I get annoyed about US spelling being taught or expected/ insisted upon, in Canadian schools. When I was in college, years ago, we were told to spell the US way. I went to Centennial College, the Warden Woods campus which is gone now. My nieces attend school in Newmarket and are taught US spelling. If they (or myself in college) don’t spell the US way our words are marked wrong. In college I had to write very well in order not o have a failing grade – because I refused to spell the US way in Canada. I still refuse.

This site is going to be about Canadian spelling and Canadian things in general. I love being Canadian. I was born here, though I have travelled, I still like Canada the best.

From SuiteU. Saved before it disappears. More pages of links were included back to the course writer's topic on Suite101 but all of those links were 404 so I have not tried to include them.

Linguistics & Semantics
By Antonella Sartor

Introduction

Have you never asked yourself what is the real meaning of 'language'? (linguistics) Why the words change? (the semantic change) Why one word is pronounced in this way? (phonetic/phonology) What differentiate the languages of world, for example, English from Italian or English from French etc? (phonological rules) Which rules are necessary for word formation or sentence formation? (morphology and syntax) What rules govern people's behaviour? (pragmatics and speech acts) How can we analyse a poem, a critical essay, a piece of narrative passage?(textual analysis) Which rhetorical figures are the most important? (metaphor, metonymy, connotation, denotation, simile etc) …more

This is a free ecourse which was part of Suite101 University. This part of their site is being removed soon. I wanted to keep the ecourses available. There is a lot of information in the courses. It is a shame to lose a great resource.

Basic Grammar Skills

By Janet Blaylock

Introduction

This course is a basic grammar course that will help anyone who is interested in improving their punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. The exercises and tests will help increase your skills in these areas and help you to discover your weak areas as well as your strong areas. As a result of increasing your basic grammar skills, you will write more effectively. The list of reference books are for your information. They are not required for the course. I have found them valuable in understanding grammar. These books will also help you to learn how to write term papers and other papers that you are required to write if you attend a college to receive a degree in a specific field. …more

How tough are you on your own spelling, grammar, punctuation and typos? I think everyone should be watching for mistakes. Whether English is your first language or not, if you are using English you should be able to have basic skills. At the very least you should not be letting stuff get by that spellcheck would have caught. Spellcheck isn't perfect but it does know quite a bit. Why would anyone choose to ignore it or not use it at all?

I do think we are all going to have mistakes at some point, however. Unless you are an English major in university or a paid editor somewhere, we are all going to miss something somewhere. Do your best, use the tools at hand and proofread, self edit and get a friend to check it over now and then. Another person might catch something you don't realize you are missing.

How are you on proofreading your own writing? Are you your worst grammar Nazi nightmare or do you tend to be pretty casual about it all?

Quoted from Darice de Cuba posting to the 9Rules Blog:

I would like to note that I don’t like what they call grammar nazi’s. Mistakes happens all the time and unless you have an editor or two going over your posts you should not be too hard on yourself.

A blog about ampersands. So what you ask? & what you should say!

A scribal abbreviation for and. Derived from the Latin word “et.” I like the ampersand. I think it is often the most attractive character of them all. This blog is an attempt to give this humble ligature the respect it deserves.

Go forth and watch for & in your everyday. Take a photo and send it in to the Ampersand Blog.