Spelling test.

[Mordokai]

Can be found here (http://www.typobuddy.com/blog/index.php/2008/11/24/misspelling-bee-can-you-spell-these-commonly-misspelled-words-correctly/).

Now, few comments on this. I passed the test with 72%. Considering that English isn't my first language and that I always sucked at spelling and grammar in general... I consider this a pretty solid result. Sure, I could do better. Much better, in fact. But I didn't felt like cheating and I took it for fun. Really, I got better result than I expected.

Second, obviously this baby will be a little harder for people like me, to whom English isn't their first language. Still, it might be fun even for others who speak it from birth. Some of the words can actually be quite hard. But like I said, I'm a little biased here. So go on and try it and let us know how you did.

Third, the test doesn't acknowledge at least one word that's tehnically correct. Not sure why, but not much I can do there. I won't be spoiling which one that is, but most people will probably found out for themselves.

[Alteran]

I got 23/25, which is 92%. It didn't tell me which answers were wrong (it did show the right answer for every question), but I think I got 8 and 12 wrong. English is my first language, and I've always been pretty good about spelling and grammar.

[Mr. Moon]

Oh hey, this oughta be amusing.
*takes the test*
...
XDDDD
I got a 48. That's hilarious. Oh man I suck at English.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Got a 64%.

Somewhere far below decent....

[Fiery Diamond]

I just took it and got 1 wrong. I was ashamed of myself, as I consider myself good with writing and English is my native language.

In the case of the word that is a word that it doesn't acknowledge...hm...I thought I figured out which one it was, but Firefox doesn't think it's a word either. So I guess I was wrong. Or maybe I was right and Firefox is dumb. One or the other.

[InaVegt]

80%

Better than it'd have been if it was Dutch, I'd wager. ><

(I generally don't use spellchecking for English, my second language, but do for Dutch, supposedly my native language.

...

Probably doesn't help my Dutch that I think in English ><)

[Cleverdan22]

84%. Not terrible.

[T-O-E]

I got 88%.

[Llama231]

76%

Better than I expected...

[Thufir]

22/25. Two of my mistakes were just because I wasn't thinking straight.
The third, I wasn't actually wrong, as my dictionary gives both spellings.

[Mordokai]

@^ that's the one I'm speaking about in OP. For anybody that didn't noticed, there's an option, when you finish the test, to check what's the correct answer to every question.

And seeing the results so far, well, maybe I am a little bit bad at this whole spelling thing :smalltongue:

[Saint Nil]

I receieved 52%. English is my first langauge.:smallfrown:

Math and Science=Fun

[Dogmantra]

I refuse to post my results.
This test is wrong.

Pass-time is a hyphenated word, dammit! (Or at least, it should be!)
Vaccuum is apparently acceptable with two Cs
Judgement is apparently acceptable with or without the e (I expect the non-e spelling is the American version)

That's at least three that I had no chance of getting, so this test sucks,

[B-Man]

I received an 80% result. One beef with the test was it's written using American English so there actually is a question that there is multiple answers to it.

@^: Those are three answers I got "wrong". :smalltongue:

[Eldariel]

I got 100%.

Spoilers below, don't look unless you've done the test/don't intend to:
It's stupid how they actually made the few more difficult ones easy by including the obvious typos from some words (like 'millenium' from the millennium or 'calender' from calendar and 'twelwth' from twelfth). Also, 'judgment' and 'judgement' are both officially correct, although 'judgement' is the more British spelling.

Amusing, but they omitted some more difficult words (say 'probably'/'properly' (foreigners apparently easily mix the two), 'enthusiasm' or 'awkwardness') and had few really obvious ones (such as 'restaurant', 'acceptable' and 'library').

[Tar Palantir]

Missed the judgment one. Coulda sworn there was an "e" in there somewhere...

Oh, wait. There is. :smallyuk:

[Mauve Shirt]

24/25, 96%.

[Thufir]

Pass-time is a hyphenated word, dammit! (Or at least, it should be!)

No. It's not, and it looks better the way it's actually spelled.


Vaccuum is apparently acceptable with two Cs

Reference for this please? My dictionary only has what I consider the correct spelling (One c).


Judgement is apparently acceptable with or without the e (I expect the non-e spelling is the American version)

This one is true (Though I've no idea if it's American. My dictionary gives 'judgment' first, but I just think it looks better with the e)


That's at least three that I had no chance of getting, so this test sucks,

The whole point of this test is it's supposed to be common misspellings. So actually on the first two, in the absence of dictionary entries to back you up, it's doing its job. The third is your only legitimate complaint here.

