Are you ever surprised at what you don't know?

[Becky Writes]

When you're writing and you double check your grammar and word usage, are you ever surprised that you have been doing something wrong for years?

I don't know if it's my poor education or just the region I'm from, but I would have bet that the past tense of drag was drug. I grabbed his hand and drug him to the bed. But it's not! It's dragged! That just doesn't sound right to my brain.

:Shrug:

[ChaosTitan]

That happens to me all the time. Part of it is dialect, I think, because I speak improperly sometimes, but will type it correctly in a manuscript.

Lately I have found myself correcting people on the proper past tense of sneak.

[Ordinary_Guy]

I consider myself a reasonably good speller... but there are still some words that I have a mental block remembering correctly (even though my spell checker flogs the suckers every time). A short-circuit deep, deep within the language machinery...

[Becky Writes]

I'm guessing it's not snuck. :D

[TrickyFiction]

My shame is that I have been mixing up the words ought and aught, and I just got caught. :)

[Can't Catch A Break]

Yes.

At first, I was doing too much "telling" and not "showing" enough.

Also "affect" and "effect".

[Jamesaritchie]

I consider myself a reasonably good speller... but there are still some words that I have a mental block remembering correctly (even though my spell checker flogs the suckers every time). A short-circuit deep, deep within the language machinery...

I'm usually a very good speller, but I simply can't spell "parallel," "restaurant," or "rendezvous" without looking them up. Mental blocks on all three.

[DeborahM]

Everyday life one doesn't pay as much attention as when you sit down and write and have to get it right! Yes, it surprises me, sometimes as well as there are times where I come up with a word and find I can't find it.

Then, it's not only grammer. Sometimes when I get cranked writing, I seem to lose punctation rules for commas. Never ceases!

Therefore, should I submit it to Websters to consider it for a new word and give them the meaning? But no, I don't, I just pick up the thesaurus and try to find the one I should have been looking for.

Boy, did I go further then you asked? :Hammer: That happens when I sit down at the computer!

[Ordinary_Guy]

I'm usually a very good speller, but I simply can't spell "parallel," "restaurant," or "rendezvous" without looking them up. Mental blocks on all three.
Parallel was one of mine. "Reconnaissance" is another (and I use the damned thing, too – I have absolutely no excuse to misspell it... but I still do).

Edit: Personnel is another one...

[ChaosTitan]

For the longest time I always misspelled "separate." Even now I have to think hard to remember the second vowel is an 'a'.

"Terrific" is another word that I add another 'f' to every time I spell it. Of course, that could be because I keep thinking of Charlotte's Web. "Tee, double-ee, double-are, double-eye, double-eff, double-eye, double-see-see-see."

[brianm]

I'm so glad to see that I'm not alone when it comes to parallel. My WIP touches on the Korean War and I felt so stupid having to stop typing to sound it out... and then I'd still get it wrong. Finally, I just said the hell with it and let spell check correct it for me.

I also spell "looking" wrong when I type fast. It always comes out "lokoing." Another one is "the"... it usually comes out "teh."

[DeborahM]

Another one is "the"... it usually comes out "teh."

That's my speciality!

And when I'm really cranking, I use loose instead of lose :whip:

[KAM]

Parallel gets me every time too. Also calendar, for some reason.

[blacbird]

I'm a very good speller, always have been since grade school, but even so, for the longest time, I spelled "refrigerator" as "refridgerator", until a critiquer clued me in.

caw.

[Scrawler]

I don't know why I have such a problem with was and were. I wish I was better. I wish I were better. If I was a rich man... If I were a rich man. I was rich but, I wished I were wealthier? Was wealthier? It makes me feel so dumb.
And I always have to look up the spelling of embarrassment.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I've always had trouble with dimension. Hey! Got it right that time. And seperate? separate? And of course, I've always have a post-it note around explaining the difference between its and it's. That is something I've always had a mental block about.

[TSByrne]

“Basically” always trips me up, and just the other day I discovered that I’ve been spelling “judgment” incorrectly (or at least using a spelling that is no longer considered formally valid) for years.

