Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Incorruptible

looked up the -ible/-able thing in Fowler today. There's quite a lot on the subject. A very long article, and I'm happy to report that there are quite a few useful rules governing the usage.

I have one question:

why can't I spell?

When I was in the fifth grade, I was tested at a tenth grade reading level. I started learning about writing, style, grammar, plot and character development, in the early grades in school. I was working and being coached on developing a salable style when I was eight. I've been writing for a living full time since 1999, a good bit of it for an audience of people in government.

In all that, I STILL CAN'T SPELL!

I suppose you've noticed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Had to check, but Merriam Websters accepts both "salable" and "saleable".

Ecgbert said...

Why can't I spell?

So people like me will have a job.

<- Newspaper copy editor for 13 years.