In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. In this series of spelling tips we will be looking at some of the most commonly misspelled words in English and suggesting ways to improve your spelling.
People searching for the noun and verb attempt in Macmillan Dictionary often miss off the third ‘t’ and search for *attemp instead.
This is probably due to the fact that in speech, that final ‘t’ is often not fully pronounced or heard, especially if followed by the preposition ‘to’ as it often is (try saying ‘attempt to’ to see what I mean).
Attempt is a frequent word, one of the three-star words in Macmillan Dictionary, so it’s important to spell it correctly. The best way to remember the final ‘t’ is probably to think of the inflections attempted or attempting where the ‘t’ is clearly heard.
You can find some information on why English spelling is so difficult, as well as helpful tips on mastering it here. You can search for other posts in this series using the tag ‘spelling tips’.
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