Chapter 1
Produced by Larry B. Harrison and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
PRACTICAL HIGH SCHOOL SPELLER
COMPILED BY TOBIAS O. CHEW, M.S.
SUPERINTENDENT OF CITY SCHOOLS WASHBURN, WISCONSIN
ALLYN AND BACON Boston New York Chicago
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY TOBIAS O. CHEW.
DAAN
Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
Dedicated TO THE MANY HIGH SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS, PRINCIPALS, AND TEACHERS, WHO BY THEIR COÖPERATION HAVE MADE POSSIBLE THE COMPILATION OF THIS BOOK
PREFACE
What are the words most commonly misspelled by the average high school pupil? In an endeavor to solve this problem, two thousand letters, with five postal cards in each, were sent to representative high schools in every state in the United States, requesting the heads of the various departments to report the words most commonly misspelled in their classes. From the many thousand replies, this text-book has been compiled.
The first word in Lesson I was sent in by seven hundred high school teachers; the other words in this lesson show, by their order, the frequency with which they appear in the replies. No word has been considered unless suggested by at least two teachers. This book, then, built on the judgment of those best qualified to know--the teachers themselves--contains only the words most frequently misspelled by the average high school pupil.
A simple phrase is placed after each word, illustrating its use, and serving to identify it better than would a short, abstract definition. The division of words into syllables with accent marks will be of great assistance to the pupil, should there be any question in his mind as to the correct pronunciation. The typography is based on the idea that it will be a great help to the pupil in visualizing the words if he sees them in script as well as in print.
T. O. CHEW.
MARCH, 1914.
A FEW SIMPLE RULES FOR SPELLING
When the diphthongs _ei_ and _ie_ are pronounced _[=e]_, _c_ is followed by _ei_, all other letters by _ie_. Examples: _ceiling_, _receive_, _siege_, _believe_. Exceptions: _leisure_, _seize_, _weird_. The word _slice_ will help pupils to remember this rule--_i_ after _l_ and _e_ after _c_ when applied to _believe_ and _receive_.
* * * * *
Final _y_ following a consonant changes to _i_ before a suffix not beginning with _i_. Examples: _busy_, _business_; _dry_, _dried_. When the suffix begins with _i_, as in _-ing_ and _-ish_, the _y_ is retained to avoid having double _i_. Examples: _try_, _trying_; _baby_, _babyish_.
When the final _y_ follows a vowel, the _y_ is retained before a suffix. Examples: _toy_, _toyed_; _betray_, _betrayed_; _annoy_, _annoyed_.
* * * * *
To form the plural of words ending in _y_ following a consonant change the _y_ to _i_ and add _es_. Examples: _quantity_, _quantities_; _factory_, _factories_.
When the final _y_ follows a vowel, the _y_ is retained and _s_ added. Examples: _journey_, _journeys_; _delay_, _delays_; _money_, _moneys_.
* * * * *
Monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable, which end in a single consonant, following a single vowel, double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Examples: _hot_, _hotter_; _begin_, _beginning_. Exceptions: (1) _gas_, _gases_. (2) The letters _w_, _x_, and _y_ are not doubled. Examples: _show_, _showing_; _box_, _boxed_; _pay_, _paying_.
In words not accented on the last syllable, the final consonant may or may not be doubled. Examples: _traveler_ may be spelled _traveller_; _canceled_, _cancelled_; etc.
* * * * *
In words ending in unaccented _e_, the final _e_ is dropped before a suffix beginning with a vowel. Examples: _come_, _coming_; _glue_, _gluing_; _fine_, _finer_. Exceptions: (1) The _e_ is retained when it is necessary to preserve the identity of the word, as _dyeing_, _singeing_. (2) When the final _e_ is preceded by _o_, as _shoeing_, _hoeing_. (3) After _c_ and _g_ when the suffix begins with _a_ or _o_, as _peace_, _peaceable_; _outrage_, _outrageous_; _courage_, _courageous_.
