Select the INCORRECTLY spelt word

Correct — A. The word is spelt tangible: t-a-n-g-i-b-l-e. The printed form inserts an extra a and gives -giable.

Rule: English writes this ending -gible, not -giable. Compare legible, eligible, negligible, incorrigible — the i of -ible is what keeps the g soft.

Terracotta, Terracide and Tertial are unfamiliar, not misspelt. The error is in the everyday word, option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Terracotta — Terracotta is correct as printed. It comes from Italian terra cotta, baked earth, and English keeps both the double r and the double t.
• (c)
  Terracide — Terracide is rare, and rare is not the same as wrong. Its letters follow the familiar -cide ending seen in genocide and pesticide, so there is no misspelling to mark.
• (d)
  Tertial — Tertial looks like a clipped tertiary, which is why candidates suspect it. But a short unfamiliar word is not a misspelt one, and the item asks only for the spelling error.

A spelling item is decided by one question: which of these words would a dictionary refuse?

Three of the four here are simply uncommon. Unfamiliarity is not an error — a word you have never met can still be spelt perfectly — and clustering rare terr- and tert- words around one ordinary misspelling pulls the eye away from the real fault.

The fault is an ending. Tangible takes -ible, and the printed form has slipped an a in front of the b.

Key facts

• The correct spelling is tangible, from Latin tangere, to touch.
• English writes the ending -gible: legible, eligible, negligible, intangible.
• Terracotta comes from Italian terra cotta, meaning baked earth.
• The family keeps the same stem and ending: tangible, intangible, tangibility.

Common traps

• Marking the word you have never seen instead of the word that is wrong.
• Calling Terracotta an error because it can also be written terra cotta or terra-cotta.
• Confusing -gible with -able words such as comfortable and reliable, where the a belongs.

No directly related past PYQ was found.