assignment vs homework

[tulipflower]

How can we differentiate 'assignment' from 'homework'? Can we say in education an 'assignment' is done in the class or at home within a longer period of time (e.g. during a term) but 'homework' is done at home immediately after class?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

How can we differentiate 'assignment' from 'homework'? Can we say in education an 'assignment' is done in the class or at home within a longer period of time (e.g. during a term) but 'homework' is done at home immediately after class?

Homework is done after class, usually at home. You can call it a homework assignment. It might be due at the next class or sometime farther in the future.

A school assignment can be an immediate in-class task or homework.

More generally, an assignment is any task you've been ordered to do.

 

[Yankee]

Timing does not establish a difference between "assignment" and "homework". Homework could be assigned to be completed over an indefinite period of time. Any differentiation with regard to timing should/could be stated when the activity is scheduled.

 

[PeterCW]

In my school days in England we only had homework. "Assigngments" were something mentioned on TV programmes imported from the USA.

My understanding would be that "homework" is a generic term covering anything from revision to writing an essay. An "assignment" would have a specific deliverable".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Timing does not establish a difference between "assignment" and "homework". Homework could be assigned to be completed over an indefinite period of time. Any differentiation with regard to timing should/could be stated when the activity is scheduled.

Right. That's what I was trying to say.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In my school days in England we only had homework. "[STRIKE]Assigngments[/STRIKE] Assignments" were something mentioned on TV programmes imported from the USA.

. . . that you watched while doing your homework!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

PS -

Of course, homework assignment is redundant.

 

[GoesStation]

Of course, homework assignment is redundant.

Not to me. What kind of assignment is it? It's an assignment to do homework. Here's an example of another kind: "My father got an assignment from his boss to write a quarterly report."

 

[emsr2d2]

In my school days in England, we only had homework. "[STRIKE]Assigngments[/STRIKE] Assignments" were something mentioned on TV programmes imported from the USA.

My understanding would be that "homework" is a generic term covering anything from revision to writing an essay. An "assignment" would have a specific deliverable no quotation marks here.

See my corrections above. I'm surprised the inbuilt spellchecker didn't underline "Assigngments" when you posted, giving you the opportunity to go back in and correct it.

 

[PeterCW]

See my corrections above. I'm surprised the inbuilt spellchecker didn't underline "Assigngments" when you posted, giving you the opportunity to go back in and correct it.

Spleechecker?(sic) Well that didn't produce a warning, what spellchecker?

 

[GoesStation]

Spleechecker?(sic) Well that didn't produce a warning, what spellchecker?

Please enable your browser's spellchecker or install one if it doesn't have one built in. Ask a savvy friend or for help if you don't know how. We expect native speakers, especially those with your credentials as a former editor, to post messages that are reasonably free of errors.

 

[emsr2d2]

Spleechecker (sic)? Well, that didn't produce a warning. What spellchecker?

I meant your browser's spellchecker. The one I have enabled in Chrome puts the expected red squiggly line under spleechecker as soon as I type it. It's a lot easier than having to try and proofread your own posts before hitting "Submit". We recommend that all users, native speakers or not, enable it as it can save a lot of time spent on later corrections.

 

[probus]

I've had spellcheck turned off for years because I got fed up with its idiotic auto-corrections and suggestions.

 

[GoesStation]

I've had spellcheck turned off for years because I got fed up with its idiotic auto-corrections and suggestions.

You can disable auto-correct. When I misspell a word, one of the suggestions is almost always right.

 

[Rover_KE]

One small caveat:

A spellchecker will find no fault with

Yew no yore knot aloud too reed allowed inn hear.

 

[probus]

You can disable auto-correct.

That's true, of course, but spellcheck still doesn't suit me because we Canadians tend to use a mix of British and American spellings.

 

[GoesStation]

That's true, of course, but spellcheck still doesn't suit me because we Canadians tend to use a mix of British and American spellings.

Choose "Canadian English" in the spell check's dictionary option.

 

[Rover_KE]

I use Google Chrome and the default spellcheck language is AmE. BrE is not an option.

 

[GoesStation]

I use Google Chrome and the default spellcheck language is AmE. BrE is not an option.

Here's how to add a variety of English.

 

[probus]

Choose "Canadian English" in the spell check's dictionary option.

Thanks for your sincere efforts to help. The fact is, however, that choosing Canadian English does not yield what I consider to be Canadian English. It's been a few years now, and I've forgotten what the problem was. Maybe it was US spellings such as neighbor. Anyway I've settled on Australian English. Among the available choices from Google, that seems to me to be the best aporoximation of my particular variety of English.