LESSON 1
{separate} =sep´a-rate= divisions
{receive} =re-ceive´= the letter
{believe} =be-lieve´= in God
{until} =un-til´= next Monday
{there} =there= he comes
{their} =their= hats are new
{principle} =prin´ci-ple= of physics
{principal} =prin´ci-pal= parts of a verb
{business} =bus´i-ness= of the merchant
{parallel} =par´al-lel= lines
{disappoint} =dis-ap-point´= us by going
{to} =to= go to town
{too} =too= many rules
{two} =two= dollars in cash
{necessary} =nec´es-sa-ry= food
{judgment} =judg´ment= of the court
{all right} =all right=, I shall come
{disappear} =dis-ap-pear´= from sight
{grammar} =gram´mar= of the language
{privilege} =priv´i-lege= to vote
{beginning} =be-gin´ning= of the war
{government} =gov´ern-ment= by the people
{isosceles} =i-sos´ce-les= triangle
{laboratory} =lab´o-ra-to-ry= of the chemist
{finally} =fi´nal-ly= it ended
LESSON 2
{coming} =com´ing= home
{seize} =seize= the opportunity
{similarly} =sim´i-lar-ly= made
{similar} =sim´i-lar= triangles
{Parliament} =Par´li-a-ment= of England
{occasion} =oc-ca´sion= for joy
{description} =de-scrip´tion= of the place
{writing} =writ´ing= with ink
{development} =de-vel´op-ment= of muscle
{homologous} =ho-mol´o-gous= figures
{precede} =pre-cede´= us down the street
{recommend} =rec-om-mend´= him for the work
{whether} =wheth´er= we go or stay
{coefficient} =co-ef-fi´cient= of the number
{hypotenuse} =hy-pot´e-nuse= of a triangle
{siege} =siege= of Troy
{immediately} =im-me´di-ate-ly= after
{already} =al-read´y= the sun is up
{forty} =for´ty= dollars a month
{fourth} =fourth= house on the street
{develop} =de-vel´op= the Kodak film
{together} =to-geth´er= at home
{chord} =chord= of a circle
{cord} =cord= of wood
{village} =vil´lage= blacksmith
LESSON 3
{hypothesis} =hy-poth´e-sis= of a theorem
{truly} =tru´ly= yours
{accommodate} =ac-com´mo-date= your friends
{preparation} =prep-a-ra´tion= for war
{occurrence} =oc-cur´rence= of importance
{quiet} =qui´et= as a mouse
{quite} =quite= a different thing
{villain} =vil´lain= in the play
{vertical} =ver´ti-cal= lines
{February} =Feb´ru-a-ry= twenty-second
{angle} =an´gle= of a triangle
{angel} =an´gel= in heaven
{affect} =af-fect´= steel by heating it
{effect} =ef-fect´= of heat on steel
{balance} =bal´ance= the account
{equation} =e-qua´tion= in algebra
{professor} =pro-fess´or= of Latin
{stopped} =stopped= by a policeman
{lose} =lose= the money
{loose} =loose= the dog's chain
{losing} =los´ing= his grip
{complement} =com´ple-ment= of an angle
{compliment} =com´pli-ment= paid to the lady
{corollary} =cor´ol-la-ry= of the theorem
{which} =which= man was that
LESSON 4
{usually} =u´su-al-ly= he walks to school
{oxygen} =ox´y-gen= in the air
{surprise} =sur-prise´= party
{proceed} =pro-ceed´= with the work
{quit} =quit= the job
{appearance} =ap-pear´ance= of the man
{quadrilateral} =quad-ri-lat´er-al= figure
{quantity} =quan´ti-ty= of sugar
{received} =re-ceived´= payment
{theorem} =the´o-rem= in geometry
{acknowledgment} =ac-knowl´edg-ment= of my letter
{occurred} =oc-curred´= to him suddenly
{conscience} =con´science= troubled him
{athletics} =ath-let´ics= in college
{bisector} =bi-sect´or= of an angle
{piece} =piece= of pie
{peace} =peace= on earth
{plain} =plain= features
{plane} =plane= geometry
{speech} =speech= in the Senate
{parallelogram} =par-al-lel´o-gram= of forces
{chauffeur} =chauf-feur´= was reckless
{describe} =de-scribe´= his features
{fulfil} =ful-fil´= our promise
