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One for the pedants. I know the answer but not saying yet.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Peaks?
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
There, their?
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
I am defiantly not guessing
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
led
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Your - You’re
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
The difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit.
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In reply to MG:
Which makes me inclined to comment that a lot of these suggestions aren't actually spelling mistakes , in the same way that writing "of" for "have " is definitely a mistake but not arrived at because the writer can't spell "have".
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
E0. They really mean E1
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Homofone.
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In reply to Tom Valentine:
That'd be a grammer mistake.
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In reply to Myfyr Tomos:
Also "they're", but it is a grammatical error.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Skoda Octavia
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In reply to richard_hopkins:
Yeah, really doesn't help that iOS' autocorrect loves to replace its with it's! That is a lot of my edits. xD
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
> One for the pedants. I know the answer but not saying yet.
"They're / there / their", or "It's / its"
Signed, profitofdoom, senior pendant
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
My bet for most popular homophone confusion is to/too. Only fellow English teachers will appreciate how many utterly wasted hours can go into unpicking this feature of our ramshackle orthography.(Ex-professional pedant.)
Post edited at 07:15
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Most dapressing post on ukc 😉
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In reply to Tom Valentine:
> Which makes me inclined to comment that a lot of these suggestions aren't actually spelling mistakes , in the same way that writing "of" for "have " is definitely a mistake but not arrived at because the writer can't spell "have".
UKC seems pretty immune to that utter abomination, but my local town FB page is infested with poorly educated halfwits who use ‘of’ rather than ‘have’ constantly & without any appreciation when you correct them. It is beyond belief that such people are allowed an internet connection.
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In reply to john arran:
> led
That was exactly what I had in mind. Lead pronounced led is a heavy metal, not the past participle of verb to lead.
I don't get my knickers in a twist, but it always jolts.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
I think we should put the breaks on this thread now!
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
The one that always catches my eye is "I was wandering what the best...." etc,
Chris
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In reply to Alkis:
I'm sure autocorrect is responsible for many it's but the main abuse that makes me cringe is the possessive it's. People don't write "hi's" however "it's" proliferates.
A word crime as Al Yankovic would say.
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In reply to richard_hopkins:
But I understand why they do it. It's because of the possessive apostrophe s after a noun so their logic is
belongs to John =John's
belongs to Mary = Mary's
belongs to it = it's.
They are confusing the use of a noun plus possessive apostrophe and a possessive pronoun.
You can't simply say It's obvious that "It 's" only means "it is " because you are then left with having to explain that
John's means "belonging to John" but also "John is" or "John has".
It's a far more understandable error than of/have, to me at least
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In reply to Tom Valentine:
I's never taught English likes that in skool.
The poor English joke to one side, its true. I only found out what a verb was when I tried to learn a foreign language in my teens (thats late 80's/early 90's in a comprehensive school). I still have no real clue what a noun is, or what all the variations of them are, let alone some of the more niche descriptors for our language structure. I have a degree too, so cant say I am uneducated - just poorly so when it came to English. We did read a load of very boring books in class however - which I have worked hard to forget.
So please, those with a superior standing in such matters, don't bash those who know no better. It is not always their stupidity, just their ignorance and a product of their educations.
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In reply to Kevster:
Strangely most of the technical side of understanding grammar didn't come to me from my English teachers but from my French and German studies.
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In reply to Kevster:
Same here. Learnt all I know about such things from my French and German teachers.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Why is the UKC spellchecker American ? Indicating correct English spellings as wrong. Is it my pc or browser ?
Post edited at 11:48
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Dessicated or desiccated? I've required coconut in this form for a lockdown recipe.
In reply to David Riley:
Probbly you're browser, witch browser arr ewe useing?
In reply to EddInaBox:
You're right. It's my oldest pc. XP and out of date Chrome. Other pc's not doing it. Thanks.
In reply to Rog Wilko:
> That was exactly what I had in mind. Lead pronounced led is a heavy metal, not the past participle of verb to lead.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Breaks instead of brakes?
In reply to Dave the Rave:
My phone thinks I want to write duck quite frequently.
