Re: Holden/ Spelling,etc.
ellen tyler (dylan811@hotmail.com)
Mon, 13 Sep 1999 14:09:04 -0700 (PDT)
i've tried that, and it works for a while, but as soon as i stop using the
word i forget how to spell it. Or, even if i do use the word a lot, i can
tell you what i do wrong, but i get confused as to what spelling is my own
creation and the real one ( i often spell does dose )
>This is an intriguing subject. Quite a number of years ago,
>International Paper used to publish these little pamphlets on different
>topics regarding reading and writing, each written by a well-known
>writer. Kurt Vonnegut did one on, I think, style. John Irving did one
>on spelling. The cover showed him with those big arms and that muscular
>chest hugging his unabridged dictionary. In his essay, he explains that
>he has a spelling problem, and that what he does is use the dictionary
>to find a word he can't spell (not always so easy if you don't know, for
>instance, that a word spelled "aesthetic," but pronounced in the US,
>approximately, as "essthetic," and you don't know where to start
>looking!), and he makes a mark next to the word.
>
>Then, the next time he needs to use the word, if he looks it up and
>finds that he's already marked it once, he makes a different mark in
>red. If it happens a third time (I'm doing this from memory, so I
>may have it slightly inaccurate), he sets out on a special effort to
>USE the word as often as possible in his written vocabulary, and
>gradually he absorbs it.
>
>I love your English/Latin dichotomy. I've never heard of such a problem
>before!
>
>--tim o'connor
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com