MineralMan's Visual Guide to Commonly Misspelled Words: Issue 6

[MineralMan]

By popular request and because I really need to get some work done, I will be limiting the number of these threads to no more than one per day. Having been threatened with high dudgeon, I can see the riting on the wall. Today's visual guide will be a simple one. I have decided to illustrate the words "capitol," and "capital." This pair of homonyms is frequently confused, so I think it will be a capital idea to remove all mystery from their proper usage.

Here are the previous issues in reverse order
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1481954
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1481631
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1481332
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1480103
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1479832

Capitol

Unless the word you are trying to use represents one of the buildings below, it is not spelled capitol.

This is the United States Capitol. It is always spelled with a capital C.



Here is the Minnesota Capitol, the seat of that state's legislature. Right now, it is closed, due to the obstructionism of Republicans. Buildings housing state legislatures are all capitols. The capitalization of the word is optional.



Below is the Temple of Jupiter, on Capitoline Hill in Rome. It is the original Capitol building.



Capital

All other usages require the use of the word capital. If a legislative building is not involved, it's a capital idea to write capital, instead of Capitol. Some uses of capital may be seen below:




The State Capitals. You will find a Capitol in each capital.



Capital Punishment was done here:

[elocs]

1. How about "principle" and "principal"?

One of the most commonly misspelled words that I see:
"separate".

[MineralMan]

2. My Principal once told me that I needed strong principles

if I was going to be successful, so I'll illustrate those two words in an upcoming issue.

My Principal was also my English teacher, and he said to me once: "There is a rat in separate." He was someone who often imparted great wisdom to his pupils

[Ilsa]

5. Separate has two E's and two A's. Remembering that will help you make par! nt

[MineralMan]

12. Yes, and two salmon can make many parrs.

[elocs]

17. The way I remembered it from grade school is that there is a dad in separate,

a "pa".

[MineralMan]

19. That's a cute one! And if your dad's a rat, it's even easier to

remember. :hide:

[elocs]

21. No, it's how you "rate" him as a "pa". n/t

[elocs]

15. I remember from the Mary Tyler Moore Show: "my principal is my pal".

"Seperate" is how I most often see "separate" misspelled.

[MineralMan]

18. The common misspelling of separate, like many other common

misspellings, can be linked to our use of the "schwa" phoneme for unstressed vowels in our speech. Since its sound is really indeterminate as far as spelling goes, it leads to misplaced vowels in many words. Languages which do not change the pronunciation of stressed and unstressed vowels are much simpler to spell correctly. Spanish is one such language.

And then there is French. "Août" anyone? It's coming next month. French is notoriously difficult to spell from speech.

[Lifelong Protester]

22. Yes, as a principal, I cringe at the principal/principle mix up

I once saw a poster in the hall, put up by the junior high girls, expounding on how they would work on volleyball "principals" this year.

Hmmm, I don't PLAY volleyball, neither does the high school principal, that I know of.

Also, capitol, the building, has an "o", like in "dome". I remind myself of that always.

And, stationery, has an "e", like "letter", so that is how I know that one is not the immovable object.

[Ilsa]

3. Thank you! I'm good with spelling, but sometimes the homonyms get me

if I'm not extra careful. This is an excellent review.

[MineralMan]

4. You're most welcome.

Sometimes, visual cues are a good aid in sorting out homonyms. I'm glad you like these.

[RKP5637]

6. K&R

[hobbit709]

7. My pet peeve is Lightening instead of lightning.

[MineralMan]

9. Lightning has the effect of lightening the sky, but only briefly.

There's a simple mnemonic people can use to tell the difference.

[hunter]

23. That one bit me recently...

:grr:

wikipedia

I often have to decide which looks sillier in a frivolous Lounge post: a misspelling or the red edit text.

Usually I'm happy with whatever spills out. If I wasn't I wouldn't be writing. Whenever I let my Obsessive-Compulsive demons out of their cages I don't get anything done.

[gkhouston]

28. The former happens to pregnant women.

According to fundies, unmarried pregnant ladies are in danger of being struck by the latter. :P

[dipsydoodle]

8. Who's the meanie who's

unreccing ? :(

Come to that : Who's on first base ?

[MineralMan]

10. Who's on whose first base?

If it's the Twins, I'm a fan.

I'm sure any unrec was just a mistaken click. That's the ticket.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Save for when you get to W

:hi:

[RC]

25. There are a few here that resist being enlightened.

They have a problem being right, so to speak.

[Ilsa]

13. I just went through your other links.

Awesome! People shouldn't get put out unless they personally are being corrected, and you aren't doing that. I think we should all strive for excellence in our writing.

One trick I employ for myself if I'm not certain about a contraction is writing the sentence without the contraction, that is, I write out each word. Then I can correct the plural/possessive problems.

Here's another for you: too many writers use the pronoun "I" within the object part of the sentence, especially when there are several pronouns. For example: "The package was delivered to her and I." You wouldn't say, "It was delivered to I." It's as if the word "me" has become unacceptable. I know I haven't explained that one exactly right. I can't remember all the grammatical terms like "gerund" any more, or the details of diagramming.

[MineralMan]

14. I love all the mental tricks we learned in grammar school

and beyond. But, that was the old school method of teaching these things. Educators have "better" ideas now, and so most of those memory shortcuts are no longer offered to today's students. More's the pity.

I learned the same ones you did, along with many, many others. The only odd one was the "I before e, except after c, or when sounded as "a" as in neighbor and weigh." That one's just weird. :rofl:

[octothorpe]

16. Unrecc... Keep your elitist correct spellings to yourself, nazi.

Just kidding. I always end up having to look up the correct usage of those. I do it even when I'm pretty sure I'm right, because I don't trust myself enough.

[CrispyQ]

20. Thanks.

Going to check out previous issues.

k&r

[snooper2]

24. It's "writing" not "riting"

FYI :hi:

[MineralMan]

27. Indeed it is. That's a preview of my next issue, where

I deal with right, rite, wright, and write. More homophones. The error was deliberate. Thanks for noticing.

[snooper2]

29. Don't forget Wright

:P

[socialist_n_TN]

26. WAY too much study of Marx to get those two

mixed up. :)

[ZombieHorde]

30. I love these. Recommended, but I refuse to kick. nt

[Maru Kitteh]

31. Breath and breathe. Dont forget :-) I really do enjoy these. Nice visuals. nt

[Karenina]

32. . .