Questions tagged [orthography]
This tag is for questions concerning the written representation of the English language, especially spelling and word breaks (including hyphenation).
1,491
questions
0
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0answers
24 views
If I want to say(american in plural) in the sentence: american social problems / americans' social problems or americans social problems [closed]
Which one I should write?
And are there another form more natural for this sentence?
4
votes
1answer
111 views
Term for intentional inaccuracies that better convey meaning?
Is there a term or concept that describes instances where an author/speaker intentionally or knowingly uses wrong spelling/pronunciation/grammar because it better conveys the intended meaning, and is ...
1
vote
1answer
69 views
Does English allow /eɪʃ/ in the end of a syllable (in the same syllable)?
The sound /ʃ/ is almost always spelled with more than one letter i.e. with a digraph unlike, say, /p/ which is spelled with a single letter (pan, pen, pie). I have noticed a particular pattern: vowels ...
3
votes
1answer
106 views
Which letters do not appear consecutively in English words?
Are there any letters in the English alphabet that never appear twice consecutively in a word?
For example: the word running has the letter n repeated consecutively in it.
What letters never appear in ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
How did words like rubbish, ribbon and cabbage get “BB”?
Certain words that have double B in Modern English didn't have "BB" in the word they are derived from.
Rubbish: "c. 1400, robous, from Anglo-French rubouses" (Etymology Dictionary)...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Approach to or for? [closed]
My sentence:
---The exploitation of natural and ecofriendly resources could be an alternative approach to creating a sustainable environment.
Is the preposition correct or should I rearrange the ...
1
vote
0answers
24 views
Is counter example a valid form of counterexample?
In student writing about math, I see the term "counter example" instead of "counterexample" too often. Does anyone have good ideas about why people think "counterexample" ...
0
votes
1answer
47 views
which is correct here, break or broke? [closed]
which one is correct?
"Steve was amazing before his leg break."
"Steve was amazing before his leg broke."
0
votes
1answer
58 views
Cosmetics: Make up, make-up, or makeup? [closed]
When referring to cosmetics, which is correct? Make up, make-up, or makeup? And does it matter in case of a noun, verb, adjective?
The actor playing Frankenstein's monster wore 6 pounds of [makeup |
...
0
votes
1answer
85 views
Can we use “depot” as an adjective? [closed]
Can we use depot in this form: depotted books or depot books?
(I’m not sure about the past participle of this word.)
Or should it be used only as a “place” where books are supposed to be
stored, a ...
2
votes
1answer
71 views
Why “admit” with T but “admissible” with SS? [duplicate]
I have noticed that when the suffix -ible is added to "admit", it becomes "admissible" rather than "admittible".
There are few other examples:
"omit" = "...
2
votes
1answer
36 views
Is it ever acceptable to write slashes between multiple but separate prefixes?
For example, can I get away with writing bio/technological advances
have made?
Even if this is orthographically acceptable in one or another kind of
written English, would it better for ...
0
votes
4answers
62 views
Violence incidents or violent incidents? [closed]
In an academic paper I discuss violent situations. Is it correct to refer to this as 'violence incidents'? Or should I refer to it as 'violent incidents' instead?
-2
votes
3answers
138 views
Is narcist an accepted spelling of narcissist? [closed]
Wiktionary lists "narcist" as an "alternative form of narcissist." A few other online dictionaries list it as well, but none have much information on it.
It doesn't say nonstandard,...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Does the em dash take precedence over the comma?
In a sentence like:
While I would love to do A, I cannot wait to do B.
If I add a set-off clause right before the comma, which of these is correct?
While I would love to do A—for reasons X—I cannot ...
0
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0answers
20 views
Why “equiped” as opposed to “equipped”? [duplicate]
Why do we use two p's instead of one when spelling "equipped"?
3
votes
1answer
49 views
Is there a specific for a voluntarily made monosyllabic sound from the mouth used to express humor/laughter/cynicism?
