As a copywriter, your main responsibility is to ensure that a publisher, bookseller, or director understands your message. To accomplish this, you’ll need to utilize various writing styles and vocabularies to spell out key words and concepts in an organized manner. Below, you’ll discover the various styles of spelling and how to use them effectively.
The Most Effective Way to Spell:
While it’s a good practice to ensure that your writing is free of spelling errors, there’s more than one correct way to spell a particular word. For example, take a look at the word “writer.” When you are asked to write a report on your summer vacation, you might initially think about using one of the below-mentioned spelling variations:
- wri-ter
- writ-er
- write-er
- writer
- writely
- wri-tee
- write-tee
- write-tee
- writ-er
- word-li
- word-ler
- word-lie
But in several instances, the correct spelling of “writer” is “write-er.” Confused? Don’t be. It’s all about the different forms of the same word. When written this way, the e in “writer” becomes the double e in “write-er.” When you are writing a query letter or a press release, you can use all of the above variations without fear of spelling errors. However, in most cases, it’s a good idea to use the standard form of a word (the one that most people use) when writing.
Learn to Spell
There’s more than one way to correctly spell a word. However, it’s not always the case that the “standard” or “most common” spelling is the one that’s best suited for a particular purpose. In fact, you might find that some words are often spelled incorrectly or occasionally even have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example, take a look at these misspelled words:
- colleague
- contest
- council
- diploma
- loan
- reinstate
- writer
- renegotiation
- initiative
- repo
- expedite
As you can see, the above words are incorrectly spelled, but when used in a certain context, they might have a different, more accurate meaning. In most cases, the context determines the proper spelling of a word, so if you’re unsure of how to spell a word or how it’s normally used, look it up in a dictionary or thesaurus.
Avoid Dictionaries
In case you’re wondering, no, dictionaries do not contain rules about how to spell words or how to use them. In fact, dictionaries are mostly made up of words that are actually used in writing. So, unless you are using a dictionary for reference, avoid them when writing. Instead, use a thesaurus, which is a compendium of words that have a common root or share a meaning but vary in other ways, to find the most suitable synonym for a word you’re unsure of. For instance, instead of looking up the word “writer” in a dictionary, you might use a thesaurus to find synonyms for it, like “storyteller,” “journalist,” “author,” or “broadcaster.”
How to Spell:
While dictionaries do not have a rule for how to spell a particular word, they do have a general rule for how to spell specifically plural words and phrases. In English, when you spell a plural word or phrase ending in “s,” you usually add an “es” to the end of it:
• booksellers (not bookseller)
• concert goers (not concert goer)
• customers (not customer)
If you are not sure if a particular word is pluralizable or not, look it up in a dictionary and see. In most cases, words ending in “s” are indefinite or changeable to plural – for example, “customers,” “customer,” or “customers.”
The key to effective spelling is learning how to deal with each word and each situation that you encounter as you write and publish your copy. If you’re having trouble with a word, look it up in a dictionary or a thesaurus and find the most suitable alternative. Afterward, look up both spellings in your dictionary to verify that you used the correct one.