Spelling Diagnostic Test

The purpose of this examination is not only to determine how good a speller you are, but also to help you see what kinds of spelling errors you make and therefore what you must do to remedy your troubles.

Section 1

In this section of the examination, questions 1-25, circle "a" or "b" to indicate whether the first or second choice is the correct spelling.

Example: (a) b The test is too/two long.

1. a b Sports on television give everyone incentitive/incentive to participate in a healthier life.

2. a b It is extreamly/extremely doubtful that electronic media will replace books.

3. a b Autombile companies/companys have been successful with cars run by wind.

4. a b The world now posesses/possesses a great natural fuel that it is ignoring.

5. a b What is dreamed of today may be a reality tommorrow/tomorrow.

6. a b Most roommates/roomates are content merely to endure each other.

7. a b Computer technology will eventually replace books and cause national illiteracy/iliteracy.

8. a b Religion and literature have become similar in the past/passed few years.

9. a b The first idea that ocured/occurred to me was that this was the end of the world.

10. a b Gas shortages and pollution will therefore/therefor become more common.

11. a b Most students do not know that we are makeing/making a mountain out of a molehill.

12. a b When the reciever/receiver is placed on the hook, the conversation ends -- fortunately.

13. a b Television has had a bad effect/affect on the importance of the written word.

14. a b Everything some athletes/atheletes do, even if it is illegal or immoral, is approved by the most avid fans.

15. a b Oil companies will have to shift their/they're business to solar energy.

16. a b The telephone is still prefered/preferred to the personal letter.

17. a b People enjoy movies on many different occassions/occasions, but they usually go for relaxation.

18. a b Todays/Today's films are not always an art form.

19. a b Is the newspaper becomming/becoming obsolete? I think so.

20. a b In the newspaper you can get the complete story from beginning/begining to end.

21. a b The dangers of atomic energy are awesome to ecologicaly/ecologically minded people.

22. a b There/Their are among both conservationists and business people some radical thinkers.

23. a b Opponents must not critisize/criticize each other if they are to settle the problem.

24. a b Plans are already beginning to develope/develop that have the best features from both camps.

25. a b Before the candidates go further/farther into their discussion, they should attempt to reconcile their differences.

Section 2

In the blank space write the letter indicating the misspelled word. If there is no word spelled incorrectly, leave the space blank.

Example: c (a) too (b) again (c) nite (d) leaf

26. _____ (a) amoung (b) loneliness (c) losing (d) grammar

27. _____ (a) conscious (b) prejudice (c) discribe (d) controversy

28. _____ (a) persue (b) government (c) criticism (d) equipped

29. _____ (a) business (b) experience (c) choose (d) exist

30. _____ (a) appear (b) surprize (c) excellent (d) argument

31. _____ (a) rhythm (b) decision (c) analyze (d) reciept

32. _____ (a) posess (b) embarrass (c) conscience (d) acquire

33. _____ (a) controlled (b) probably (c) conscience (d) practicle

34. _____ (a) comparative (b) consistent (c) priviledge (d) forty

35. _____ (a) exaggerate (b) imagination (c) aquaint (d) definitely

36. _____ (a) perfessor (b) succeed (c) similar (d) shining

37. _____ (a) similiar (b) procedure (c) prominent (d) repetition

38. _____ (a) begining (b) prevalent (c) referring (d) height

39. _____ (a) who'se (b) accommodate (c) weird (d) disastrous

40. _____ (a) worshiped (b) suppress (c) propaganda (d) ninety

41. _____ (a) together (b) totally (c) hindrence (d) adolescence

42. _____ (a) abundence (b) commission (c) fundamental (d) roomate

43. _____ (a) possesses (b) equality (c) enemies (d) goverment

44. _____ (a) operate (b) price (c) opinion (d) opportunity

45. _____ (a) permanent (b) liveliness (c) altogether (d) curiculum

46. _____ (a) vacuum (b) delt (c) maintenance (d) technique

47. _____ (a) fulfill (b) apparatus (c) cemetery (d) warrent

48. _____ (a) tradgedy (b) tomorrow (c) lives (d) heroine

49. _____ (a) perceive (b) believe (c) foreign (d) retrieve

50. _____ (a) predjudice (b) grammar (c) persistent (d) referring

Section 3

In the blank space write only the letters indicating the correctly spelled words. Some spaces may be left blank; in some cases you need to fill in more than one letter. Your task is to indicate which words are spelled correctly.

