Forties People

It could be back to school time for millions of adults after a spelling test showed that many of us do not know how to spell basic everyday words.

Some 40 per cent failed to correctly spell 'questionnaire', 38 per cent were stumped by 'accommodate' and 38 per cent were baffled by 'definitely'.

The quiz, consisting of 20 common words, revealed that 'calendar' was spelt wrong by 19 per cent, 20 per cent were clueless when it came to spelling 'embarrass' and 'referring' drew blanks from 28 per cent.

But despite these shocking results, almost a third reckoned their spelling was excellent and another 46 per cent claimed it was of a good standard.

Two-thirds of the 2,500 people aged between 18 and 60 who took part in the test blamed their inability to get words right on mobile phone predictive text speak.

The study also gave an insight into the number of people who believe that their poor spelling skills are having an effect on their lives.

One in five admitted avoiding handwriting documents because their spelling is so bad while 59 per cent said they rely heavily on their computer's spellchecker.

A spokesman for the Plain English Society said: 'People seem less inclined to consider correct spelling important.'

Amit Greener, of English writing software firm WhiteSmoke which carried out the study, added: 'It's worrying how weak our spelling has become.'

This article recently appeared in the Metro, how true it is, we recently had a client looking for an Administrator and during the audio test half of the candidate failed on the spelling. We all seem to relay on spell checks these days, but Forties People still see lots of spelling mistakes in CV’s. You need to check your CV and be careful when filling in an application form.