[Jack Squat]

60 something %

I'm going to have to agree with Andrew Jackson on this one.

"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word"

[Eldariel]

Now that I think about it, this may actually be harder for natives than for foreigners. Natives learn the words as sounds first, while foreigners first learn them as letters. So thanks to the wonderful sound/letter disparity existent in so many English words that still have their medieval spelling to go with a modern pronunciation, natives struggle to spell words correctly while foreigners strive to pronounce them. In this kind of a test, this truly favors the foreigners.

[chiasaur11]

You know, I don't give a rat's posterior about spelling.

I mean, if random collections of letters that sorta look right were good enough for Shakespeare and Chaucer, well they oughta be good enough for me.

Isn't that what spell check is for, anyway?

[Dogmantra]

No. It's not, and it looks better the way it's actually spelled.
Never! Besides, I'm of the opinion that the hyphen is basically the second best punctuation mark ever (the first being the interrobang). If something looks better to me with a hyphen, it gets a hyphen (due to the fact that it generally needs a hyphen...). The OpenOffice spell-check (which I admit, is not the greatest reference ever) doesn't see anything wrong with either.

Reference for this please? My dictionary only has what I consider the correct spelling (One c). On closer inspection, it seems I have to concede. When I checked, I just searched for "vaccuum" on google and skimmed to see if there were any dictionary results and there was at least one. Strangely, I must've been possessed, since I normally do spell it vacuum... I suppose I must have been looking too hard for the common errors in my spelling.


The whole point of this test is it's supposed to be common misspellings.
Which, by the way, would look so much better with a hyphen! Mis-spellings... much better :smalltongue: (and before you start yelling, mis-spellings is acceptable, at least in my mind, which is normally right :smallwink:)

Why, I am very modest, thank you for noticing...
Well, I normally am, but when it comes to spelling, I trump the dictionary :smalltongue:

[bluewind95]

23 out of 25 for a 92%

Considering my English is kinda rusty (and it's not my native language), that's not too bad. I should start reading more, though!

[Ego Slayer]

22/25, 88%. I wanna know the ones I got wrong. :P



I'm going to have to agree with Andrew Jackson on this one.

"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word"
I like that quote. :smallbiggrin:

Psh. Judgement, Judgment. Google's define: implies they're both right. I answered the latter, but I couldn't actually remember which one was right. ><

[Llama231]

Psh. Judgement, Judgment. Google's define: implies they're both right. I answered the latter, but I couldn't actually remember which one was right. ><


Whoa, I just got insane amounts of Deja Vu reading this post...

Are you sure that you have not posted this 50 or so times over the last few months?

[Eldan]

Huh. I never even saw Judgement spelled without the e. My only mistake, by the way. :smallbiggrin: Makes me happy for some reason.

[SDF]

Well, you can spell judgment, "judgement" in British English but not in American English. We tend to drop e's at the end of words (like judge) when adding suffixes. So the test is clearly designed for Americans.

I just spelled embarrass wrong... how embarrassing? (no, bad SDF, bad pun!) I was actually expecting to do worse. Spelling was my worst subject in elementary school. Anyway, we don't need to spell well anymore! We have spell-check!

[Eldariel]

Well, you can spell judgment, "judgement" in British English but not in American English. We tend to drop e's at the end of words (like judge) when adding suffixes. So the test is clearly designed for Americans.

American Heritage Dictionary recognizes both spellings. Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com) states that the form "judgement" is "especially British", but does not disclose it as incorrect for American English either.

[Murska]

I got 96% or one wrong. Dunno which one. Anyway, since english is not my native language, I think that's pretty good. :smallsmile:

[Nevitan]

72% and I'm a native English speaker v.v.

[Eldariel]

Well, seeing no new readers are like to scroll this far before taking the test, and many have expressed interest in knowing which they did wrong, the correct answers:

1. Option 1 - Apparent
2. Option 3 - Acceptable
3. Option 3 - Embarrass
4. Option 4 - Pastime
5. Option 2 - Guarantee
6. Option 2 - Restaurant
7. Option 1 - Vacuum
8. Option 2 - Occurrence
9. Option 2 - Independent
10. Option 1 - Category
11. Option 4 - Twelfth
12. Option 4 - Receive
13. Option 3 - Separate
14. Option 1 - Library
15. Option 3 - Judgment (it only accepts this - probably the most likely reason all the 96% aren't 100%; only 20% have answered this correctly)
16. Option 1 - Believe
17. Option 2 - Amateur
18. Option 4 - Calendar
19. Option 1 - Pronunciation
20. Option 1 - Weird
21. Option 2 - Referred
22. Option 1 - Millennium
23. Option 2 - Conscience
24. Option 4 - A lot
25. Option 1 - Pregnancy

