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- Spelling -
Several words in one of our opening sentences suffer from the same error in spelling:
Unfortunately, their roomate had done them a diservice by insisting that the tidal surges in the estuary were overated.
The spelling issue here is about whether we should change the spelling of a word when we attach a prefix. In our example we have three violations of an important and simple rule of spelling:
Rule: Add a prefix without changing the spelling of the word or the prefix. When the last letter of the prefix and the first letter of the word it is added to are the same, keep both letters.
| room + mate = | roommate |
| dis + service = | disservice |
| over + rated = | overrated |
| dis + similar = | dissimilar |
| un + necessary = | unnecessary |
| il + logical = | illogical |
| mis + spell = | misspell |
In this lesson on words we end with some practice on commonly misspelled words. Say each word out loud, put a finger over the word, and then spell it out loud. It should take but a few minutes; it really will help improve your spelling skills.
| against | exercise |
| finally | immediately |
| mischievous | possession |
| separate | successfully |
| temperament | truly |
Note that we have underlined the letters where most spelling mistakes are made.
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Write Guru
