness
smelled/smelt
sniping or snipping?
sobriquet/soubriquet social or sociable? site + ing = siting
sit + ing = sitting
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
Both spellings are correct.
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
skilful + ly
(exception to -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
See LIBEL OR SLANDER?.
Both spellings are correct but the second is more commonly used.
slope + ing = sloping
slop + ing = slopping
slyer, slyest
See SLILY/SLYLY.
Both spellings are correct.
snipe + ing = sniping
snip + ing = snipping
Both spellings are correct.
SOCIAL = related to society.
a SOCIAL worker,a SOCIAL problem, SOCIAL policy, SOCIAL housing
SOCIABLE = friendly
avery SOCIABLE person

These two words are quite distinct in meaning even though they may be used with the same noun:
a SOCIAL evening = an evening organised for the purpose of recreation
SOFT C AND SOFT G
soft c and soft g
soldier a SOCIABLE evening = a friendly evening where everyone mixed well
With any luck the social evening was also asociableone!
The letter c has two sounds. It can be hard and sound like k or it can be soft and sound like s.

The letter g has two sounds. It can be hard and sound like g in got and it can be soft and sound like j.
Usually, but not always, c and g sound hard when they precede a, o, u:
cat cot cut
gap got gut
They are generally soft when they precede eand i(andy):
cell cider cyberspace
germ gin gyrate
Sometimes an extra e is inserted into a word before a, o, u, so that the c or g in the word can sound soft:

noticeable manageable (not noticable) (not managable)

Sometimes an extra k is inserted into a word between c and a, o, u, so that c can sound hard:
picnicking (not picnicing)
trafficking (not trafficing)
Take care with the spelling of this word. (soldiers of the Queen, not soliders!)
soliloquy somebody somersault (not sombody)
SPLIT INFINITIVE
something
some times or sometimes?
soubriquet souvenir sovereign

sow
spaghetti
speach
speak
specially
speech
speech marks spelled/spelt spilled/spilt split infinitive (not somthing)

Use the exemplar sentences as a guide: There are SOME TIMES when I want to leave college. (= some occasions) SOMETIMESI wanttoleave college. (=occasionally)
See SOBRIQUET/SOUBRIQUET.
(exception to the -ie- rule)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
See SEW OR SOW?.
Wrong spelling. See SPEECH.
See ESPECIALLY OR SPECIALLY?.
(not speach)
See INVERTED COMMAS.
Both spellings are correct.
Both spellings are correct.
The infinitive of a verb is made up of two words:
to eat, to speak, to begin, to wonder
If a word (or a group of words) comes between the two words of an infinitive, the infinitive is said to be ‘split’.

It is not a serious matter at all!
You may sometimes find it is effective to split an infinitive. Do so. On other occasions to split the infinitive may seem clumsy. Avoid doing so on those
occasions. Use your own judgement.
Here are some examples of split infinitives:
SPOILED/SPOILT
spoiled/spoilt stand
stationary or stationery?
stiletto (singular)
stimulant or stimulus? to boldly go where no man has gone before
to categorically and emphatically deny any wrongdoing
to sometimes wonder how much will be achieved
They can easily be rewritten:
to go boldly
to deny categorically and emphatically to wonder sometimes
Both spellings are correct.
Don’t confuse the grammatical formation of tenses.
We STAND by the window after
breakfast.
We ARE STANDING now.
We HAVE BEEN STANDING for an hour. We STOOD by the window yesterday. We WERE STANDING there when you called.
Never write or say:
We were stood.
say We were standing.
STATIONARY = standing still (a
STATIONARY car)
STATIONERY = notepaper and
envelopes
stilettos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
Both words are related to ‘stimulate’ but there is a difference in meaning:
A STIMULANT is a temporary energiser like drink or drugs.
A STIMULUS is something that motivates (like competition).
SUBJUNCTIVE
stimulus (singular)
stomach ache
stood
storey (plural storeys) or story (plural stories)? building stimuli (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See STAND.
STOREY = one floor or level in a
strategem or strategy?
strategy or tactics?
stratum (singular)
subjunctive A bungalow is a singleSTOREY structure. A tower block can have twenty
STOREYS.
STORY=atale
Ireada STORY each night to my little brother.
Children love STORIES.