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the green bar in the end indicates which answer was correct. Meaningless statistics:

Option 1: Correct 9/25
Option 2: Correct 7/25
Option 3: Correct 4/25
Option 4: Correct 5/25


Judgment is option 3, so our inherent pattern recognition leads us to gravitate towards option 1 instead. Or not :P Anyways, guessing "Option 1" to all would net you 36%, not at all bad for not reading the questions. Really, the only reason I wrote this post was for the statistics.

[Murska]

I think my mistake might've been occurrence/occurrance.

[RTGoodman]

I think my mistake might've been occurrence/occurrance.

That one was one of the two I missed. The other was judg(e)ment, and that's because I have a tendency to use British spellings anyway. Curse you British writers (and Bill Bryson)!

[Trog]

I scored 84% - missing a couple of the words with more than one proper spelling. Close enough for shoddily-made quiz work I say. :smallwink:

[Assassin89]

I got five wrong and I am another native english speaker.

[golentan]

Wau, Ai gauht ei purfict dwendyphife aun et. Ai phele guut.

For those who can't read my crazy pseudophonetics above, I got 25. Though I admit, I guessed on one of them.

[Deathslayer7]

64% being a in the middle native speaker. And this is why I stick to math. :smallbiggrin:

[toasty]

I got a 76%...

I'm possibly the best speller in our house. So this is somewhat disturbing. And yes I'm a native speaker.

[TFT]

Hmmm... *Takes test*

...That was pathetically low for the vocab I use, and I am confused as to how I don't know how to spell that many of those words. :smalleek:

[Nevitan]

Hmmm... *Takes test*

...That was pathetically low for the vocab I use, and I am confused as to how I don't know how to spell that many of those words. :smalleek:

It's spell check I tells ya! Innovations in technology renders basic skills like spelling complex work obsolete once you get into the real world! Throw down the oppressive comforts of spell check and pick up a dictionary!
( I used spell check three or four times writing this post and have absolutely no intent of giving it up :smalltongue:)

[chiasaur11]

It's spell check I tells ya! Innovations in technology renders basic skills like spelling complex work obsolete once you get into the real world! Throw down the oppressive comforts of spell check and pick up a dictionary!
( I used spell check three or four times writing this post and have absolutely no intent of giving it up :smalltongue:)

Same.

The whole concept of learning to spell English words exactly right will be seen as naught but a passing fancy.

[golentan]

It's spell check I tells ya! Innovations in technology renders basic skills like spelling complex work obsolete once you get into the real world! Throw down the oppressive comforts of spell check and pick up a dictionary!
( I used spell check three or four times writing this post and have absolutely no intent of giving it up :smalltongue:)

Actually, it's interesting. There was absolutely no standardization in english spelling until the publication of Samuel Johnson's dictionary in the late 1700s. So when someone complains you misspelled something, simply tell them they are not classically minded enough and refer them to Chaucer. He probably spelled your word your way too, if it was around then. :smallcool:

[Skippy]

I've got a pretty good score, 84%, which means 21/25. I'm proud of it.

[Zar Peter]

68%... well, could've been worse I think.

[Kroy]

Well, you can spell judgment, "judgement" in British English but not in American English. We tend to drop e's at the end of words (like judge) when adding suffixes. So the test is clearly designed for Americans.

We do?:tongue: I've lived in America my whole life and I've never seen anyone spell "Judgement" "Judgment"

[Krytha]

I got 23/25

My two wrong answers were judgment - (I wrote judgement) and pastime - (I wrote past-time).

Pastime I guess I never thought about much, but I don't accept that judgment is the only correct spelling, since it is listed in more than one dictionary.

[Spiryt]

72%.

Could be worse, for a non native speaker.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Actually, it's interesting. There was absolutely no standardization in english spelling until the publication of Samuel Johnson's dictionary in the late 1700s. So when someone complains you misspelled something, simply tell them they are not classically minded enough and refer them to Chaucer. He probably spelled your word your way too, if it was around then. :smallcool:

. . .

