extra/surplus/redundant letter

Status
Not open for further replies.

Alexey86

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Suppose I wrote "cate" instead of "cat", what would you call "e": an extra "e", a surplus "e", a redundant "e" or maybe something else?
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
A typo, short for "typographic error".
 

Alexey86

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
A typo, short for "typographic error".

Suppose I added "e" on purpose to check somebody's attention, and she/he was aware of that. What would you call/how would you describe "e" in this case?
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Last edited by a moderator:

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Suppose I added "e" on purpose to check somebody's attention, and she/he was aware of that. What would you call/how would you describe "e" in this case?
You've described it pretty well.
 

Alexey86

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
I'm not sure about "extra". Doesn't it imply the presence of at least one "e" to which the extra one has been added like in "homee" instead of "home"?
 
Last edited:

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I'd say "I added an [unnecessary] e" or "I added an extra letter". Out of curiosity, why would you misspell something on purpose?
 

Alexey86

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Out of curiosity, why would you misspell something on purpose?

I wouldn't. I just wanted to get more specific variants than "typo" or "mistake".
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You could call it an intentional error.
 

Alexey86

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
You could call it an intentional error.


My point is that "typo" or "intentional error" are too general. There're many things that can be called that way. I wanted to be as precise as possible.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
You could call it a stray 'e'.
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You could call it a stray 'e'.
This would work well:
I've introduced a stray "e" into the following text. Can you find it?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top