SPAG tests & questions, and language play

[Mad Doug Biker]

One thing I find interesting is that even extremely fluent non-native speakers of English can slip up by mispronouncing common words with odd spellings. Even though they must have heard it pronounced correctly multiple times they cling to pronouncing it as it's written. Probably something to do with how they learned it.

I've definitely noticed it but I can't think of a real example. Imagine someone pronouncing the B in bomb or thumb.

It's a DIEsaster, the CHAsm has OPENed up!

 

[Reynard]

One thing I find interesting is that even extremely fluent non-native speakers of English can slip up by mispronouncing common words with odd spellings. Even though they must have heard it pronounced correctly multiple times they cling to pronouncing it as it's written. Probably something to do with how they learned it.

I've definitely noticed it but I can't think of a real example. Imagine someone pronouncing the B in bomb or thumb.

Admittedly my late male parental unit wasn't as fluent in English as he liked to think he was - despite having been in the UK since 1940, but he was the main culprit when it came to mispronouncing words.

The one that sticks in my mind is the word "armoured" - which he pronounced as ar-mor-ate. Very odd. I was in my teens by the time I realised it was totally wrong... Whoops!

Actually, there's this very intriguing set of UK maps that was produced during the war for Polish soldiers, with the place names written phonetically in Polish. Which if you look at it, you can understand were some of the weird pronunciations came from...

https://mapoftheweek.blogspot.com/2021/02/polish-phonetic-map-of-britain.html

 

[lazybloke]

In two counties - Buckinghamshire (where I’m from) and one other I can’t recall, you did an extra year in middle school and took a 12+ instead of an 11+, then did one less year in secondary school.

I don't know about other regions but in Surrey in the early 80s, we were known as second year students in our first year at Secondary school.

I think they changed it sometime in the mid-90’s to bring everyone on to the same system.

Yep, a year earlier for my children (now in their late teens).

Their English lessons included strict rules about grammar that were completely absent from my syllabus.

I managed 8 in the semicolon test.

 

[lazybloke]

Here's a quick one:

https://global.oup.com/booksites/content/0199296251/testyourself/testyourspelling/

Oh damn, got one wrong (the last one).

 

[briantrumpet]

Oh damn, got one wrong (the last one).

Yeah, me too - those words with arbitrarily omitted letters are annoying!

 

[steverob]

I don't know about other regions but in Surrey in the early 80s, we were known as second year students in our first year at Secondary school.

That must have been the other county I was thinking of then, because we were also called 2nd Year when we started at secondary/grammar level.

In fact we went 2nd, 3rd, 4th, then jumped to Year 11, because they did a big renumbering that year so that it was Year 1 in Primary school and the numbering was meant to be consistent throughout the whole system. Didn't stop everyone still calling us 5th years for the rest of that year (and then Lower 6th and Upper 6th for those who stayed on to do A levels, instead of years 12 & 13).

 

[lazybloke]

and then Lower 6th and Upper 6th for those who stayed on to do A levels, instead of years 12 & 13).

Yep, my youngest starts year 12 in September. The school still call it the 6th form

 

[briantrumpet]

Here's quite a good one, if anyone wants a go. Multiple choice, and time bonuses. No pressure!

https://wordwall.net/resource/3161173/english/year-6-spag

 

[lazybloke]

Here's quite a good one, if anyone wants a go. Multiple choice, and time bonuses. No pressure!

https://wordwall.net/resource/3161173/english/year-6-spag

Even with my reading glasses, and my phone turned to landscape, i couldn't read some of that. Might try again on a laptop & monitor....

 

[Electric_Andy]

8/10. I read up on them the other day; we were never taught them at school

 

[briantrumpet]

Even with my reading glasses, and my phone turned to landscape, i couldn't read some of that. Might try again on a laptop & monitor....

FWIW, if you do the quiz show one, I always think that the final comma before closing quotation marks is silly. And I like a serial ('Oxford') comma in lists.

As much as I like people to be able to write clearly and 'correctly', my suspicion is that the way these tests are framed and prioritised means that it's really hard for teachers to have interesting discussions about the logic of grammar and punctuation, and to make it fun/interesting.