Example: c (a) realy (b) truely (c) absolutely (d) organicly

51. _____ (a) absebce (b) changable (c) environment (d) immediatly

52. _____ (a) acceptance (b) changeing (c) equipment (d) ignorence

53. _____ (a) acommodate (b) choose (c) excape (d) guarentee

54. _____ (a) analyze (b) alcohol (c) appearence (d) definate

55. _____ (a) defendent (b) couteous (c) sophomore (d) hypocrisy

56. _____ (a) library (b) professor (c) really (d) vengance

57. _____ (a) fourteen (b) forty (c) ninth (d) ninety

58. _____ (a) surprise (b) primative (c) probably (d) unnecesary

59. _____ (a) prominent (b) maintenence (c) irrelevent (d) syllable

60. _____ (a) audience (b) dilemma (c) hypocracy (d) dominant

61. _____ (a) alright (b) embarrass (c) foreign (d) gost

62. _____ (a) discribe (b) dissappearance (c) hurriedly (d) dependent

63. _____ (a) calender (b) cemetary (c) benefited (d) height

64. _____ (a) guidence (b) heroes (c) elligible (d) pronounciation

65. _____ (a) interupt (b) inventer (c) mathmatics (d) medecine

66. _____ (a) iresistible (b) irresistable (c) presistant (d) ommitted

67. _____ (a) reccommend (b) releave (c) relligion (d) sargeant

68. _____ (a) misuse (b) rescheduleing (c) coperate (d) arrangment

69. _____ (a) inteligent (b) permanent (c) singling (d) trafic

70. _____ (a) wierd (b) verticle (c) vilain (d) writing

71. _____ (a) persue (b) license (c) naturaly (d) reccommend

72. _____ (a) proffessor (b) personell (c) procede (d) publickly

73. _____ (a) quanity (b) grusome (c) humorous (d) exagerated

74. _____ (a) tradgedy (b) niether (c) succede (d) inoculate

75. _____ (a) discipline (b) eighth (c) employee (d) vacume

Section 4

This rather ridiculous paragraph is part of a slightly edited advertisement for a series of booksthat taught young people of the 1920s how to develop manner and social graces. It was dictated to a number of students to see which words would be misspelled. One student misspelled at least one word in almost every line. You are to proofread his paragraph, find the missspelled words, and spell them correctly in the left margin.

A Tuna Fish Sandwich Again!

76. _______________ By her third date with him, she was allready

77. _______________ in love. Concerned about its affect on him,

78. _______________ she wore her best frock, hoping to acheive

79. _______________ the impression that she was never embarased. She wanted to facinate him or at

80. _______________ least make him like her, at least just a little.

81. _______________ Across the table at the restaurant from him

82. _______________ she saw him smile at her. She felt the benifit of his confidence. She smiles back self-

83. _______________ consciencely at him. What wonderful,

84. _______________ noticable poise he has! What complete

85. _______________ self-posession! If only she could be so

86. _______________ thouroughly at ease!

87. _______________ Now, the most embarrassing part of there

88. _______________ evening. Her fears are exagerated; now she

89. _______________ must order from the menu of foriegn foods.

90. _______________ she hopes she will perform better than last time.

91. _______________ The waiter approaches. He has a prominant

92. _______________ nose, and he definately is trying to scare her

93. _______________ and he knows he will succede. She looks at the menu. She frowns. Now that she

94. _______________ is dinning out, she knows she should

95. _______________ order something fancy. She hears

96. _______________ her voice saying "A tuna fish

97. _______________ sandwich, please." Horofied she thinks, "He will think I can't order."

98. _______________ It was on that ocassion that Amelia

99. _______________ made a decision. Since this had occured

100. _______________ to many times before, she decided to buy that famous book, How to Be Successful With the Opposite Sex.

Crosby, Harry H. and Robert W. Emery. Building College Spelling Skills, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1981, pp. 7-12.