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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Bad spelling 'should be accepted' | Bad spelling 'should be accepted' |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Common spelling mistakes should be accepted into everyday use, not corrected, a lecturer has said. | Common spelling mistakes should be accepted into everyday use, not corrected, a lecturer has said. |
| Ken Smith of Bucks New University says the most common mistakes should be accepted as "variant spellings". | Ken Smith of Bucks New University says the most common mistakes should 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". |
| Mr Smith says his proposal, outlined in an article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, follows years of correcting the same mistakes. | Mr Smith says his proposal, outlined in an article in the Times Higher Education Supplement, follows years of correcting the same mistakes. |
| Mr Smith, a criminology lecturer, 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. | Mr Smith, a criminology lecturer, 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. |
| Testing the spelling of the general public | |
| "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. |
| He said he was not asking people to learn to spell words differently. | He 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. |