Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!think!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!bbn!uwmcsd1!marque!gryphon!cadovax!trwrb!desint!geoff
From: geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning)
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.sys5
Subject: Re: Non-word "accreditate" in /usr/dict/words
Message-ID: <1697@desint.UUCP>
Date: 18 Mar 88 08:07:29 GMT
References: <1693@desint.UUCP> <2222@isis.UUCP> <1338@hoqax.UUCP>
Reply-To: geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning)
Organization: Interrupt Technology Corp., Manhattan Beach, CA
Lines: 22

In article <1338@hoqax.UUCP> twb@hoqax.UUCP (BEATTIE) writes:

> This machine accepts "sincerly" as correctly spelled when it should only
> accept "sincerely".

This is because of the optimistic design of spell(1).  Spell has a list of
suffix rules, which it applies to all words indiscriminately.  A suffix
that only makes sense on a verb (e.g., -ment) will be applied to nouns,
adverbs, and adjectives as well.  Thus, for example, spell accepts
"sincerement" as well as "sincerly" (I just checked).

Ispell, by contrast, explicitly associates its suffixes with particular
roots, so it will reject both of these errors (again, I checked).  The
latest version of ispell is 2.0.02;  it's available (without a dictionary)
from the comp.sources.misc archives.  Don't hold your breath waiting for the
next posting;  it's coming but you'll match the sky before I get everything
together.

BTW, for anyone who cares, the original version of ispell was written
in 1971 (thanks to Ole Brinch Hansen for providing this tidbit).  17
years old!  Hell, some of its fans are younger than that!
-- 
	Geoff Kuenning   geoff@ITcorp.com   {uunet,trwrb}!desint!geoff