[reph]

I don't know why I have such a problem with was and were. I wish I was better. I wish I were better. If I was a rich man... If I were a rich man. I was rich but, I wished I were wealthier? Was wealthier?Take a look at the Grammar forum. We did the subjunctive today.

[three seven]

There are two words I can never get right: licence/license and practice/practise. In England they have different meanings. Having just looked them up, I can tell you the 'c' signifies a noun and the 's' a verb (basically), but if you ask me again in an hour I won't have a clue. Therefore, whilst I'm usually fiercely derisive of the American penchant for random letter removal, in each of the above cases I'd have to say you've got a point.

[three seven]

Take a look at the Grammar forum. We did the subjunctive today.Oh, and I don't know what the subjunctive is, either. But if I'm honest, I don't really care.

[expatbrat]

I have that restaurant brain block too – the first a never makes it in my version of the word. And only recently I learnt that blond is for men and blonde is for women.

Been and being trick me up all the time as do were and we’re.

Yacht is a word I can never even get close enough for spell check to guess. I have to write boat and then “control F7” to find it.

[JimmyB27]

Parallel was one of mine. "Reconnaissance" is another (and I use the damned thing, too – I have absolutely no excuse to misspell it... but I still do).

Edit: Personnel is another one...

Recon ;)

[Novelist in Paradise]

I consider myself a reasonable speller, but all my life, I ain't ever had no rythym. That word's my knock-kneed bete noire.

("Knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"Just my knees")
((quick, get me another drink))

[seun]

I can never spell cigeratte. And I'm not sure if I got that right :Shrug:

When I write, I rarely think about grammar. I just know what's right but when people ask me the correct term or tense, I really have to think about it.

[howiehok]

I can never spell cigeratte. And I'm not sure if I got that right

You didn't!

I struggle with separate too. And the difference between stationary and stationery will never be clear in my mind, however many times I am told.

Also spelt curiosity wrong for 10 years! Was sure there was a "u" after the "o".


I struggle with the word rejection too....

[Jamesaritchie]

I'm so glad to see that I'm not alone when it comes to parallel. My WIP touches on the Korean War and I felt so stupid having to stop typing to sound it out... and then I'd still get it wrong. Finally, I just said the hell with it and let spell check correct it for me.

I also spell "looking" wrong when I type fast. It always comes out "lokoing." Another one is "the"... it usually comes out "teh."

I type "teh" instead of "the" so often I have Word set to autocorrect it. This helps when I'm actually writing fiction, but not with forum posts.

[Jamesaritchie]

Take a look at the Grammar forum. We did the subjunctive today.

reph, is this still called "subjunctive mood?"

[Jamesaritchie]

I have that restaurant brain block too – the first a never makes it in my version of the word. And only recently I learnt that blond is for men and blonde is for women.

Been and being trick me up all the time as do were and we’re.

Yacht is a word I can never even get close enough for spell check to guess. I have to write boat and then “control F7” to find it.

I think I've always known that "blond" is for men, and "blonde" is for women, but when I'm writing I still screw it up as often as not.

[Anonymisty]

Mine is "weird".

Or is it "wierd"? I'm usually a decent speller, but that one defeats me. A friend told me once that all I have to do is say it out loud, but since "i" and "e" can share the same sound, it doesn't help.

[Joanna_S]

I struggle with separate too. And the difference between stationary and stationery will never be clear in my mind, however many times I am told.

In grade school, when we learned the word 'separate' our teacher said, "Remember, there's a 'a rat' in separate" and I never had a problem again.

As for other, she told us stationery has an 'e' for letter and stationary has an 'a' for standing still.

I used to have difficulty with weird until a friend told me "i before e, but weird is weird."

Perhaps I use too many little tricks and should just learn to spell?

-- Joanna

[scribbler1382]

At least our mistakes don't cost millions: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060806.wr-rogers07/BNStory/Business/home

[MidnightMuse]

Can't for the life of me remember how to spell Coincindence without looking it up. And a few others that I'd have to go look up before I could even post them here, but that's why there's a dictionary next to me.

One word I can spell every time but can't pronounce correctly is Abominable. Comes out of my mouth as Abdominal every time !

