What About Your Spelling?

Credited to Laugh A Day

 We've been reviewing the mechanics of writing the past several days. There's no way I can pass up the wonderful world of spelling.

The poster above should bring a smile or a chuckle but, there are many who do exactly what Goofy tells us. If it's too hard, choose another word! 

That is one solution but spelling in today's world should be pretty easy. Write whatever you want and then use Spell Check on whatever program you are using to write. The only problem is that some writers can't be bothered to take the time to do that, so they fly by the seat of their pants and sometimes put misspelled words into their otherwise glowing stories. 

It's a matter of training yourself to do a spell check. I have a button to click here on Blogger and I do use it after finishing a post. It helps me find any misspelled word or a typo. I can't say it is perfect as I've found words that were highlighted that were spelled just fine. Not many but a few. They mark learned as incorrect every time. Why? No thing's perfect, is it? Besides giving other spellings, they have a place to click on ignore, so that is what I do when I use learned.

For some reason, people fall into categories in spelling ability. Some are good spellers while others are abysmal and the rest fit in-between. I was one of the lucky ones in school that found spelling very easy. I learned to read phonetically and I attribute part of my good spelling to that. 

When my brother started school, there was a new school of  thought on reading. No more phonics because 'sight reading' would be the new standard. The poor boy could not spell the simplest words in the early grades and it continued right on through his PHD. I remember my mother testing him on his spelling word list before he left for school. She'd get so frustrated because he could not sound out a word like she had learned to do and so had I. 

Is correct spelling important? You bet it is. Consider what an editor is going to think when he/she receives a submission with myriad misspelled words. More than likely, the piece will never be accepted unless it is so good that the editor is willing to correct the errors. Sadly, that seldom happens in the publishing world today. 

There are rules in spelling, ones we all should have learned in school. The problem with our English language is that there are so many exceptions to the rule! Learning the rules is still not a bad idea. There are plenty of sites online that can help. I especially like 'grammarly' for all kinds of help with words. Take a look at this page for help on the rules of spelling.

Don't be like Goofy and choose another word if you don't know how to spell the one you wanted to use.