STRATEGEM = a plot, scheme,
sometimes a trick, which will outwit an opponent or overcome a difficulty
STRATEGY = the overall plan for conducting a war or achieving a major objective

STRATEGY =the overall planorpolicy for achieving an objective
TACTICS = the procedures necessary to carry out the strategic policy
strata (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
The subjunctive form of the verb is used to express possibilities, recommendations and wishes:

If he WERE a gentleman (and he’s not) he would apologise on bended knee.
( If he was a gentleman . . .)

If I WERE rich (and I’m not), I would help you.
( If I was rich . . .)
SUBMIT
submit IwishI WERE going with you (and sadly I’m not!).
( I wish I was going with you .)

I recommend that he BE sacked
immediately.
( . . . he is sacked)

I propose that the treasurer LEAVE the room.
( .... leaves)

It is vital that these questions BE
answered.
( . . . are answered)

The subjunctive is also used in these expressions but there is no change to the verb.

God SAVE the Queen.
God BLESS you.
Heaven FORBID.
submitted, submitting
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
subtle
subtlety
subtly
success (singular) successes (plural)
See PLURALS (ii).
successful successfully sufferance suffixes
suggest
superlative supersede successful + ly
See ADDING ENDINGS.
(not surjest)
See COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE.
(not -cede)
SYNOPSIS
supervise surfeit
surjest
surprise
surprising
surreptitious survivor
swam or swum?
swinging or swingeing?
swum
syllabus (singular)
synchronise/
synchronize
synonym
synonymous
synopsis (singular) (not -ize)
(not -ie-, exception to rule)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Wrong spelling. See SUGGEST. (not suprise or surprize)
( not -er)
Note these tenses of ‘to swim’:
I SWAM the Channel last year. Ihave SWUM the Channel five times. swing + ing = swinging
swinge + ing = swingeing
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
See SWAM OR SWUM?.
syllabuses or syllabi (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Both spellings are correct.
synopses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
tableau (singular)
tactics
taping or tapping?
tariff
taught or taut?
T
tableaux (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See STRATEGY OR TACTICS?.
tape + ing = taping
tap + ing = tapping
( not -rr-)
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Mrs Jenkins TAUGHT maths.
Hold the line TAUT.Pullittight.
technical
tee shirt/T-shirt temperature
tempo (singular) Both versions are correct. (four syllables)
tempi or tempos (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
temporarily temporary temprature tendency
tenses
terminus (singular)
terrible
testimonial or testimony?
(four syllables)
Wrong spelling. See TEMPERATURE.
(not -ancy)
See SEQUENCE OF TENSES.
See entries for individual verbs.
termini or terminuses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not -able)
TESTIMONIAL = formal statement in the form of an open letter bearing witness to someone’s character, qualifications and relevant experience
thank you or thank-you?
THEY’RE
TESTIMONY = formal written or spoken statement of evidence, especially in a court of law

(never thankyou!)
I should like to THANK YOU very much for your help.
THANK YOU for your help.
Ihavewritten allmy THANK-YOU letters.

You will see that ‘thank you’ is NEVER written as one word. It is hyphenated only when used as a compound adjective describing ‘letter’ or another noun.

Those who care about such things can never bring themselves to buy otherwise attractive thank-you cards that have THANKYOU or THANK-YOU printed on them!
their, there or they’re? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
theirs
theirselves themselves
there
there is/there are thesis (singular)

they’re They have sold THEIR house.
He is waiting for you over THERE. THERE is no point in lying to me. THEY’RE going to Krakow for Christmas. (= they are)
(no apostrophe)
This is my dog; THEIRS has a white patch on his forehead.
Incorrect formation. See THEMSELVES. They blame THEMSELVES for the crash. They THEMSELVES were there.
See THEIR, THERE OR THEY’RE?.
See SINGULAR OR PLURAL? (iii).
theses (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
See THEIR, THERE OR THEY’RE?.
THIEF
thief (singular) thieves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
thorough thoroughly threshold tingeing
tiny
tired
titbit titles
to, too or two? thorough + ly
(not -hh-)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
( not -ey)
(not I am tiered)
I feel very TIRED today.
(not tidbit)

When punctuating the title of a book, film, poem, song, etc., take care to begin the first word and all subsequent key words with a capital letter.
Have you read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee?
Titles can be italicised (in print and wordprocessing) or underlined or enclosed in inverted commas (single or double).

The film Schindler’s List is based on the book by Thomas Keneally called
Schindler’s Ark.
I’m so pleased thatADiary ofaNobody is being serialised.
Have you seen the new production of ‘Macbeth’ at the Barbican?