No.
No, no, no, no and no again.
Same with chiasaur on the previous page.
Chaucer was writing in the late 1300s and early 1400s. During the peroid now known as Middle English when the French influence was especially high, hence the double letter and e endings of many words. Not to mention we still had a lot of anglo - Saxon verb endings mixed in too.
What you're saying is 'misspelled' is actually a perfectly acceptable spelling for the time and, as Chaucer was one of the first widely published authors in the English language he is also responsible for starting the process of standardisation.
What we speak now in English is actually based on the London dialect of Chaucers' time. If he'd have lived in Kent, only fifty miles away, we'd be speaking an entirely different type of English.
Shakespeare likewise, is responsible for inventing some twenty thousand words of English, including idioms and cliches. And again, look at Shakespeare; look at Marlowe; look at Spenser. The vast majority of words are spelt the same way.
Not poor spelling, just five hundred years old.
Language evolved. So while your saying that Shakespeare and Chaucer spelt like you do doesn't prove that inaccurate spelling is a tradition and not laziness/dyslexia/poor memory etc. it only shows that your spelling is some five hundred years old.
[/nitpick]

Oh, and standardisation has always been an ongoing thing after 1497 following the introduction of Caxton's printing press.

What? I'm an E Lang and E Lit student. I'm picky about such things.


And I got 96%. Judgement is spelt with an 'e'. It also looks nicer than 'judgment'. Silly quiz.

[Quincunx]

We do?:tongue: I've lived in America my whole life and I've never seen anyone spell "Judgement" "Judgment"

I think I just heard all of my spelling teachers shriek. As at least two of them are dead, the cry of "Was my life's work a waste?" was especially disconcerting. Anyone schooled in the U.S. spelling it with an E is doing it wrong. In the impossible world where the English-speaking countries formed a spelling standardization commission (as the Portuguese-speaking ones recently did), then we would probably settle on 'judgement' and 'metre' and 'standardize'--Z is a lovely letter, Brits, you ought to allow it greater use--but until then, use the spelling system of the country where you were schooled.

[golentan]

. . .

No.
No, no, no, no and no again.
Same with chiasaur on the previous page.
Chaucer was writing in the late 1300s and early 1400s. During the peroid now known as Middle English when the French influence was especially high, hence the double letter and e endings of many words. Not to mention we still had a lot of anglo - Saxon verb endings mixed in too.
What you're saying is 'misspelled' is actually a perfectly acceptable spelling for the time and, as Chaucer was one of the first widely published authors in the English language he is also responsible for starting the process of standardisation.
What we speak now in English is actually based on the London dialect of Chaucers' time. If he'd have lived in Kent, only fifty miles away, we'd be speaking an entirely different type of English.
Shakespeare likewise, is responsible for inventing some twenty thousand words of English, including idioms and cliches. And again, look at Shakespeare; look at Marlowe; look at Spenser. The vast majority of words are spelt the same way.
Not poor spelling, just five hundred years old.
Language evolved. So while your saying that Shakespeare and Chaucer spelt like you do doesn't prove that inaccurate spelling is a tradition and not laziness/dyslexia/poor memory etc. it only shows that your spelling is some five hundred years old.
[/nitpick]


Oh yes, standardization ran rampant in 1750. That's why in london, we had eggs. But 50 miles down the road were (if I remember aright) oufs. Both were white ovoids that came out the smelly end of a chicken. And I like claiming that all direct descendants of a language which are interchangeably understandable are the same language. And I should be able to use those classical spellings and phrases. Or if I'm not, I should have a valid reason for not being able to use more modern etymological constructs. As it is, English has been trying to fix itself in place for the last century and a half, while the rest of us are moving on with our lives.

I was not saying Chaucer misspelled things. I'm saying he spelled things in ways that have gotten me in trouble with teachers, and he would (from time to time) vary the spelling on the same word.

Shakespeare is, I believe, the first widely known author past the middle english period (Bacon fans: ENRAGE!!!). As you said, he invented words. He also "spelt" some of them differently, and in ways that would not be acceptable on a term paper.

Case in Point: Your use of that word is a perfectly legal conjugation. It also does not exist in the dialect I use. In fact, it refers mainly to a form of wheat not commonly grown these past several decades. Yes, language evolves. Me likey. Gives me something to pass the decades with. Which is why I feel it is good to either A) switch over to a pure and standardized phonetic system, or B) Have a system for embracing change. Preferably both. It is terribly ungrammatical to say "Me and CurlyKitGirl had a debate on english." But in daily usage that's far more common than the correct phraseology "CurlyKitGirl and I." Because it has become common usage, I would argue it should be defined as correct.

