VOWELS vice versa vicious view vigorous (not vigourous) See also RIGOROUS OR VIGOROUS?. vigour villain violent virtuoso (singular) virtuosi or virtuosos (plural) See FOREIGN PLURALS. visible (not -able) visitor (not -er) vocabulary (five syllables) volcano (singular) volcanoes or volcanos (plural) See PLURALS (iv). voluntary volunteer volunteered, volunteering voracity See VERACITY OR VORACITY?. vortex (singular) vortexes or vortices (plural) See FOREIGN PLURALS. vowels Five letters of the alphabet are always vowels: a e i o u 209 VOWELS The letter y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant. Y is a vowel when it sounds like e or i: pretty, busy sly, pylon Y is a consonant at the beginning of syllables and words and has a different sound: yellow, beyond 210 waist or waste? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: Tie this rope around your WAIST. Don't WASTE paper. What do you do with WASTE paper? Industrial WASTE causes pollution. waive or wave? WAIVE = to give something up or not exact it I shall WAIVE the fine on this occasion. WAVE = to move something to and fro WAVE to the Queen. wander or wonder? I love to WANDER through the forest, (rhymes with girl's name, Wanda) I WONDER what has happened to him. (rhymes with 'under') wasn't Place the apostrophe carefully. waste See WAIST OR WASTE?. wave See WAIVE OR WAVE?. weak or week? WEAK = feeble WEEK = seven days weather or whether? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: The WEATHER this winter has been awful. I don't know WHETHER I can help. (= if) 211 W WEDNESDAY Wednesday (not Wensday) week See WEAK OR WEEK?. weir (exception to the -ie- rule) See EI/IE SPELLING RULE. weird (exception to the -ie- rule) See EI/IE SPELLING RULE. Wensday Wrong spelling. See WEDNESDAY. were or where? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: We WERE walking very fast, (rhymes with 'her') WHERE are you? (rhymes with 'air') Do you know WHERE he is? This is the house WHERE I was born. weren't Place the apostrophe carefully. wharf (singular) wharfs or wharves (plural) where See WERE OR WHERE?. whether See WEATHER OR WHETHER?. whilst (exception to magic -e rule) See ADDING ENDINGS (ii). whiskey or whisky? WHISKEY is distilled in Ireland. WHISKY is distilled in Scotland. 212 WHO OR WHOM? who or whom? The grammatical distinction is that 'who' is a subject pronoun and 'whom' is an object pronoun. (i) Use this method to double-check whether you need a subject pronoun or an object pronoun when who/whom begins a question: Ask yourself the question and anticipate the answer. If this could be one of the subject pronouns (I, he, she, we or they), then you need 'who' at the beginning of the question: Who/whom is there? The answer could be: / am there. WHO is there? If the answer could be one of the object pronouns (me, him, her, us or them), then you need 'whom' at the beginning of the question: Who/whom did you meet when you went to London? The answer could be: I met him. WHOM did you meet? (ii) Use this method if who/whom comes in the middle of a sentence: Break the sentence into two sentences and see whether a subject pronoun (I, he, she, we, they) is needed in the second sentence or an object pronoun (me, him, her, us, them). Here is the man who/whom can help you. Divide into two sentences: Here is the man. He can help you. Here is the man WHO can help you. He is a writer who/whom I have admired for years. 213 WHOLE Divide into two sentences: He is a writer. I have admired him for years. He is a writer WHOM I have admired for years. whole See HOLE OR WHOLE?. wholly (exception to the magic e- rule) See ADDING ENDINGS (ii). who's or whose? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide: WHO'S been eating my porridge? (= who has) WHO'S coming to supper? (= who is) WHOSE calculator is this? (= belonging to whom) There's the girl WHOSE cat was killed. wierd Wrong spelling. See WEIRD. wife (singular) wives (plural) See PLURALS (v). wilful (not willful) will See SHALL OR WILL?. wining or winning? wine + ing = wining win + ing = winning See ADDING ENDINGS (i) and (ii). wisdom (exception to magic -e rule) See ADDING ENDINGS (ii). withhold (not withold) 214