You should give this TO the police. Do you know how TO swim?
(part of infinitive = to swim)
Iwas TOO embarrassed to say anything. (= excessively)
Can we come TOO?(=also)
They have TWO houses, one in London and one in France.
TRANSPIRE
tolerant
tomato (singular)
tomorrow
tonsillitis
tornado (singular)
torpedo (singular)
tortuous or torturous? (not tollerant or tolerent)
tomatoes (plural) (an exception to rule)
See PLURALS (iv).
(not tommorrow)
tornadoes or tornados (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
torpedoes (plural) (an exception to rule)
See PLURALS (iv).
TORTUOUS = full of twists and turns, complex, convoluted
TORTUROUS = painful, agonising, excruciating

total
totally toupee traffic

tragedy tragic
transfer

transpire total + ly
(not toupe´e)
trafficked, trafficking, trafficker
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
( not tradgedy)
(not tradgic)
transferred, transferring, transference
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
Strictly speaking, this verb has two meanings:
" to give off moisture (of plant or leaf) " to come slowly to be known, to leak out (of secret information)
It is often used loosely in the sense of ‘to happen’.
Why not use ‘to happen’ instead of this rather pompous word?
TRAVEL
travel
trivia
troop or troupe?
trooper or trouper?
truly
try
tumulus (singular)
turf (singular)
twelfth
twentieth twenty
typical
typically travelled, travelling, traveller
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
This is a plural noun and should be matched with a plural verb.
Such TRIVIA are to be condemned. TROOP refers to the armed forces or to groups of people or particular animals:
a TROOP of scouts
a TROOP of children
a TROOP of monkeys

TROUPE refers to a group of touring actors, dancers, musicians or other entertainers.
TROOPER = cavalry soldier or member of an armoured unit
He swears like a TROOPER at nine years old.
TROUPER = a touring entertainer Jack Densley is a grand old TROUPER. (not truely, an exception to the -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
tried, trying
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
tumuli (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
turfs or turves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
(not twelth, as it is often mispronounced)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
typical + ly ultimatum (singular)
umbrella umpire
un

U
ultimata or ultimatums (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not umberella)
See REFEREE OR UMPIRE?.
Remember that when un- is added to a word beginning with n-, you will have
-nn-:
un + natural = unnatural
un +nerve =unnerve
unconscious under
underlay or underlie? Remember that when you add under- to a word beginning with r-, you will have -rr-:

under + rate = underrate
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

to UNDERLAY = to lay or place under You should UNDERLAY the carpet with felt if your floorboards are very uneven. I UNDERLAID this carpet with very thick felt because the floorboards were so uneven.
This carpet IS UNDERLAID with felt.
to UNDERLIE=tobe situatedunder (esp. rocks)
Granite UNDERLIES the sandstone here. Granite UNDERLAY the sandstone, as we soon discovered.
The sandstone here IS UNDERLAIN by granite.
UNDERRATE
underrate
undoubtedly
unequivocally
unexceptionable or unexceptional?
unget-at-able uninterested unique
unmanageable
unmistakable/
unmistakeable
unnatural
unnecessary
unparalleled
until
unusually
upon
upstairs
urban or urbane? also:
The UNDERLYING problem is poverty.
Compare LAY OR LIE?.
under + rate
unequivocal + ly (not unequivocably)
UNEXCEPTIONABLE = inoffensive, not likely to cause criticism or objections UNEXCEPTIONAL = ordinary, run-ofthe-mill
Compare EXCEPTIONABLE OR EXCEPTIONAL?.
(not un-get-at-able)
See DISINTERESTED OR UNINTERESTED?.
Remember, that ‘unique’ is absolute. It means ‘the only one of its kind’.
Something is either unique or it’s not. It can’t be ‘quite unique’ or ‘very unique’.
(not unmanagable)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
Both spellings are correct.
un + natural un + necessary
( not untill)
unusual + ly
(not apon)
(one word)