And I don't like Chiasaur's response. I like having nice orderly spelling. But I like there to be reason and current relevance. I like language evolving, and I like minting shiny, fresh new words, adapting old words, and incorporating modern grammatical structures and accepting them. Just generally doing all of the things that keep some people (mostly members of your stated majors) from playing the "My english is purer than yours" game.

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

I guess what I'm saying is: Sit down and stop throwing peanuts. Both the people who are demanding that nobody be forced to learn any form of spelling (I have to read what you write, you WILL make it understandable or I will give up half a paragraph in and fail you), and the people who insist nobody use any words, phrases, or sentence structures created or incorporated after 1890 (I'm sorry, the fact you were able to provide an alternate phrase before I finished mine makes it quite clear you understood. In the intervening time your face appears to have been eaten by a bear. Perhaps if somebody hadn't interrupted I could have finished the warning).

Some of us are working here.

I stand by the first half of my last post's paragraph, and was mocking in the second. Perhaps I should have included sarcasm tags, but if anything it's more fun to watch very silly people blow up over very silly things.

[DigoDragon]

Depending on which dictionary I use I either get a mediocre grade or a decent grade. :smallsmile: I will be honest-- spelling was not a subject in school I was greatly skilled in.

[afroakuma]

100%, although in practice I frequently spell "judgment" with the extra "e," and "millennium" nearly caught me.

Native English speaker, by the way.

[KuReshtin]

22/25

Embarrass, Millennium and Judgment caught me out.

And I'm not a native English speaker.

[Lord Herman]

I got a 92%. I misspelled judgment and separate.

[unstattedCommoner]

Well, you can spell judgment, "judgement" in British English


But the two have different meanings: "judgement" is a quality possessed by a person, "judgment" is a decision of a court.

[Dirk Kris]

I got 92% - 23 out of 25.

Native speaker, USA.

[Phaedra]

But the two have different meanings: "judgement" is a quality possessed by a person, "judgment" is a decision of a court.

This is what I was taught too, and why I'm probably one of the few English folks here to pick "judgment" on the test. That said, I've never come across anyone outside the field of law who knows this distinction and most dictionaries list both as correct in both cases. Which leads me to wonder, have the legal field just made up this distinction arbitrarily?

Incidentally, I got 93%. What I got wrong I don't know (though it wasn't judgment :smalltongue: ). I suck at my native language.

[Saithis Bladewing]

25/25?

I'M A MONSTER!!!!!!!

Judgment almost got me though, as I tend to spell it Judgement in actual usage, as I think it looks better.

[Dragonrider]

I missed one (millennium). I should have tried writing it because if I had, I would have known there were two Ls. :smalltongue:

[Cubey]

Incidentally, I got 93%.

How can you get 93% when each question is worth 4%?
Okay, that probably was just a typo.

My result is only 80%. Not a native English speaker, but I strive to be better than that. My only excuse is that some of these words used silly American pronounciation.

[Linkavitch]

80%

Huh. Viewing the results, it occurs to me that they should have had a line for which answer you had picked.

[Phaedra]

How can you get 93% when each question is worth 4%?
Okay, that probably was just a typo.



Pah, fine. I got 92%, happy now? :smalltongue:

[Fredthefighter]

I got 92%, I couldn't care less about what I got wrong, I'd like to know which ones I got right! :smallbiggrin:

[Felixaar]

I got 80%, but I'm tempted to challenge a few of these.

Also, "A lot" isn't a word. It's two words.[/pedantic]

[GoC]

My spelling is terrible. I have to make up for it with an expanded vocabulary.:smallbiggrin:
And necessary is my nemisis!:smallfurious:

[Eldariel]

This is what I was taught too, and why I'm probably one of the few English folks here to pick "judgment" on the test. That said, I've never come across anyone outside the field of law who knows this distinction and most dictionaries list both as correct in both cases. Which leads me to wonder, have the legal field just made up this distinction arbitrarily?

Probably something born out of need. When there's a need for a distinction and multiple similar words in existence with synonymous meanings, the users involuntarily tend to start to redefine the words to so one covers one use and another covers the other. Probably just not relevant enough outside the juridic side to have truly taken off yet though. But I'd fully expect that to be spelled out at least in American dictionaries by 2100.

[Faceist]

100% here, but I have to say the test was remarkably hard. They certainly did their homework regarding the difficulty of the words; I wouldn't expect most people (especially those to whom English is not a native language) to fare as well.