Spellings Part 14 – Some Tricky Ones

Below are another ten spellings I’ve looked up to make sure that I’m getting them right according to the style guide I try to base my work on (the New Oxford Style Manual). As you will see, the spellchecker in Microsoft Word doesn’t agree with Oxford a lot of the time, which, in my opinion, is another reason why it’s so important to have a clear idea of the style guide you want to follow (you might like to read this post I wrote on the subject).

1. St. = street usually this wouldn’t have a full point at the end of it as it’s a contraction (an abbreviation ending with the last letter of the word and with the middle part omitted), but it has one to differentiate it from:

2. St = saint, which is also a contraction.

3. man-hour

4. lengthways and widthways

5. plug-in = hyphenated as a verb and a noun. My 2013 version of Word accepts this as one word.

6. life cycle = two words. Again, my 2013 version of Word accepts this as one word.

7. lifestyle is one word, however. It does make me wonder whether there is any rhyme and reason to decisions to separate, hyphenate and combine words.

8. non-profit = hyphenated according to Oxford, but my 2013 version of Word accepts this as one word.

9. start-up = hyphenated as a noun (two words if a verb). Despite the Internet (yes, with a capital letter, see a previous bite-sized post for a discussion on this) being literally flooded with startups, it’s still not reached an unhyphenated status yet according to either Oxford or the Word spellchecker.

10. home-made = hyphenated. Again, the Microsoft Word spellchecker allows homemade.

Bite-sized Tips No. 17: Spellings Part 13 – Some that might trip you up

Bite-sized Tips No. 19: Spellings Part 15 – Another Ten

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