4. Spelling and Punctuation
4.1 Spelling
Some questions have misspelled words. Identifying such words requires a keen focus on each word. You must look out for two kinds of mistakes:
- incorrect spelling (e.g.
psychology not sychology,
commute not comute,
receive not recieve etc.)
- incorrect usage (e.g. advice vs. advise, practice vs. practise, idle vs. ideal etc.)
Some commonly misspelt words are in the
Synonyms and Antonyms and Word Usage lesson. But these are just a few. Pay attention as you are reading, to note that correct spelling of words – make this into a daily habit.
4.1.1 British vs. American spelling
Many words have two spelling variants. As we follow the Queen's English, we should use the British variant. Some examples are:
| British spelling |
American spelling |
| Defence |
Defense |
| Licence |
License |
| Pretence |
Pretense |
| Colour |
Color |
| Flavour |
Flavor |
| Humour |
Humor |
| Labour |
Labor |
| Analyse |
Analyze |
| Criticise |
Criticize |
| Memorise |
Memorize |
| Organise |
Organize |
| Realise |
Realize |
| Jewellery |
Jewelry |
| Cancelled |
Canceled |
| Modelling, modelled |
Modeling, modeled |
| Travelled, traveller, travelling |
Traveled, traveler, traveling |
| Woollen |
Woolen |
| Centre |
Center |
| Metre |
Meter |
| Theatre |
Theater |
| Programme |
Program |
| Analogue |
Analog |
| Dialogue |
Dialog |
| Ageing |
Aging |
| Enquire, enquiry |
Inquire, inquiry |
| Omelette |
Omelet |
| Tyre |
Tire |
| Yoghurt |
Yogurt |
| Aeon |
Eon |
| Anaemia |
Anemia |
| Archaeology |
Archeology |
| Encyclopaedia |
Encyclopedia |
| Leukaemia |
Leukemia |
| Manoeuvre |
Maneuver |
| Oestrogen |
Estrogen |
| Orthopaedic |
Orthopedic |
You may have American spelling in passages or sentences which are taken from US sources.
Example 18
Identify the incorrect sentence from the following.
(1) That was the best piece of advice I have ever received.
(2) The coach was worried that John's personal life would affect his performance on the pitch.
(3) Her brown handbag was a perfect complement to her all white outfit.
(4) Alex Ferguson has paid Mancini a rare complement ahead of the derby against Manchester City.
Solution
Options (1), (2) and (3) are grammatically correct. Option (4) is incorrect because complement (meaning a suitable supplement or pair) is incorrectly used here instead of compliment (meaning a praising or flattering remark).
Hence, option (4) is the answer.
Similarly, the first sentence would have been incorrect if advise had been used instead of advice. “Advice” is a noun (I need your advice), whereas “advise” is a verb meaning to give advice (I need you to advise me).
Answer: (4) Alex Ferguson has paid Mancini a rare complement ahead of the derby against Manchester City.
Example 19
In the question below there are sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar (including spelling, punctuation and logical consistency).
[CAT 2008]
A. In 1849, a poor Bavarian imigrant named Levi Strauss
B. landed in San Francisco, California,
C. at the invitation of his brother-in-law David Stern
D. owner of dry goods business.
E. This dry goods business would later became known as Levi Strauss & Company.
(1) B only
(2) B and C
(3) A and B
(4) A only
(5) A, B and D
Solution
Statement A is incorrect, because immigrant is misspelled.
Statement B is correct.
Statement C is incorrect, because there should be a comma before and after David Stern.
Statement D is also incorrect, because there should be an article each, before owner and before dry goods business. The correct usage is the owner of a dry goods business.
Statement E is incorrect, because of a tense error. The sentence is in future perfect tense, and therefore, the correct usage is this ... business would later become known as or this ... business later became known as.
Answer: (1) B only
Example 20
Identify the correct sentence from the given options :
[IIFT 2019]
(1) When fishing you can always tell when you lose a fish because the line feels loose.
(2) When fishing you can always tell when you loose a fish because the line feels lose.
(3) When fishing you can always tell when you loose a fish because the line feels loose.
(4) When fishing you can always tell when you lose a fish because the line feels lose.
Solution
To lose means to be deprived of something, to not have something any more (e.g. I lost my purse in the crowded bus). It is a verb. Loose is an adjective meaning not held tightly.
Therefore, we would lose fish and the line would be loose. Hence, option (1) is the correct choice.
Answer: (1) When fishing you can always tell when you lose a fish because the line feels loose.
4.2 Punctuation
The basic punctuation marks are covered below.
(1) The full stop or period (.) comes at the end of sentences.
Example: We are heading to the farm tomorrow.
The period is also used as separators for acronyms or short forms.
Example: U.N.O., a.m., Jr. (short for junior).
(2) The question mark (?) comes at the end of interrogatory questions.
Example:
What are you doing?
Can we go now?
(3) The exclamation mark (!) comes at the end of sentences which showcase emotion or emphasis.
Example:
There is a snake in my room!
Yes! We won the World Cup!
(4) The comma (,) acts as a separator.
Example:
We saw some birds, a deer and two elephants.
Junaid, my uncle, lives in London.
