This tag is for questions concerning the written representation of the English language, especially spelling and word breaks (including hyphenation).
35
votes
6answers
2k views
When did it become correct to add an “s” to a singular possessive already ending in “‑s”?
According to my grammar book, but at variance to the answer to this question, the correct singular possessive if a word ends in ‑s is:
James’s car
The grammar book allows exceptions for ...
55
votes
1answer
3k views
When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?
I generally know how to use a hyphen, but when should I use an en-dash instead of an em-dash, or when should I use a hyphen instead of an em-dash?
19
votes
4answers
1k views
“Whereäs” as an alternative spelling of “whereas”
Wiktionary shows whereäs as a valid alternative spelling of the word whereas (see here).
It gives the following quotations to illustrate the usage:
1 Permanent International Association of ...
18
votes
6answers
3k views
Are the endings “-zation” and “-sation” interchangeable?
What is with words that have forms that end both in -zation and -sation, such as localization and localisation?
Many spell checkers recommend -zation.
17
votes
3answers
841 views
Possessive of a word that is already possessive
If the cricket ground Lord's is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord's? Would you say "I was very impressed by Lord's's customer services"?
It doesn't look right, ...
19
votes
2answers
2k views
When is “L” doubled?
Some verbs can have double Ls in the gerund form; for example:
modeling; modelling
traveling; travelling
Which form should we use, or which form is used more in the literature?
18
votes
5answers
1k views
What is the standard rule for using or not using hyphen and diaeresis on the words like reelect , reexamine, and cooperate?
I found that diaeresis is used on the word, reelection in the following sentence of the article titled “Rational Irrationality” in the New Yorker magazine (April 27).
“This morning’s news that ...
11
votes
3answers
816 views
Descriptivism and widespread misspelling
If you search google for "fuscia" it asks "did you mean fuschia?". The correct spelling of the word is "fuchsia". (This was pointed out on the xkcd blog a while ago.)
So enough people are spelling ...
21
votes
7answers
6k views
Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?
When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I was taught that to make a plural of an acronym, a letter, or a number, one should add an apostrophe and "s". Like I would have written this sentence, ...
35
votes
8answers
4k views
Is it “alright” or “allright”?
In practice I find both spellings being used. From a logical point of view, "allright" (as in: "all's right — everything is fine") seems correct. However, I recall hearing that "alright" is the ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
“Advise” vs. “advice”
In what contexts are those two words used?
It's been a while since I've read the grammar books and I don't exactly remember the definitions of a few terms like adjective, so I would really appreciate ...
6
votes
2answers
750 views
Capitalization for a bullet list
The following is from some software documentation we are writing:
NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:
you believe the data in the report has changed since it was ...
14
votes
3answers
2k views
“Focussed” or “focused”? The double consonant
Initially, my question was: is "focussed" or "focused" the correct past tense of "focus", but since this applies to a lot of words, I would like to generalize and ask: is there supposed to be a rule ...
4
votes
2answers
466 views
Is there any rhyme or reason to when one should double the last consonant when adding -ed or -ing? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
focussed or focused? The double consonant
Sometimes, final consonants are doubled when adding -ed or -ing to the end of a verb whose penultimate letter is a vowel.
...
14
votes
3answers
1k views
Creating words with “-able” suffix
What are general rules of thumb for creating adjectives with -able? I wanted to denote an object as having an ability to be tiled, but "tileable" and "tilable" both yielded as incorrect words by spell ...
18
votes
2answers
1k views
When do you use “learnt” and when “learned”?
Is learnt UK English and learned US? Is it that simple?
I’m used to using learnt, but my US spellchecker says it is wrong.
15
votes
2answers
380 views
“License” and “licence”
What is the difference between license and licence? Are both variations accepted in US and UK?
10
votes
3answers
2k views
“Spelt” vs. “spelled”
In the following sentence, should I say spelled or spelt:
You spelt/spelled "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" wrong.
5
votes
1answer
5k views
Is it spelt “naïve” or “naive”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Whereäs” as an alternative spelling of “whereas”
I've always wondered which is the correct spelling: "naïve" or "naive"? Are both ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Adjective form of “collide”—“collideable” or “collidable”?
I need to name an interface in a program I'm writing as being able to collide, but I've seen use of both collideable and collidable in projects with a similar type. Both of them look right in some ...
61
votes
4answers
4k views
Why is “cannot” spelled as one word?
Why is “cannot” spelled as one word whereas other similar constructions such as “do not,” “will not,” “shall not,” “may not” and “must not” are spelled as two words (unless they are contracted as ...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
When to drop the 'e' when ending in -able?
I've seen a thread that generally asks about Creating words with “-able” suffix But I don't think it answers my point, though they are admittedly dangerously close topics.
When do you drop the 'e' ...
13
votes
2answers
616 views
Why is there a distinction between “its” and “it's”?
While I know technically the English language has a distinction because when there's a conflict between the possessive form and a contraction, the contraction wins. That is:
Its is the possessive ...
7
votes
3answers
4k views
“Checking” vs. “chequing” vs. “chequeing” with regards to types of bank accounts
I came across this little dilemma when looking up the incorrectly spelled word "chequing" in my web browser's dictionary (Opera). According to the different dictionaries you can select in Opera:
EN ...
3
votes
1answer
248 views
“s” vs. “z” in BE vs. AE
I have trouble understanding why some words change "s"-es to "z"-s from BE to AE and some not. For example:
analyse -> analyze
characterise -> characterize
hypnotise -> hypnotize
But:
compromise ...
50
votes
14answers
6k views
“Email” or “e-mail”?
Which way of writing the word: "Email" or "e-mail" is correct? Both variants seem to be in wide use. If both ones are okay, maybe there is a difference in contexts they have been used (one is more ...
