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    Common Spelling Mistakes in I e Lts 1

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    Common Spelling Mistakes in I e Lts 1

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    Jovana Kojic
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    Common Spelling Mistakes in i e Lts 1

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    Copyright:

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    111 views2 pages

    Common Spelling Mistakes in I e Lts 1

    Uploaded by

    Jovana Kojic
    l

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    COMMON SPELLING MISTAKES IN

    IELTS
    IELTS LISTENING, IELTS WRITING, VOCABULARY JULY 25, 2012 IELTSACADEMIC 8 COMMENTS

    With 25% of IELTS Writing scores determined by vocabulary, spelling is clearly a real concern
    for IELTS candidates. While a few spelling errors will be overlooked, too many will bring down
    the score for Lexical Resource. Spelling mistakes can also seriously affect IELTS Listening
    scores.
    As its not possible to memorise the spelling of every English word, it makes more sense to
    identify the words most likely to be (a) used in IELTS and (b) misspelled.
    There are already many lists of common spelling errors online, but here Ive selected words
    likely to occur in the Academic modules of IELTS. Rather than simply list the most common
    mistakes, Ive attempted to highlight errors by type, so you can pay more attention to the
    underlying rules.

    Single and double consonants


    Spelling mistakes are common when single or double consonants occur nearby in a word.
    A single consonant is followed by a double consonant:
    Across, Process, Harass, Disappoint, Recommend, Tomorrow, Professor, Necessary
    A double consonant is followed by a single consonant:
    Parallel, Apparent, Exaggerate, Occasion, Occur (but Occurred), Commit (but Committed)
    Some common words with two pairs of consonants:
    Success, Possess, Access, Assess, Address, Accommodation, Embarrass, Millennium

    Weak vowel sounds


    Some words are difficult to spell because they contain the schwa or [], a weak vowel sound. It is
    almost impossible to know how to spell such words from their sound alone.
    Examples of words containing more than one schwa include:
    Separate (adj.), Definite, Desperate, Temperature, Literature, General, Relevant, Category
    Other problematic schwa words include:
    Describe, Decline, Despite; but Dispute, Discrete, Display
    Capable, Achievable, Understandable; but Possible, Visible, Accessible
    Performance, Attendance, Ignorance; but Independence, Sentence, Existence
    Sometimes the schwa sound conceals a barely-pronounced [r]:
    Opportunity, Pursue, Persuade, Surprise

    Changes of spelling when words change form


    A consonant can change when a noun becomes an adjective:
    Benefit > Beneficial; Influence > Influential; Circumstance > Circumstantial
    A vowel can change or be lost when a verb becomes a noun:
    Maintain > Maintenance; Pronounce > Pronunciation, Argue > Argument
    A vowel may double when a noun becomes a verb:
    Success > Succeed; Excess > Exceed; Process > Proceed
    A final consonant is often doubled when a verb changes form:
    Occur > Occurred; Refer > Referred; Begin > Beginning

    Silent letters in consonant clusters


    [nm] in Environment, Government
    [nm] in Column, Autumn
    [sc] in Science, Conscious, Discipline, Fascinate, Ascend, Descend
    [xc] in Excite, Exceed, Exception, Excellent, Excited
    [dg] in Knowledge, Acknowledge (but just [g] in Privilege, Oblige)
    [th] clusters in ordinals: Eighth, Twelfth, Hundredth

    Pairs of frequently confused spellings in IELTS


    Till Until (not *untill)
    Lose Loose (one is a verb; the other is an adjective)
    Affect Effect (one is a common verb; the other is its noun form)
    Forth Fourth (one means forward'; the other means number four)
    Fourth but Forty (not *fourty)
    High but Height (not *hight)
    Great but Grateful (not *greatful)
    Precede Proceed (one means go before'; the other means go ahead)
    Principle Principal (one means truth'; the other means main)
    Site Sight (one is a place; the other is something to see, as in sightseeing not *siteseeing)
    Copywriter Copyright (one writes advertising; the other means intellectual property)

    Other difficult English words to spell


    Finally, 10 English words of foreign origin that even native speakers have difficulty
    spelling: Amateur, Entrepreneur,Hierarchy, Liaison, Medieval, Miscellaneous, Queue, Que
    stionnaire, Rhythm, Vacuum

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