URBAN = relating to a town or city URBAN population
URBANE=suave,courteous
USURPER
used to I USED TO like him very much The negative form is:
I USED NOT TO like him very much. I didn’t used to like him.
useful
useless
usurper (not -or)
V

vase
vechicle
vegetable vegetation vehicle
veil
vengeance
ventilation
veracity or voracity?
veranda/verandah vertebra (singular)
veterinary vice versa vicious
view
vigorous Wrong spelling. See VEHICLE. (not vegtable)
(not vechicle)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
(not vengance)
See SOFT C AND SOFT G.
(not venta-)
VERACITY=truthfulness VORACITY=greed
Both spellings are correct. vertebrae (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(five syllables!)
(not vigourous)
See also RIGOROUS OR VIGOROUS?.
vigour
villain
violent
virtuoso (singular)
visible virtuosi or virtuosos (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
(not -able)
VOWELS
visitor
vocabulary
volcano (singular) (not -er)
(five syllables)
volcanoes or volcanos (plural)
See PLURALS (iv).
voluntary
volunteer
voracity
vortex (singular)
vowels volunteered, volunteering
See VERACITY OR VORACITY?.
vortexes or vortices (plural)
See FOREIGN PLURALS.
Five letters of the alphabet are always vowels:
aeiou
The letter y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant. It is a vowel when it sounds like e or i:
pretty, busy
sly, pylon
Y is a consonant at the beginning of syllables and words and has a different sound:
yellow, beyond
waist or waste?
waive or wave?
wander or wonder?
wasn’t
waste
wave
weak or week?
weather or whether?
Wednesday week
weir

W
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
Tie this rope around your WAIST. Don’t WASTE paper.
What do you do with WASTE paper? Industrial WASTE causes pollution.
WAIVE = to give something up or not exact it
Ishall WAIVE the fine on this occasion. WAVE = to move something to and fro WAVE to the Queen.

Iloveto WANDER through the forest. (rhymes with girl’s name, Wanda) I WONDER what has happened to him. (rhymes with ‘under’)
Place the apostrophe carefully.
See WAIST OR WASTE?.
See WAIVE OR WAVE?.
WEAK=feeble
WEEK=seven days
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
The WEATHER this winter has been awful.
I don’t know WHETHER I can help. (= if)
(not Wensday)
See WEAK OR WEEK?.
(exception to the -ie- rule)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
WHO OR WHOM?
weird
Wensday
were or where?
weren’t
wharf (singular)
where
whether whilst
whiskey or whisky?
who or whom? (exception to the -ie- rule)
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
Wrong spelling. See WEDNESDAY.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

We WERE walking very fast. (rhymes with ‘her’)
WHERE are you? (rhymes with ‘air’) Do you know WHERE he is?
This is the house WHERE I was born.
Place the apostrophe carefully.
wharfs or wharves (plural)
Both spellings are correct.
See WERE OR WHERE?.
See WEATHER OR WHETHER?.
(exception to magic -e rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
WHISKEY is distilled in Ireland.
WHISKY is distilled in Scotland.
The grammatical distinction is that ‘who’ is a subject pronoun and ‘whom’ is an object pronoun.

(i) Use this method to double-check whether you need a subject pronoun or an object pronoun when who/ whom begins a question:

Ask yourself the question and anticipate the answer. If this could be one of the subject pronouns (I, he, she, we or they), then you need ‘who’ at the beginning of the question:

Who/whom is there?
The answer could be: I am there. WHO is there?
WHOLE
If the answer could be one of the object pronouns (me, him, her, us or them), then you need ‘whom’ at the beginning of the question:

Who/whom did you meet when you went to London?
The answer could be: I met him. WHOM did you meet?
(ii) Use this method if who/whom comes in the middle of a sentence:
Break the sentence into two sentences and see whether a subject pronoun (I, he, she, we, they) is needed in the second sentence or an object pronoun (me, him, her, us, them).
Here is the man who/whom can help you.
Divide into two sentences:
Here is the man. He can help you. Here is the man WHO can help you. He is a writer who/whom I have admired for years.
Divide into two sentences:
He is a writer. I have admired him for years.
He is a writer WHOM I have admired for years.
whole See HOLE OR WHOLE?.
wholly (exception to the magic e- rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
who’s or whose? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
WHO’S been eating my porridge? (= who has)
WHO’S coming to supper? (= who is) wierd
wife (singular)
wilful
will
wining or winning?
wisdom
withhold
wolf (singular)
woman (singular)
wonder won’t
woollen worship
would
wouldn’t
would of
wrapped
WRAPPED
WHOSE calculator is this? (= belonging to whom)
There’s a girl WHOSE cat was killed.
Wrong spelling. See WEIRD.
wives (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
(not willful)
See SHALL OR WILL?.
wine + ing = wining
win + ing = winning
See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii).
(exception to magic -e rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
(not withold)
wolves (plural)
See PLURALS (v).
women (plural)
See PLURALS (vi).
See WANDER OR WONDER?.
See CONTRACTIONS.
(not woolen)
worshipped, worshipping, worshipper (exception to 2-1-1 rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iv).
See SHOULD OR WOULD?.
Take care to place the apostrophe correctly.
Incorrect construction.
See COULD OF.
See RAPT OR WRAPPED?.
WREATH OR WREATHE?
wreath or wreathe?
write
writer wry
wryly

wryness Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:

She lay a WREATH of lilies on his grave. (= noun)
Look at him WREATHED in cigarette smoke. (verb, rhymes with ‘seethed’)
Use these sentences as a guide to tenses:
I WRITE to her every day.
I AM WRITINGaletternow.
I WROTE yesterday.
Ihave WRITTEN every day.

