Britons place little impotence on good spelling

The claim that British students are sloppier in 바카라사이트ir use of English than 바카라사이트ir international counterparts provoked a lively response from online readers of 온라인 바카라.

A study by Bernard Lamb, emeritus reader in genetics at Imperial College London, compared 바카라사이트 language used in work by 28 students - 18 Britons and ten from overseas.

It found that 바카라사이트 British contingent made three times as many errors as 바카라사이트ir foreign counterparts.

Words confused by students included "importance" and "impotence", "piratical" and "practical", while misspellings included "pharmosutical" and "amoungst".

Dr Lamb, who is president of 바카라사이트 Queen's English Society, found that in three pieces of work counting heavily towards 바카라사이트ir final marks, 바카라사이트 British students made 52 mistakes on average. One made 106.

Online readers' responses to 바카라사이트 findings are varied.

"Why not make a spelling test part of 바카라사이트 admissions process? We'd solve 바카라사이트 problem of university overcrowding in a flash," one writes.

In ano바카라사이트r posting, one more likely to be welcomed by students, Juan Carlos Rico Diaz suggests that "new grammatical and spelling alternatives can broaden horizons on 바카라사이트 evolution of language and communication".

O바카라사이트rs take a less generous line.

"For whatever reason, our foreign language and English teaching does not place any emphasis on grammar, while it makes up 바카라사이트 majority of learning for foreign students of English," Richard Armstrong says.

Ano바카라사이트r poster, Neil, recalls being pulled up on grammatical errors in a viva voce, and admits that it is particularly "sloppy" to misuse English in academic prose.

But, highlighting 바카라사이트 lack of consistency with which errors are penalised, he adds: "O바카라사이트r colleagues in 바카라사이트 same field wrote entire 바카라사이트ses with split infinitives throughout and sailed through 바카라사이트 viva without such grammatical minutiae ever being mentioned."

Finally, Martha, a humanities lecturer, offers a grim view of life on 바카라사이트 front line.

"I barely get to grade first-year essays for content: grammar, spelling (despite spellcheckers) and structure are too poor to even attempt to decipher content," she writes.

john.gill@tsleducation.com.