Common Misspellings Spelling Test - letters g - h

Press the player above and write the spellings you hear. I'll say the spellings quickly then again slowly.

Have you got some paper and a pen ready?

Answers

1. gist ( I only got the gist of what he was saying.)
begins with g-

2. glamorous (Their life is so glamorous)
-mor- in the middle gla/mor/ous
glam/or/ous
glamour (British English) when we add -ous we drop the u glamour + ous = glamorous
It helps if you're American -  the spelling is glamor + ous = glamorous 

3. government (The government has announced plans to raise the minimum wage)
govern + ment = government

4. guard  (She's a security guard)
guard, guarded, guarding, guardian

5. happened (It happened so quickly)
happen - happen + ed = happened, happen + ing = happening,  happens

6. harassing (Stop harassing me!)
harassment one r, two s’s harass, harassing, harassed harassment
to harass is A Real Serious Situation
(Don't get confused with embarrass which has 2 r's)

7. honorary (He's an honorary member)
-nor- in the middle
honour + ary - drop the u when we add -ary

8. humorous (A humorous story)

-mor- in the middle like glamorous, humour + ous = humorous 

In British English, when you add the endings -ous, -ious, -ary, -ation, -ific, -ize, or -ise to a noun that ends in -our, you need to change the -our to -or. For example:

humour - humorous
glamour - glamorous
labour - laborious
vigour - vigorous
honour - honorary

But not in American English because there is no "u" in the first place: glamor, humor, rancor, rigor, vigor, honor

But when you add other endings, the -our spelling stays the same:

colour - colourful
favour - favourite
odour - odourless

American English these are:
color - colorful
favor - favorite,
odor - odorless