Spelled or Spelt?

The verb spell commonly means to write or name the letters making up a word in the right order. Spell is a verb with irregular and regular forms. Spelled and spelt are both common forms of the past tense and the past participle of spell, though with geographical differences.

Learn more about the details of this difference, as well as additional uses for spelt, below.

Spelled or Spelt—Which Is Correct?

An obvious place to start is the dictionary. You will find a few definitions for the verb spell. It can mean “to signify” or “to explain explicitly.” The definition in question is the one that deals with naming, writing, or signing the letters of a word in order. Searching spelled and spelt will yield invaluable information: both of these variants are used as the past tense of the verb to spell. Is this one of those British English versus American English spelling differences?

It’s true; the American English past tense form is spelled. In other varieties of English, both spelled and spelt are common. So, if you’re in the United States, you would probably write it like this:

The past tense of the verb “spell” can be spelled in two ways.

If you’re anywhere else, you might also write it like that, but you can also do it like this:

The past tense of the verb “spell” can be spelt in two ways.

Spelled in Phrases

Where you live dictates which form you use for the past tense of the verb spell. But remember, spell has other definitions besides the most common one, and it’s frequently used idiomatically to say that something “spells doom,” “spells trouble,” or “spells ruin.” It’s not the happiest bunch of expressions, but they can be useful. When it comes to using them, spelled may be the preferred choice throughout the world.

Similarly, spelt can be used in different ways. Namely, spelt is a particular kind of hulled wheat.

Spelled and Spelt—Examples

Considering local custom when choosing spelled or spelt can help you to get your point across without unnecessary distraction. In the United States, stick with spelled. Elsewhere, spelt is an acceptable option. Here are some examples from publications from different English-speaking countries:

Spare a thought for Katerina Johnson-Thompson, who when competing at the highest level of her respected field found her name spelt wrong on her official Rio 2016 racing bib.

—The Independent

The US sub-prime mortgage crisis that spelled ruin for thousands and left many homeless is not exactly a catchy subject for a Hollywood movie.

—The Daily Mail

The other remarkable aspect of Cotter’s life was his friendship with an aboriginal leader named Onyong, spelt in various ways.

—The Sydney Morning Herald

The “FeeJee Mermaid” (sometimes it’s spelled “Fiji Mermaid”), an amalgam of papier-mâché, fish and possibly monkey parts, and wood, is one of many artifacts…

—The Boston Globe

The title of Frank Ocean’s excellent and bizarre new release is spelled different ways in different official locations.

—The Atlantic

The 5 Most Famous Limericks and Their Histories

Edward Lear’s first influential limerick collection, A Book of Nonsense, hit bookstore shelves nearly 200 years ago. Lear didn’t invent the limerick, however; the snappy five-line poems probably sprang to life on the streets and in the taverns of 14th century Britain. Over time, people from all walks of life — children, scholars, drunks, beggars — have delighted in the witty limerick. Here’s a brief history of five of the world’s best-loved limericks.

Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock showed up in ”

“Hickory dickory dock.

The mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck one,

And down he run.

Hickory dickory dock.”

The Man from Nantucket

The Man from Nantucket serves as inspiration for limericks both dirty and pure. Perhaps you’ve even heard a “Rated X” ending to this story-starter. However, the original Nantucket limerick was quite tame. It appeared in Princeton University’s humor magazine, the ”

“There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all his cash in a bucket.

But his daughter, named Nan,

Ran away with a man,

And as for the bucket, Nantucket.”

Speaking of Geography . . .

Princeton wasn’t the only publisher of geographically themed limericks. Lear chose Peru as his muse at least once, as shown by the following:

“There was an Old Man of Peru

Who watched his wife making a stew.

But once, by mistake,

In a stove she did bake

That unfortunate Man of Peru.”

