Forum: Author Hangout

Spelling reminder: similar words with double/single consonants

Harold Wilson 🚫

Long ago, I read a story where a guy went fishing for "strippers".

Long ago, I read a story where a guy was dating a "striper."

Today, I read a story where a boat needed to be "scrapped."

Also, an agreement was made, "baring" unforeseen events.

It's worth pointing this out: there are a lot of words that differ by only a single repeated letter. Stripper/striper, barring/baring, scraped/scrapped are examples.

If you're using the wrong one, a spell checker probably won't flag it because both forms are valid. A grammar checker might not flag it if both words are the same part of speech (which they will be, if the end with -er, -ed, or -ing).

Your best bet is to remember that a single consonant usually indicates a long vowel in front (baring sounds like bearing or Bering) while a double consonant usually means a short vowel sound (barring sounds like "bar" followed by "ring").

Or, put another way, strippers and stripers can both invole a pole dance, but a "stripper" is a girl you don't take home to mom, while a "striper" is a kind of fish.

Similarly, if you "scraped" a boat you removed the barnacles from the hull, while if you "scrapped" the boat it's in the junkyard now.

Replies: ChiMi awnlee jawking Dominions Son awnlee jawking Keet richardshagrin DBActive Kaveman Radagast

ChiMi 🚫

@Harold Wilson

I always cringe with Raper/Rapper

Replies: richardshagrin Keet Ernest Bywater

richardshagrin 🚫

@ChiMi

Raper/Rapper

and rapist.

A few spaces distinguish Physiotherapist from Physio the rapist.

Keet 🚫

@ChiMi

Raper/Rapper

If you hear some of the texts rappers 'sing' you might think both words mean the same.

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Keet

If you hear some of the texts rappers 'sing' you might think both words mean the same.

Or at least both are equally valid descriptions of the "artist".

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@ChiMi

I always cringe with Raper/Rapper

according to the past media reports there usually isn't that much difference between the two in actuality due to the first noun also applying to so many of the second noun.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Harold Wilson

In Britland, buses are multiple vehicles and busses are quasi-kisses. (We don't buss tables.)

I'm not 100% certain but USland might differ officially as well as unofficially.

AJ

Replies: PotomacBob

PotomacBob 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I'm not 100% certain but USland might differ officially as well as unofficially.

There is no "official" spelling in the U.S. You're allowed to screw up the language any way you wish. Dictionaries, style books, etc., provide guidelines, but they are not "official."

anim8ed 🚫

Diner at the dinner instead of dinner at the diner...
Supper and super

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@anim8ed

Supper and super

Superman saves the day.

Supperman feeds the hungry. :)

Replies: Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf 🚫

@Dominions Son

Supperman: The Man of Meal

Ernest Bywater 🚫

I've seen writers who write waste when they mean waist - based on the context. However, I frequently have to check the dictionary to make sure I'm using dessert and desert correctly.

Switch Blayde 🚫

The most common one I recall is "starred" instead of "stared."

Switch Blayde 🚫
Updated:

And for you American spellers, the stress of the syllable in multi-syllable words determines whether or not it's a double consonant.

emphasis on 2nd syllable = double
on 1st = single

beginning
visiting

tendertouch 🚫

Dessert / desert catches a lot of people, probably because the normal rule about how the single consonant changes the vowel doesn't apply. I've screwed it up so often that I usually remember it now.

The one that annoys me the most is sort of the opposite of the OPs point - loose / lose. Instead of the doubled consonant the vowel is doubled and changes the sound of the consonant. That may be part of why it trips up so many people.

Dominions Son 🚫

@Harold Wilson

Today, I read a story where a boat needed to be "scrapped."

In regards to scraped/scrapped, divorced from any larger context, the above sentence can make sense both ways.

A boat hull might need to be scraped to remove algae or barnacles, and boats do get scrapped if they are too badly damaged or too deteriorated from age to be cost effectively repaired.

Keet 🚫

Some authors don't seem to know the difference between 'organism' and 'orgasm'. I feel sorry for those authors because they miss one of the more fun things in life ;)

oldegrump 🚫

There are several that catch me out; quite for quiet close for clothes; there for their; form for from; I knows that they are not the double letter problem, but they are still irritatingly seen often.

