intermission-9

Brief Intermission Nine

TAKE THIS SPELLING TEST

Even in the most painstakingly edited of magazines, a silly little

misspelling of a perfectly common word will occasionally appear.

How the error eluded the collective and watchful eyes of the editor,

the associate editor, the assistant editor, the typesetter, and the

proofreader, no one will ever know—for practically every reader of

the magazine spots it at once and writes an indignant letter,

beginning: “Didn’t you ever go to school …?”

Even if you went to school, you’re going to have plenty of trouble

spotting the one misspelled word in each group below. And not one

of these words will be a demon like sphygmomanometer (a device for

measuring blood pressure) or piccalilli (a highly seasoned relish),

which no one would ever dare spell without first checking with a

dictionary. On the contrary, every word will be of the common or

garden variety that you might use every day in your social or

business correspondence.

Nevertheless, you’re letting yourself in for ten minutes of real

trouble, for you will be working with fifty particularly difficult

spelling words. So put on your thinking cap before you begin.

A half-dozen high school teachers who took this test were able to

make an average score of only five proper choices. Can you do

better? Six or seven right is very good, eight or nine right is excellent,

and 100 per cent success marks you as an absolute expert in English

spelling.

Check the only misspelled word in each group.

A: 1–surprise, 2–disappear, 3–innoculate, 4–description, 5–

recommend

B: 1–privilege, 2–separate, 3–incidentally, 4–dissipate, 5–occurence

C: 1–analize, 2–argument, 3–assistant, 4–comparative, 5–truly

D: 1–grammar, 2–drunkeness, 4–parallel, 4–sacrilegious, 5–

conscience

E: 1–precede, 2–exceed, 3–accede, 4–procede, 5–concede

F: 1–pronunciation, 2–noticable, 3–desirable, 4–holiday, 5–anoint

G: 1–wierd, 2–seize, 3–achieve, 4–receive, 5–leisure

H: 1–superintendent, 2–persistent, 3–resistant, 4–insistent, 5–

perseverence

I: 1–accessible, 2–permissible, 3–inimitable, 4–irresistable, 5–

irritable

J: 1–pursue, 2–pastime, 3–kidnapped, 4–rhythmical, 5–exhillarate