Which word(s) do u find it difficult to spell?

[blackdie]

Well, I found the following words extremely difficult to spell.

01. athlete (athelte:cross
02. science (sicence:cross
03. business (buisness:cross
04. maintenance (maintance/ maintanance:cross
05. necessary (neccessary:cross

;-)

 

[Tdol]

Manoeuvrability

 

[Raymott]

I always forget how many 'ts' they are in 'commitment', I suppose because of 'committee'.

"You" seems to give many people a hard time.

 

[5jj]

Embar(r)as(s).

 

[blackdie]

So is "har(r)ass".

 

[Tdol]

What's the double g for in exaggerate?

 

[SirGod]

I find obsequious hard to spell.

 

[BobK]

What's the double g for in exaggerate?

Online Etymology Dictionary : so it's a sign that the word for 'carry' was precede by ad- (to) to form the word for 'heap' - whence came the word aggerare (='to heap up'), and then exaggerare (='heighten',' amplify'...).

So although single g often represents the sound /ʤ/, and the double g might lead people to misspell 'exacerbate' by false analogy with 'exaggerate', that's the way it is ;-)

b

 

[Raymott]

Online Etymology Dictionary : so it's a sign that the word for 'carry' was precede by ad- (to) to form the word for 'heap' - whence came the word aggerare (='to heap up'), and then exaggerare (='heighten',' amplify'...).

So although single g often represents the sound /ʤ/, and the double g might lead people to misspell 'exacerbate' by false analogy with 'exaggerate', that's the way it is ;-)

b

It seems to me that if the root was "agger" (heap), the original would have had a hard /g/ sound, and the pronunciation has changed, rather than the reverse. (Anyone know how 'agger' was pronounced in Latin?)
Other languages use one 'g', eg. 'exagerar' (Sp), esagerare (It), exagérer (Fr), so the 'g' has become soft in at least some of the Romance languages - (though who can pronounce a Spanish 'g'?!)
English has also softened the 'g', but kept the Latin spelling.

 

[BobK]

A lot of the quirks of English spelling (like the h in 'rhyme' [when there was already a well-used word 'rime', which at the time had the same primary meaning], the b in 'debt' [when there was a word borrowed from French, 'dette'], the l of 'could' [added by analogy with should {sholde] and would {wolde}, despite Middle English having the word 'coude']....) were imposed by busy-bodies. No sane person would claim that English spelling followed any kind of logic, and some (like Noah Webster) have succeeded in some limited reforms.

Your 'English has also softened the "g"' overlooks the beginning of the affricate. The word isn't /ɪks'æʒǝreɪt/; the double g reminds the reader of that.

b

 

[mara_ce]

exercise

I tend to add an extra c: `excercise´ like excellent and exception.

 

[emsr2d2]

Occurred.

 

[BobK]

exercise

I tend to add an extra c: `excercise´ like excellent and exception.

Perhaps it'd be helpful to remember the pair exert/excerpt (/ɪg'zɜ:t/ and /'eksɜ:t/ [if you haven't met the second word, you may not know that the p is silent - though many NS pronounce it]. When you take exercise you exert yourself.

b

 

[5jj]

Perhaps it'd be helpful to remember the pair exert/excerpt (/ɪg'zɜ:t/ and /'eksɜ:t/ [if you haven't met the second word, you may not know that the p is silent - though many NS pronounce it].

The Cambridge and the Longman pronunciation dictionaries give pronunciations of 'excerpt' only with a /p/. So do I.

 

[BobK]

:up: Thanks - I should obviously read more! ;-)

b

 

[birdeen's call]

"Referred".

"Reffered" looks very bad and I always notice it instantaneously but it's often what I type first.

"Instantaneously" is definitely very difficult. I have to look it up every time I type it.