Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: D
It is laboratory.
From the Latin laborare, to work - a place for working. There is no u, and the a before the -tory is easily lost in speech.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: A
It is immediately.
Two m's, from the Latin in- assimilating before medius, middle: with nothing in the middle, hence at once. The full adjective immediate keeps its e before -ly.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: A
It is admissible.
One d, two s's, and -ible rather than -able. Words from Latin verbs of the third and fourth conjugations, like mittere, generally take -ible.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: D
It is octennial.
Two n's, from the Latin octo and annus - happening every eight years. The doubled n comes from annus, as in biennial and centennial.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: C
It is lagoon.
One g, double o, from the Italian laguna - the shallow water enclosed behind a bar or reef.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: D
It is zigzagged.
The g doubles before -ed because zigzag ends in a stressed syllable with a single vowel and a single consonant - the same rule that gives stopped and permitted.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: B
It is idealism.
Built on ideal, which keeps the whole of idea before adding -l. The e is what most misspellings drop.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: B
It is pusillanimous.
One l, from the Latin pusillus animus, small-souled - the exact opposite of magnanimous.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: D
It is foreign.
The silent g comes from the Latin foris, out of doors, by way of Old French forain; the g was added later on a false analogy with reign and sovereign.
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Find the correctly spelt word:
Answer: B
It is archaeology.
From the Greek archaios, ancient - the ae before the o is what most misspellings lose. Americans write archeology.
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