Spelling and the internet
Part one
For this exercise you will need access to the Internet. In testing the exercise, we used the Google search engine.
Go to: http://www.google.com.au
Type in each of the words exactly as they are spelled below, and for each write down the number of documents the search engine found with this spelling.
Then use your mathematical skills to work out the percentage for each spelling.
millennium
millenium
milennium
milenium
What are the main mistakes made in trying to spell this word?
“all right” [It is necessary to use the double quotation marks to search for the two words together.]
alright
What does your dictionary say about the spelling alright?
embarrassment
embarassment
embarrasment
What are the main mistakes made in trying to spell this word?
mischievous
mischievious
mischevious
mischeivous
How does your dictionary pronounce this word? What is the most common mispronunciation of the word? Which of the above spellings are probably the result of the mispronunciation?
privilege
priviledge
privledge
priveledge
privilage
privelige
What are the main causes of the misspelling of this word?
definitely
definately
definitly
definatly
definitley
What are the main causes of the misspelling of this word?
accommodation
accomadation
acommodation
accommadation
What are the main causes of the misspelling of this word?
Part two
In the first part of this exercise you searched the Web using Google.
This time we will use Google to search Groups.
What is meant by the term ‘Groups’ in this context?
Go to http://www.google.com
Just below the word Google there is a menu with four items:
Web Images Groups Directory
Choose Groups.
Now repeat the exercise of Part 1 with the words below, but this time searching Groups.
Type in each of the words exactly as they are spelled below, and for each write down the number of documents the search engine found with this spelling.
Then use your mathematical skills to work out the percentage for each spelling.
Is there any significant difference between Web pages and Group pages as far as spelling accuracy is concerned?
How would you explain the differences?
millennium
millenium
milennium
milenium
“all right” [It is necessary to use the double quotation marks to search for the two words together.]
alright
embarrassment
embarassment
embarrasment
mischievous
mischievious
mischevious
mischeivous
privilege
priviledge
privledge
priveledge
privilage
privelige
definitely
definately
definitly
definatly
definitley
accommodation
accomadation
acommodation
accommadation