[three seven]

I can never spell cigeratte.
This is easily fixed. It's cigarette, as in cigar-ette, as in little cigar.

[three seven]

I used to have difficulty with weird until a friend told me "i before e, but weird is weird."
I think anyone who teaches 'i before e except after c' or any variant thereof should be lined up and shot. It's simply not true.

[Jamesaritchie]

I think anyone who teaches 'i before e except after c' or any variant thereof should be lined up and shot. It's simply not true.

Well, it's usually true. Unless, of course, you're trying to spell beige, feint, feisty, foreign, forfeit, heifer, height, heir, heist, neighbor, reign, rein, seismometer, their, veil, vein, codeine, either, leisure, neither, seize, weigh, or weird.

Did I miss any?

[reph]

reph, is this still called "subjunctive mood?"As far as I know, it is, but I'm not up to date. Medievalist recently posted about a change in the kinds of constructions classified as subjunctive. Grammarians have expanded the category during the past few decades. Now "I may have gone" is subjunctive. I thought it made better sense the old way.

[three seven]

Did I miss any?
Yeah, you forgot eiderdown. And zeitgeist. And Reich. And deictic, heinous, leister, meiosis, reive, zein, einsteinium...

[reph]

Did I miss any?deign

[blackbird]

I grew up in a lower-class, Southern, poorly educated family, so much of my speech patterns became ingrained at an early age. I have overcome much of this through education and being well-read, and of course, paying attention to the media--"TV talk, as they used to call it" but, still,old habits die hard and sometimes this bleeds through in my writing--in fact, probably more often than not. If I am careful and craft my work well, I can get away with it in small doses, but it's something for which I have to be on constant alert.

[Jamesaritchie]

Yeah, you forgot eiderdown. And zeitgeist. And Reich. And deictic, heinous, leister, meiosis, reive, zein, einsteinium...

Get a long enough list here, and we'll never have to worry about i before e ever again.

[Kate Thornton]

Get a long enough list here, and we'll never have to worry about i before e ever again.

LOL!

"I before E, except after C
Or when sounded as "A" as in neighbor and weigh."

Or when taken directly from the German - where both combos exist and have a pronounciancion rule: ie = eee ei = I.

It's really a good rule - but as with many English words, you have to just learn the exceptions/irregulars.

[UrsusMinor]

I also spell "looking" wrong when I type fast. It always comes out "lokoing." Another one is "the"... it usually comes out "teh."

When everyone knows that it's really "hte." On my keyboard, at any rate.(At least "teh" looks like a word.)

My own bugbear is "separate." Or maybe I mean "seperate." Neither of them look right if I stare at them. I've made up a rule that it's two a's surrounded by two e's...but I can't remember if the rule is correct.

Something I've been noticing more and more in published books is that many writers (and, apparently, editors) don't understand the difference between "reign" and "rein." Been seeing lots of "reigned in" and even a few "during the rein of".

[Kate Thornton]

The Queen of Spain
Enjoys her reign
Walks in the rain
Rides with her rein


I don't know where I learned all these weird rhymes...

[reph]

To write "separate" correctly, get your spelling up to PAR.

[three seven]

It's really a good rule - but as with many English words, you have to just learn the exceptions/irregulars.How many exceptions are required before it ceases to be a rule?

[scribbler1382]

rottweiler

And one word that always gets me is independent (I always want to put an "a" for the final "e"). I also get caught most of the time with the doubling of consonants in "ing" or "ed" words like "labelled" or "forgetting".

[Alan Yee]

I think I've always known that "blond" is for men, and "blonde" is for women, but when I'm writing I still screw it up as often as not.

I just learned the difference between "blond" and "blonde" today. :) Thanks, James. The bad guy in my WIP is a blond-haired man, and I think I screwed it up. Must check the WIP now...

As for me, I usually spell "separate" correctly, but often misspell "exaggerated" (I had to type it into Word and let it autocorrect it for me). It's funny, James, that I always seem to spell "rendezvous" correctly while no one else in my class can, yet I misspell other simpler words.

[Kate Thornton]

How many exceptions are required before it ceases to be a rule?

