With English being a second language in Nigeria, its users will have to keep learning, unlearning and relearning aspects of the language. One of such areas of confusion is the wrong use of words in terms of spellings and appropriateness.
While we misspell many words, on the one hand, due to their similarities with other words which are commoner, there are, on the other hand, words that are outright wrong and can be described as fossilised errors.
Fossilised errors are mistakes that learners make often and that have become a habit that is difficult to change. Since words are the building blocks of expressions, this piece will discuss some of such lexical misuses and cite helpful example sentences.
In the first category, there are words that are misspelt due to their similarities with other words. First in this class is “whet” which is often replaced with “wet”. If someone or something whets your appetite for a particular thing, they increase your desire to have it or know about it, especially by giving you an idea of what it is like.
Also, many people erroneously write “roughians” with the assumption that the word stems from being “rough”. Meanwhile, someone who behaves violently and is involved in crime is a “ruffian”. Another lexical confusion is the difference between “portion” and “potion”.
While “portion” means a part of a whole, a “potion” is a drink that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers. We can exemplify this difference by saying that: Even a little portion of a love potion can distort a person’s matrimony.
It should be mentioned that the “o” in “potion” is pronounced like the “o” in “go”, whereas the “o” in “portion” is pronounced like the “a” in law. This distinction is similar to the confusion of spelling “potable” as “portable”. When we talk about water or any other kind of beverage that is clean and safe to drink, the right word to use is “potable”, and the “o” is pronounced like the one in “potion” while the “or” in “portable” is pronounced like the “or” in “portion”. Other pairs of words that must be spelt circumspectly are “this and these”, “other and order”, “its and it’s”, “too and to”, “being and been”. Therefore, we have sentences like:
This boy is diligent, but these girls are indolent.
This table is too heavy to carry.
She has been taught the topic, while he is being taught it.
I will order him to discuss with other people.
It’s true that its tail was severed.
On the other side of lexical confusion are wrong spellings that have become popular among Nigerians. One of such words in this category is “disvirgin”. This spelling does not exist in the English lexicon, hence the standard word is “deflower”. Note that it is “deflower” and not “disflower”.
Another word which is a common spelling born out of comparison with words of similar forms is “emphacy”. Due to common words such as pregnancy, infancy and so on, many people wrongly spell “emphasis” as “emphacy”.
We could also have “maintenance” and “sustenance” wrongly spelt as “maintainance” and “sustainance”, from “maintain” and “sustain”. How about those who might take their cue from the spelling of “knowledge” to write “priviledge”, instead of the correct version “privilege”?
Read also: The car is tokunbo: Slang in Nigerian English
We might also have “pronounciation” and “magnificient” instead of “pronunciation” and “magnificent”. Last but not least in this category is “auxiliary” which is commonly misspelt as “auxillary”.
Meanwhile, it is crucially important that you keep in mind that there are spelling dichotomies in British and American English. For perspective, we have “skilful”, “colour”, “kilogramme” “axe” and “centre” in British English, whereas “skillful”, “color”, “kilogram”, “ax” and “center” are obtainable in American English. As such, and for consistency’s sake, you are expected to adopt one mode of spelling based on preference or established rules in a given environment.
Wrong spellings undeniably mess up writings like stains mess up one’s clothes. It is, therefore, important that we are sure of how words are spelt before using them. Every serious writer must have dictionaries available at all times in the course of their writings and must consult them anytime they are in doubt of the spelling of a word.
I hope this piece serves as an opener to the readership that there are still many words that are misspelt by many second-language users of English in Nigeria.