When I proof my stories, those are the ones I catch the most.

My problem is I don't speak English, I speak Midwestern American. English is much easier to follow the rules.

Replies: awnlee jawking Switch Blayde StarFleet Carl

awnlee jawking 🚫

@oldegrump

close for clothes

I don't think I've seen that one, but cloths for clothes seems unfortunately common :(

AJ

Switch Blayde 🚫

@oldegrump

quite for quiet

very common mistake

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@oldegrump

I speak Midwestern American

Tell me about it. I'm from Indiana, now live in Oklahoma.

Since BJ Jones is now the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (for those who aren't reading it, it's a story on here) - remember, there's only a space between the IRS and theirs regarding your money.

Also, I still tend to mess up passed and past.

Replies: richardshagrin mauidreamer

richardshagrin 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Internal Revenue Service

The Infernal Revenue. See R Vice.

mauidreamer 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Also, I still tend to mess up passed and past.

past: in reference to an event or occurrence that happened before current time.

passed: 1) change in relative positioning, or
2) successfully completed a challenge or test

Replies: helmut_meukel

helmut_meukel 🚫

@mauidreamer

past: in reference to an event or occurrence that happened before current time.

Incomplete, you missed at least two other major uses.

Preposition
past

* Beyond in place or quantity
the room past mine
count past twenty
* No longer capable of
I'm past caring what he thinks of me

HM.

anim8ed 🚫

patients for patience grrr that will throw me every time I see it.

Replies: samuelmichaels Ernest Bywater

samuelmichaels 🚫

@anim8ed

patients for patience grrr that will throw me every time I see it.

If the story is good, I have patience for these kinds of errors.

I remember visiting Las Vegas where the land was mostly just deserts. I guess that was my just deserts for picking that as a destination. To compensate, my buffet lunch was just desserts.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@anim8ed

patients for patience grrr that will throw me every time I see it.

Yeah, the word order is important as a nurse does require patience for patients to do their work. It's like the difference between study hall where students study many subjects and hall study where architectural students examine the way a hall is built.

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

hall study where architectural students examine the way a hall is built.

Corridors, dining halls, dance halls, or music halls?

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Harold Wilson

Your best bet is to remember that a single consonant usually indicates a long vowel in front (baring sounds like bearing or Bering) while a double consonant usually means a short vowel sound (barring sounds like "bar" followed by "ring").

I was contemplating having a rant about authors recently choosing the wrong word from bearing/baring/baring then found this forum topic in which Harold Wilson beat me to it.

It doesn't mention another one I've seen too often recently, choosing the wrong word from scaring/scarring ;-)

AJ

Replies: awnlee jawking Grey Wolf

awnlee jawking 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Bering

I did a SOL search for 'bering'. Some of the story previews didn't actually show the target word but I did find two little gems - a misspelling of 'bearing' and a misspelling of 'bring'!

AJ

Replies: Keet

Keet 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I did a SOL search for 'bering'. Some of the story previews didn't actually show the target word but I did find two little gems - a misspelling of 'bearing' and a misspelling of 'bring'!

Which proves that searching for and reviewing the obvious suspects can be a very useful tool in the editing process. This thread offers a great list of the most occurring spelling mistakes for specific words.

Grey Wolf 🚫

@awnlee jawking

If one is sufficiently scared, one may be scarred by the experience.

Keet 🚫

@Harold Wilson

One error I often see that can be avoided with little effort: preform(ed) vs perform(ed). Search your text for 'preform', it's a rarely used word compared to 'perform'. Check the few found instances and you immediately see if they are correct or not.

richardshagrin 🚫

@Harold Wilson

I hate when the head teacher is a principle but should be a principal. Its a matter of principle, a principal is not your pal.

DBActive 🚫

@Harold Wilson

A common one is "council" for "counsel" meaning an attorney. I am now surprised when people get that right.

Kaveman 🚫

@Harold Wilson

It's all so confusing, I just loose my mind.

Radagast 🚫

@Harold Wilson

Big E has a wonderful little poem in which every word is wrong.
https://storiesonline.net/s/61955/the-spell-chequer

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Spelling reminder: similar words with double/single consonants

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