Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Answer: A

It is passenger.

Two s's and an n that does not belong to the root - the word was passager, and the n crept in as it did in messenger and scavenger.

Answer: D

It is benefited.

One t. The final consonant doubles only when the last syllable is stressed, and benefit is stressed on the first, so it follows offered and profited rather than permitted.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Conscientious

The correct spelling is conscientious, ending -tious rather than -cious. It derives from conscience, and the temptation is to keep the -ce of that word before adding the ending - producing consciencious. English does not: the ce becomes ti, exactly as ambition comes from the same family of Latin forms. It means diligent and guided by conscience, and is not to be confused with conscious, meaning aware, which is a different word with a different ending. The sci in the middle is the other trap, giving the sound sh from letters that suggest nothing of the kind. The same combination appears in conscience, conscious, omniscient and prescient.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Harass

The correct spelling is harass - a single r and a double s. It is the mirror image of embarrass, which has a double r and a double s, and the two are constantly confused with each other. Learning them as a pair is the surest defence: embarrass doubles both, harass doubles only the second. The word came from the French harasser, to tire out, and the single r is preserved from it. The noun is harassment, keeping the same letters, and the participles are harassed and harassing. A further complication is that the word has two accepted pronunciations, one stressing the first syllable and one the second, and neither offers any guidance to the spelling.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Sergeant

The correct spelling is sergeant - ser- at the start, though it is pronounced sar-. The mismatch is historical. The word came from the Old French sergent, from the Latin servientem, one who serves - the same root as serve, servant and service. Holding serve in mind fixes the first syllable against the ear. The er pronounced as ar is a regular feature of older English, and it survives in clerk, pronounced clark in British usage, and in the surname Derby. The middle gea is the second trap: the sequence gives a soft j sound, as it does in pigeon, dungeon, surgeon, bludgeon and gorgeous. Note the corresponding rank lieutenant, which is equally unphonetic and equally often misspelt.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Necessary

The correct spelling is necessary - one c, two ses, and the ending -ary. The standard mnemonic is a shirt: one collar and two sleeves. Another is the sentence never eat cake, eat salmon sandwiches and remain young, whose initials spell the word. It comes from the Latin necessarius, and the single c followed by double s is preserved from it. The ending -ary rather than -ery is a further trap and has no rule behind it, though it may help that the related noun is necessity. Compare stationary meaning motionless with stationery meaning writing materials - a pair distinguished only by that vowel. The adverb keeps everything: necessarily. The negative is unnecessary, which adds a double n at the front and so becomes harder still.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Pronunciation

The correct spelling is pronunciation - there is no o after the n, even though the verb is pronounce. The vowel changes when the noun is formed, and that change is the whole point of the word: one pronounces, but discusses pronunciation. A group of nouns behaves the same way and is worth learning as a set: explain gives explanation, repeat gives repetition, exclaim gives exclamation, maintain gives maintenance, curious gives curiosity, and despair gives desperation. In each the stressed vowel of the verb is reduced or altered in the noun. The reason is historical: the noun forms came into English from Latin stems, while the verbs came through French, and the two sets of vowels developed differently.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Correspondence

The correct spelling is correspondence - a double r and the ending -ence. The double r comes from the Latin prefix com- assimilating before r, the same process that gives correct, corrupt, corroborate and correlate. The ending follows from the adjective: words ending in -ent form nouns in -ence, and those ending in -ant form nouns in -ance. Since it is correspondent, the noun must be correspondence. The same test settles different and difference, independent and independence, against important and importance. There is a real distinction between correspondence, meaning letters or agreement, and correspondents, meaning the people who write them - two words pronounced identically and constantly confused in office writing.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Supersede

The correct spelling is supersede, with an s in the second half - not a c. It is the only English word ending in -sede. The confusion arises because the far commoner ending is -cede: precede, recede, concede, intercede, accede and secede all take it, and by analogy supercede looks right. The reason for the difference is that supersede comes from the Latin sedere, to sit - to supersede is literally to sit above - whereas the -cede words come from cedere, to go or yield. Two different roots, two different spellings. Three further words end in -ceed rather than -cede: proceed, exceed and succeed. Those three, plus supersede, are the entire set of exceptions to -cede, and are worth memorising as such.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Liaison

The correct spelling is liaison - l-i-a-i-s-o-n. It is notorious for the second i, which is almost never pronounced in English and so is regularly left out in writing. The word comes from the French lier, to bind, and the same root gives liable and ligature. It means a communication or working relationship between groups, and in cookery a thickening agent that binds a sauce. The reliable way to remember it is the sequence lia-i-son: two vowels, then the silent i, then son. Related French borrowings that give similar trouble are rendezvous, connoisseur, entrepreneur, questionnaire and reconnaissance - all keeping a French spelling that English pronunciation does not account for.