Identify the INCORRECTLY spelt word in the following sentence and select its correct spelling from the given options. The occurence of this phenomenon is quite rare.

Correct — A. The sentence prints occurence. The word is occurrence, and it has two features to get right at once.

First the double r. Occur is stressed on its last syllable, oc-CUR, and a word like that doubles its final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel: occurred, occurring, occurrence.

Then the ending. The noun takes -ence, not -ance. Only option (a) has both the double r and the -ence.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  occurance — Occurance gets both halves wrong: a single r where the stress rule demands two, and an -ance ending where the noun takes -ence.
• (c)
  occerence — Occerence has the right -ence ending but corrupts the stem. The verb is occur, not occer, and the r still has to double.
• (d)
  occurrance — Occurrance is the closest miss. The double r is correct and only the ending fails — it reads -ance where the word takes -ence.

One rule and one memory item decide this word.

The rule: a verb ending in a single consonant after a single vowel doubles that consonant before a vowel-initial suffix when the stress falls on the final syllable. Occur is stressed on -cur, so it gives occurred, occurring, occurrence.

The contrast that proves the rule is refer. Stress stays on -fer in referred and referring, so the r doubles; it moves forward to REF-erence, so reference keeps one r.

The memory item is the ending. English offers no dependable rule for choosing -ence over -ance, so this half has to be learnt word by word.

Key facts

• Occurrence is spelt with a double r and the ending -ence.
• A single final consonant after a single vowel doubles before a vowel-initial suffix when the stress is on the last syllable, giving occur, occurred, occurring and occurrence.
• Refer gives referred and referring with a double r, but reference with one, because the stress moves to the first syllable.
• English has no reliable rule for choosing between the noun endings -ence and -ance.

Common traps

• Picking occurrance, which repairs the double r and then spoils the ending
• Marking the misspelt word from the sentence instead of the correct spelling the stem asks for

No directly related past PYQ was found.