Lear’s story of the unlucky Peru gent blazed a path for hundreds of amateur Peru poems to come, many of which are less than chaste. Middle schoolers excel at crafting this kind of literature, from what we hear. Perhaps a Peru limerick or two lingers in your own adolescent memory.

Shakespearean Limerick

Even William Shakespeare practiced what some would call the lowest form of poetry. The following limerick about imbibing spirits appeared in “Othello, Act II, Scene III”:

“And let me the canakin clink, clink.

And let me the canakin clink.

A soldier’s a man.

A life’s but a span.

Why, then, let a soldier drink.”

The Bard also used limericks in “King Lear” and “The Tempest.”

Ogden Nash

Poet Ogden Nash coined the phrase, “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” Some limerick fans insist he wrote the following limerick about a pelican:

“A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill can hold more than his beli-can.

He can take in his beak

Food enough for a week

But I’m damned if I see how the heli-can.”

This clever verse has also been attributed to Dixon Lanier Merritt, a humorist who lived at the same time. Nash died in 1971 and Merritt in 1972.

Crafting a Limerick

Limericks are “closed form” poems that adhere to a strict template. Want to write your own? Follow these guidelines:

• The last word in lines 1, 2, and 5 must rhyme and contain 8-9 syllables each.

• The last word in lines 3 and 4 must rhyme and contain 5-6 syllables each.

Of course, what fun are rules unless they’re broken — or at least bent — every once in a while? Consider this limerick by Zach Weiner of the comic “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal,” which coherently flows both backward and forward:

“This limerick goes in reverse

Unless I’m remiss

The neat thing is this:

If you start from the bottom-most verse

This limerick’s not any worse.”

Now we challenge you to write your own limerick. It’s fast, easy, and incredibly satisfying. What will yours be about?

10 Words That English Needs

A young man named John Koenig was trying to write poems. However, some emotions seemed difficult to express in words. He had the idea of creating words for these previously unnamed feelings in a dictionary. Thus, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows was born. He began a website and a web series on Youtube that introduced his words to the world. Now, people everywhere can contribute to the dictionary.

Ten of The Coolest Words

The dictionary has over a hundred entries. Here are ten of the most intriguing invented words. To which of them do you relate the most?

Lachesism is the desire to experience disaster—a hurricane, a plane crash, a shipwreck, etc.—in order to disturb the smooth and predictable path of your life and “forge it into something hardened and flexible and sharp.”

Exulansis is the inclination to avoid relating an experience until the memory begins to feel foreign to you.

Avenoir is the wish that memory could flow backward. The image conjured is of a rower facing backward in order to see the path that he is leaving. So much in life now is anticipation for the future. What if we could anticipate the past?

Altschmerz expresses the weariness you feel with the same old imperfections and worries. After “gnawing” them so long, they become “soggy and tasteless and inert.” Are you so tired of your flaws that you would welcome a fresh issue? You have experienced altschmerz.

Occhiolism is the acknowledgment that your perspective is truly limited, so much so that you can’t make any real conclusions about anything.

Liberosis is the desire to care less. If you worry about strangers crossing the street, whether the postman will bring the mail on time, and if you will still have all your favorite things in five years, you might wish for liberosis.

Vellichor is the odd melancholy and longing of secondhand bookstores. Aren’t they “somehow infused with the passage of time”? Think about it; all the characters whose stories you’ll never read in your lifetime. What thoughts captured will never be set free from their paper prisons?

Rückkehrunruhe describes how you feel after a long journey. The memories are so fresh, but already they are starting to recede as your everyday life rushes in to reclaim you.

Gnossienne is the flash of awareness that you really don’t know the people that you thought you knew best. Your spouse, your friends, your family members have a mysterious side of them that you will never fully discover. It’s like “a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you’ve never fully explored…”

Anecdoche occurs when everyone talks but nobody listens. Each speaker contributes, but none of the pieces add up to anything. Eventually, there’s nothing left to say and anecdoche is over.

