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Commonly Mistaken "C" Words

C is for Cookie…

But that doesn’t seem to be good enough for me, at least not when it comes to mistakenly spelling words that begin with C! Sesame Street might have started to get it right, but in this lesson we’ll be covering 5 words, phrases and similar vocabulary that can make you tick.

Use these tips to improve your writing, whether it be for the SAT essay, your own personal use, for TOEFL, or if you’re just beginning to get used to the English language. So let dig in a take a bite out of our mistaken words beyond the chocolate chip cookie!




Cause

CAUSE is used first as a noun to show the something that creates an effect. A cause is a person or condition that gives rise to an action or condition. It can also mean a way in which there is principle to act a certain way. For example this may be in the way of a movement, or something someone is sticking to or committed to. As a verb. cause means to make happen or to start something (as in cause and effect).


Examples

  • The cause of the commotion outside of the store is unidentified at the moment.

  • After reviewing the scans, the doctor said there is no cause for concern.

  • For many people, donating to the Sick Kids Hospital is a very worth-while cause.

  • Did you know that staring into a solar eclipse can actually cause blindness?


Watch out for good is always an adjective (never used to describe actions)well is generally used as an adverb to describe actions but can be used as an adjective to describe your health if you’ve been sick but are now better


‘cause or cuz as these can be used incorrectly. ‘Cause is a slang for because which has transformed and shortened into cuz. Try to leave this out of your vocabulary as it is both unprofessional and confusing.



Colour and Color
Colour is the Canadian way of spelling it as well as in Australia and Britian. It has the meaning of a hue or tone such as blue, green, red, purple etc. Color is how they spell it in the United States.

Check out Oren’s test on American vs. Canadian vs. British Spellings as well as the correspondinglesson

It is important to keep these differentiations clear, especially when applying to schools all around the globe, remember to check your spelling always in accordance to who will be reading your essay or piece of writing.



Can’t, Cannot and Cant
All three of these words tend to get misused and mistaken for one another.

Can’t is a conjunction of can and not. It is used in informal speech to say that you can not do something, or can not make, be, have etc. Can’t is used to show that there is a negative “not” to the sentence. Cannot functions in the same way, however it is much more formal. As in if you must reject an invitation you could say, ” I wish I could attend, but unfortunately I cannot”. Cant originally thought was not a correct word however the dictionary proves otherwise saying that it is a verb meaning to have a skewed or slanted perspective or position of something. A cant is also known in noun form as a slope or inclination on a hill.
Examples

* To a friend: “Sorry Sarah, I can’t come out to play today.”—Informal!

* To a teacher: “Ms. Butler, may I be excused, I cannot run with my injury.”—Formal!

* Cant: There was a steep cant at the top of the hill that was perfect for sledding.


Cent Vs. Sent
These two words often can get confused with one another, it is possible to separate them however based on their meanings.Cent is a way of currency, especially for the United States and Canada. A cent is equivalent to 1 penny, having 100 cents gives you a dollar. Sent is the past tense of the word meaning to send, which is to give something away or have it travel to someone else. They both sound the same when spoken so make sure you write down the correct word for your situation


C Spelling Words

Here are a few C words to look out for, I couldn’t limit it to just a final word so you get a few to work through!

Convince: Meaning to persuade someone of something.

Conceive: Meaning to give of, whether it be of an idea or to create something. This one is tricky because it goes with the rule “I before E except after C”.

Conquer: Meaning to take over, to rule.

Concur: Meaning to understand or to agree with.


Photo References Made Possible with Creative Commons Licensing: AMagill, laffy4k, Mel B., Marco Bellucci, merfam, poplinre

oLahav
  • Authority 711
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oLahav said:

Nice lesson, C is indeed for Cookie!

I had no idea cant is a really word. Interesting…

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  • Posted 3 months ago.
meenakshi1982_verma
  • Authority 96
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meenakshi1982_verma said:

i appreciate for the way the you write and project your lessons

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  • Posted 3 months ago.
roopangi
  • Authority 88
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roopangi said:

Hey that was quite useful….........now i wudnt confuse my spellings of “color” and “colour”.............. Hats off to the way u write ur articles…......

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
Maana
  • Authority 70
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Maana said:

If you could possibly tell me the way to pronounce “cyan”.....(which is a “colour”).....I am unable to make up my mind as to whether to pronounce it with a ‘k’ or with ‘cy’ as in “cycle”.....as u can see….i am badly in need of a lesson in punctuation…..so I’m off….. Thx loadz…

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
ak21shay
  • Authority 27
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ak21shay said:

hey very nice work ….... liked the way u have written this lesson….... but still i have a suggestion to make it more useful ….actually i couldn’t make out how to use concur in a sentence so if u could give more eg. and also the pronunciation of the words then it would be much more beneficial …...thx

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
snigdha_sinha
  • Authority 83
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snigdha_sinha said:

your way of writing is appreciable and interesting.

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
oLahav
  • Authority 711
Post Body
oLahav said in response to:
Maana
Maana’s post:
Citation Body

If you could possibly tell me the way to pronounce “cyan”.....(which is a “colour”).....I am unable to make up my mind as to whether to pronounce it with a ‘k’ or with ‘cy’ as in “cycle”.....as u can see….i am badly in need of a lesson in punctuation…..so I’m off….. Thx loadz…

C is a tricky word. It’s pronounced like a “k” sort of when it precedes a consonant, or one of the vowels “a”, “o”, or “u”. For example, cookie, cat and cup have a hard c sound.

However, it gets a sound that’s more like a strong “s” when it is followed by “e”, “i”, or “y”. For example, celery, civilization, and cycle have a soft c sound.

So for your question, cyan would be pronounced as ci-yan. At least I hope so, pronounciation is not my strong point.

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
oLahav
  • Authority 711
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oLahav said in response to:
ak21shay
ak21shay’s post:
Citation Body

hey very nice work ….... liked the way u have written this lesson….... but still i have a suggestion to make it more useful ….actually i couldn’t make out how to use concur in a sentence so if u could give more eg. and also the pronunciation of the words then it would be much more beneficial …...thx

Using concur in a sentence- I concur with your previous statement, examples and pronounciation are useful when studying languages.

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
mecrazyboy
  • Authority 8
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mecrazyboy said:

good &useful teaching

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  • Posted 2 months ago.
drdipakmehta
  • Authority 15
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drdipakmehta said:

very good work..

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  • Posted 15 days ago.
rohitchikka
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rohitchikka said:

good work..

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  • Posted 5 days ago.
thaarika
  • Authority 44
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thaarika said:

intresting lesson…..

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  • Posted 3 days ago.
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