44
votes
6answers
39k views
“Login” or “log in”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“log in to” or “log into” or “login to”
Is there accepted terminology for the process of logging in?
As a verb, would you say "Go to ...
39
votes
6answers
7k views
Which is the correct spelling: “grey” or “gray”?
What is the difference? Or is there any? Which would be more British English?
20
votes
2answers
4k views
Use of “f ” instead of “s” in historic, printed English documents
I was at a museum in London yesterday, and one of the items on exhibit is a document from the eighteenth century. It uses the letter f a lot where s should be used—for example, in Majefty.
Did the ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Origins of the “‑cede/‑seed/‑ceed” suffix
Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to remember cedere meant “to go or yield” in Latin. Presumably this gives us the words concede and accede. (?)
But what about the words supersede and proceed? ...
12
votes
7answers
3k views
How do I spell the truncation 'Cas', as in 'Sports Casual/Sports Cas'?
How do I spell the truncation 'Cas', as in 'Sports Casual/Sports Cas'? It may be UK only, and may have been spawned by Alan Partridge. Cash/Cas are not right.
*As in a slang term, "he was acting all ...
6
votes
2answers
576 views
Enquire and inquire
In British English I think these two words have different shades of meaning, but I couldn't articulate them. In American English I see inquire used where I would use "enquire".
Are there shades of ...
2
votes
4answers
296 views
Why does my spellchecker vindicate “floccinaucinihilipilification”?
I have heard of this word as cited to contain the most i's of all English words. I had never heard of it before, but when I copied and pasted it into my email program, lo and behold, the picky ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
“Practise” vs. “practice”
As an Australian, I like to follow British forms of words such as license/licence and practise/practice. I have no problem with licence the noun and license the verb, but I find it hard to keep ...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
When should a singular word ending in “y” end in “ies” plurally?
Words like "sky" and "money" have "ies" as a plural suffix (i.e. "skies" and "monies") but other words like "monkey" and "Emmy" do not ("monkeys" and "Emmys"). Is there a rule dictating the use of ...
6
votes
6answers
481 views
What is the term for neglectful spelling of words such as “you” as “u”?
The age of texting and instant messaging as we all know has created a phenomenon of using shorter versions of words to save on keystrokes. On tiny keypads or phone buttons this obviously can be a time ...
6
votes
2answers
4k views
What's the difference between “adviser” and “advisor” — are both interchangeable?
I work for a financial services provider and we deal with "Financial Advisors" all the time. Increasingly, I'm seeing people send emails and so forth with the term "Financial Adviser" and the terms ...
5
votes
4answers
332 views
Usage of apostrophe in “baker’s dozen”
In the phrase “baker’s dozen”, why does the apostrophe indicate possession of a (single) baker? Shouldn't it indicate possession of all bakers in general? Shouldn’t it be “bakers’ dozen”?
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Rule for adding “and” or hyphens between numbers that are spelled out fully in text
For example, take the number 342. It could be written out a number of different ways when spelled out fully.
Three hundred forty two
Three hundred and forty two
Three hundred and forty-two
What is ...
3
votes
1answer
986 views
“An SQL Server database schema” or “a SQL Server database schema”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Do you use “a” or “an” before acronyms?
I got the following sentence from the book I'm reading:
You can take a database-first approach
by ...
21
votes
4answers
3k views
Why are “sugar” and “sure” pronounced with an SH?
As far as I know, those are the only two. They should be pronounced Soogher and Soor, shouldn't they? I looked them up on Dictionary.com, and their etymologies reveal no trace of an SH, except where ...
19
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is it true that “I before E, except after C”?
I almost hesitate to ask this, because it is hard to believe no one else asked it; but it isn't showing up in the "similar titles" list.
What is special about 'C' that switches the 'IE' immediately ...
12
votes
4answers
571 views
Why did they spell it “URL’s”?
I was reading this documentation file of some software and note the plural spelling of this abbreviation is “URL’s”. Why isn’t it “URLs”?
11
votes
6answers
988 views
How would you spell “Tehran” in English for it to be pronounced “correctly” (i.e. as in Persian)?
Native English speakers do not pronounce the h in Tehran so it is pronounced like "Teran". But in the original pronunciation in Persian the h is pronounced, resulting in /tehˈɾɒːn/.
Is there any ...
8
votes
2answers
4k views
Is the proper spelling “judgment” or “judgement”?
I always thought the proper spelling was judgment, but I see judgement all the time, even in articles, news, etc. Merriam-Webster lists judgement as a variant spelling for judgment.
But is the ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
Which is the proper spelling: “Adapter” or “adaptor”?
In my current project we are writing a program to convert a newer protocol to an older one.
These conversion programs are being referred to as adapters, but the team cannot agree which spelling to ...
12
votes
6answers
5k views
Which is the correct spelling: “fairy” or “faerie”?
Fairy vs. faerie — which is the correct spelling?
6
votes
3answers
5k views
Which is the proper spelling: “disfunction” or “dysfunction”?
Is this word spelt dysfunction or disfunction?
Are there any correct spellings at all for this word?
The reason I asked is because I've always learned to spell it as "disfunction" until recently, ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
adding a prefix “re” to a word, with or without a hyphen?
In science we often invent words, but that doesn't mean we know how to spell them. Most of the time words are invented by adding prefixes. In that case should there be a hyphen or not? Specifically, I ...
3
votes
1answer
701 views
Why does there exist a difference in spelling between British English and American English?
I understand that the use of different terms for the same item (e.g., "car park" vs. "parking lot") has already been discussed, but I'm interested to know why we spell the same words differently in ...
