Chapter 2 -- Words are our friends. Treat them well. We tell a friend who is on a no-carb diet that carbohydrates are our friends. She agrees, but continues to abstain from carbs. OK, it's her diet. We are not offended. Here's a similar message for writers, and it will be hard to disagree: Words are our friends, and we must treat them with respect by spelling them right and using them properly (grammar). Many smart people were born without the spelling gene. Lucky for all of us we have so many things available to help spell words the right way: Dictionaries. Style manuals. The Internet. A friend who can spell and agrees to proofread what we write. Also, rhyming phrases that help us remember ("i" before "e" except after "c"; I lie down now; I lay on the couch yesterday; I have lain in bed until 10 a.m. many times before). With all the help available, we can think of no good reason to make spelling or grammatical mistakes in work you do for school, or letters you write to grandma, your best friend or your girlfriend. OK. It isn't easy, and no one can teach you in a few hundred words how to spell correctly. For one thing, no one knows how to spell everything. But what we can do here is show what has worked for other people, and you can teach yourself what others have learned. People who read books and magazines and newspapers and the sides and backs of cereal boxes -- in other words, everything they can find -- often gain an extra benefit without even knowing they are getting it. They subconsciously learn how to spell words the right way. They look up words they don't know. Sometimes they do this to increase their knolege, and sometimes they do it to catch anothr writer's errorsg. (Did you catch ours?) The good thing is that they are reading and finding answers to what they don't know. This is fundamental. But reading will not necessarily create good spellers. If you know you have a spelling weakness, you will have to figure out what works best for you to shore it up. Some people use a word-a-day calendar. These handy items offer pronunciations and definitions of words, in addition to teaching the correct spelling. Some people carry a dictionary with them wherever they go. Others are just aware they have the problem and figure out their own way to overcome it. If you have gotten this far and still don't believe spelling is important, then know this: Even if you think you will never write anything longer than a memo or a two-paragraph letter, you will still need to know how to spell. Do you want to send a one-sentence memo to your boss or your colleagues with words misspelled? One more thing you should know, especially if you're planning on entering the job market. Many employers will require you to pass a spelling test before they hire you. Really. Below is a test you might take as a potential employee. See how you do. We won't be grading it (look up the words in your dictionary if you're unsure) but there is a scale following the test that lets you know how you did. You also will find the addresses of a few online sites that will help you improve your spelling. It's just a beginning. Create your own library of spelling and grammar helps, if you are interested in writing for a living. For those of you who are now asking, "What about the spelling and grammar checking tools on this computer?" our advice is to run your own name by it and see what it does. Spelling check is a good tool for making sure you didn't leave the second "i" out of liaison. Use it first or last, certainly not only. Nothing beats proofreading your work once, twice, three times! And looking up in the dictionary the words you really don't know.
SCALE 1-2 wrong=A...You rock!! 3-5 wrong=B...Nothing wrong with a solid B 6-7 wrong=C...Check your work four times 8 or more wrong...Always carry a dictionary! Check out these sites: http://www.m-w.com/home.htm http://www.yourdictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com http://www.onelook.com http://www.webopedia.com (for people who want to be more Internet-savvy) http://www.theslot.com/books/stylebooks.html NEXT CHAPTER: Getting the idea? (Or, "Where do ideas come from?") |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||