Diagnosis: Spelling Mishaps

sjayneh — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:02:41 +0000

If someone asked me what the most common technical error I find in people’s writing is, I would answer rather quickly: spelling. Though this might not be the truth, since given even a few seconds to ponder it, I feel like perhaps it would be punctuation; I still stand by my choice. No matter how frequently someone misspells in their paper, it still can cast a shadow over the whole piece. Punctuation isn’t quite as noticeable as a horribly misspelled word. One of my own biggest pet peeves is when individuals confuse the your/you’re, its/ it’s and the their/ there/they’re, and even the to/ two/ too. The rule seems simple enough to me, and yet sometimes I will catch myself speeding along in my writing and using the wrong spelling of ‘your’ or ‘there’ or ‘too’. This particular error, especially, tends to slip by unnoticed, sometimes even after two or three re-readings of the piece. Yet as common and easily executed as this error may be, it still manages to irk me and even leads me to make unwarranted judgments about the author (yes, despite the fact that I, too, make this error on occasion). Misspellings are just one of those things that drive English (and I’m sure other language) Nazis to their breaking point. It seems to me that spelling is one of Americans’ biggest writing handicaps. We just “don’t spell good”. Professionals and researchers have done their share of guessing as to what might be the culprit: lower quality schooling, spell-check making for lazy spellers, the information age giving way to text speak, but whatever it is, it’s not a new problem.

Americans are more educated than they have ever been. According to the World Factbook published by the C.I.A., as of 2003 the literacy rate of Americans over the age of 15 was at 99%. So, why do we get such a bad rap when it comes to our intelligence compared to that of other wealthy nations? The British and the Japanese scoff at us, among others. Is our ‘intelligent’ population less intelligent than others? Or is American English harder than other languages to spell correctly? Phonics certainly only gets us so far, as demonstrated by our own dictionary that must phonetically spell words for us so we know how to properly pronounce them. The bottom line is, unless you absolutely love spelling, grammar and the like, as I do, you probably haven’t practiced enough to be fully efficient; and even I will not claim to be fully so. There is just no way you can spell the majority of English words correctly without having read an extensive amount of literature and/or practiced spelling like a crazy person. Despite attempts to simplify the process, like the lovely folks at FactMonster, with their Ten Tips for Better Spelling, no amount of rules can save you from this evil fate. There are just far too many exceptions to those rules. It’s all about memorization, baby! Take one of my more common mistakes for example. I tend to insert the ‘u’ into ‘–or’ endings like a Brit (honour instead of honor). Why do I do it? Mostly because American English can’t decide if it wants to keep the ‘u’ or throw it out. The word ‘glamour’ keeps the ‘u’ but ‘color’ does not. So confusing! If spelling just doesn’t mean that much to you, then you should not be surprised if you misspell at least a handful of words every time you set forth on a writing endeavor (or should it be endeavour?); probably at least one or two of these words here: 100 Most Often Misspelled Words.

Services like those that I offer are one of the best ways to avoid making those kinds of embarrassing spelling errors. It is with the help of such a spelling addict like myself that even the tiniest and most common errors has a chance at being noticed. No matter what, it is always best to have as many pairs of eyes peruse your paper as you can. The more your piece is read and read and read again, the greater the odds that you will discover its shortcomings and have the chance to fix them before sending it off to the professor, judge, or professional who won’t be so understanding when you spell ‘misspell’ as ‘mispell’.

Please see my Overview of Services to find out how the Paper M.D. (that’s me!) can help you with this very problem!

Referral Corner

sjayneh — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:20:18 +0000

Many people refuse to go to the doctor until it is too late. There are alot of reasons why people avoid going to the doctor: the price, lack of insurance, afraid of what might be wrong, not wanting to be told they have to make changes, and some people just hate the doctor’s office. Similar reasons keep people from seeking help with their writing. Some may think it’s giving up or cheating to seek extra help with their writing. Others may not want to hear the criticism or feel “stupid” for needing the help. The truth is, it’s a sign of maturity, strength and a desire to succeed and improve to ask for assistance. Sometimes it’s just an extra eye to catch tricky mistakes, or another opinion, that can really give someone an advantage. This page will provide you with facts and reasons to seek out that advantage.

If you are interested in this kind of advantage see our Overview of Services page.