Beat the Spellcheck!
BEAT THE SPELL-CHECKER!
Many students are reluctant to use a dictionary but don’t realise that they have chosen an incorrect word from the spell-check list. A common example of this is “carer” for “career”. Here are a few more which occur frequently in students’ work:
Their/there /they’re witch/which
your/you’re write/right
pour/pore /poor course/coarse
effect/affect beginning/begging
manger/manager our/are
At the start of the year a short handout pointing out these pitfalls may save endless mistakes later, especially if they put it in the front of their folder for instant reference. No doubt there are some subject-specific words that could also be included but keep it brief.
Example
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Manger - box for animal feed |
manager – one who manages a shop or organisation |
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Witch – only used for the woman on a broomstick |
Which - for all other times |
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Our – belonging to us |
Are – we are coming |
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Carer – one who cares |
Career – a job |
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Course – what you are studying |
Coarse – vulgar, rough |
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Right – opposite of left |
Write- pen and paper |
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They’re –if you can put” they are “in the sentence |
There as in here and there. Their if it belongs to someone eg their opinion |
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You’re –if you can put “you are” in the sentence |
Your timetable is ready. |
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Begging – when you beg someone |
Beginning- where you begin |
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Effect – a good paint effect or it will take effect from next week |
Affect – to influence e g I was affected by his kind words |
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Pour- liquid , poor-no money |
Pore - in the skin |
If students are interested in improving their spelling the college has a licence for Spellzone which has a variety of activities to concentrate on a rule or group of similar spellings. The log-in is CCspell and the password is “spelling.”
Also Roger Smith has a very good site relevant to adults who need to improve their spelling at www.spelling.hemscott.net
He offers advice and has interactive activities to practise areas of weakness.