I've always struggled with spelling—even at school. Back in the 1950s, we hand wrote letters—in fact, all our important records. Now, my computer program highlights the mistakes and offers the correct spelling. Thank goodness! Nobody will know I'm lacking in that department as long as I remain vigilant. The funny thing is: I don't have the same problem with grammar. Maybe spelling and grammar use different parts of the brain, like maths and art.
New research found a third of British adults would fail to reach the minimum standards of spelling expected of an 11-year-old. The tests came about when King Digital Entertainment, makers of popular mobile games such as Candy Crush, commissioned the new game AlphaBetty Saga which requires players to spell out and play with words.
The study asked adults to complete Key Stage 2 spelling tests designed to gauge the performance of children aged 10-11, reaching the end of primary school. Here are the most difficult words to spell for the adults in the study:
Phenomenon (25 per cent correct)
Unnecessary (32 per cent correct)
Disappearance (36 per cent correct)
Correspondent (37 per cent correct)
Synchronised (37 per cent correct) [Americans would spell this with a z].
Other words which fewer than half were able to spell included 'broccoli' (43 per cent), rhythmic (42 per cent) and jewellery (49 per cent) in the survey of 1,000 people based in the UK. (I change the spelling in my blogs - eg to jewelery - to the American because most of my readers hail from the US. In this instance, I'm using English spelling.)
Experts blame modern tools like spellcheck and autocorrect for encouraging us to switch off from learning, leading to complacency and indifference. Source: the Telegraph.
But what about grammar? Maybe we learn bad grammar from television programmes and theme songs.
New research found a third of British adults would fail to reach the minimum standards of spelling expected of an 11-year-old. The tests came about when King Digital Entertainment, makers of popular mobile games such as Candy Crush, commissioned the new game AlphaBetty Saga which requires players to spell out and play with words.
The study asked adults to complete Key Stage 2 spelling tests designed to gauge the performance of children aged 10-11, reaching the end of primary school. Here are the most difficult words to spell for the adults in the study:
Phenomenon (25 per cent correct)
Unnecessary (32 per cent correct)
Disappearance (36 per cent correct)
Correspondent (37 per cent correct)
Synchronised (37 per cent correct) [Americans would spell this with a z].
Other words which fewer than half were able to spell included 'broccoli' (43 per cent), rhythmic (42 per cent) and jewellery (49 per cent) in the survey of 1,000 people based in the UK. (I change the spelling in my blogs - eg to jewelery - to the American because most of my readers hail from the US. In this instance, I'm using English spelling.)
Experts blame modern tools like spellcheck and autocorrect for encouraging us to switch off from learning, leading to complacency and indifference. Source: the Telegraph.
But what about grammar? Maybe we learn bad grammar from television programmes and theme songs.
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