( not writter)
wrier or wryer, wriest or wryest
(exception to the y- rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
(exception to the -y rule)
See ADDING ENDINGS (iii).
-y rule
yacht
yield
yoghurt/youghourt/ yougurt
yoke or yolk?
your or you’re? yours
Y
See ADDINGS ENDINGS (iii).
See PLURALS (iii).
See EI/IE SPELLING RULE.
All these spellings are correct.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
The YOKE of the christening gown was beautifully embroidered.
The oxen were YOKED together. She will eat only the YOLK of the egg.
Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
YOUR essay is excellent. (= belonging to you)
YOU’RE joking! (= you are)
This is YOURS.
No apostrophe needed!
Z

zealot
zealous
zealously
Zimmer frame
zloty (singular) zloties or zlotys (plural)
See PLURALS (iii).
zoological zoology
Appendix A Literary Terms

Here are a few of the most widely used literary devices. You will probably be familiar with them in practice but perhaps cannot always put a name to them.

alliteration the repetition of sounds at the beginning of words and syllables.
" Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.
climax " I came; I saw; I conquered!
epigram a short pithy saying.
" Truth is never pure, and rarely simple. (Oscar Wilde)
euphemism an indirect way of referring to distressing or unpalatable facts.
" I’ve lost both my parents. (= they’ve died)
" She’s rather light-fingered. (= she’s a thief)

hyperbole exaggeration.
" Jack cut his knee rather badly and lost gallons of blood. " What’s for lunch? I’m starving.
" I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum. (Shakespeare: ‘Hamlet’)
irony saying one thing while clearly meaning the opposite. " For Brutus is an honourable man. (Shakespeare: ‘Julius Caesar’)
litotes understatement.
" He was not exactly polite.(=very rude)
" Iam a citizenof no mean city.(=StPaulboastingabout
Tarsus and hence about himself)
metaphor a compressed comparison.
" Anna flew downstairs. (i.e. her speed resembled the speed of abirdinflight)
" Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care. (Shakespeare: ‘Macbeth’)
" No man is an island, entire of itself. (John Donne)

metonymy the substitution of something closely associated. " The bottle has been his downfall. (= alcohol)
" The kettle’s boiling. (= the water in the kettle)
" The pen is mightier than the sword.
onomatopoeia echoing the sound.
" Bees buzz;sausages sizzle in the pan; ice-cubes tinkle in the glass.
Frequently, alliteration, vowel sounds and selected consonants come together to evoke the sounds being described:
" Only the monstrous anger of the guns
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
(Wilfred Owen: ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’)
oxymoron apparently contradictory terms which make sense at a deeper level.
" The cruel mercy of the executioner bought him peace at last.

paradox a deliberately contradictory statement on the surface which challenges you to discover the underlying truth. " If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly. (G. K.
Chesterton)
personification describing abstract concepts and inanimate objects as though they were people.
" Death lays his icy hand on kings. (James Shirley)
Often human feelings are also attributed. This extension of personification is called the pathetic fallacy.
" The wind sobbed and shrieked in impotent rage. pun a play on words by calling upon two meanings at once. " Is life worth living? It depends on the liver.
rhetorical question no answer needed!
" Do you want to fail your exam?
simile a comparison introduced by ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘as if’ or ‘as though’. " O, my Luve’s like a red red rose
That’s newly sprung in June. (Robert Burns)" Iwanderedlonely as a cloud. (William Wordsworth) " You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.
synecdoche referring to the whole when only a part is meant, or vice versa.
" England has lost the Davis Cup. (= one person) " All hands on deck!

transferred epithet the adjective is moved from the person it describes to an object.
" She sent an apologetic letter.
" He tossed all night on a sleepless pillow.
zeugma grammatical play on two applications of a word.
" She swallowed her pride and three dry sherries." Shewentstraighthome in a flood of tears and a sedan chair. (Charles Dickens: ‘The Pickwick Papers’)
Appendix B Parts of Speech
Each part of speech has a separate function.
Verbs are ‘being’ and ‘doing’ words.
It seems.
She is laughing.
All the pupils have tried hard.
Note also these three verb forms: the infinitive (to seem); the present participle (trying); the past participle (spoken).

