- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Hi SkatePixie,
Spelling was my worst subject in school, too. I was so bad that my teachers thought I was faking it just to make them crazy: "You're so smart in math, why can't you spell C-A-T?!"
When I was in the first grade they were just starting to experiment with the "look-say" method of teaching reading, where children are taught to recognize whole words rather than to sound out each syllable. My parents blamed this non-phonetic approach for my difficulties in spelling later on, but I don't know if this is right or not. Everybody is good at some things and not so good at others. I went on on to get a PhD in mathematics and to become a college mathematics professor. But I still can't spell without a dictionary at hand or running spellchecker all the time.
I keep working at it though. Here's a tip that I recently learned. When does a word end in "ence" rather than "ance?"
Answer: if it comes from a Latin verb that ends in "ere" then it's "ence" and if it comes from a Latin verb that ends in "are" then it ends in "ance." My parents made me study Latin in high school just so I would learn things like that.
But it still didn't make me a better speller.
Mathman
Spelling was my worst subject in school, too. I was so bad that my teachers thought I was faking it just to make them crazy: "You're so smart in math, why can't you spell C-A-T?!"
When I was in the first grade they were just starting to experiment with the "look-say" method of teaching reading, where children are taught to recognize whole words rather than to sound out each syllable. My parents blamed this non-phonetic approach for my difficulties in spelling later on, but I don't know if this is right or not. Everybody is good at some things and not so good at others. I went on on to get a PhD in mathematics and to become a college mathematics professor. But I still can't spell without a dictionary at hand or running spellchecker all the time.
I keep working at it though. Here's a tip that I recently learned. When does a word end in "ence" rather than "ance?"
Answer: if it comes from a Latin verb that ends in "ere" then it's "ence" and if it comes from a Latin verb that ends in "are" then it ends in "ance." My parents made me study Latin in high school just so I would learn things like that.
But it still didn't make me a better speller.
Mathman
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