Spelling Doctor

Using to, too, two correctly

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:33:43 +0000

Now Maybe it is a little arrogant of me to assume that this is a simple and straightforward thing for people who have left school to know, but i have been amazed at the amount of times I have seen mistakes where the use to to, too of two is concerned. It would seem as if a lot of people require primary courses in basic English grammar and spelling, even when they are working in full time jobs on a computer every day!

Spelling and grammar are often neglected in the modern day workplace

First of all, lets just clarify what the meanings of each are. Although they sound exactly the same when said out loud, their meanings are varied, so using the wrong spelling is simply wrong altogether. Maybe it is examples such as these which make the English language such a mystery to some foreign learners! To is used when describing an action. For example, I am going TO the shops, or I am going TO get dressed now. Too is used as a quantified measure, to imply that there is a large quantity of something. For example, there are TOO many cars on the road, or there is TOO much sugar in my coffee. Two is a number, which comes after one and before three. I have TWO brothers.

To = prefix to an action

Too = quantitative amount

Two = number

Misuse of these three words, although it does not often lead to confusion for the reader, as it is obvious what was intended, does show a lack of knowledge and understanding of basic language skills on your part. This is why it is very important to get it right and use the correct spellings in the correct places. It does not look good for prospective clients or employers if you do not know how to spell this correctly and you say something like “I used two work for…” or “there are not to many opportunities for people like myself.”

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Constructing the Setting of a Short Story

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:33:05 +0000

The setting is not as trivial a part of any short story, as it appears. Actually, you will need to carefully formulate it, if you intend to make the story have some meat. When writing a shorter story the setting and the way in which you describe it to the reader is very important since you will not have the time or the pages to develop a scene. So in quick time you need to deliver the elements of the setting, namely, the time and place and on top of that you must be specific. You can lay the setting in as little as fifteen lines depending on your writing skills.

What you need to do is to imagine that the short story is really a novel. As the author you may have enough space to describe the valley, the bridge, the weather, and the landscape. You will not have the space to do all of that in a short story.

You can take the approach where you write your setting as you imagine it at first. Begin with what is to be seen, heard, and felt. Then once you have gotten it all down read it over and begin to pare it down into something shorter and more precise.

You can also try to determine the setting and the time you have to write it and then limit yourself to a set amount of lines and do your best to stay within that number. You must be as specific as hr systems when setting the line figure.

Another way you can go about this is to read short stories that have strong settings and try to understand the authors'intent. Then write you setting and compare to what you have written and see if it will evoke the response you are looking for.

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Why sites like Enigin Scam Busters lead the way in good spelling

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:03:04 +0000

Bad spelling and text speak seem to be the way of things these days, but some websites like the Enigin Scam Busters are bucking the trend and leading the way in good spelling. It is easy to take a snapshot glance at the internet and witness the many ways the English language is being abused. ‘LOL’ (Laugh out loud) is a common occurrence as are words like ‘spk’ (speak) and ‘LMAO’ (Laughing my ass off). All of these dumb downs are tragic examples of why it is important to have well written content on a website. As most children learn to read through the internet rather than from a book, the need for accurate spelling and grammar is more important than ever.

Why is Enigin Scam Busters a good example for good spelling?

Phonetically the three words ‘Enigin Scam Busters'appeal greatly from a linguistic point of view. Simply put, they roll off the tongue easily but are of an average challenge to spell. They are certainly not the most difficult words to spell, but they do demonstrate how easy it would be to make a mistake on a simple phrase. As the word ‘Enigin'is not an everyday word people would use, the brain has to engage more strenuously to ensure it spells the word correctly. Because the brain has increased its electrical output, it is funnelling more energy into concentrating on the words. ‘Scam'and ‘Busters'therefore become easier to spell because the brain is engaged.

Good spelling on a site is a good example to set both the current and younger generations

Many people believe that it is merely the newest generation of children who are bad spellers, but they are only learning from the people teaching them – the current working generation. We are the people who should know better and are responsible for designing and writing the content for the internet. We can hardly blame the next generation’s spelling on their ignorance as we are the ones responsible for educating them in the use of proper grammar and syntax. Here at Spelling Doctor, we have been using the Enigin Scam Busters website as a strong example of how to produce well written content with the proper syntax and grammar.

