What other words are like "independence" in British English where you replace the 'a' with an 'e'?
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8You mean when going from French to English? "Independence" is correctly spelled with an "e" in English. – Jon Purdy Oct 09 '10 at 06:43
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9wouldn't it just be easier and faster to check an online dictionary than to ask here? – Epaga Oct 09 '10 at 08:02
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No, I was just wondering if there were different words that were like this in such a situation. – JFW Oct 13 '10 at 15:04
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4Another American chiming in that "independance" is just as incorrect on this side of the pond as it is in England. – Marthaª Nov 01 '10 at 00:04
2 Answers
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I reject your premise that "independance" is the American spelling; it's the French one. Both in British and in American English, "independence" is spelled with an "e". (There's even a federal holiday.)
RegDwigнt
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You're fighting a losing battle. I refer you to this: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3723/descriptivism-and-widespread-misspelling – Seamus Oct 10 '10 at 10:33
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7Not fighting any battles here, simply answering the question. The suffix "-ance" was not invented in the US. – RegDwigнt Oct 10 '10 at 12:45
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Other words:
- definately
- persistance
- compatability
- dependant (depending on context)
- existance
- recommandation
- extant (depending on context)
- tendancy
- avarage
- deterrant
- occurance
- referance
- elimanate
- accessability
- efficiant
- simplar
- promenant
- privilage
- inadvertantly
- turbulance
They are all misspellings (some more common than others), just as independance is. Source.
Peter Mortensen
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