Suppose you and your friend is playing a game. In this game, you have to tell a word with its correct spelling. What should you need to win that game? A good vocabulary with correct pronunciation and spelling will ensure your success. Also when you need to talk to others or when you want to express yourself you need to pronounce in the correct way.
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In the business world also, you need to communicate with others on daily basis. One must have a good knowledge of spelling and a rice vocabulary. In this section, we are going to learn spelling and pronunciation.
Spelling
The proper arrangement of letter used to make a meaningful word is a spelling. Proper and good English is essential in our life. One can easily guess the spelling of a word by its pronunciation. But it is not always the case. There are certain exceptions in it. There are some rules in which one can easily learn and remember the spellings.
Importance of Spellings
One must know the correct spelling of the words. Some of the importance of knowing correct spellings is
- It enables effective communication
- Spelling helps in reading
- It helps in understanding the relation between the sound and the words
- It helps in effective writing
- Spelling helps in maintaining a good impression
Browse more Topics under Essential Of Good English
- Choice of Words
- Homonyms
- Synonyms and Antonyms
- Parts of a Speech
- Tenses
- Sentence Construction
- Prefixes and Suffixes
- Punctuation
- Abbreviations
- Idioms and Phrases
- Proverbs
Errors in Writing Spellings
One must take care of how to spell the word correctly. Some of the common errors related to spelling are
Confusion between ‘ei’ and ‘ie’
- The word receive has ‘ei’ and the word chief has ‘ie’ letters.
- It is interesting to note that one uses ‘ie’ after the letter ‘c’. One uses the letters ‘ei’ with the rest.
Repetition of alphabets
- The words tomorrow, beginning, profession, business etc. have the repetition of alphabets in them.
Extra alphabet in the word
- An extra alphabet in a word changes the meaning of the word.
- In the word ‘to’ if we add one extra ‘o’, we get ‘too’.
- The word ‘to’ means in the direction of whereas the word ‘too’ means also.
Retaining and dropping the letter ‘e’
- One must always know when to drop or to keep the letter ‘e’ while making a new word from the root.
- One must drop the letter ‘e’ when the word ‘whole’ changes to wholly. The letter ‘e’ is kept in sincerely.
Words with the same pronunciation but with different spellings
- Some of the examples are compliment and complement, advise and advice, whole and hole, rain and reign etc.
Use of the letter ‘z’ and ‘s’
- The use of the letter ‘s’ and the letter ‘z’ is acceptable. When one writes organization as organisation, he is correct.
Different past forms
There are words which have different past forms. It depends upon the place of their usage.
Lie → Lied → Lied
Lie → Lay → Laid
Both of them are correct. It only depends upon the place where they are going to be used.
Pronunciation
The way in which a word is spoken is its pronunciation. There are some rules in which the words are pronounced. Improper pronunciation can lead to a bad impression. One should properly pronounce a word for effecting communication and avoiding misunderstanding.
Common Pronunciation Rules
Final s is pronounced as ‘z’ after voiced sounds
For example beds, boys, days, trees, dogs etc.
Final s is pronounced as ‘s’ after voiceless sounds
For example books, cups, students, cats etc.
Final s, es is pronounced as ‘ez’
For example sizes, pages, classes, pages, ages, matches etc.
Silent letters
There are some alphabets in a word which are not pronounced. The letter in the bracket is silent.
Different → Diff(e)rent
Every → Ev(e)ry
Chocolate → Choc(o)late
Restaurant → Rest(au)rant
Omelet → Om(e)let
Business → Bus(i)ness
Temperature → Temp(e)rature
Handkerchief → Han(d)kerchief
Wednesday → We(d)nesday
Bought → Bou(gh)t
Height → Hei(gh)t
Honest → (H)onest
Hour → (H)our
Knot → (k)not
How to Improve Spelling and Pronunciation
One can improve their English by learning proper pronunciation and spellings. The various ways of improving spellings and pronunciation are
- Built the habit of writing every day
- Read a book every day
- Watch English channels, movies and listen to the radio
- For a new word, one should look it in a dictionary to find the correct pronunciation
- Keep a notebook for vocabulary
- Speak in English with your friends
- Think positively
Solved Examples for You
Problem: Which of the following is correct?
- Necessary
- Neccessary
- Necesary
- Necesaary
Solution: 1. Necessary
Problem: Which is correct?
- Assistant
- Asistant
- Assisstant
- None of the above
Solution: 1. Assistant.
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