A student inspired the topic for today’s lesson. She had asked at a recent programme: ‘What’s m doing in ‘unkempt’?’

A funny question? I thought so but I understood her frustration. So, apart from explaining to her that it is not all language rules that cohabit with common sense, I reminded her that there are other words she should similarly watch. We are, as a result, looking at some five common words with some surprising letters. Many wrongly write them because they think the letters have no business being there in the first place.

Unkept?

Truly speaking, based on the meaning of ‘unkempt’, one could think it should simply be ‘unkept’. For instance, when someone’s hair is untidy, why can’t we just write that he looks unkept? As in not well kept. The reality, however, is that ‘m’ is a must in the adjective:

I was angry because the entire house was unkept when I got there. (Wrong)

I was angry because the entire house was unkempt when I got there. (Correct)

Enviroment?

If you fail to readily link ‘environ’ and ‘environment’, you can commit a slip spelling the latter. Some people’s dilemma here gets compounded when they pronounce the term as enVIROment, throwing away the first N sound. Simply put, never leave out the ‘n’ in the middle of ‘environment’:

The minister of the enviroment has resigned. (Wrong)

The minister of the environment has resigned. (Correct)

Note that, ‘the’ is a must in the above context.

Between libry and Febuary

The genesis of the problem in this case is also pronunciation-connected. The first word, remember, is li-bra-ry, not lib-ry. So, there are two r’s in it. Similarly, the second month of the year is February, not FeBUAry:

Let’s meet in the libry. (Wrong)

Let’s meet in the library. (Correct)

Menstration?

The letter that often suffers marginalisation in this word is ‘u’. Neither say nor write mensTRAtion because the correct thing is mensTRUAation. So, apart from ensuring the spelling is correct, watch the way you articulate it.