{participle} =par´ti-ci-ple= of the verb
LESSON 5
{tragedy} =trag´e-dy= of Macbeth
{capital} =cap´i-tal= city of Texas
{capitol} =cap´i-tol= building
{committee} =com-mit´tee= meetings
{perpendicular} =per-pen-dic´u-lar= lines
{auxiliary} =aux-il´i-a-ry= verb
{accept} =ac-cept´= my thanks
{except} =ex-cept´= for this reason
{odor} =o´dor= of tobacco
{Mediterranean} =Med-i-ter-ra´ne-an= Sea
{polygon} =pol´y-gon= of seven sides
{superintendent} =su-per-in-tend´ent= of schools
{supersede} =su-per-sede´= the old laws by new
{always} =al´ways= the same
{hoping} =hop´ing= all is well
{hopping} =hop´ping= on one foot
{opposite} =op´po-site= side of the street
{opposition} =op-po-si´tion= to the plan
{rhombus} =rhom´bus= in geometry
{parentheses} =pa-ren´the-ses= enclosed the phrase
{straight} =straight= lines of soldiers
{strait} =strait= of Bosporus
{definite} =def´i-nite= number
{gas} =gas= light is bright
{prejudice} =prej´u-dice= against him
LESSON 6
{probably} =prob´a-bly= we shall go
{respectively} =re-spec´tive-ly= equal to each other
{respectfully} =re-spect´ful-ly= yours
{disease} =dis-ease´= caused by germs
{decease} =de-cease´= of a friend
{equivalent} =e-quiv´a-lent= equations
{height} =height= of the mountain
{refer} =re-fer´= you to him
{referred} =re-ferred´= to you
{referring} =re-fer´ring= to your letter
{soluble} =sol´u-ble= in water
{calendar} =cal´en-dar= for next year
{consul} =con´sul= at London
{council} =coun´cil= of war
{counsel} =coun´sel= is advice
{control} =con-trol´= of the business
{led} =led= the way back
{lead} =lead= is a soft metal
{possession} =pos-ses´sion= of the island
{receipt} =re-ceipt´= for payment
{simultaneous} =sim-ul-ta´ne-ous= equations
{written} =writ´ten= lesson
{benefit} =ben´e-fit= the health
{ninety} =nine´ty= per cent
{occasionally} =oc-ca´sion-al-ly= it rains
LESSON 7
{supplementary} =sup-ple-men´ta-ry= angles
{Wednesday} =Wednes´day= morning
{genitive} =gen´i-tive= case
{independent} =in-de-pend´ent= country
{misspelled} =mis-spelled´= the words
{sophomore} =soph´o-more= class
{busy} =bus´y= day at school
{meant} =meant= to do well
{ledger} =ledg´er= accounts
{polynomial} =pol-y-no´mi-al= of six terms
{pursue} =pur-sue´= the game
{adjacent} =ad-ja´cent= angles
{attract} =at-tract´= his attention
{Augustus} =Au-gus´tus= Cæsar
{comparative} =com-par´a-tive= degree
{difference} =dif´fer-ence= between two amounts
{friend} =friend= of ours
{frustum} =frus´tum= of the pyramid
{prairie} =prai´rie= dogs
{syntax} =syn´tax= of early Latin
{whose} =whose= house is this
{algebra} =al´ge-bra= is studied at school
{ammonia} =am-mo´ni-a= for cleaning
{embarrass} =em-bar´rass= us
{nickel} =nick´el= plated ware
LESSON 8
{precipitate} =pre-cip´i-tate= a panic
{receivable} =re-ceiv´a-ble= accounts
{studying} =stud´y-ing= the lesson
{tariff} =tar´iff= bill of 1913
{nominative} =nom´i-na-tive= case
{expenses} =ex-pen´ses= were paid
{coincide} =co-in-cide´= with his views
{apparatus} =ap-pa-ra´tus= for the experiment
{bicycle} =bi´cy-cle= riding
{dining} =din´ing= with friends
{decide} =de-cide´= the question
{disappointed} =dis-ap-point´ed= candidate
{criticise} =crit´i-cise= the work
{eligible} =el´i-gi-ble= to enter
{hear} =hear= the music
{here} =here= they come
{intercept} =in-ter-cept´= the letters
{herb} =herb= for medicinal use
{stationary} =sta´tion-a-ry= engine
{stationery} =sta´tion-er-y= for correspondence
{omitted} =o-mit´ted= the word
{radical} =rad´i-cal= views
