of all the people we employ here.
10 Her work is based on a sound design principle. The college principal will retire next year.
11 Your story is quite credible – I believe it. He is a credulous person – he’ll believe anything.
12 People migrate from one country to another in search of better living conditions. Many people immigrate to Australia from Europe. My home is Australia and I do not intend to emigrate overseas.
13 We are all ready to go to the beach. I have already completed the task you set me.
14 Her breathing was affected by the smog. The doctor effected a cure in the boy who had been sick.
15 I accept your invitation to dinner. Everyone is coming to the party except Joe.
16 Please lend me $10. She made me a loan of $10.
3.11 Proofreading
Poor proofreading is included in the list of faults that make documents difficult to read. One of the causes of poor proofreading is the inability to spot the difference between the right and wrong spellings of some quite common words. This applies particularly when we are proofreading our own work.
Precisely because these words are common, we tend to skip over them quickly, imagining that they must be correctly spelt, whereas we tend to take more care with the spelling of unusual words.
Activity 3f
1 Here are some commonly misspelt words. Tick the correct spelling (A or B) from each pair. Give yourself a time limit of, say, one and a half minutes to complete this part of the activity.
| A | B | |
| 1 | accede | acsede |
| 2 | accomodation | accommodation |
| 3 | benefited | benefitted |
| 4 | preceeding | preceding |
| 5 | changable | changeable |
| 6 | aplication | application |
| 7 | disapoint | disappoint |
| 8 | skilful | skillful |
| 9 | moveable | movable |
| 10 | drownded | drowned |
| 11 | differrence | difference |
| 12 | maintainance | maintenance |
| 13 | liaison | liason |
| 14 | comitted | committed |
| 15 | consensus | concensus |
| 16 | equiped | equipped |
| 17 | humorous | humourous |
| 18 | superintendent | superintendant |
| 19 | supersede | supercede |
| 20 | seperate | separate |
| 21 | posesses | possesses |
| 22 | occurence | occurrence |
| 23 | transferral | transferal |
| 24 | definate | definite |
| 25 | heros | heroes |
| 26 | dulness | dullness |
| 27 | February | Febuary |
| 28 | laid | layed |
| 29 | recomend | recommend |
| 30 | beleive | believe |
| 31 | discribe | describe |
| 32 | misspell | mispell |
| 33 | umberella | umbrella |
| 34 | grammar | grammer |
| 35 | referred | refered |
| 36 | mishapen | misshapen |
| 37 | conscientous | conscientious |
| 38 | revelant | relevant |
| 39 | eminent | emminent |
| 40 | proceedure | procedure |
| 41 | occasionally | occassionally |
| 42 | advisor | adviser |
| 43 | purefy | purify |
| 44 | mischievous | mischievious |
| 45 | unparallelled | unparalleled |
| 46 | noticeable | noticable |
| 47 | coronary | coronory |
| 48 | mimicking | mimicing |
| 49 | intermarrage | intermarriage |
| 50 | sieze | seize |
2 Ten sentences to be read aloud, to test your spelling, are given below (Solutions 3f, Item 2). If you would like to do this part of the activity, ask a friend to read the sentences to you exactly as printed, repeating the word given in italics (for example, ‘We have a maintenance contract for electronic equipment … maintenance.’) Write down the repeated word.
3 Complete these sentences using the appropriate word from: off, effected, prophecies, of, licence, principal, prophesies, prophesys, principle, license, affected
The repair to the ship cannot be in so short a time.
The director objects not just to the details but to the on which this report is based.
I believe the take- time has been put forward by one hour.
You can get a replacement driving from the motor registry.
The economist, John Wain, that the gross national product will increase by less than 5 per cent this year.
4 Complete these sentences using the correct word from the options given:
Car drivers should take the route to Queenstown. (alternate, alternative)
If you are going shooting, you must be a shooter. (licenced, licensed)
The tickets are , and are for Saturday. (complementary, complimentary)
He is on his parents for pocket money. (dependant, dependent)
We have asked for her on our problem, and we should take notice of it. (council, counsel)
She a limp in order to get sick leave. (effected, affected)
During your tour, you will visit many of the cities of Africa. (principal, principle)
Why have you decided to Jimmy from today’s activities? (accept, except)
Our new building will have twenty . (stories, storeys)
You must that you get to the interview in time. (insure, ensure)
Solutions 3f
1 1A, 2B, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8A, 9B, 10B, 11B, 12B, 13A, 14B, 15A, 16B, 17A, 18A, 19A, 20B, 21B, 22B, 23A, 24B, 25B, 26B, 27A, 28A, 29B, 30B, 31B, 32A, 33B, 34A, 35A, 36B, 37B, 38B, 39A, 40B, 41A, 42B, 43B, 44A, 45B, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49B, 50B
2 Get a friend to read these sentences to you as printed – the whole sentence followed by a repeat of the word to be written down (shown in italics).
We have a maintenance contract for electronic equipment.
We will start again from the beginning.
I do not usually drink coffee.
Is this the letter you referred to?
My friend receives unemployment benefits.
On her new diet, she is losing about one kilogram a week.
The stain on the carpet is not really noticeable.
I was surprised to hear how well he spoke Japanese.
Are you certain you posted those letters?
