Most Brits fail basic spelling test

London, Apr 4 : It seems that millions of Britons will have to retake the spelling lessons they got in school.

A new survey conducted by grammar software firm www.whitesmoke.com has shown that most British people 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 confused by 'definitely'.

Half of the respondents claimed that their spelling was of a good standard.

About two-thirds blamed mobile phone predictive text systems for their inability to spell correctly.

More than one in 10 said they did not think it was important to be able to spell and were also not bothered by colleagues' mistakes.

"It's worrying how weak our spelling has become," the Daily Record quoted spokesman Amit Greener, as saying.

"There is really no excuse nowadays when there are computer programmes to help check grammar, spelling, punctuation and content," he added.

ANI