To E or not to E

An error lurks in each of these sentences. How many can you find?

Surely you don’t think his story is believeable.
Hurricanes can be disasterous.
Flowers—what a lovely rememberance.
A good manager lets you work without hinderance.
Tactics like that will never win an arguement.
Well that’s an unexpected developement!
Thunder is usually preceded by lightening.

The last word in each sentence contains an extra letter e. Several are understandable. All are variations of a root word, and that’s where the problem lies.

In these words, an e in the original word is dropped when it becomes an adjective:

believe -> believable
disaster -> disastrous

In these three, an e is dropped when the root word becomes a noun:

remember->remembrance
hinder->hindrance
argue->argument

I have no explanation for developement instead of development. The root word is develop, not develope. (Maybe people are thinking of envelope?) Maybe it’s just easy to hit the e key when you’re typing. Whatever the reason, I see that one often.

Lightening is a legitimate word. It just doesn’t mean electrostatic discharge visible as jagged steaks of light in the sky, followed by thunder. It refers to reducing weight or color intensity. You lighten a load or lighten a color. So leave out the e if you’re talking about something that happens in an electrical storm.

But be sure to add the e if you text your stylist and arrange to have it done to a few streaks in your hair.

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