Her 1998 survey in Parade magazine’s ‘Ask Marilyn’ column garnered more than 42,000 responses.
The survey responses indicated better organizational skills benefit spelling ability rather than intelligence. However, Vos Savant realizes inept spellers can look inept in other ways. A misspelled word can kill a job offer or result in a rejected proposal.
She also states that an English-speaking perfect speller doesn't exist. However, in her book, after recounting the ‘madness’ of English and its inherent spelling difficulties, she shows the reader how to improve spelling skills. If you are a top-notch speller, you may avoid some words because you are uncertain about the correct spelling. Vos Savant challenges you to overcome your unease and become an even better speller. If you are a self-confessed ‘bad’speller, she explains in this book a systematic, logical way to become an accomplished speller.
First, the madness. Vos Savant takes her readers through a whirlwind tour of English language development, William Caxton and the first printing press, spelling practices and research, brain structure, neuron networks, learning styles, psycholinguistics, and how new technology has affected spelling. She also covers some of the simplified spelling reform movements.
After the reader is thoroughly amazed he or she can spell at all given the complexities of the English language, Vos Savant moves on to the secrets of good spellers. This section begins with a delightful quote from British author A.A. Milne: ‘My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.’
Good spelling requires demanding proofreading habits. Vos Savant quotes Claudia Sorsby who wrote Spelling 101 as saying, ‘No one knows how to spell every word, but everyone is capable of checking their work.’
Vos Savant recommends studying words by looking at the root word, finding other words within words, and looking at words before and after the dictionary entry to discover words with the same root word. She suggests writing several times a troublesome word as well as typing it so it will be imprinted in your ‘muscle memory.’ In turns out your teachers were right when they had you write 10 times all your misspelled words from your spelling tests.
She lists common roots, common prefixes and suffixes, commonly confused homophones as well as 500 commonly misspelled words.
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