Care with spelling
Poor spellings can create confusion, wreck relations or even cost millions. The complexity of English spelling is something to be careful about. Changing one letter in a word gives you a new word entirely.
- Affect: Mongooses are not much affected by cobra bites.
- Effect: The effect of cobra bite on man is deadly.
- Medal: Soldiers wear medals on uniform.
- Meddle: Do not meddle with other people’s affair.
- Disease: Cholera is a terrible disease.
- Decease (the dead): The only picture was of a teenage boy, apparently the deceased brother.
- Assent: He gave his assent to the proposal.
- Ascent (upward slope): The ascent of Fuji presents no difficulties.
- Illicit: Liquor made without a license is illicit.
- Elicit (find out information by careful questioning): Although I tried, I was unable to elicit any information from my husband about my birthday gift.
- Eminent (well known): The most eminent physicists of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.
- Imminent (About to happen): When the Secret Service arrived, everyone knew the president’s arrival was imminent.
- Illusion (seeming to be true, but actually false): When looking at the illusion on the page, I saw both a woman’s head and a cat in the design.
- Allusion (indirect reference): A reference to Pandora’s box is an allusion that will strengthen the reader’s understanding of the danger the character faces.
- President: He is the President of India.
- Precedent (previous case): Since there is no precedent upon which to base a decision, the board must decide on its own how to handle the situation.