{weird} =weird= tales by Poe
{temperature} =tem´per-a-ture= of 90 degrees
{equal} =e´qual= suffrage
LESSON 9
{eighth} =eighth= day of the month
{syllable} =syl´la-ble= of a word
{shepherd} =shep´herd= of the flock
{quotient} =quo´tient= is the result in division
{planned} =planned= a long trip
{niece} =niece= and nephew
{homogeneous} =ho-mo-ge´ne-ous= substances
{governor} =gov´ern-or= of Michigan
{equilateral} =e-qui-lat´er-al= triangle
{attack} =at-tack´= the city
{attacked} =at-tacked´= by the enemy
{across} =a-cross´= the ocean
{crystal} =crys´tal= of quartz
{cylinder} =cyl´in-der= of the engine
{absence} =ab´sence= from school
{diagonal} =di-ag´o-nal= of a square
{miscellaneous} =mis-cel-la´ne-ous= assortment
{interest} =in´ter-est= on the money
{commercial} =com-mer´cial= traveler
{cemetery} =cem´e-ter-y= lots
{mischievous} =mis´chie-vous= puppy
{resources} =re-sour´ces= of the bank
{twelfth} =twelfth= hour
{where} =where= has he gone
{reference} =ref´er-ence= to the book
LESSON 10
{writer} =writ´er= of poetry
{write} =write= clearly
{right} =right= hand side
{rite} =rite= of the church
{prove} =prove= the theorem
{axiom} =ax´i-om= in geometry
{mortgage} =mort´gage= the farm
{dependent} =de-pend´ent= clause
{deceive} =de-ceive´= the enemy
{Caesar} =Cæ´sar= crossed the Rubicon
{benefited} =ben´e-fit-ed= by exercise
{trapezoid} =trap´e-zoid= drawn on the board
{symmetrical} =sym-met´ri-cal= figure
{sincerely} =sin-cere´ly= yours
{rhythm} =rhythm= of music
{source} =source= of the river
{repetition} =rep-e-ti´tion= is monotonous
{religious} =re-lig´ious= services
{promissory} =prom´is-so-ry= notes
{possess} =pos-sess´= the money
{weather} =weath´er= bureau
{persuade} =per-suade´= him to go
{perhaps} =per-haps´= I shall
{oblige} =ob-lige´= me by going
{alcohol} =al´co-hol= lamp
LESSON 11
{sovereign} =sov´er-eign= of England
{sovereignty} =sov´er-eign-ty= of our country
{antecedent} =an-te-ce´dent= of the pronoun
{allotment} =al-lot´ment= of the estate
{allotting} =al-lot´ting= the Indian lands
{treasurer} =treas´ur-er= of the society
{advise} =ad-vise´= him to go
{advice} =ad-vice´= is cheap
{accusative} =ac-cu´sa-tive= case of a noun
{dissolve} =dis-solve´= the partnership
{convenient} =con-ven´ient= place
{experience} =ex-pe´ri-ence= is the best teacher
{infinitive} =in-fin´i-tive= form of a verb
{library} =li´bra-ry= books
{occur} =oc-cur´= to one
{pleasant} =pleas´ant= occupation
{potato} =po-ta´to= salad
{practice} =prac´tice= makes perfect
{procedure} =pro-ce´dure= in court
{proportion} =pro-por´tion= of the money
{sentence} =sen´tence= for life
{supplement} =sup´ple-ment= of an angle
{vacuum} =vac´u-um= cleaner
{secretary} =sec´re-ta-ry= of state
{exaggerate} =ex-ag´ger-ate= the story
LESSON 12
{vegetable} =veg´e-ta-ble= garden
{arc} =arc= of a circle
{ark} =ark= built by Noah
{analyze} =an´a-lyze= the sentence
{different} =dif´fer-ent= sizes
{crystallize} =crys´tal-lize= into snow
{chief} =chief= man of the city
{elimination} =e-lim-i-na´tion= of the unfit
{foreign} =for´eign= countries
{generally} =gen´er-al-ly= known
{guard} =guard= the treasure
{leisure} =lei´sure= moments
{license} =li´cense= to run an automobile
{rhomboid} =rhom´boid= figure in geometry
{tyranny} =tyr´an-ny= of the conqueror
{vertices} =ver´ti-ces= of the triangle
{commission} =com-mis´sion= form of government
{disappointment} =dis-ap-point´ment= is hard to bear
{abbreviate} =ab-bre´vi-ate= the word
