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2006-11-08
See and Say
Some words are misspelled because they are often mispronounced. Sometimes extra letters are added; other times, letters are omitted. How many of the following words do you mispronounce?
Leaving out a consonant: February, recognize, surprise, government, library, eighth, Arctic, candidate, probably.
Adding an unnecessary vowel: forty, pronunciation, schedule, chimney, disastrous, umbrella.
Leaving out an unstressed syllable: accidentally, superintendent, incidentally.
Leaving out an unstressed vowel: temperature, vegetable, original, miniature, interesting, diamond, chocolate.
At other times, you're not at fault at all: The words are spelled differently from the way they sound. With such unphonetic words, you're working without a net. There are no rules, only spelling techniques like memorization and visualization. Of course, there are always dictionaries.
These unphonetic words fall into three main categories: silent letters, tricky-dickie word endings, and y/i use. And here they are …
Silent Letters
Never seem to meet the people you want to see, but can't get rid of the same old pests? The same is true of spelling words. Keeping this truism in mind, here are some words with silent letters that have no doubt been annoying you for years. Only now, you know why.
Silent b: doubtable, subpoena, subtle, undoubtedly
Silent h: exhaust, exhibit, exhilaration, ghastly, ghost, heir, rheumatism, rhyme
Silent g: align, design, gnarled, diaphragm
Silent p: cupboard, pneumatic, pneumonia, psalm, pseudonym, psychology, receipt
Silent t: bankruptcy, listen, mortgage, wrestle
Silent c: acquaint, acquire, acquit, ascertain, miscellaneous, ascend, fascinate, indict, muscle
Tricky-Dickie Word Endings
The following words confound even the best spellers because they don't end the way we think they should:
Words that end in -ar: beggar, burglar, bursar, calendar, cellar, liar
Words that end in -cian: electrician, musician, pediatrician, politician
Words that end in -ain: Britain, captain, certain, mountain, porcelain
Y/I Use
Here are some words that sound like they contain an i. No such luck; each has a y creating the i sound.
abyss
analyze
cylinder
hypocrisy
paralysis
syllable
symmetry
symphony
synonym
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