Nothing can bring down a beautifully written sentence quite the way a misspelled word can. So today we are presenting the first in a series of intermittent spelling quizzes.<\/p>\n
True, there are many other spelling tests available online. But can you trust them? The Internet, for all the blessings it bestows, is a compulsive fibber that wants you to believe that toilets in Australia flush backwards.<\/p>\n
We checked five online spelling sites, and three were above reproach. As for the other two, one introduced itself like this: \u201cThese lists include 540 of the most frequently misspell words \u2026\u201d Would you have confidence in a spelling website that misspelled misspelled<\/em>?<\/p>\n The other errant site offered a quiz which claimed that \u201cinflammation of the membrane of the brain\u201d is spelled \u201cmeningitas\u201d (should be\u00a0meningitis<\/em>) and that \u201ca precious stone of a sky-blue color\u201d is spelled \u201cturquiose\u201d (the correct spelling is\u00a0turquoise<\/em>, it\u2019s a semiprecious stone, and it\u2019s sometimes green).<\/p>\n Admittedly the sample size was small, but two fishy spelling websites out of five convinced us that we have an obligation to do this right. Our quizzes will be, above all, practical\u2014no snob words or technical jargon.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s get started, and no fair peeking at the answers just below \u2026<\/p>\n 1<\/strong>. The ___ in our county fought in two wars.<\/p>\n A) sherriff 2<\/strong>. Good dental ___ prevents tooth loss.<\/p>\n A) hygiene 3<\/strong>. This is a suggestion ___ of pure frustration.<\/p>\n A) born 4<\/strong>. I think that $50 bill is ___.<\/p>\n A) counterfit 5<\/strong>. The board voted to ___ new standards in language arts.<\/p>\n A) adapt 6<\/strong>. She witnessed the incident ___.<\/p>\n A) first hand 7<\/strong>. ___ lights are ideal for kitchens.<\/p>\n A) Florescent 8<\/strong>. I hope you\u2019re feeling ___ about our agreement.<\/p>\n A) all right 9<\/strong>. I will let you know\u00a0tomorrow, ___?<\/p>\n A) all right 10<\/strong>. Martin Luther King Jr. was inspired by Mahatma ___.<\/p>\n A) Ghandi <\/p>\n ANSWERS<\/strong><\/p>\n 1<\/strong>: C)\u00a0sheriff<\/em><\/p>\n 2<\/strong>: A)\u00a0hygiene<\/em><\/p>\n 3<\/strong>: A)\u00a0born<\/em>. The suggestion is\u00a0born of\u00a0<\/em>(i.e., springs from or is created by) pure frustration.<\/p>\n 4<\/strong>: B)\u00a0counterfeit<\/em>. An exception to \u201ci<\/em>\u00a0before\u00a0e<\/em>\u00a0except after\u00a0c<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n 5<\/strong>: C)\u00a0adopt<\/em><\/p>\n 6<\/strong>: B)\u00a0firsthand<\/em>. The 1969 Random House\u00a0American College Dictionary<\/em>\u00a0lists\u00a0first-hand<\/em>, but by 1980, the American Heritage dictionary, with its panel of experts, had it\u00a0firsthand<\/em>\u2014one word with no hyphen. That is the standard spelling today.<\/p>\n 7<\/strong>: C)\u00a0Fluorescent<\/em><\/p>\n 8<\/strong>: A)\u00a0all right<\/em>. The phrase\u00a0all right<\/em>\u00a0has warded off alright<\/em>\u00a0for countless decades. Despite the fiercest efforts of the semi-educated,\u00a0alright<\/em>\u00a0remains unacceptable across the board in serious writing.<\/p>\n 9<\/strong>: A)\u00a0all right<\/em>\u00a0(see\u00a08<\/strong>)<\/p>\n 10<\/strong>: B)\u00a0Gandhi<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nothing can bring down a beautifully written sentence quite the way a misspelled word can. So today we are presenting the first in a series of intermittent spelling quizzes. True, there are many other spelling tests available online. But can you trust them? The Internet, for all the blessings it bestows, is a compulsive fibber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spelling"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nB) sherrif
\nC) sheriff<\/p>\n
\nB) hygene
\nC) hygeine<\/p>\n
\nB) borne
\nC) bourn<\/p>\n
\nB) counterfeit
\nC) counterfiet<\/p>\n
\nB) adept
\nC) adopt<\/p>\n
\nB) firsthand
\nC) first-hand<\/p>\n
\nB) Flourescent
\nC) Fluorescent<\/p>\n
\nB) alright
\nC) allright<\/p>\n
\nB) alright
\nC) allright<\/p>\n
\nB) Gandhi
\nC) Ghandhi<\/p>\n