Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

17
SPELLING
As we have already stated, it is important to
minimise the number of spelling errors. 
Some common spelling errors are particularly to be avoided:
THEIR/THERE/THEY’RE
Mixing up ‘their’ with ‘there’, or vice versa, is a particularly avoidable
error.
Remember that ‘their’ is the possessive adjective:
I went to their house.
It was their special celebration.
This is not to be confused with ‘there’, which is used to show that
something exists or is:
There exists just such a place.
There is no doubt about it.
Or it is used to mean ‘in that place’:
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The office is over there. 
There is the exact spot where it happened.
‘Their’ and ‘there’ are not to be confused with ‘they’re’ which is the
shortened version of ‘they are’:
They’re just appearing in the distance now.
They’re arguing because they misunderstand each other.
WERE/WHERE/WE’RE
Similarly, it makes a bad impression if you mix up the three words
above.
‘Were’ is a part of the verb ‘to be’:
We were out late last night.
The builders were working all day.
‘Where’ is either used as a conjunction (joining word) or an interrogative
pronoun:
I asked where he lived.
Where were you going when this happened?
‘We’re’ is the abbreviated form of ‘we are’: 
We’re about to leave.
We’re over the moon about this.
Here is a list of words that you should know how to spell correctly
146
H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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because you will use them quite often in your essays:
Absence, absolute, abstract, academic, acceptance, accidentally,
accommodation, accordance, accumulation, achievement,
acknowledge, acquire, advertisement, affect, alcohol, allege,
alliance, alliteration, ally, almost, already, altogether, always,
ambiguous, ambivalent, analogy, analysis, ancestors, animal,
answer, apparatus, apparently, appearance, appropriate, argument,
article, assembly, associated, assonance, assume, assumption,
attitude, authority
bankruptcy, barrier, basically, beautiful, because, beginning,
behaviour, beliefs, believe, benefit, benefited, between, bias,
biological, building, business
campaign, capable, capital, career, catalogue, century, chaos,
character, childhood, chronic, chronicle, chronological,
collaborate, college, commentary, commission, committee,
comparatively, comparison, competent, completely, complement,
complimentary, condemn, conflict, conclusion, conscience,
conscientious, conscious, consensus, consistent, conspiracy,
contemporary, context, contextual, continually, contradictory,
corporation, courageous, credibility, criteria (plural), criterion
(singular), critical, criticism, cynicism
data, debate, deceit, decision, defence, definite, description,
desperate, desperately, detached, deterioration, developed,
dialogue, difference, dilemma, disappearance, disastrous,
discipline, discussion, disillusioned, dispute, dissolve, division, duel
ecological, ecstasy, effort, eighth, electricity, elusive,
embarrassment, endeavour, environment, equivalent, essential,
evaluation, evidence, exaggerate, examination, exceed, except,
exceptionally, exchange, excitement, exempt, exercise, exhibition,
existence, expedition, expense, experience, expertise, explanation,
extraordinary, extremely
factors, factually, family, favourite, feasible, feud, financial,
followed, foreign, fortunately, fulfil, fulfilment
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17 – S
PELLING

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gauge, generalisation, global, globalisation, government, gradually,
grammar, grotesque, guarantee, guard, guilty
height, heir, heroes, historical, honesty, honour, honourable,
humorous, humour, hypocrisy, hypothetical
identical, identify, identity, illegible, illogical, illusion, illustrate,
imagination, immediately, imminent, impossible, incidentally,
incontrovertible, independence, indigenous, infinite, ingenious,
initial, innate, install, instalment, intellectual, intelligence,
intention, interested, international, interpretation, intrigue,
invention, irrelevant, island, issue
judgement (also judgment)
knowledge, knowledgeable (also knowledgable)
laboratory, language, lawyer, league, lecture, legislation, leisure,
liaison, library, lieutenant, likelihood, literature, logical
maintenance, majority, management, manoeuvre, manufacture,
marriage, materially, mechanically, medicine, menial, metaphor,
miniature, miscellaneous
naturally, necessary, negate, negation, negative, negligent,
negotiate, neutral, neutrality, nullify, numerous
obstacle, obviously, occasionally, occurred, occurrence, omission,
opportunity, ordinarily
parallel, perception, periodically, phase, philosophy, physically,
population, possessions, practically, practice (noun), practise
(verb), prejudice, preparation, pressure, preponderance, prevalent,
principal, principle, privilege, probably, procedure, proceed,
procession, produce, professional, profit, programme, program
(computer context only), progression, prohibit, pronounce,
propaganda, prophet, proportion, proposition, protection,
psychology, pursue
quality, quantity, query, queue, quiet, quite, quota
reality, receipt, reception, recipe, recommend, reference, referred,
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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regional, religious, repetition, reputation, resistance, responsibility,
rhyme, rhythm
satellite, scarcely, schedule, scheme, scholar, science, secretary,
selection, separate, shareholders, similarly, simile, situation,
source, statistics, special, subtle, succeed, successful, sufficient,
suggestion, surprising, suspicious, system, systematic
technical, technique, temperature, temporary, tendency, thorough,
threshold, tolerance, tragedy, triumph, truly, typical, tyranny
unbelievable, uncontrolled, unconventional, undeniable,
underdeveloped, underrate, undoubtedly, unnecessary, unparalleled,
unusual, usually
vague, valid, validation, valuable, valuation, vanguard, variable,
variance, vehement, vision
weather, weird, whether, wilful, withhold