How to Write Great Essays

BASIC SPELLING RULES—PLURALS
Most words are made plural by simply adding an s. However, if a word ends in x or s, -sh
or -ch, the suffix -es must be added to form a plural.
church/churches
box/boxes
plus/plusses
If the word ends in a consonant plus -y, change the -y into -ie and add an -s to form the
plural.
enemy/enemies
baby/babies

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Word Choice  CHAPTER 3 
HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS

35
When in doubt, look up the singular form in the dictionary, where you will also find the
plural listed.
COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS
absence
abundance
accidentally
accommodate
acknowledgment
acquaintance
aggravate
alibi
alleged
ambiguous
analysis
annual
argument
awkward
basically
boundary
bulletin
calendar
canceled
cannot
cemetery
coincidence
committee
comparative
completely
condemn
congratulations
conscientious
consistent
convenient
correspondence
deceive
definitely
dependent
depot
descend
desperate
development
dilemma
discrepancy
eighth
eligible
embarrass
equivalent
euphoria
existence
exuberance
feasible
February
fifth
forcibly
forfeit
formerly
fourth
fulfill
grateful
grievance
guarantee
guidance
harass
hindrance
ideally
implement
independence
indispensable
inoculate
insufficient
interference
interrupt
jealousy
jewelry
judgment
leisure
length
lenient
liaison
lieutenant
lightning
loophole
losing
maintenance
maneuver
mathematics
millennium
minuscule
miscellaneous
misspell
negotiable
ninth
occasionally
occurred
omission
opportunity
outrageous
pamphlet
parallel
perceive
permanent
perseverance
personnel
possess
potato
precede
preferred
prejudice
prevalent
privilege
procedure
proceed
prominent
pronunciation
quandary
questionnaire
receipt
receive
recommend
reference
referred
regardless
relevant
religious
remembrance
reservoir
responsible
restaurant
rhythm
ridiculous
roommate
scary
scissors
secretary
separate
souvenir
specifically
sufficient
supersede
temperament
temperature
truly
twelfth
ubiquitous
unanimous
usually
usurp
vacuum
vengeance
visible
Wednesday
wherever

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HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS

CHAPTER 3 Word Choice
36

U
S I N G
C
O M P U T E R
S
P E L L
C
H E C K E R S
There is no excuse for not using spell check. It’s fast and simple, and catches many com-
mon spelling errors and typos. However, spell check is not fool-proof. As professional edi-
tor Deborah Wenger says, “use it, but dew knot rely on it exclusively.” You should be aware
of its three most important limitations and rely on other methods to catch possible errors,
especially for more important documents.
1. Non-Word versus Real-Word Errors
Most of us think of spelling errors in the first category, that is, a string of letters
that does not make a real word. You might type sevn instead of seven, or th for
the. Spell check is an excellent tool for catching these types of mistakes. However,
if you are discussing the seven years of piano lessons you have taken, and you
leave off the s and type even, spell check won’t flag your error.
This is known as a real word error. You have typed a legitimate, correctly spelled
word; it’s just not the word you meant to type, and it doesn’t convey the meaning
you intended. Spell check can’t find these types of errors.
2. Proper Nouns
Spell check uses a dictionary that does not include most proper nouns and words
in other categories, such as the names of chemicals. You can always add a word
or words to the dictionary once you are sure of its spelling, but the first time you
spell check, you will need to use another source (a reliable print one is best) to
verify the spelling.
3. Errors Spelled Similarly to Another Real Word
If you misspell a word in such a way that it is now closer, letter-by-letter, to a
word other than the one you intended, spell check will probably offer the
wrong word as a correction. For example, if your essay includes a coffee house
scenario, and you type the word expresso, spell check will correct the error
with express rather than espresso. Similarly, alot will be “corrected” to allot. You
must pay careful attention to spell check’s suggested corrections to ensure the
right selection.