How to spell influence

hear itin·flu·ence/'ɪnfluəns/nounRules and real life

What it means: The ability to affect someone or something.

In a sentence: The teacher had a positive influence on her students.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as influnce or influance.

Same family: influential, influenced, influencing, influenceable, influence (noun). If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: The word “influence” comes from a Latin word meaning “to flow into” and originally referred to a mysterious power believed to flow from the stars into people’s lives. Over time, it came to mean any kind of power that shapes what people think or do.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

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