Better Spelling in 30 Minutes a Day (Better English Series)

This is a handy self-help book for the person who either is a horrible speller or gets tripped up by the occasional (not ocaissonal) word. Each chapter gives a diagnostic test on a particular spelling problem: double letters, ei/ie, plurals, apostrophes, etc. If you are strong in a given area, you can skip the exercises and jump ahead to the next section. The book presents some spelling rules that I wish had been explained to me in school; the rule about doubling a final consonant when adding a suffix to a word is elegant. I now understand why "referral" has a double-r and "reference" does not.

I would have rated this book a lot (not alot) higher if there weren't so many typographical errors. Maybe that's one of the hidden bonuses of the course (not coarse) -- you know you have improved when you can spot the misspellings (not mispellings). Here are some examples:

- In one of the very first diagnostic tests you have to determine which of the words is spelled correctly: (a) absence (b) changable (c) enviroment (d) immediatly. They give the answer as *a, c, d,* which is absurd. Only (a) is correct.

- In an exercise to check the correct usage of double letters there is this sentence about a shepherd: "... he swung his star in a wide arc over his head in triumph." This is very poetic, but the imagery eludes me. What they meant to print was *staf* so that you could correct it to "staff."

- Just below that on the page you have to underline the correct spelling in a given pair of words: "2. disc, disk." Well, both are correct; it depends whether you are talking about a CD or a floppy. Further on there is "7. clef, cleft." Again, both are correct; one is a musical sign and the other is a dimpling of the chin. I think they meant to print *cleff* so that you could choose the first word.

- The book twice gives the plural of focus as *loci.* Close, but not quite. The correct spelling is "foci." The other word is the plural of locus.

- In an exercise on homophones there is this sentence: "This is the (site, sight) for the new dotre." Did someone sneak in a hip new internet term? If *dotre* is a word, I'm stumped.

- This example appears in an exercise on the use of apostrophes: "... it is the faculty's ponsibility to change the policies...." Maybe it is hard to proofread a book that is meant to contain deliberate errors, but I'm sure it is someone's responsibility.

I hold back another star for the binding. The spine is very stiff, and the pages don't stay open easily. If you can get the book to lie flat, the pages eventually fall out. Perhaps it was not intended that you keep this book as a reference; having mastered the art of spelling, you can definitely (not definately) throw it away.

Both my father and I used this book to work on our spelling. I was born in the US, and English is my first and only language. Ironically, I am actually an English major. While I could interpret the innerworkings of Shakespeare, I couldn't spell basic English words. I started using this book and my spelling improved incredibly! My father, an immigrant from India, didn't begin to learn English until he was 17 years old. However, by the time he had finished with this book, his spelling was nearly perfect!! This book is great for anyone and everyone!!