Spelling Test Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Perseverance

The correct spelling is perseverance - ending in -ance, and with no second r after perse-. Two errors are common. The first is writing -ence, by analogy with persistence and patience; the second is inserting an extra r to give perserverance, which the ear supplies because the word already contains two r sounds. It comes from the Latin perseverare, to persist, built on severus - the same root as severe, which is a useful check: the middle of the word is severe with its final e dropped. The verb is persevere, and it takes the preposition in or with: he persevered in his efforts. The -ance against -ence choice has no rule behind it and must be learned word by word.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Guarantee

The correct spelling is guarantee - gua- at the start, and -tee at the end. The commonest error is transposing the first two vowels to give gaurantee, because the u is silent and offers the ear no help. Holding the word guard in mind fixes it: both begin gua-, as do guardian, guardianship and guarantor. The gu- spelling before a is a French inheritance, used to keep the g hard; the same device appears in guest, guess, guitar, guild and guide. A related word worth distinguishing is warranty, which is the same word in origin - French garantie against Norman warantie - but which entered English by a different route and is spelt entirely differently.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Committee

The correct spelling is committee - a double m, a double t and a double e. Three doubled letters in one short word make it one of the most frequently misspelt in official English. The doubling of the t follows the ordinary rule: commit ends in a stressed syllable with a single vowel and a single consonant, so the consonant doubles before a suffix beginning with a vowel - hence committed, committing and committee. The double m comes from the Latin prefix com- assimilating before the m of mittere, to send. Note the contrast with commitment, which has only one t, because the suffix -ment begins with a consonant and the doubling rule does not apply. That pair - committee against commitment - is a favourite of examiners.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Exhilarate

The correct spelling is exhilarate - an a in the middle, a silent h after the ex, and a single l. The silent h is the feature most often dropped, since nothing in the pronunciation calls for it. It appears in a small group of words where the Latin prefix ex- meets an h: exhaust, exhibit, exhort and exhume. In all of them the h is written but not sounded. The word comes from the Latin hilaris, cheerful - the same root as hilarious and hilarity, which supplies both the a and the single l. The noun is exhilaration, keeping every letter. Note the contrast with accelerate and tolerate, which take -erate; this one does not.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Bourgeois

The correct spelling is bourgeois - keeping the French ou, ge and the final silent s. It is French, from bourg, a town, so a bourgeois was originally a townsman as distinct from a peasant or a noble. The same root gives the English place-name element -burgh and the word burgess. The form bourgeoise offered here is not a misspelling in itself but the feminine of the adjective, so it is wrong in a question asking for the standard form. The abstract noun is bourgeoisie, meaning the class as a whole, with a further ie at the end. The geo sequence gives a soft zh sound characteristic of French borrowings, as in rouge, garage and prestige. The word carries a strong sense in Marxist writing, where it names the capital-owning class opposed to the proletariat.

Answer: D

The error is in "righteceous cause". The correct spelling is righteous, with no c before eous. "The press" and "afraid of" are correctly spelled, and supporting is also spelled correctly. So the option containing the spelling error is the last one. In the spelling righteous, the letters are r-i-g-h-t-e-o-u-s, with no extra c between the t and the e. The printed word has this extra letter, so the option containing it has the spelling error, and the other options are correctly spelled English words.

Answer: A

The correct spelling is Argument, option (A). The other forms, Arguement, Aregument and Argumant, are wrong. A common slip is to keep the e of the verb argue before the suffix, as in arguement, but the final e of argue is dropped when the suffix ment is added, so the noun is spelt argument. The same rule applies to a few other words such as judgment in some spellings, which also drop the e before the ending, and it is a regular point in spelling tests.

Answer: D

Only the fourth sentence has no spelling error: 'turmeric', 'ingredient', 'supplement' and 'side effects' are all spelt correctly. The first sentence has 'suplement' and 'side affects'. The second has 'turmerric' and 'suppliment'. The third has 'turrmeric', 'ingredeint' and 'side affects'. Each of those three contains at least one misspelling. A quick way to see this is that the spelling pairs effect and affect, and supplement and suplement, are the points on which the other three sentences go wrong.

Answer: B

The correct spelling is Manageable.

The word is manage plus the suffix -able. Normally a final silent e is dropped before a suffix starting with a vowel, but after a soft g (or soft c) the e is kept, so that the g stays soft, as in changeable, knowledgeable and noticeable.

'Managable' drops the e that keeps the g soft. 'Mangaeble' transposes letters, and 'Managible' uses the wrong suffix vowel as well as dropping the e.

Answer: C

The misspelled word is rediculous; the correct spelling is ridiculous.

The word comes from the Latin ridiculus, from ridere, to laugh, which is why it begins ri-, as in ridicule. The mistake 're-' comes from the way the first vowel is often pronounced.

The other three are correct. Diphtheria keeps its silent-looking ph after the d. Grandeur ends in -eur, as in amateur. License is the American spelling of the noun and the standard spelling of the verb in British English (the British noun is licence), so it is not a misspelling.