[SPELLING]
No one is able to spell all unusual words on demand. But every one must spell correctly even unusual words in formal writing. The writer has time or must take time to consult a dictionary. The best dictionaries are Webster's New International Dictionary, the Standard Dictionary (less conservative than Webster's), the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (Volume 2 of the Century is the best place to look for proper names), and Murray's New English Dictionary (very thorough, each word being illustrated with numerous quotations to show historical development). An abridged edition of one of these (the price is one to three dollars) should be accessible to each student who cannot buy the larger volumes. The best are: Webster's Secondary School Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls Desk Standard Dictionary, the Oxford Concise Dictionary, and Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
But the student will be spared constant recourse to the dictionary, and will save himself much time and many humiliations, if he will employ the rules and principles which follow.
[Recording Errors]
70. Keep a list of all the words you misspell, copying them several times in correct form. Concentrate your effort upon a few words at a time—upon those words which you yourself actually misspell. The list will be shorter than you think. It may comprise not more than twenty or thirty words. Unless you are extraordinarily deficient, it will certainly not comprise more than a hundred or a hundred and fifty. Find where your weakness lies; then master it. You can accomplish the difficult part of the task in a single afternoon. An occasional review, and constant care when you write, will make your mastery permanent.
After this, and only after this, begin slowly to learn the spelling of words which you do not yourself use often, but which are a desirable equipment for all educated men. See the list under [79]. Concentrate your efforts upon a few words at a time. It is better to know a few exactly than a large number hazily. Form the mental habit of being always right with a small group of words, and extend this group gradually.
Exercise:
Prepare for your instructor a corrected list of words which you have misspelled in your papers to the present time.