Q&A for How to Spell

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When putting words in alphabetical order ex. Boy's or boys' which one comes first?

Community Answer

It is boy's boys boys'. "Boy's" is two words (or a possessive), and the real word is 'boy'. Thus, it comes before the plural form which includes an 's'. Further, the next form is multiple boys, with the addition of a possessive, so that is last. Do you see? Most simple comes first. Just like you're comes before your because the base word is you.

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Should it be "all to well" or "all too well"?

Community Answer

You would use "too" in this case.

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Question

How do I spell sincerity?

Donagan

Top Answerer

You've spelled it right.

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Question

Is this how you spell "siempre" in Spanish?

Donagan

Top Answerer

Yes.

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Question

How do I spell "massagenistic"?

Donagan

Top Answerer

Do you mean "misogynistic"?

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Question

What does the letter "o" comes before "u" in the word ridiculous when you can hear the "u" rather than the "o"?

Donagan

Top Answerer

The sound "us" is often spelled "ous."

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How do I spell "gedian"?

Donagan

Top Answerer

Are you referring to the name Gideon?

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Question

Is it "on the prescription based side" or "on the prescription-based side"?

Community Answer

"On the prescription-based side" is correct. The phrase "prescription-based" modifies the noun "side," and a hyphen is used to make this clear, turning "prescription-based" into an adjective. The only case where you do not apply this hyphenation is when there's an adverb ending in -ly, e.g., "the fully baked cake."

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Question

Is there any way to know if a word should end in EL or LE?

Donagan

Top Answerer

No. It's a simple matter of memorization.

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Question

When a word ends in 'e' as in 'spice', how do you spell its adjective? Do you just add a 'y', i.e., 'spicey'? Or is it 'spicy', and if so why?

Community Answer

You drop the 'e' and add a 'y'. So it's 'spicy'. That's just the rule, probably to make things more neat and compact. Just like the adjective form of 'shine' is 'shiny', 'sparkle' is 'sparkly', etc. There are some cases, however, where you would keep the "e" and add a "y." "Dicey" (meaning "risky") is an example. There's no rhyme or reason to it. It just means you have to memorize the spellings.

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Is it "rode" or "road" for "The Pilgrims rode across the Atlantic Ocean"?

Community Answer

It is "rode," a past-tense verb. "Road" is a noun.

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Question

The rule says ''i'' before ''e'' except after ''c''; why is ''ie'' is after "c" in science?

Donagan

Top Answerer

There are so many exceptions to that "rule" that some have suggested not teaching it at all. The rule applies mainly to words with a "long e" sound: "yield" vs. "ceiling." Even then there are exceptions such as "species."

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Question

What if the word I'm asked to spell sounds the same as another word, but it has a different spelling?

Donagan

Top Answerer

Whoever is asking you to spell should provide the definition of the word, and then it's up to you to know the difference between the homophones. For instance, "loan" and "lone" or "right," "write" and "rite."

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Question

Is there any way to know if a word should end in -al or -le?

Community Answer

No, it's just a matter of memorization.

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Question

How do you spell that long word Mary Poppins says?

Butterfly

Community Answer

The long word in the movie Mary Poppins is: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". To spell it with ease, try using broken-up chunks: "super" + "cali" + "fragi" + "listic" + "expi" + "ali" + "docious". It may be difficult at first, but with practice, you'll remember the spelling of this 34-letter-long word.

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Question

How do I spell character?

I_l1ke_gam3s

Community Answer

You've spelled it correctly.

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