Adverbs mainly describe verbs.
He spoke masterfully.(= how)
She often cries. (= when)
My grandparents live here.(=where)

Nouns are names (of objects, people, places, emotions, collections, and so on).
common noun: table
proper noun: Emma
abstract noun: friendship
collective noun: swarm

Pronouns take the place of nouns.
He loves me. This is mine. Who cares? I do.
Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.
a hard exercise a noisy class red wine
Conjunctions are joining words.
co-ordinating: fish and chips; naughty but nice; now or never subordinating: We trusted him because he was honest. She’ll accept if you ask her.
Everyone knows that you are doing your best.
Prepositions show how nouns and pronouns relate to the rest of the sentence.
Put it in the box. Phone me on Thursday. Give it to me. Wait by the war memorial. He’s the boss of Tesco.
Interjections are short exclamations.
Hi! Ouch! Hurray! Ugh! Oh! Shh! Hear, hear!
The articles:definite (the)
indefinite (a; an–singular; some–plural)

Appendix C Planning, Drafting and Proofreading
PLANNING
Whenever you have an important essay, letter, report or article to write, it’s well worth taking time to work out in advance exactly what you want to say. Consider also the response you hope to get from those who read the finished document and decide on the tone and style which would be most appropriate.

" Next, jot down, as they come into your head, all the points that you want to include. Don’t try to sort them into any order. Brainstorm. (It’s better to have too much material at this stage than too little.)

" Then, read through these jottings critically, rejecting any that no longer seem relevant or helpful.
" Group related points together. These will form the basis of future paragraphs.
" Sequence these groups of points into a logical and persuasive
order." Decide on an effective introduction and conclusion.
DRAFTING
Now you are ready to write the first draft.
" Concentrate on conveying clearly all that you want to say, guided by the structure of your plan.
" Choose your words with care. Aim at the right level of

formality or informality. " Put to one side any doubts about spelling, punctuation, grammar or usage. These can be checked later. (If you wish, you can pencil queries in the margin, or key in a run of question marks – ?????.)

" When you have finished this first draft, read it critically, concentrating initially on content. (It can help to read aloud.) Have you included everything? Is your meaning always clear? Should some points be expanded? Should some be omitted? Have you repeated yourself unnecessarily?
" Read the amended text again, this time checking that you have maintained the appropriate tone. Make any adjustments
that may be needed. " Examine the paragraphing. Does each paragraph deal adequately with each topic? Should any paragraphs be expanded? Should any be divided? Should the order be changed? Does each paragraph link easily with the next? Are you happy with the opening and closing paragraphs? (Sometimes they work better when they are reversed.) Should any paragraphs be jettisoned?

" Are you happy with the layout and the presentation?" If you have made a lot of alterations, you may wish to make a neat copy at this stage. Read through again, critically, making any adjustments that you feel necessary. You may find third and fourth drafts are needed if you are working on a really important document. Don’t begrudge the time and effort. Much may depend on the outcome.
PROOFREADING
When you are happy with the content, style and tone, you are ready to proofread. Proofreading means scrutinising the text for spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage and typographical errors.

" Make yourself read very slowly. Best of all, read aloud. Read sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph. Read what is actually there, not what you meant to write.

" Check anything that seems doubtful. Check all the queries you tentatively raised earlier. Don’t skimp this vital penultimate stage. Don’t rely wholly on a computer spellcheck; it will take you only so far (and, in some cases, introduce errors of

its own). " If you know you have a particular weakness (spelling, perhaps, or not marking sentence boundaries – commas are not substitutes for full stops!), then devote one read-through exclusively to this special area.

" When you are satisfied that you have made this important document as good as you possibly can, you are ready to make the final neat version. If, in the process, you make any small errors, don’t simply cross them out and don’t use correction fluid. Rewrite. When the last word is written, you can be satisfied that you have done your very best. Good luck!

Note : If you have a form to fill in, it is well worth making a few photocopies before you start. Practise what you want to say on the photocopies. Fit what you want to say carefully in the space available. Then complete the original form. It’s well worth the extra time taken.