Prophesizing or prophesying

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ESL forum > Message board > Prophesizing or prophesying

Prophesizing or prophesying

spinney

Prophesizing or prophesying

I have always used prophesize, prophesized, or prophesizing. My spell checker changed the word to prophesying on a worksheet which was pointed out by my students. Imagine my surprise when I found this. Apparently, I have been saying this wrong all my life. Has anybody been saying it the same way? Are there any other words that have given some of us problems? I�m completely gobsmacked by this one.

5 Feb 2020

cunliffe

I�ve come across this one before, Dale, probably while covering RE classes at school and finding myself saying prophesising. Or it might have been that the RE teacher had written prophesising and I corrected it;-) Must be something going on in English people�s brains there! And I hope you noticed my spelling, you naughty boy.

Lynnee

6 Feb 2020

maryse pey�

Thanks for this great tip Dale !

Have a sunny day !

Maryse.

6 Feb 2020

spinney

I agree, Lynne. I prefer to write it your way but Google won�t have it. It allows it as an alternative spelling with the Z.

Alternative spelling = incorrect!!! I am amazed.

6 Feb 2020

cunliffe

I know, I was just having a laugh! Tbh, I often prefer the American spellings and I definitely prefer the z and it makes better sense as it is a z sound. Let�s go with the flow!

7 Feb 2020

jpinero

English language can be evil sometimes. I did not have the faintest idea of this exception of the alternative spelling!

But, trying to research a little, I suppose it has to do something with the ending -yse of prophesy as a verb. Check here https://www.lexico.com/grammar/ize-ise-or-yse

It is obvious that the English language is full of surprises. On this website https://www.englishgrammar.org/words-ise-ize/ they say capsize is another exception.

Thanks so much, Dale!

9 Feb 2020

spinney

Good to see you are still out there, José. I have always spelt (or spelled, if you prefer) the word capsize that way. The truth is, if you can spell it with "ise" in British English, it is normally, perfectly acceptable to spell it with "ize" also. And the American spelling of "jail" is way better than the British "gaol." Prophezise, though, you could just knock me down with a feather.

9 Feb 2020