In the following sentence, four words have been underlined, out of which one word is MISSPELT. Select the option with the MISSPELT word. In spite of the dilemma that preveiled during the discussion sessions, the committee remained committed to finding an amicable solution to the issue.

Correct — B. The paper prints preveiled. The word is spelt prevailed.

The stem is prevail, and it keeps the -vail of avail, so the vowel pair is ai, not ei. Add -ed and you get prevailed.

The other three underlined words are printed correctly: dilemma, amicable and committee. So option (b) is the misspelt one.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  dilemma — Dilemma is correct as printed — one l, then a double m. The misspelling students are thinking of is dilemna, and it is not what the paper shows.
• (c)
  amicable — Amicable is correct — from Latin amicus, a friend, with a single m and the ending -able. Nothing in the printed word departs from that.
• (d)
  committee — Committee is correct with all three of its doubled pairs: mm, tt and ee. It looks over-doubled, which is exactly why it is offered.

A spelling item hides one wrong word among three right ones, so the work is elimination — prove three correct rather than sense one wrong.

Two families are worth drilling. Doubled consonants (committee, occurrence, embarrassment) and vowel pairs where ai, ei and ie get swapped (prevailed, receive, believe).

Read a long word as a stem plus an ending. Once you see that prevail is a word on its own, preveiled cannot stand.

Key facts

• The correct spelling is prevailed, formed from prevail plus -ed.
• Prevail shares its -vail ending with avail, so the vowel pair is ai.
• Dilemma, amicable and committee are all printed correctly in this sentence.

Common traps

• Marking committee wrong because three doubled pairs look excessive
• Skimming the sentence for sense instead of checking each underlined word letter by letter
• Half-remembering dilemma as dilemna and rejecting the correct spelling

No directly related past PYQ was found.