Spelling Challenge

It's Fun Friday's Spelling Challenge! And, at the very end of this post are the words that were misspelled in yesterday's Thorough Thursday challenge.

Do you have your sticky note and pen ready? Great! Let's get started! Write down the correct spelling for this week's words. As usual the answers are listed below.

NO PEEKING!


1. athiest
2. bellweather
3. concensus
4. dumbell
5. exhilerate
6. hierachy
7. innoculate
8. liason
9. occurrance
10. pronounciation

BONUS WORD
perogative

Now lets see if you can add to that collection of virtual stars you have!
As you know, If you spell all 10 words correctly
you get a sparkling GOLD star! (Isn't it pretty?)



If you spell the bonus word correctly
you get the prized, very special, much coveted and very beautiful
Crystal Clear Proofing PURPLE star!


For spelling all the words, including the bonus word correctly
you get a GOLD AND a PURPLE star!
(And you ROCK!)



ANSWERS:

1. atheist
2. bellwether
3. consensus
4. dumbbell
5. exhilarate
6. hierarchy
7. inoculate
8. liaison
9. occurrence
10. pronunciation

BONUS WORD:
prerogative



So? How'd you do this week? How many of those stunning stars do you get to add to your collection? To those of you who earned stars...

Here is yesterday's Thorough Thursday post in its entirety, with the errors corrected and highlighted in red.

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Early History

The practice of making extra copies of manuscripts goes back to ancient times; in Rome there were booksellers—Horace mentions the Sosii, who were apparently brothers—and the copying of books by trained slaves reached considerable proportions. With the introduction of printing into Europe in the middle of the 15th century, book publishing sprang into lively existence. The author, the printer, and the publisher of a work were sometimes all the same person, as in the case of members of the Estienne family in France in the 16th cent. The differentiation of printer, publisher, and bookseller appeared early, however, as patrons of literature had books printed for distribution and booksellers had their printing done by others to meet the growing demand.

The Emergence of Publishing Houses

The first important publishing house (1583–1791) was that of the Elzevir family in Holland. The Elzevirs were businessmen rather than scholars, and the business of bookselling grew as literacy increased. Concurrently, printing, publishing, and bookselling spread learning across the West. Religious controversy bred polemics, and arguments printed in broadsides, pamphlets, and books were handed out zealously and bought eagerly by partisans. An interest in knowing the future also increased the amount of literature issued by bookseller-publishers, and almanacs and the like were issued for the wider public.


*******************************************************************************Between the Spelling Challenge and the Thorougness Challenge, you all deserve a little recognition! So let's spread some of that famous Crystal Clear Proofing HAPPY and award everyone for their efforts with the fun, new SMILEY STAR!






And wishing you all a very

Thoroughness Challenge

Thoroughly Thursday is a weekly post consisting of a couple of paragraphs that contain spelling and/or grammatical errors, and your job is to find them. Please do not list the errors you find within the post. The same post will be repeated at the end of Fun Friday's Spelling Challenge, with the errors corrected and highlighted in red.

Note: Names and places will NOT be misspelled, nor will there by any changes to punctuation. In addition, if there is a word that may have more than one accepted form or there is more than one accepted spelling, those also will not be changed. That would not be fair...the purpose of the Challenge is thoroughness, not technicalities.



This week's paragraphs feature a little history on the first books published and the coming of age of the modern-day publishing houses. This excerpt is taken from Fun Trivia, and it contains 14 errors. Good Luck!




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Early History

The practice of making extra copies of manuscripts goes back to ancient times; in Rome there were booksellers—Horace mentions the Sosii, who were apparantly brothers—and the copying of books by trained slaves reached considerable preportions. With the introduction of printing into Europe in the middle of the 15th century, book publshing sprang into lively existance. The author, the printer, and the publisher of a work were sometimes all the same person, as in the case of members of the Estienne family in France in the 16th century. The differentation of printer, publisher, and bookseller appeared early, however, as patrons of litrature had books printed for distribution and booksellers had their printing done by others to meet the growing demand.

The Emergance of Publishing Houses

The first importent publishing house (1583–1791) was that of the Elzevir family in Holland. The Elzevirs were businessmen rather than scholars, and the business of bookselling grew as literacy increased. Concurrantly, printing, publishing, and bookselling spred learning across the West. Religious contraversy bred polemics, and arguments printed in broadsides, pamphlets, and books were handed out zelously and bought eagerly by partesans. An interest in knowing the future also increased the amount of literature issued by bookseller-publishers, and almenacs and the like were issued for the wider public.


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Be sure to check back tomorrow to see how thorough you are!

Wednesday's Weird Word

Wednesday's Word will be a weekly feature wherein I'll introduce a not-very-common and/or not-frequently-used word.


Today's Wednesday's Word is: NAUPATHIA.


NAUPATHIA is a noun, whose meaning is: seasickness.

She made sure she took medication with her on her cruise to help with her naupathia.



Try using naupathia in conversations! Have fun with it! See you back next Wednesday for another new, weird word!




