Avoiding spelling mistakes

Not misspelling words can sometimes be as easy as recognizing that certain English words may give you trouble. If you can sense that problems may occur with certain words, take the time to Google each word before you use it. That way, you check the spelling without relying on your memory or instinct, both of which may be less than perfect. If you know which words are especially challenging to spell, it is much easier to focus on them and try to resolve the problem before it becomes visible to the whole world.

Russian

This word which naturally often appears in academic articles and theses should never be spelled Russion, as it sometimes is in Thai English. The word ending –ian means belonging to, relating to, or resembling. While –ian is not the only word ending in English with these meanings, it is so common that it should become familiar. By contrast, the word ending –ion has a different meaning, referring to an action or condition. There are hundreds of words ending in -ian, for example:

academician

dietician

equestrian

obstetrician

octogenarian

optician

pedestrian

physician

politician

psychohistorian

reptilian

statistician

tactician

technician

theologian

theoretician

thespian

totalitarian

tragedian

utilitarian

utopian

vegetarian

Venetian

veterinarian

Just as a Venetian is someone from Venice, so a Russian is someone from Russia.

Marriage

This important word for all families should never be spelled marrige, marraige, or marrage, which are sometimes seen in Thai English. Words ending in –age can refer to the action or result of something, state or condition, or names of places. The wrong spellings tend to follow the fact that although marriage as correctly spelled looks like a word with three syllables, when the word is pronounced, it only has two syllables. One way to remember how to spell it correctly is to keep in mind its origins in the verb to marry. Unless someone marries, there can be no marriage. Even if you do not pronounce the ee sound in the middle of the word, it can remind you that the letter i should always be present. That way, marriage can be included among other words ending in iage, such as

carriage

foliage

miscarriage

verbiage

 

Joseph 

This common name, originally seen in the Bible, is sometimes spelled wrong as Jospeh.  This seems to be a simple error in typing, which reverses the order of letters in the name. It may also be a result of the fact that in the name Joseph, the letters ph are pronounced like the letter f, just as they are in the name Philip, for example. Making things more complicated, English words ending in –eph tend to be rare and taken from other languages. One example is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, or aleph. Thai English writers might panic at the idea that they are expected to know not just English but also Hebrew to spell a word correctly. Happily, this is not necessary. One of the most famous short stories of modern world literature is The Aleph written by the noted Argentinian author Jorge Louis Borges. The Aleph, which is in the collection of the Thammasat University Libraries, can remind us that just like aleph, the biblical name Joseph ends with the letters –eph.

Parliament

A word which looks like it should have four syllables when it is pronounced but only has three is parliament. No doubt for this reason, it is sometimes spelled wrong in Thai English as parlament or parliment. The trick is to remember that even if we do not pronounce it, the sound ee does remain in the center of the word parliament. After we keep the letter i where it belongs in parliament, it is easy to group the word alongside others ending in the letters -ament:

Disarmament

Predicament

Temperament

Tournament

Firmament

Sacrament

Testament

Armament

Filament

Ligament

Ornament

The more words you know that are similar to other words, the more probable it is that you will spell them all correctly.  Or you may remember something special about their spelling that makes you pay extra attention to them.

Responsibility

This serious word should not be spelled resposibility or responsability. Including all necessary consonants and choosing the right vowels may be easier if you make sure you understand the origins of the word in the adjective responsible. The word responsible, as all Thai English writers know, means to be liable to respond about, or answer for, something or someone. If you must respond for the actions of your children, then you are responsible for them. The word ending –ibility just means able to be, as in the words

accessibility

admissibility

audibility

compatibility

comprehensibility

credibility

plausibility.

(all images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)