Millions of adults are unable to spell basic everyday words, a study suggests.
Of 2,500 surveyed, 40 per cent could not spell "questionnaire", 38 per cent were *stumped by "accommodate" and 37 per cent were defeated by "definitely".
Around a third of those questioned were unable to spell "liaison", "existence" or "occurrence".
Other simple words which caused problems were "calendar", "embarrass", "library" and "receipt".
Two-thirds blamed their inability to get words right on the predictive text function on their mobile phones.
Despite the embarrassing results, almost a third claimed their spelling was excellent, while 46 per cent said it was good.
Alarmingly, 14 per cent did not think it was important to spell properly, and 11 per cent were not bothered by colleagues' spelling mistakes.
Twenty per cent said they avoided writing documents by hand because their spelling was poor, and 59 per cent said they relied on their computer's spell checker to get things right - even though some are programmed with American English.
Six per cent said their spelling was so bad they had lost a job because of it.
The study was carried out on behalf of www.whitesmoke.com, which provides software to help with English grammar and writing.
A spokesman said: "It's worrying how weak our spelling has become, especially with regard to simple, everyday words.
"It's interesting to see that despite getting basic words wrong, a huge majority still regard their spelling skills as excellent or good.
"It's inexcusable to see badly-written documents in a work environment. If something isn't done in this generation, spelling standards will only decline further."
The Plain English campaign said: "People seem less inclined to consider correct spelling important.
"When we spell words incorrectly, it is bound to cause confusion and make writing more difficult to read."
The 20 simple words Brits are unable to spell:
1. Questionnaire 2. Accommodate 3. Definitely 4. Liaison 5. Existence 6. Occurrence 7. Referring 8. Occurred 9. Millennium 10. Embarrass 11. Calendar 12. Receive 13. Necessary 14. Separate 15. Cemetery 16. Library 17. Accidentally 18. Independent 19. Occasionally 20. Receipt
Sorce: Daily Mail
I admit that the odd word from the list would occassionally create problems for me. My spelling has got worse, the longer I have been living abroad. I have made some embarassing spelling mistakes in the classroom. Once I corrected "restaurant" in an exam paper, while another time I wrote "off course" on the board when I meant to write "of course". Such simple mistakes.
(By the way, I made the above mistakes on purpose!)
*Vocabulary Focus
if you are *stumped you really don't have a clue what the correct answer is.
if you are stuck, you don't know the answer because it is too difficult.
- I'm stuck with number 7. Can you give me a clue?
if you are baffled, you are extremely confused and nowhere near the solution.
- The police are baffled by the murder. They don't have any suspects and can't find any motives.
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