Note: The source for many of the words I'll be featuring can be found at Luciferous Logolepsy. They are so obscure, I was actually unable to find some of them at a couple of common online dictionary references, such as The Free Dictionary.com. This one, however, is listed.

Apostrophe Use With Possessive Nouns

How to use apostrophes with possessive nouns can, at times, be a little tricky. Here are a few tips on how and when to use the apostrophe when forming the possessive of certain nouns:


SINGULAR NOUNS

To form the possessive of a singular noun not ending in an s sound, add an apostrophe plus s to the noun.

Crystal's blog
California's coastline

To form the possessive of a singular noun that ends in an s sound, be guided by the way you pronounce the word.

a. If a new syllable is formed in the pronunciation of the possessive, add an apostrophe plus s.

The boss's approval
St. Louis's airport

b. If the addition of an extra syllable would make a word ending in an s sound awkward or hard to pronounce, add the apostrophe only.

Los Angeles' freeways
For goodness' sake
New Orleans' restaurants
For convenience' sake


PLURAL NOUNS

For a regular plural noun (one that ends in s), add only an apostrophe to form the plural possessive.

Investors' objectives
The witnesses' contradictions
The United States' policy
Attorneys' fees
The agencies' rules


REMEMBER...
Plural nouns that end in s take only an apostrophe, while singular nouns that end in s take an apostrophe plus s, (unless the apostrophe plus s sounds awkward).

The bosses' office - plural
The boss's office - singular
Los Angeles' freeways - singular, but Los Angeles's freeways sounds awkward.


For an irregular plural noun (one that does not end in s), add an apostrophe plus s to form the plural possessive.

Women's coats
Children's toys


A good way to avoid mistakes in forming the possessive of plural nouns, is to form the plural of the noun first, then apply whichever grammar rule above fits:


Singular Noun------------Plural Noun------------------------Plural Possessive
boy----------------------------boys (regular)----------------------boys'
boss--------------------------bosses (regular)------------------bosses'
child--------------------------children (irregular)----------------children's
mother-in-law--------------mothers-in-law (irregular)-------mothers-in-law's



An additional note...
Now to completely confuse you, some constructions can be tricky. For example, the use of back-to-back possessives. Say, for example, you want to refer to the children belonging to two brothers of your father, (i.e., your cousins). The double possessive would be: My father's brothers' children. You could even have a triple possessive with: My father's brothers' children's books. Ouch. Obviously best to stick with your cousins!

Also, a more common problem is the use of a possessive form when ownership is involved. Take the example above of: mothers-in-law's. Obviously we're referring to a possession of two or more mothers-in-law. Rather than, The mothers-in-law's purses, you could opt for: The purses of the mothers-in-law.


ADDENDUM...
I'm including this excerpt, as you will note is also in the reply to Diane's comment. Whether to add just the apostrophe or the apostrophe plus s to possessive nouns, including names, is very controversial; there seems to be no absolute and clear-cut rule:

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, for nouns ending in s: "the possessive of most singular nouns is formed by adding an apostrophe and an s, and the possessive of plural nouns by adding an apostrophe only...this practice is used in conjuction with the way possessive forms are generally pronounced." It goes on to add that, "...feelings on these matters sometimes run high..." thus ending in numerous exceptions and modifications to the general "rule."




Sources: Gregg Reference Manual, CMS, Grammarmudge

American and British English - Words

In American and British English, there are some words and phrases with grammatical differences; one form being preferred in American English and another in British English, some words are spelled differently, and then there are some words which, though they mean the same thing, are completely different words. Below I've listed several common words in both American and British English. You may find yourself writing - or reading - a novel set in England, have a scene in a book with a British character or two, or simply find the following interesting, and maybe a little fun!


American vs. British

apartment = flat
argument = row
baby carriage = pram
backpack = rucksack
band-aid = plaster
bathroom = loo or WC (water closet)
can = tin
checking account = current account
cookie = biscuit
corn = maize
cotton candy = candy floss
cupcake = fairy cake
diaper = nappy
elevator = lift
eraser = rubber
flashlight = torch
fries = chips
gas = petrol
guy = bloke, chap
highway = motorway
hood (car) = bonnet
jello = jelly
jelly = jam
kerosene = paraffin
lawyer = solicitor
license plate = number plate
loose change = slummy
lucky = spawny
mail = post
motor home = caravan
movie theater = cinema
muffler = silencer
napkin = serviette
nothing = nought
overpass = flyover
pacifier = dummy
pants = trousers
parking lot = car park
period = full stop
pharmacist = chemist
police officer = bobby
popsicle - ice lolly
potato chips = crisps
rent = hire
sandwich = butty
sidewalk = pavement
soccer = football
soda, pop - fizzy drink
stuffed animal = cuddly toy
sweater = jumper
trash can = bin or dust bin
truck = lorry
trunk (car) = boot
underwear = smalls
vacation = holiday
vest = waistcoat
windshield (car) = windscreen
zip code = postal code


Mmm...I think for lunch I'll make myself a bitty and have a fizzy drink. And as soon as I finish typing this sentence, you'll notice that I've used a full stop.