Principal vs Principle

[Busanveggie]

Can somebody clarify this for me. Is their a difference in the American and British spelling of Principal as in head teacher? So many people write "principle" here, as in the head teacher, and I really didnt think there was a difference in the American or British spellings.

[conorsean]

"Principle" is only a noun, and all of its meanings are abstract. "Principal" is both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, it generally refers to a person, except in specialized legal and financial terms.
Ex: Approximately $40 of your payment goes repay the principal balance; the rest are interest payments.
Ex: I have to meet with the principal of my child's school.
Ex: We have to act on the principle that our customers are important.

So when referring to the headmaster of the school you should always use 'principal'

[dostoevsky_21_81]

There's only one write way to write principal when referring to the head teacher in any English (American or British)

Right way: Principal.
Wrong way: Principle.

[lele181818]

I am sure we can all agree that our bosses are our good PALs.  Hence: principal. 

[hi_teachuh!]

Yup, it's the same spelling in British and American English. Maybe just haphazard typing (let's hope!).

[Busanveggie]

Yea I thought so, I just wanted to clarify before I went on my rant!! It's gettng to be a pet hate of mine! The amount of people talking about their school principLES is ridiculous considering we are meant to be English teachers. That's pretty basic spelling. Do a search for principle and see how many come up. Just thought I should highlight it to prevent embarrassment.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

"Principle" is only a noun, and all of its meanings are abstract. "Principal" is both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, it generally refers to a person, except in specialized legal and financial terms.
Ex: Approximately $40 of your payment goes repay the principal balance; the rest are interest payments.
Ex: I have to meet with the principal of my child's school.
Ex: We have to act on the principle that our customers are important.

So when referring to the headmaster of the school you should always use 'principal'

Although 'principled' is an adjective.

It gets much more fun trying to translate uni positions into English, with deans, heads, chairs, chancellors, presidents, and yes, even principals, some with potentially different implications in different countries.

[sambelina78]

In Britain, we don't normally use the word principal to refer to the head of a school. We would use Head Teacher or for old fashioned types Head Master or Head Mistress. It's only really at university level that principal is used.

[daninsanam]

There's only one write way to write principal when referring to the head teacher in any English (American or British)

Right way: Principal.
Wrong way: Principle.

And there's only one right way to write "right", when referring to being correct, in any English (American or British).   :D

Right way: Right
Wrong way: Write

[TeachaTeacha]

First, starting a thread like this makes me nervous. I feel like I am going to be attacked. So, let me begin by admitting that I am not perfect. I make mistakes. In fact, I will most likely make a mistake in this post. I am not writing this to attack anyone. I am writing this to try to be helpful.

I have noticed a common word choice error amongst some members of the Waygook community.

PrinciPLE vs. PrinciPAL

If you’re unsure whether to use the –ple or –pal ending, try thinking about the context. Generally speaking, a principle is a rule, standard, or belief of one kind or another. As an adjective, principal means ‘most important’, while a principal is – generally speaking – a person who is most important in a particular organization or group.

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/08/principle-or-principal/

I'm almost positive that Mr. Belding (Saved By The Bell) gave me my first lesson about the difference between these two words. 
__________

Have you noticed any other common grammatical or word choice errors throughout this forum, that you would like to draw attention to?

[Frozencat99]

There, their and they're but this group seems problematic on most forums.

Additionally, it's and its.

[mogbert]

would of, could of, should of, would've, should've, could've...

Get with it people!  Oh, and it's not "just a typo" if you MEANT to spell it the wrong way because you don't know how to spell it.  It's just ignorance.  A typo is when you press R instead of T because they're next to each other.

[justanotherwaygook]

Topics merged.  Please use the search function.

[Tiberious]

Yes, it does get tiresome.
I belong to a number of forums (owing to the fact that I have no life) and this forum (and the 'other' one) are consistently  the worst when it comes to grammar and spelling in general.
'you did good.'
'I seen a flower.'
It wouldn't be a big deal -- but we are teaching English!

[newb]

In Britain, we don't normally use the word principal to refer to the head of a school. We would use Head Teacher or for old fashioned types Head Master or Head Mistress. It's only really at university level that principal is used.

I really like the sound of Head Master.  It just sounds very powerful compared to our principal (weak).

[kimjones]

Sadly, the only people who are contributing and reading this thread are the one's that don't make these mistakes. 

[AfroBurrito]

I find myself deeply perturbed when I see that a poster has offered yet another inventive (and incorrect) way to spell "definitely".  I've seen, 'definately, deffinately, defunitly, defintly,' among so many others...and each has made me die a little inside. 

[springdaze7]

There, their and they're but this group seems problematic on most forums.

Additionally, it's and its.

I know nobody is perfect, including me, but it's sad that I know some people who are working on their Master's degrees in education who can't use there, their , and they're correctly.
Maybe I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume those are autocomplete errors.

[JeremyC]

Sadly, the only people who are contributing and reading this thread are the one's that don't make these mistakes.

I got called out on using a split infinitive on a newspaper website last night. The offending part of my response read "It's also difficult to adequately proof read your own work..."

I thought it was hilarious because it was an article on the proper use of grammar by teachers.

[aklimkewicz]

Sadly, the only people who are contributing and reading this thread are the one's that don't make these mistakes.

*ones