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In reply to Andy Clarke:
I'm fine with to and too and two.
I know the difference between practice and practise.
But I'm still confused in some situations with affect vs effect.
The effect of the drug affects me?
I'd appreciate your help with this.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
A while ago my boss sent out an email to tell us that the 'stationary cupboard was moving' and totally failed to get why I thought it hilarious
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In reply to marsbar:
Correct.
The problem is when effect is used as a verb meaning to achieve or bring about as in
He effected a successful takeover of the company.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
One that stumps me all the time is where/were.
In reply to hms:
My consultant (Sri Lankan) sent an email saying he "needed to massage us all...". I did point out this was not standard procedure!
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In reply to hms:
A local newspaper several years ago ran this perplexing headline
Post edited at 20:47
In reply to Rog Wilko:
W*nker.
for some reason everyone spells it with a star
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In reply to hms:
hmm twice now I have tried to post a photo with my message but it is not showing up at my end despite having appeared to have gone through (I am viewing on, and posting from, iPhone).
Is there a pic on my post?
In reply to Blue Straggler:
I can't see a picture
In reply to Tom Valentine:
Thanks.
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Edit four the spelling
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Post edited at 21:06
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In reply to DenzelLN:
> One that stumps me all the time is where/were.
A tip I used with my students was that "where?" includes the answer: "here." The idea was to help them remember that this spelling always refers to a place.
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In reply to marsbar:
Thanks, then something is glitching somewhere
edit - tried to include it on this reply too. It is direct from an iPhone gallery and shows as 2.8Mb but presumably the UKC magic should compress it accordingly
Post edited at 22:12
In reply to marsbar:
> But I'm still confused in some situations with affect vs effect.
> The effect of the drug affects me?
> I'd appreciate your help with this.
Just to reinforce Tom V's answer, it can help to remember that Affect refers to an Alteration and Effect to an End result. So to affect something = to alter it; to effect something = to bring it about as an end result. But if struggling, affect is more commonly used as a verb, and effect more commonly as a noun. NB this is the classic sort of English grammar rule, ie it fits where it touches!
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Surprised nobody's mentioned on-site yet
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In reply to Andy Clarke:
> Just to reinforce Tom V's answer, it can help to remember that Affect refers to an Alteration and Effect to an End result.
Unfortunately there is the admittedly rare usage where to affect means something like to pretend, as in Harold Wilson affected a northern accent. Relates of course to the noun affectation.
In reply to marsbar:
Practise and practice - have found this no problem since I was advised (not adviced) to think of advice and advise, which most people wouldn't get wrong. Same works for licence and licensed.
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Most of these seem to be grammar not spelling.
I’ll go for.
Necessary.
My spell check just won’t pick it up.
Post edited at 09:50
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Prusik!
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
Not so much on UKC but often in newspapers: Absail
In reply to Rog Wilko:
> Practise and practice - have found this no problem since I was advised (not adviced) to think of advice and advise, which most people wouldn't get wrong. Same works for licence and licensed.
Top tip for all these: -C- (Noun spelling) comes before -S- (Verb spelling) alphabetically, just as N comes before V....
Of course, you have to remember that a usage like the licensed in licensed premises (can't think why that came to mind!) is a participle being used as an adjective...
As I said upthread, tips for making sense of the rules of English generally fit where they touch!
In reply to Andy Clarke:.
> As I said upthread, tips for making sense of the rules of English generally fit where they touch!
Not forgetting that our rules on this particular piece of spelling advice don't apply in the U.S.
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Mailon
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
No, led is the past participle of lead.
https://conjugator.reverso.net/conjugation-english-verb-lead.html
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In reply to Cobra_Head:
> Mailon
Probably the most mis-pronounced word, by those who think it's a mallion
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In reply to DancingOnRock:
> Necessary.
> My spell check just won’t pick it up.
I suspect you've accidentally managed to get the wrong spelling added to your spellchecker.
In reply to ripper:
> Probably the most mis-pronounced word, by those who think it's a mallion
Including myself Type it into Google though and I'm not alone.