It's not really a rule - it's just a way of remembering how to spell in general. But for some people, learning each word separately is easier. For others, the thesaurus is going to be a life long friend.

English is a bastardization of lots of other languages, so it is going to have more exceptions than other more static laguages. And American English is even worse. It's a difficult language to learn, but some people are more adept at linguistics than others.

My DH speaks, reads and writes in Italian as well as English (although English is his native tongue) and finds it easier to pick up spelling and verbs because there are more rules in Italian and fewer exceptions. But he also speaks Spanish and has an ear for Romance languages.

I speak and read German, and love the formality of the structure. Learn the few irregular verbs and you've got it! And the spelling makes sense...

[Simon Woodhouse]

Manoeuvre is the word that always gets me. And I also know enough to know there's lots of other stuff I don't know as well.

[Jamesaritchie]

Manoeuvre is the word that always gets me. And I also know enough to know there's lots of other stuff I don't know as well.


It's "maneuver" for me. Don't know where the Brits get that "o" from.

[Liam Jackson]

A wise man knows what he doesn't know. ;)

[three seven]

It's "maneuver" for me. Don't know where the Brits get that "o" from.It's French; you lot just dumbed it down. As usual.

[howiehok]

It's "maneuver" for me. Don't know where the Brits get that "o" from.

Well I guess we get it from the French, from which the word originates, as mentioned elsewhere!

More the point, what's happened to your o? And why have you switched the r and e ha ha?!

[arrowqueen]

From Medieval Latin manuopera, from Latin manū operārī, to work by hand.

Blame Noah Webster. He was a great one for the spelling reform, discarding letters right, left and centre.

[reph]

Blame Noah Webster. He was a great one for the spelling reform, discarding letters right, left and centre.Or, as we say in the States, right, left, and middel.

[aruna]

I speak and read German, and love the formality of the structure. Learn the few irregular verbs and you've got it! And the spelling makes sense...

Same here. I love how well organised German is.

My wek point is premise. For some reasom I always spell it premiss. I forget it every time.
And I tend to write priviledge.
And that i before e rule is vital to me. Believe it or not I have to say it every time before common words like friend and ceiling.
I also mix up words where s and z are both right, such as exercize and exercise. I know one is US and one is GB, but which????

[laurel29]

I constantly spell recognize wrong. (I switch s and z frequently). I also have trouble with words that have an e before Ly (I forget the E) or el vs Le - I have to look at them for a minute to figure it out. I spell color as colour and my spell check keeps telling me it is wrong- is it? Also I spell dialog as dialogue are these two different words?

[Vomaxx]

it's not only grammer. !

No, it's spelling, too. :)

[laurel29]

Affect and effect confuse me - I keep looking up the difference, but I seem to forget it again almost immediately. Was and were mess me up as well, I read about it in the grammar section and already I have forgotten :(. I constantly spell the word quote incorrectly. I always reverse the u and o. Most of the time I catch it and fix it because I know the u is supposed to come after the q, but for some reason I keep doing it. I can't say the word independent...I think of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Herbie the elf...then I can't stop quoting Yukon Cornelius and then everyone starts hitting me...I can't figure out why. :(

[Jamesaritchie]

It's French; you lot just dumbed it down. As usual.

We didn't dumb it down enough. I still can't spell it half the time.

[Jamesaritchie]

Well I guess we get it from the French, from which the word originates, as mentioned elsewhere!

More the point, what's happened to your o? And why have you switched the r and e ha ha?!

I don't know why we switched the e and the r. But we dropped the o because we're cheap. Do you know how much paper costs? Dropping the O's in various words probably saves us eight or ten bucks every time a novel is published.

We also got rid of some u's, as in behavior/behaviour.

You folks wanna throw your money away on extra paper, go ahead.

[nicegrrl]

I can't spell anything right, but I somehow will notice other people's spelling errors.

My mistake was rediculous.

"if I was not insane, this would be funny."

It's "if I were not insane, this would be funny."

Didnt know that till I was 22 years old. Amazing.

I still dont know laid and layed and lied. I look it up everytime.