Can you relate to these obscure sorrows? Have you experienced your own unique emotions? You need not leave these sentiments unexpressed. If there is no word, invent one and submit it to John Koenig’s website. For those who long to see a book version rather than read about these feelings online, a book version is scheduled to be released in 2017. Wait a minute; is there a word for yearning for the texture of paper in your fingers in these increasingly paperless times?

Does spelling accuracy influence your opinion?

This poll is part of a series that Grammarly is running aimed at better understanding how the public feels about writing, language learning, and grammar.

Please take the poll and share your thoughts in the comments. We can’t wait to hear from you!

If you are interested in more, check out last week’s poll.

Dragged or Drug—Which Is Correct?

The recognized and correct past tense form of the verb drag is dragged. Drug can still sometimes be heard, but only in certain dialects within the United States.

Sometimes, a group of people have a way of speaking that’s particular to them. It can be a phrase they’ve coined. It can be a bending of the generally accepted linguistic norms. It can be pronunciation, spelling, or grammar misinterpretations. And the criteria for membership to the group can differ as well—a group can be made up of people who were educated at the same institution. It can be made up of people who live in a single geographic region. It can be made up of people who share common ancestry, or political ideas, or social class—it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s a group and there’s a noticeable difference in the way they use language, we call it a “dialect.” Dialectical differences might be broad tendencies, like pronunciation, or specific quirks, like using drug as the past tense of the verb drag.

How to Use Drag and Past Tense of Drag

For the majority of English-speakers, drag is a regular verb used in a couple of different ways, but always having to do with movement. So we can say we drag ourselves home after work, we drag our dogs to the vet, or we drag our tables across the floor, but we can also drag a field or drag as in drag race.

Being a regular verb, the past participle of drag is made by adding the suffix -ed and doubling the g at the end of the infinitive. If you do all that, you get dragged, which is the widely accepted past tense of the verb drag. It’s also the verb’s past participle.

Where Does Drug Come From?

Drug is used in some American dialects as the past participle or past tense of the verb drag. It’s not one of those things where British English and American English differ—dragged is still the recognized past participle of the verb drag in the US. But, especially in some southern parts of the country, drag is sometimes treated as an irregular verb, and that’s where we get drug.

Which Form Should You Use?

Dragged is always the safer bet. If you live in or are passing through a town and you hear a lot of people saying drug, you can switch to it if you like. But all in all, drag is a regular verb, and there’s no need to complicate it.

Examples of Dragged

Two pilots were dragged out of the cockpit and arrested moments before their plane was set to take off over fears they were drunk. —NEWS.com.au

This is the extraordinary moment a passenger was dragged along a station platform after getting her hand stuck in a train door. —The Daily Mail

Terrified tourists in China were dragged screaming across a dizzying glass walkway—suspended hundreds of feet in the air over a canyon. —The Daily Mirror

Examples of Drug

She refused to exit the vehicle and was drug out of the vehicle. —Merrill Foto News

She wasn’t carried out of the house. She was drug out of the house. —Rapid City Journal

To that extent, Networx was handicapped out of the gate when the licensing process was drug out over 18 months by telecoms like Time Warner, which wanted to prevent Memphis from obtaining a competitive edge in the industry. —Memphis Flyer

This Week in Writing, 9/5-9/11

Do you ever worry that one day someone will invent a robot that puts you out of a job? If you happen to be a choose-your-own adventure novelist, that worry just might have become a little bit more real. Check out that story and a few other highlights from around the web this week. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

Our Favorite Stories:

1. Georgia Tech’s AI Is a Choose-Your-Own Adventure Author (Engadget)
2. The Most Popular Books in U.S. Public Libraries, Mapped by City (Quartz)
3. How Corporate America Killed My Writing (The Washington Post)
4. Celebrate International Literacy Day (Grammarly)

 

Staff Book Picks of the Week:

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (Fiction) Salman Rushdie

“From Salman Rushdie, one of the great writers of our time, comes a spellbinding work of fiction that blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story. A lush, richly layered novel in which our world has been plunged into an age of unreason, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights is a breathtaking achievement and an enduring testament to the power of storytelling.”

Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity–What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves (Nonfiction) Christian Rudder

“Our personal data has been used to spy on us, hire and fire us, and sell us stuff we don’t need. In Dataclysm, Christian Rudder uses it to show us who we truly are.”

 

Author & Illustrator Birthdays

Robert Persig – September 6, 1928

Eric Hill – September 7, 1927

Alexandra Day – September 7, 1941

Alison Bechdel – September 10, 1960

O. Henry – September 11, 1862

 

7 Truly Horrifying Grammar Rules

Places with strict and unforgiving rules make great settings for spooky stories. Think about all the books and movies set against the backdrop of a strict school, a rigid convent, or an oppressive family home. The unyielding rules contribute to an atmosphere that invites creepiness. The same is true for grammar—when rules are enforced arbitrarily, sometimes horror ensues. Especially when it’s Halloween and the moon is full.

1 The Initial Conjunction Oh, the repression that is being unable to start a sentence with “and,” “but,” or “so”! Of the many horrifying rules that don’t make sense, this one takes the cake. You don’t have to be afraid of starting a sentence with a conjunction as long as it makes sense and you don’t start every sentence with one. 2 The Terminal Preposition All things must come to an end. But when your sentence comes to an end, and it just so happens to end with a preposition, do you have to rearrange it? Would you craft one jack-o’-lantern after another because somehow their eyes always seem too big? Well, maybe you would, but with sentences, it’s perfectly okay to leave the terminal preposition be. In fact, sometimes you don’t have a choice, as the alternative would be much worse.

3 The Plural Apostrophe That Should Not Be There’s nothing inherently scary about acronyms and initialisms. There aren’t any in particular associated with Halloween. But let’s say that you prefer watching TV to reading a book on Halloween and that you’re using a DVR to record that scary movie marathon. If you had more than one TV and DVR, how would you write the plural? You’d just add an s, giving you TVs and DVRs. That’s the favored practice these days, but not so long ago some styles guides did advise using an apostrophe to pluralize acronyms. In fact, The New York Times still does it, but only when the abbreviation contains periods (M.D.’s.) or when pluralizing a single letter (dot the i’s and cross the t’s).

4 Who Is It? It Is I! Here’s a quick test to help you make sure the person knocking at your door is not something scary disguised as a person: when they knock and you ask who it is, if they say “it is I,” they are either a nineteenth-century monster or a relentless grammar pedant. While the use of “I” instead of “me” in this case is technically grammatically sound, using “me” is so much more common that saying “it is I” sounds awkward and unnatural.

5 The Generic “He” Scary monsters don’t have to be male. Sure, Dracula is, and werewolves often are, but there are also bad witches and all kinds of monsters you can’t refer to as “he.” It was once standard to use “he” as a generic pronoun for people and monsters of unspecified gender. We’ve moved on from those times, however, and we’ve adopted “he or she” or “they” as the generic pronouns.

6 To Whom It May Concern… Some things just refuse to accept that it’s their time to go. Like zombies, ghosts, and vampires, “whom” likes to come out from time to time and wreak havoc on unsuspecting victims who think there’s nothing wrong with saying “to who.” And there was a time when “whom” was the only correct form to use when referring to the object of a verb. However, using “who” has become so widespread that “whom” may be on its way out.

7 No Splitting When Infinitives Are Involved While splitting your group of friends might be helpful if you want to cover more Halloween parties, splitting an infinitive will do you no good. At least, that’s what some misinformed pedants would say. In practice, however, splitting an infinitive is sometimes the better-sounding choice, and it often makes more sense. So don’t be afraid to split—a rule to live by when it comes to both infinitives and scary noises in the middle of the night.