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In reply to Toerag:
If I type nessacary, or nesecary or any other combination it says it’s wrong but give me no replacements.
In reply to Tom Valentine:
Given that "it" comes from "hit" in Old English, and the genitive was "his", maybe we should use "is" instead of "its" for extra confusion!
> John's means "belonging to John" but also "John is" or "John has".
This at least is a consistent pattern - apostrophe always signifies missing letters. The only reason it seems confusing is that we have lost most (but not all) of the genitive declension of John; which would've been Johnes at some point in the past, hence John's when the e is omitted.
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In reply to Andy Clarke:
> A tip I used with my students was that "where?" includes the answer: "here." The idea was to help them remember that this spelling always refers to a place.
Is that really all there is to it?
example:
"In 1600 where the peasants lived, they were chopping up firewood"
Summat like that?
In reply to DenzelLN:
> Is that really all there is to it?
> example:
> "In 1600 where the peasants lived, they were chopping up firewood"
> Summat like that?
Yep.
In reply to Orkie:
I thought John's was a contraction of "John, his" as in "John, his cow" but I only arrived at that conclusion from reading Treasure Island .
Post edited at 20:28
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In reply to Cobra_Head:
Very good!
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In reply to Rog Wilko:
How would you delineate between a common spelling mistake and a posh one?
You're a rum bugger Rog, you never change, but do any of us really
In reply to J1234:
Perhaps encyclopaedia would be regarded as a posh spelling mistake by commoners?
In reply to J1234:
> How would you delineate between a common spelling mistake and a posh one?
I'd not thought of that usage Steve, which is surprising as I quite like cryptic crosswords, and I do go out of my way to avoid ambiguities
> You're a rum bugger Rog, you never change, but do any of us really
I take that as a compliment. By all accounts at my age I should have been voting Tory for at least 20 years, but it hasn't happened yet.
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In reply to J1234:
> How would you delineate between a common spelling mistake and a posh one?
Posh: Tattler; common: Helo!
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In reply to Cobra_Head:
That's actually quite light.
In reply to Cobra_Head:
Interestingly, Led Zeppelin were originally going to be called "Lead Zeppelin" as in the metal, as someone once remarked at one of their early gigs (when they were still performing as The Yardbirds) they're so heavy they're going to go down like a lead Zeppelin.
But then of course they though the lead (metal) and lead (as in in the lead) confusion might crop up so they changed the name to Led Zeppelin.
I wonder if this might where be the the whole deliberately misspelled band names started (Motley Crue, Def Leppard etc)? God knows when the umlauts crept in though....
Post edited at 11:21
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Snowden.
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In reply to DaveX:
Of course. Spot on. Although I suspect only because of so many obvious troll posts.
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In reply to Iamgregp:
> I wonder if this might where be the the whole deliberately misspelled band names started (Motley Crue, Def Leppard etc)? God knows when the umlauts crept in though....
You need to go further back in time. The Beatles are an obvious example. I'm sure there will be lots more from the fifties and even earlier but I'm not that old.
In reply to Lankyman:
Oooh good point - the Beatles name would certainly have have come in to the thinking behind the Monkees and the Byrds.
Can't think of any 50's ones off the tope of my head, don't think Screamin' Jay Hawkins really counts
In reply to Iamgregp:
I think the umlauts came in as Lemmy was into the all the tanks, planes etc. that the German army had in WWII and so thought it looked kind of mean and cool.
I guess Motley Crue agreed.
In reply to Iamgregp:
> Oooh good point - the Beatles name would certainly have have come in to the thinking behind the Monkees and the Byrds.
> Can't think of any 50's ones off the tope of my head, don't think Screamin' Jay Hawkins really counts
It was happening in doo-wop: The Mello-Kings, The Du Droppers.
In reply to Rog Wilko:
None instead of non-
In reply to Andy Clarke:
Yes! Good point.
In reply to ROFFER:
Did Blue Oyster Cult got in with the umlaut before Motorhead though?
It got pretty silly after that Leftover Crack, Motley Crue, Maximo Park etc etc...
In reply to Rog Wilko:
Mistaking price for value? 😂
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