Double consonants or single consonants?
We are continuing here with problems in the body of a word. How, for example, does one spell a word like embarrass? How does one know, if at ell, that there are two ‘r’s in it? The fact is that there is no simple way of inferring what is correct. There comes a point at which you have to know these things or run a spell-check (or risk getting it wrong). Time and time again; there is no clear way of knowing whether we require a double or a single letter for a consonantal sound. we are going to provide... Read more...
Posts Tagged ‘correctness’
Style starts with being aware of your reader. This is why we have stressed the importance of presenting your ideas in an orderly way in an essay, and why you should always be striving for correctness. You should never be prepared to tolerate sloppiness or laziness in the composition of your work. Every essay you write is the equivalent of a job interview. It is a performance where you have to put on your best clothes, if only for the day, and behave in a way that is designed to impress. You want to be seen at your best. Just as turning up in your most comfortable old clothes for a job interview would be inappropriate behavior, certain fussiness over making sure that sentences are well constructed and well presented is essential in an essay. In this way you will ensure that your writing fits in with the pattern of standard English, the norm in education, business and the professions. Your reader expects to be able to understand what you write, and also expects that you will be trying to communicate efficiently. None of these points, however, should be worrying, for, as we have stressed throughout, there are a very small number of rul... Read more...