How to spell summary

hear itsum·ma·ry/'səməri/nounPrefixes and work

What it means: A brief statement of the main points.

In a sentence: The teacher gave a summary of the story.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double m, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as summery or sumary.

Same family: summarize, summarizing, summarized, summation, outline. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Summary” comes from Latin *summarius*, meaning ‘of or pertaining to the sum or total.’ It originally referred to something done quickly or briefly, like getting the ‘sum total’ of a longer text.

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.

Words like this

itinerary · secondary · questionnaire · embarrass · liaison · electrician · conscience · transaction

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