Good content can lead to good spelling education

Enigin is a company that focuses on helping individuals and companies on becoming more energy efficient. As this is now a big topic and an issue close to many people’s hearts, it would be a disaster for Enigin if they had any spelling or grammatical errors on their site. Spelling mistakes are easy to make, especially when you are writing content for things like Enigin Scam Busters where a minor lapse of concentration would cause you to misspell a work accidentally. That is why reputable companies ensure that all their content is reflective of their professionalism. Key to being taken seriously as an individual or business is having the ability to spell!

Spell right and be happy

We may be living in a world where the ability to string a coherent sentence together is fast becoming a lost art. However as long as there are bastions of good spelling on the internet like the Enigin Scam Busters website, we can remain confident that all is not yet lost.

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Spelling Names

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:33:08 +0000

I have never been a spelling bee champion; rather I was the worst in my school. Nearly once a week my school teacher would make me stand in the classroom as a display stand to make me receive the applause from the class for scoring the highest number of spelling mistakes in the spelling test. There was nothing in the whole world that I hated so much as spelling a word. Most students would find Math tuff, but I think for me spelling a word was Math in itself. I remember trying to find a formula to spell words correctly, obviously none of it worked and I continued to remain the worst word speller in my school.

Things have changed now. I don’t have to write on a paper anymore. I have the enterprise version of Microsoft office installed on my laptop. Every time I make a spelling mistake it underlines the word and all I have to do is right click on the word and select the word that I wanted to type. However, there is still a problem that I face and that is spelling names. Unfortunately Word does not cover all the names, mostly just the most popular ones. I work in the tourism industry and I am always surrounded by names, sometime of people and sometimes of places.

Over the period of time I have found some methods that could be used to spell names correctly. When it comes to names, or for that matter any word, pronouncing them correctly is the key. When it comes to words we normally pronounce it correctly, but when it comes to names, especially new names, we may spell it wrong because we pronounce it incorrectly. Checking with people around whether you are pronouncing the name correctly can help you to find the right pronunciation. Once you find the right pronunciation, say the name loudly and break it into syllables. As you break it into syllables, write the alphabets that you hear and you will have the right spelling. If you are still unsure, then in case of the name of a place you can check online and in case of the name of a person, ask the person. Happy spelling names!

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When is it OK for spelling to be bad, wrong or misused?

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:33:08 +0000

Believe it or not, but there are a number of cases in which it is perfectly acceptable to misuse and abuse spelling. These cases, however, are few and far between and subject to specific rules! So don’t go trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes with that game of Scrabble…

Here, now, is the definitive guide to how to use wrong spelling as a way to enhance your work:

1) Made up words and how a writer can use them: in academic work or most mainstream fiction, you should know by now that there are very few opportunities to slip up when writing in the third person (He, She). However, if you’re writing from the perspective of someone – as in with first person POV – then you can feel free to experiment with miss-spelling, or comical spelling as a real device to engage the reader. Such instances might include the following example: a book written from the perspective of a 14 year-old mentally challenged girl. Seeing the world through her eyes, it’s possible and only right to take liberties with language.

…By changing and morphing language, they create an exciting feeling that anything is possible…

2) In rhyming: poets sometimes invent or misuse words and in doing so create an interesting and charming effect. Say, for example, a poet was commissioned to create a poem about ortak rings . In this case, he or she might be striving to increase interest about the rings – as per the reason for them being hired – and so using words which flow and create interesting imaginative visions is favoured rather than prohibited. This could result in sales and much interest in the rings themselves. Sometimes, doing things a bit differently by breaking the rules means both fun and profit!

3) Play on words, a classic in fiction: some writers do brilliant, almost magic things with the abuse of words. By changing and morphing language, they create an exciting feeling that anything is possible. Word play can also be fun for writers of children’s fiction, as children are much more open to having fun with their language rather than complaining that some specific rule has not been adhered to.

4) Company copy and advertising: sometimes, advertising needs to pack a punch. It must both stimulate someone to think about something, as well as asking them to reach into their pocket! Word play and the like is a fantastic thing in direct mail too. It shows daring, a thirst for progression and an ability to have fun while also being effective.

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Reading Over Mobile Apps

admin — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:03:03 +0000

Many of the people dealing with language purification (those Oxford-fashioned dictionary researchers) feared that the age of technologies would de-personalize the language - we have grammar checking software, we hardly use hand writing anymore and the way we communicate include an enormous quantity of ’rephrased'expressions. However, apparently the people developing all these technologies are making up their own solutions to the problems they are creating. And despite created for children, the software to be discussed is also a good way for adults to refresh their language skills.