The sound I'm thinking of isn't so much a snort, it's not expelled from the nose, however, a sound used to express humor or amusement that doesn't quite hit the laughter threshold. I notice I do it ...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
Grammar Corrections
Correcting Grammar:
"The committee is not only working to preserve historical buildings, but also is interested in developing a local museum"
My Notes:
I was thinking that it violates ...
0
votes
0answers
29 views
Why doesn't US English drop the “o” from “subpoena”?
US English usually drops the o from the diphthong oe (or œ).
So for example the o in the UK English manoeuvre, diarrhoea, oesophagus are all usually dropped in US English.
Why then isn't the o in ...
2
votes
0answers
61 views
Why were full stops used in old texts after singular words or incomplete sentences?
This is a table of 17th-century mathematical notation standards by Samuel Jeake. It looks completely alien, compared to our modern notation, but that's not relevant. What is important to note, ...
1
vote
1answer
90 views
Chanterelle and Chantrelle, which is the correct name of the mushroom?
I always spell it as chanterelle until I bought a box of CHANTRELLE in Whole Foods Market. I looked up my dictionary, and yes, the word should be chanterelle. However, I also noticed that, the word ...
0
votes
1answer
61 views
Should I write 'organization' or 'organisation'? [duplicate]
I can not choose what to write for my project about being organised...
Should I write:
organization
or
organisation
Is it just a spelling difference between American English and British English?
(I ...
2
votes
2answers
232 views
Two 'x's in “anti-vaxxer”
I have always found myself impulsively and automatically spelling "anti-vaxxer" with two 'x's, and a Google search indicates that most other media sources did the same; however, I can't ...
0
votes
0answers
40 views
Final consonant doubling in Proper names
Webb, Rudd, Barr, Pratt are all proper names that have a double final consonant. What is the reason for this doubling?
0
votes
1answer
315 views
Is it “Thats why!” or “That's why!”? [closed]
I see it spelled both ways, what is the right way ?
So far I lived by the rule that apostrophe s means possession and without the apostrophe it is a simple abbreviation. Or is it more complicated ? (...
0
votes
1answer
57 views
Which sentence is correct and why? with 'to' or without 'to'
All I can do is to tell her not to go out during the weekend.
All I can do is tell her not to go out during the weekend.
32
votes
5answers
3k views
What is the difference between a dieresis and an umlaut?
In my personal experience, many native speakers of U.S. English are familiar with the term "umlaut" as referring to the double dots above a letter, though they are not generally aware of its ...
1
vote
2answers
268 views
Is respect awarded, accorded or afforded?
I was revising a colleague's work, and saw the phrase "awarded the respect it deserves". This struck me as incorrect, but I was struck harder still by an uncertainty as to whether it ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Two-weeks' notice
For me it's uncountable, either two weeks' notice or two-week notice.
Yet I've just come across two-weeks' notice.
I cannot think of any similar examples. Is this used of the hyphen grammatical ?
1
vote
2answers
164 views
What rule governs “panic->panicking” and why? Would it apply to all -ic verbs? [duplicate]
It seems odd that the continual tense of "to panic" is "panicking". Or "picnic->picnicking". When did the "k" get added, and why? Surely the natural ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
If I want to use “bountying” in a sentence, how might I construct a spelling for it? If not possible, what word could be used instead?
I frequently add bounties to Stack Exchange questions. I do a lot of bountying. I find this question fascinating and in need of bountying, but alas, I do not know how to attempt to spell bountying and ...
0
votes
1answer
193 views
Why do some spell checker mark “copiable” as an error?
Some of my spell checkers (including the one in vim, and the build-in one in gmail) mark the form "copiable" as an error, and insist on "copyable". This doesn't seem to make sense; ...
-1
votes
1answer
67 views
Luscious, Vicious, Delicious, Nutritious? Why not Nutricious? [closed]
Why is nutritious spelled as such, and not as nutricious? What's the rule I'm missing here?
0
votes
0answers
23 views
Question Regarding Punctuation and Quotation Mark
I'm struggling to recall the answers to the questions below. Any assistance would be wonderful!
Thanks!
Does the comma go inside or outside the quotation mark in the sentence below?
I submitted my ...
