Most common misspellings (on Askaboutmoney?)

Brendan Burgess

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Inspired by the thread on incorrectly used words , I think it would be useful to have a simple list of the most common misspellings used in Ireland or on Askaboutmoney. Ideally this should be in rough order of frequency. My own spelling has deteriorated over the years, so I would find this useful. (Or should that be usefull?)

This thread is for education, not entertainment. Please restrict it to written errors rather than pronunciation or local peculiarities.

Definitely not definately

I need some advice on this. not I need some advise on this.
Please advise me what to do.

Lose - I don't want to lose my house. Not "loose"

separate - seperate is always incorrect.

Independent not independant

mortgage - not morgage

Approval in principle - not "in principal"
The principal of the school

benefit not benifit

sense not sence

receive - not recieve

"It's" means "It is". It's a nice colour.
"Its" implies ownership. I like its colour.

You're a nice colour. or
You are a nice colour.
I like your colour.

There they are.
I like their clothes. (not there, or they're)
They are wearing nice clothes.

espresso (not expresso)

accommodation (not accommoddation)

tenant - not tennent or tenent

environment not enviroment

February not Febuary

Reckless not Wreckless

This is affecting me badly. (not "effecting" me)

"criterion" is singular; "criteria" is plural. "that criteria" is wrong.
 
'Isn't' being written as 'is'nt'.

There would seem to be a grey area surrounding the proper usage of 'its' and 'it's'. As far as I can remember there is no definitive correct usage of either. I think there are only three words where the 'i before e' rule doesn't apply - weird, either and neither. I could be wrong, however, and would be interested to know of any others should they exist.

P.S. Does anyone else find themselves heavily scrutinising their posts on this thread for mistakes?!!
 
It is sufficient to say that neither financier shall inveigle the sheikh or his neighbour into seizing either caffeine or protein or any other species or policies of weird leisure that might weigh heavily on their conscience or fancies. Sheila and Neil do not acknowledge a deity as they are atheist but that is expected in modern society. One could argue that one is being pedantic– but one is being efficient and not deficient in drawing attention to their idiosyncrasies.

It’s not expected to make sense. Spot the odd one!

[FONT=&quot]Marion[/FONT]
 
Brendan said:
I had this conversation with my niece

Me: Remember, it's i before e, except after c.

She: That's weird.

Brendan
Click to expand...
My nephew told me that two negatives make a positive but that two positives couldn't make a negative. Yeah right.

I sometimes, inadvertently, mix up your and you're; and to a lesser extent there, their and they're. Spell Checker's not much help for such.
 
Brendan said:
is'nt doesn't come up in the searches on Askaboutmoney.

Sometimes, Word does some odd things. It corrects isn't to isnt'. I am usually in a hurry and can't figure out why.
Click to expand...

I have spellchecker on Word disabled for reasons similar to this.

Caveat said:
Maybe stating the obvious but there is always spellcheck on the top right.

Click to expand...

If I tried to say that I pride myself on self-correction rather than admit to a complete ignorance of the existence of that button, would you believe me?


I thought I was right there, thanks for the over-the-top humiliation!
 
AgathaC said:
Yes, I notice 'tennant' and 'tenent' being used-I actually did put a post here about it last week but it seems to have disappeared.
Click to expand...

My apologies. To shorten the thread, I delete posts when I incorporate or reject the suggestion. I thought I had incorporated your comment on tenant, but I had not. It is done now.
 

Hi Marion - I give up. Which is the wrong one?
 
The most common misspelling I've seen on AAM (and on other sites), is sence where it should be sense. I've yelled at my monitor more than once when I've seen that.

The other ones that jump out at me are there/their/they're and your/you're. Perhaps contractions should not be allowed? (In which case, I'm in dire trouble!)

PS This post has passed Microsoft's Word spell check and that's good enough for me .
 
Marion said:
It’s not expected to make sense. Spot the odd one!
Click to expand...


Hi Brendan


The “odd” one is the only spelling given that complies with the rule.

I was having a little bit of fun with the rule that you posted: "i before e except after c"

The rule failed in every one of the relevant words except the last one “idiosyncrasies”


How peculiar is that!


Marion
 
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