The mobile apps for proper reading, the best of which is developed by Nokia, allow your children to quickly comprehend the so called ’lessons'in the rich text reading app. It is easy to transfer the app through other Nokia phones as well - it can be done through an email, over a R4 memory card, through Ovi Store link etc. But once started, the app would definitely catch the attention of your child. Grammar rules are implicated into the text itself so that the child would quickly develop of habit recognizing grammar rules within the text.

The rich text is combined with original design. Elmo, the plush toy from Sezam Street series would be aiding your kids to understanding the mechanics of reading. Combining speech with action and other cartoon heroes would make reading from the Interactive Rich Reading text application a pleasure for your children. And this is he best way of making them read and remain entertained.

Developing such software might be a solution to many problems and might solve some of the problems we are experiencing due to the decay of paper-based learning approaches and reading materials.After all we are moving towards a more modern world and would need to somehow adjust to it. Losing the paper book might be a tragic loss but it is a replaceable resource.

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Why your spelling matters

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:33:05 +0000

I am one of those irritating people who is always saying how spelling matters. I can’t help it, it’s in my blood and in my genes. But you know what? I really don’t care. I love spelling and grammar and the English language, and I will stop at nothing to get my message across! (I realise that makes me sound a lot like a hardcore religious fanatic, but so be it.)

The following advice I have here is, I won’t lie, inspired by my friend Dan who is a graduate of

The Bristol Language Centre English School . As a graduate he knows and has fresh in his mind a lot of things which a stale and bitter person like me has long forgotten, so thanks Dan, the inspiration was great!

without good spelling and grammar, you will find it harder to communicate

Spelling matters because people won’t take bad spelling seriously: what will happen is people will laugh at your bad spelling and find it amusing that you are hopeless. If they don’t take your spelling seriously then it is highly unlikely that they will take you seriously. This leads to the obvious problem of not getting that job you wanted, or impressing in the way that you intended to.
Spelling matters because that is often the first thing people know about you in a work situation: want that job? You had better have a good CV. Send in a rubbish CV, riddled with typos, and you are in trouble. In fact, I’d be surprised if the CV got further than the desk. Chances are that it will go straight in the bin or worse, the shredder…
Spelling matters because without good spelling and grammar, you will find it harder to communicate in life: this is the worst thing of all and something to avoid at all costs. Communication is part of everything, from work to friendships to…well, literally EVERYTHING. If you can’t communicate then you are at a severe disadvantage and that really is not the way to go, my friend!
Spelling matters because it means you can be efficient: do you really want to waste your time and others'by being slack on spelling? Every time you send an email with poor spelling and grammar, it takes twice as long to get read and be mentally processed. This leads to inefficiency and slowness. Basically, it’s not good.
Spelling matters because it is part of every day life and you need it for work: if you want to perform at your best then you simply must have a handle on it!

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How to use capitals, italics and bold

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:11:27 +0000

Recently, very recently, in fact, I have noticed a determined increase in the way authors are using capitals and italics and bold. I wouldn’t normally go into detail and write a whole article about this, but in this case I think it is necessary: the point is that some authors – especially indie authors who don’t have access to an editor, and are possibly a bit too concerned about other people reading their work – have next to no idea about how to use these important grammatical tools. When used well, they are powerful, but when used badly…well…let me see…results can prove disastrous…

Capitals: capitals are one of those things. They can either add to the effect of a piece of writing or irritate you beyond belief. My motto? Don’t overuse. And remember that capitals amount to screaming, so when you write a lot of capitals, you’re going to exhaust your reader and potentially make them close the book to get away from all that noise…

it’s certain that any skilled writer can do what they please – providing they can justify it

Otherwise, capitals can be used occasionally when a character wants to make a point. This has been done in many novels, and allows a writer a way of defining a word without having to use italics. Now, here’s about italics…

Italics: italics are really fascinating things, I think. You can say: I went to see the hybrid cars and it’ll indicate that went has some specific tone, or you can leave it plain and make that tone invisible to the reader. Both are powerful ways of getting your message across. Not only that but they also reveal crucial details about how a character uses sarcasm and humour in their everyday speech.