1
vote
1answer
40 views
Hyphenation usage in US English [duplicate]
I am writing my Ph.D. Thesis in US English and have two questions on hyphenating.
Would it be re-entry or reentry?
Would it be (re)training or (re-)training? Or would it be retraining at all times? ...
0
votes
3answers
98 views
In British English, is “bail” or “bale” more common? [closed]
In American English, let's say we have something like
Dude, I want to leave this party. Let's bail.
This holds up in various American dictionaries (with the exception of to bale out of an airplane, ...
2
votes
0answers
258 views
What's the origin of “-er” vs. “-re” endings?
There's some words that end in "er" or "re" depending on the word, and depending on what country you learned English from.
There's words like reader with the "er" ending, ...
17
votes
4answers
3k views
Why was 'Jesus' spelt 'Jhesus' in Wycliffe's Bible?
I found that in Wycliffe's Bible, Jesus Christ is spelt as "Jhesu Crist". Why was it spelt with 'Jh' instead of 'J'?
0
votes
1answer
243 views
Abbreviating “of course” to course or 'course - is apostrophe needed to indicate missing word?
I'm looking at some dialogue that has been written as "'Course not!". Is the apostrophe here - indicating the missing word "of" - correct, incorrect or optional for clarity? ...
0
votes
0answers
70 views
What’s going on with "hot -> heat”? [duplicate]
I am looking for a particular linguistic term for this process of turning words like hot into words like heat.
English has a bunch of pairs like these:
Hot -> heat
Whole -> heal
(Folk)lore ->...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
meridional or meridianal?
The wikipedia article on the history of the metric system uses the adjectives meridional and meridianal (as the metre was derived from the length of the meridian passing through Paris). Which is ...
-2
votes
2answers
184 views
Why are 'electric', 'electricity' and 'electrician' pronounced differently?
Why are the words electric, electricity and electrician pronounced differently?
Electric -> /iˈlek.trɪk/
Electricity -> /ˌel.ɪkˈtrɪs.ə.ti/
Electrician -> /ˌɪl.ekˈtrɪʃ.ən/
My main question ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Rules for pronouncing the “gh” sound [duplicate]
In English, we have many words ending in or containing “gh”, but in some cases, the two letters are silent, while in others, it is pronounced as “f” . We have the words tough, rough, and draught, ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
Adjective: attributive “leftover”, predicative “left over”
Wiktionary's entry for left over reads:
Use left over after a verb, in a predicate phrase. When directly
before a noun, use leftover.
Is this a general productive pattern? Otherwise, any reference ...
2
votes
2answers
424 views
Why is letter E the most common used letter?
It is well known that the letter E is the most common letter. In my corpus, I found 12.478% of letters is letter E. What makes me surprise was 64.219% of words contain the letter E. I also found that ...
0
votes
0answers
42 views
“Bias”: reason(s) for doubling the last consonant before inflectional endings
Forms such as concussed or discusses may lead people to wrongly double the final consonant of focus ―at least that's the only reason I have come up with.
Yet, I cannot come up with a potential ...
0
votes
1answer
82 views
<ie ⟷ y> before the ·ing suffix
Page 1579 of the CambridgeGEL reads
For die the ie is the default spelling, so that the replacement
works in the opposite direction: ie is replaced by y before the
·ing suffix.
Why was a replacement ...
0
votes
2answers
40 views
Can 'postsynaptic' be written as 'post-synaptic'?
Under the heading "Excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials" in this article on Khan Academy, the word 'postsynaptic' is written with and without a hyphen. Does this imply that both ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Is “bestfriend” an acceptable spelling now?
I'm a non-native speaker and I'd like to know if it has been grammatically acceptable in the UK or the US to write "best friend" as "bestfriend". I've seen such spelling used a lot ...
1
vote
0answers
79 views
How did English final /əl/ come to usually be spelled “le”?
English has suffixes spelled "-le" and pronounced /əl/ with several meanings. However, they variously come from Old English -el, -ol, -ul, and -lian. Of these, only -lian has a vowel after ...