(5) The semicolon (;) also acts as a separator. It is usually used to separate two or more clauses.
Example:
Let us go to the library; it'll be really crowded tomorrow.
We are visiting London, England; Paris, France; Madrid, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal.
(6) The colon (:) acts as a separator to introduce or explain something.
Example:
The human element is another issue : farmers and workers usually don’t get a fair wage.
Our new mission statement is: We’re in business to save our home planet.
(7) The hyphen (–) is also used as a separator
Example:
Anand is visiting European countries – England, France and Spain.
A huge majority – 90% of the people surveyed – do not mind being tracked at work.
(8) A dash (-) is used to join two words.
Example: freeze-dried, single-minded, point-of-view.
(9) An apostrophe is used to showcase ownership (possessive case).
Example: Mary's sheep, Mahin's food, Apple's customers.
It can also be used as a shorter form for a word.
Example: wasn't (was not), didn't (did not), it's (it is or it has).
(10) Quotes are used to highlight people speaking.
Example: “I could not believe my eyes,” said Janet.
Other punctuation marks include the
ellipsis (...) which is used omit words (
I counted the stairs, “one, two, three ....” as I went up) and
slash (/) which is used to denote
or (
he/she). Aside from this,
brackets () are used to add extra information, as we have been using in this section. Another use is to showcase nouns which may be singular or plural – paper(s), dog(s), question(s).
Usage of multiple punctuation marks:
A cake has three main ingredients – butter, flour and sugar – but the most important one is the flavouring.
Please hand in your book(s) before you leave the library; you can leave them on the tables.
I heard Anjana saying,“Thank you for coming, Meera.”
I do not like Mumbai for three reasons: firstly, it is crowded; secondly, it is polluted; and thirdly, the monsoons.
Try to read the sentence out aloud, pausing in spaces with commas, and evaluate. However, be careful to choose between an error and something which is good to have.
Another thing to look out for is an apostrophe (') to signify the possessive case (Raven's horse, Junaid's car, Spain's capital). Words ending with an s need only the apostrophe (Jess' house, Officers' Parking etc.). A common error is differentiating between its and it’s.
It is or
it has is shortened to
it’s. On the other hand,
its is the possessive form of
it, the pronoun for things.
Its is similar to my, his, hers, ours etc.
Example:
It's a long way to Rome.
(It is)
It's been a year since we met.
(It has)
It's a good idea.
(It is)
The ship is in
its port.
(the ship's port)
The lion is resting in
its cage in the zoo.
(the lion's cage)
Throw the banana, it's past
its expiration date.
(the banana's expiration date)
Example 21
A few sentences are given continuously below. Identify the best sequence of punctuations among the given options. (The rule of capitalisation at the beginning of sentences has been ignored in the passage given below). The arrows in the option indicate text that would be within the punctuations.
Its easy to be cynical about Chinas moon shot after years of effort and billions dollars in expense, Beijing has managed to boldly go well where America already went 50 years ago. China sent a probe, not an actual person. And yes it was both creepy and shameless that in hailing the moon landing, Wu Weiren, the chief designer of the Lunar Exploration Project, ripped off the famous Neil Armstrong quote, declaring It’s a small step for the rover, but one giant leap for the Chinese nation.
(1) ' --> . --> , --> , --> , --> — --> , --> ' --> “ --> ”
(2) , --> ' --> . --> , --> , --> — --> , --> : --> “ --> ”
(3) ' --> ' --> . --> , --> , --> , --> , --> : --> “ --> ”
(4) ' --> ' --> ; --> . --> , --> : --> , --> — --> “ --> ”
Solution
In this question, we need to identify the places where punctuation marks are missing. This type of question has occurred in the XAT exam earlier. In the first word, we need an apostrophe ('), as the correct word is It's. Note the sentence requires “It is”, as the author is stating that it is easy to be cynical. Its is used as a possessive case (e.g., the cat is eating its food).
Similarly, we need another apostrophe after China, to make the word China's. This helps us to eliminate options (1) and (2) – as neither option has two apostrophes in the beginning.
Its easy to be cynical about Chinas moon shot and After years of effort and billions dollars in expense, Beijing has managed to boldly go well where America already went 50 years ago are both complete sentences. So, we need a full-stop (.) after shot. Alternatively, we can have a semi-colon (;) after shot.
As option (3) has a full-stop and option (4) has a semicolon, let us continue. Note that the use of well in this sentence is standing out. Well must have commas before and after it, as separators. This is because Beijing has managed to boldly go where America already went 50 years ago is logically continuous.
As only option (3) has two commas, this is the correct choice. Let us evaluate the remaining punctuation marks to ensure that we are correct. The next comma will come after yes, as a separator. The comma after that has to follow Project, so that the phrase the chief designer of the Lunar Exploration Project is separated by commas.
The quotes (“ ”) encapsulate Weiren's quote (It’s a small step for the rover, but one giant leap for the Chinese nation), and the colon comes just before the quote (declaring:). No other punctuation marks are required, and therefore, we can select this as the correct choice.
Answer:(3) ' --> ' --> . --> , --> , --> , --> , --> : --> “ --> ”
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