Bold: bold is possibly one of the trickiest things to use in a novel or work of fiction, the reason being that bold doesn’t really have many relevant uses. Where it does come in handy, though, is if you are writing a first person novel. In this case you can use bold as the character who is narrating wishes, which opens up a lot more possibilities than when you are writing in third-person point of view (or as it’s known in the trade, POV).

Of course, these are only my opinions, and it’s certain that any skilled writer can do what they please – providing they can justify it and not make the reader want to throw their book straight through a double-glazed window.

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Interpretation in writing

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:11:40 +0000

All these sentences are slightly different in tone, and, therefore, effect. There are literally sometimes dozens of ways to write the same sentence

I am annoying – I know that for a fact, and to anybody reading this article I doubt it will come as much of a surprise! I ask too many questions — especially about technical things that most people couldn’t care less about… — quiz people who don’t want to be quizzed, and generally annoy people. Yep, that’s me. One thing which really annoys people is when I quiz them about what they really want their writing to mean and suggest (I’m talking about writing friends, here…sometimes people with way more writing experience than me, too). Because, if you ask me, there are different ways to write the same thing. There doesn’t always have to be one right answer; in fact, sometimes there can be more than a few and you need to be aware of how they might come across. Well, if you ask me, anyway. The comma needs to be in the right place, you know! Some people still care about that kind of thing!

Look at this example: David went for a wander on the beach and, stopping to pick up a supremely shiny stone, he gazed out to sea and thought to himself Oh dear, it would seem that man is drowning. It’s a shame I can’t swim!

Now look at this next example: David went for a wander on the beach and stopping to pick up a supremely shiny stone he gazed out to sea and thought to himself Oh dear, it would seem that man is drowning. It’s a shame I can’t swim!

And now this: David went for a wander on the beach and, stopping, to pick up a supremely shiny stone, he gazed out to sea and thought to himself Oh dear it would seem that man is drowning. It’s a shame I can’t swim!

See what I mean now? All these sentences are slightly different in tone, and, therefore, effect. There are literally sometimes dozens of ways to write the same sentence. It isn’t that one way is righter, it’s just that commas can be great to slowing the writing down, or speeding it up to make a point. Sometimes they are used – as my pal rowan dartington goes on about – as you would in a conversation. This adds impact and dramatic effect when the pause occurs.

Which is why you always need to pay attention to the message you are getting across!

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Spel It Rite

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:17:46 +0000

Most people don’t think twice about spelling mistakes most of the time. The attitude prevalent amongst most workers is %u2018well you know what I meant’. Yet this cavalier approach to language is costing the internet business millions in lost revenue according to online entrepreneur Charles Duncombe. Mr Duncombe recently gave an interview to the BBC whereby he pointed out the fact that poor spelling on websites and blogs puts consumers off.

The rise of email and the internet is partly to blame for this, but the bigger cause of poor spelling comes from younger generations not reading enough. More and more UK workers enter the market without knowing how to spell often very simple words. The reliance on spell checker has made us all lazy but there is an entire generation out there who would not know how to construct a proper sentence without the spell check facility turned on. Mr Duncombe backs up his claims by reminding us that 99% of the time whenever a company is trying to sell something to a consumer online it is through the written word. Images will accompany adverts of course, but it is always the word that will communicate the core information the consumer needs to make a decision over whether or not to buy a service or product.

Text speak is another big culprit for causing the degradation of spelling ability across the globe. Terms like %u2018lol’ (laugh out loud) have become common place amongst the text generation and it is rare to receive a message that doesn’t have at least several spelling mistakes and coded acronyms included. Terms like payg mobile broadband are as common place as full worded sentences are. Email communication and texts are being written so fast that spelling mistakes have become socially acceptable. A poorly worded email from the boss is taken as nothing more then a simple eccentricity rather then a terrible grasp of grammar or lack of concern over sentence structure. By allowing these mistakes to become common place in society, we have set an extremely bad example to the next generations learning to read and write. It becomes even more embarrassing when you see examples of spelling bee champions who are barely older then 11 showing us all how it should be done.

How do we fix our spelling problem then? The answer is simple; we all need to read more books. Our children need to be encouraged to read as much as possible when growing up and parents need to take the time to read books with their kids together. Only by doing this will the spelling crisis begin to recede. As for spelling in the workplace, responsible managers should take the time to construct their emails properly before sending. Text speak should be dissuaded and proper sentence structure and grammar encouraged.

Spell it right indeed!

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