Argument
The usual
rule when adding the suffix –ment to verbs ending in <e> is that the
<e> is retained; this is what we find in words like placement, movement, achievement. However, argument
differs in dropping the <e>. Because
of this, arguement is a common
misspelling of this word, one which some people think should be accepted as a
valid alternative. The website
arguement.net deliberately adopts the misspelling, defending its choice on the
grounds that misspellings like this are ‘so benign that usually they serve only
as a criticizing point for people who can't argue arguments, but are switching
their focus to these “fundamental” flaws in your character’.
There is
also an emerging view that arguement
is a legitimate alternative in British English, similar to the case of judgement and judgment, where both spellings are acceptable. Urban
Dictionary defines arguement as: ‘The alternate
spelling of the word argument in
British English’. A similar view was
offered on Yahoo answers in a
discussion prompted by a user’s request for the correct spelling of argument, in which one respondent
claimed that argument is American
usage and arguement the correct
British spelling. This answer was
contradicted by the subsequent reply, which identified the correct spelling,
but for the wrong reason: ‘When you add a suffix to a word that has an e at the
end you almost always drop the e’. All
of which goes to show that if you want the correct spelling of a word, it’s
better to look in a dictionary than on the Internet.
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