Tag Archives: spelling

Spelling, grammar, and why they still matter

Reading, Writing, Research Posted on by 2

  When I was learning to read and write, I caught on pretty fast, but I can still remember the struggles of some of my classmates. Developing the fine motor skills necessary to form letters neatly is one problem. English spelling is another. We had long lists of words to memorize and be tested on. Drills on spelling, vocabulary, and basic computation skills seem to be disappearing from school curriculums. Why do educational theorists who hobble our teachers’ ability to do their jobs effectively? Perhaps they have forgotten how important basic skills are. Or perhaps they are so intent on raising test scores that they dumb down the curriculum so that the hard things won’t be tested. Or perhaps they even doubt the capacity of children to learn things that they themselves struggled with and should have mastered. Not all professional educators have mastered them. I remember corresponding with a school district office and receiving emails from an assistant district superintendent whose writing should have been an embarrassment to him. How did he advance so far in education? In any case we now have generations of people who don’t spell well and have a weak grasp of basic grammar and … Continue reading →

Improve your writing by proofreading

Reading, Writing, Research Posted on by  

Your first draft needs improvement. After all, it’s unreasonably difficult to decide what you want to say and find the clearest way to express it at the same time. Granted, sometimes it doesn’t matter. On the other hand, if you write to publish anywhere, turn it in for a school assignment, circulate it to colleagues at work, or otherwise send it to anyone who has a right to judge it, set aside your first draft for a day or two. Proofread it and revise it at least once. Professional publishers in the print world usually have copy editors to catch any mistakes you might have made. But not always. Everywhere else, you’re on your own. Use spell checkers, but don’t trust them too much For many generations, people complained about having to know the correct spelling in order to find it. Then came the electronic spell checker. Even the most stripped-down text editors underline suspiciously spelled words in red. More sophisticated word processing programs also point out possible grammatical errors and such mistakes and extra spaces with green underlining. You can also find online grammar checkers. Unfortunately, red does not mean that a word is misspelled, only that it does … Continue reading →