{conscious} =con´scious= of her beauty
{color} =col´or= of the flower
{civilization} =civ-i-li-za´tion= of the Greeks
{chlorophyll} =chlo´ro-phyll= of the plant
{character} =char´ac-ter= of the man
{cavalry} =cav´al-ry= regiment
LESSON 13
{belief} =be-lief´= of the Christian
{enemies} =en´e-mies= of the nation
{especially} =es-pe´ci-al-ly= good
{existence} =ex-ist´ence= on earth
{gauge} =gauge= the distance
{honorable} =hon´or-a-ble= man
{lieutenant} =lieu-ten´ant= of the army
{literature} =lit´er-a-ture= and language
{necessity} =ne-ces´si-ty= made him work
{noticeable} =no´tice-a-ble= features
{occupation} =oc-cu-pa´tion= of farming
{Renaissance} =Re-nais-sance´= Period
{specimen} =spec´i-men= of my writing
{successfully} =suc-cess´ful-ly= done
{thorough} =thor´ough= work
{through} =through= the window
{threw} =threw= a stone
{restaurant} =res´tau-rant= in the hotel
{off} =off= the track
{of} =of= good repute
{opportunity} =op-por-tun´i-ty= to play
{liability} =li-a-bil´i-ty= of the company
{liabilities} =li-a-bil´i-ties= to meet
{preceding} =pre-ced´ing= word
{reciprocal} =re-cip´ro-cal= benefits
LESSON 14
{salable} =sal´a-ble= goods
{salary} =sal´a-ry= received for work
{sense} =sense= of hearing
{shining} =shin´ing= star
{succeed} =suc-ceed´= in doing good
{success} =suc-cess´= in the work
{secede} =se-cede´= from the Union
{Fahrenheit} =Fah´ren-heit= thermometer
{address} =ad-dress´= me in Chicago
{college} =col´lege= athletics
{circumstances} =cir´cum-stan-ces= alter cases
{choose} =choose= the best
{Henry} =Hen´ry= VIII of England
{physiology} =phys-i-ol´o-gy= is interesting
{apparent} =ap-par´ent= carelessness
{alligators} =al´li-ga-tors= live in Florida
{divisible} =di-vi´si-ble= numbers
{declension} =de-clen´sion= of the noun
{course} =course= of the river
{coarse} =coarse= and fine salt
{convenience} =con-ven´ience= of electric lights
{clothes} =clothes= do not make the man
{buried} =bur´ied= in the sand
{boundary} =bound´a-ry= line of Texas
{either} =ei´ther= man may go
LESSON 15
{exceed} =ex-ceed´= the speed limit
{know} =know= how to spell
{no} =no= boy should lie
{goddess} =god´dess= of Liberty
{medians} =me´di-ans= of a triangle
{planning} =plan´ning= to build the house
{phosphorus} =phos´phor-us= matches glow
{sufficient} =suf-fi´cient= reason for
{proportional} =pro-por´tion-al= quantities
{recognize} =rec´og-nize= the fact
{simile} =sim´i-le= and metaphor
{sure} =sure= of himself
{transferred} =trans-ferred´= to another wagon
{Tuesday} =Tues´day= is ironing day
{efficiency} =ef-fi´cien-cy= of the machine
{ecstasy} =ec´sta-sy= of delight
{excel} =ex-cel´= in feats of strength
{enemy} =en´e-my= of our country
{crystallization} =crys-tal-li-za´tion= of water
{dropped} =dropped= from a balloon
{criticism} =crit´i-cism= of his work
{conceive} =con-ceive´= of any reason
{capillary} =cap´il-la-ry= attraction
{cancel} =can´cel= the debt
{besiege} =be-siege´= the city
LESSON 16
{zinc} =zinc= is a useful metal
{thoroughly} =thor´ough-ly= aroused
{therefore} =there´fore= he may not go
{rhyme} =rhyme= of the verses
{really} =re´al-ly= fresh eggs
{proprietor} =pro-pri´e-tor= of the hotel
{practical} =prac´ti-cal= application
{positive} =pos´i-tive= of the fact
{juice} =juice= of the fruit
{origin} =or´i-gin= of man
{segment} =seg´ment= of a line
{numerator} =nu´mer-a-tor= of a fraction
{measurement} =meas´ure-ment= of the distance
{integral} =in´te-gral= parts
{exponent} =ex-po´nent= of the number