STORY: Why is English so hard to spell? There are clear differences between how words are written and how they are said. If English is your first language you may not realize it’s not that normal. In ...
Take a look at the following English words: butcher, squirrel, mortgage, and choir. Does something seem off about them? At one point in time, the words move and love rhymed. So did blood, good, and ...
If you're a kid learning how to write, or an adult speaker of a language with sensible spelling, English spelling can seem like a cruel prank. And even if you're a completely literate adult native ...
When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters. At Vox, our mission is to help you make sense of the world — and that work has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own. We ...
English, whatever its merits as a language, is a bitch to spell. There are so many rules, and so many exceptions, and yet in the end you have to learn a lot of words on a case-by-case basis. If future ...
If you set out to create the most complicated spelling system in the world, then you could hardly do better than English. English spelling was messed about with in the 15th century when it became ...
'Believe', 'separate' and 'surprise' are some of the most commonly used words in the English language yet they are commonly misspelt. Why is that? What's so difficult about spelling English words that ...
Tear in eye your dress you’ll tear. So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer, Pray, console your loving poet, Make my coat look new, dear, sew it? Just compare heart, beard and heard, Dies and diet, lord and ...
In the day and age that we live in, proper English spelling and grammar seem to have taken a backseat for students. With internet lingo and texting ruling the hearts and minds of youngsters, learning ...
Spelling campaigners are taking arms against a sea of troubles in the latest skirmish in a 100-year-old battle to make written English easier to grasp. English-speaking children may take twice as long ...