V – 5 MISSPELLED
WORDS
foreign - Here is one of several words that
violate the i-before-e rule. (See "believe" above.)
gauge
- You must learn to gauge the positioning of the [a] and [u] in this word.
Remember,
grateful - You should
be grateful to know that keeping "great" out of "grateful"
is great.
height - English reaches the height (not
heighth!) of absurdity when it spells "height" and "width"
so differently.
judgment
- Traditionally, the word has been spelled judgment in all forms of the English
language. However, the spelling judgement (with e added) largely replaced
judgment in
maintenance - The main
tenants of this word are "main" and "tenance" even though
it comes from the verb "maintain."
millennium - Here is
another big word, large enough to hold two double consonants, double [l] and
double [n].
neighbor - The word
"neighbor" invokes the silent "gh" as well as
"ei" sounded as "a" rule. This is fraught with error
potential. If you use British spelling, it will cost you another [u]:
"neighbour."
pronunciation - Nouns often
differ from the verbs they are derived from. This is one of those. In this
case, the pronunciation is different, too, an important clue.
rhyme - Actually, "rime" was the
correct spelling until 1650. After that, egg-heads began spelling it like
"rhythm." Why? No rhyme nor reason other than to make it look like
"rhythm."
vacuum - If your head is not a vacuum, remember
that the silent [e] on this one married the [u] and joined him inside the word
where they are living happily ever since. Well, the evidence is suggestive but
not conclusive. Anyway, spell this word with two [u]s and not like
"volume."
weather - Whether you like the weather or not,
you have to write the [a] after the [e] when you spell it.
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