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Bad spelling 'should be accepted' | Bad spelling 'should be accepted' |
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Common spelling mistakes should be accepted into everyday use, not corrected, a professor has said. | Common spelling mistakes should be accepted into everyday use, not corrected, a professor has said. |
Ken Smith says the most common spelling mistakes should simply be accepted as "variant spellings". | Ken Smith says the most common spelling mistakes should simply be accepted as "variant spellings". |
He lists the 10 most commonly misspelt words, which include "arguement" for "argument" and "twelth" for "twelfth". | He lists the 10 most commonly misspelt words, which include "arguement" for "argument" and "twelth" for "twelfth". |
The professor says his proposal, outlined in an article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, follows years of correcting the same mistakes. | The professor says his proposal, outlined in an article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, follows years of correcting the same mistakes. |
Why can't 'truely' be accepted as a variant spelling of 'truly'? Ken Smith | |
Mr Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University in High Wycombe, listed the 10 words most commonly spelled wrongly by his students. | Mr Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University in High Wycombe, listed the 10 words most commonly spelled wrongly by his students. |
He said: "Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea. | He said: "Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I've got a better idea. |
"University teachers should simply accept as variant spellings those words our students most commonly misspell. | "University teachers should simply accept as variant spellings those words our students most commonly misspell. |
class="lp" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/default.stm">HAVE YOUR SAY"Mediaeval" and "Medieval" - both correct, but many people consider the latter to be the dumbed-down American spelling.Mahatma, Stirling class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5211&edition=1&ttl=20080807143337">Send us your comments"The spelling of the word 'judgement', for example, is now widely accepted as a variant of 'judgment', so why can't 'truely' be accepted as a variant spelling of 'truly'?" | |
Mr Smith also suggested adding the word "misspelt" to the list and all those that break the "i before e" rule - weird, seize, neighbour and foreign. | Mr Smith also suggested adding the word "misspelt" to the list and all those that break the "i before e" rule - weird, seize, neighbour and foreign. |
The professor said he was not asking people to learn to spell words differently. | The professor said he was not asking people to learn to spell words differently. |
"All I am suggesting is that we might well put 20 or so of the most commonly misspelt words in the English language on the same footing as those other words that have a widely accepted variant spelling," he added. | "All I am suggesting is that we might well put 20 or so of the most commonly misspelt words in the English language on the same footing as those other words that have a widely accepted variant spelling," he added. |