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Author Topic: Spelling Challenge  (Read 37861 times)

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Spelling Challenge
« on: November 12, 2018, 11:04:35 PM »
English spelling can be a nightmare. There are just so many different rules to learn and so many exceptions to rules, and many different ways to pronounce any particular letter, unlike say Italian, which has basic rules which always apply,
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I’ve noticed that, since I first signed up to CathInfo, the standards of written English, in particular spelling, has gradually declined.  I am not speaking of mistakes made because members don’t reread to make corrections, but persistent mistakes which illustrate that the writer does not understand the formation or meaning of the word.
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So I have been wondering for a while how to approach this. This morning I did some reading from an anonymous thread and I discovered several mistakes, and decided to collect and try to correct – of course, on a new non-anonymous thread.
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So here we go. Feel free to add your own contributions or comments. I hope to add more as they appear. Not naming the poster of wrong spelling, of course, though she/she may recognise themselves. 

Re: Spelling Challenge
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2018, 11:10:23 PM »
I'm not saying that a feminist women is SOLEY responsible 
 Sole is an adjective so add ly to sole to make the adverb – solely
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dating is all about …..2) complimentary personalities
Complimentary means praising. The writer means to say Complement – one makes up for what the other lacks: hence complementary.
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wearing provacative clothing (possibly a mistype)
Provocative from provoke: pro meaning for, voke to call to call for a reaction, especially a negative one:
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Social chaos is immenent.
When I saw this one I thought it should be immanent, but I was wrong. Immanent means remain in or indwelling whereas the writer means to say “about to happen” or literally “hanging over”.
A very interesting explanation here:
http://www.educationbug.org/a/eminent--imminent--immanent.html
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feminism is being subtley taught to girls 
Subtle is an adjective so add ly to subtle to make the adverb – subtlely.
(My spell check tells me subtly, which I reject - it doesn't make sense.)
 
 


Re: Spelling Challenge
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2018, 11:43:13 PM »
There is a problem with the auto-correct feature as it cannot recognize homonyms such as their, there, and they're. In addition, archaic but correct spellings are often recognized as incorrect by the auto-correct features we use today.
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Even the words you, your, you're, yours, our, and ours are often not corrected by the auto-correct features because the words are spelled correctly in themselves, but they are not spelled correctly in the context in which they are used. Thus, the auto-correct feature will not flag many word as incorrect.
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In addition, as one reaches old age, with blurry vision, astigmatism, brain injury due to TIAs or strokes, and/or presbyopia, or as one develops pre-diabetes or diabetes, which is very common today, one's vision deteriorates and a person is more dependent on these auto-correct features.
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Furthermore, some people are legally blind from disease or injury, or they were born that way and must dictate their communications, which are totally dependent on an auto-spell feature, which also makes mistakes. I have communicated online with several individuals who are legally blind from birth, and it amazes me that they are able to participate in board discussions as well as they do.
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Then there are those who are dependent on their smart phones using tiny buttons and who are typing while driving. Not only are they endangering their lives and the lives of all them around them, but also they often use text message abbreviations or auto-dictate features that can drive prescriptive grammarians batty.
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Finally, those of us who are trying to revise our posts may make a change such as reversing our clauses. This leads to grammatical errors, which are not spelling errors but awkward construction errors.
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Those of us who are vision-compromised do try to correct our spellings within the 15 minutes allowed by Matthew's board, but sometimes, we receive a phone call or must answer the door bell, and then unfortunately, we fall outside the time to edit. And, yes, it is very embarrassing and humbling to see those glaring typographical errors. All of us in the end, must depend on the charity of others to be patient, loving, and kind as St. Paul recommends.
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I have found that books such as There is No Cow in Moscow can be very helpful. There are online help guides, too.
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Nadir, what online websites do you recommend?

Re: Spelling Challenge
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2018, 03:31:27 AM »
Maria Regina, would you believe I half finished my response to you then accidentally deleted it!
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You make some excellent points. Life and literacy have changed tremendously in our latter days. These auto-correct and auto-spell features are meant to make life easier, at least for some, but they are not fool-proof and not always useful, at least to me. I prefer to do-it-myself correct. By the way, is it not ironic that auto means self, but you don’t do it your self, your computer does it.
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You touch on the issues surrounding physical problems and aging. I too feel those keenly, and it is important to keep one’s mind sharp and one’s thinking clear. You make good points to be considered. Smart phones are something I’m staying away from!
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I didn’t realise that Matthew allow 15 minutes for a post, but I must take longer as I am almost always told I’ve taken longer and do I still want to post. I do and it always “takes” (so far).
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My point in starting this thread was the hope of helping any who had trouble with spelling in particular, those who have for one reason or another missed out on learning the rules, such as they are, in our complex language, and those who are educating their own children at home. We can all improve and we can help one another.
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I had not heard of There is No Cow in Moscow. Here we are touching on the subject of pronunciation, I presume, which of course is closely related to the subject of spelling, and is a challenge for English speakers and English learners.  Ask any English speaker how he pronounces the vowel “a”. There are about seven or more correct answers, though I can’t think of them all right now. Consider the various “a” sounds here: What day does Mary plan to eat the awesome avocado?
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Maria Regina, I have no websites to recommend. I usually just do a ducksearch. My husband, coming later in life to English usage, likes to use https://www.vocabulary.com/play/ to constantly improve his knowledge of the language and is now graded “Walking Dictionary”! Ha ha! Also WordReference.com which is also useful for translations.
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I believe the best way to improve our knowledge of the written language and to learn how to express ourselves in it is to read, read, read good literature. The study of other languages can also be a big help in understanding your own.

Re: Spelling Challenge
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2018, 01:25:44 PM »
This is not a spelling question but a pronunciation one.

When saying the word blessed,  when do we pronounce it as spelled and when do we pronounce it
as bles-said, as in the Hail Mary.
Blessed would fit perfectly in the Hail Mary (as one who has been blessed) yet we pronounce it
bles-said. ::)