Choose the correct spelling to replace the misspelt word in the given…

Concept

English usually builds an abstract noun from an adjective ending in -ent by replacing the final -t with -ce, which produces the ending -ence: different → difference, patient → patience, negligent → negligence. A smaller group of -ent adjectives takes -ency instead (efficient → efficiency, urgent → urgency), and adjectives ending in -ant pair with -ance or -ancy (important → importance, vacant → vacancy). What no adjective in either group takes is -ense: that ending belongs to a separate family of words such as expense, dispense and immense. In every case the vowels of the base adjective carry into the noun unchanged.

Application

The misspelt word in the sentence is “dilligence”, and the adjective it is built on is diligent.

1. Write the base adjective: diligent, spelt d-i-l-i-g-e-n-t. It opens with di-, carries a single l, and ends in -ent.

2. The noun built on diligent takes the -ence ending: drop the final -t and add -ce.

3. This gives dilig- + -ence = diligence: one l, i in the first syllable, and -ence at the end.

4. The form printed in the sentence carries an extra l, so the spelling that replaces “dilligence” is diligence.

Cross-check

Each offered spelling measured against the same rule:

• diligense — closes with -ense, an ending no adjective of this family takes.

• deligence — opens with de-, but the base adjective diligent carries i in its first syllable.

• diligance — closes with -ance, the ending that pairs with -ant adjectives, as in important → importance.

• diligence — dilig- plus -ence, the form matching the rule and the one recorded in Cambridge, Merriam-Webster and Collins.

The sentence therefore reads: “The manager appreciated her diligence in completing the project on time.”