English: Spelling

In spelling questions, you get one sentence, split into four groups of words: A, B, C and D.

On each line there is either one mistake, or no mistake. Your job is to find the group with the mistake in it. If there is no mistake, you choose N.

In GL's papers the lines can be single sentences, or a whole story split into numbered lines, and the mistake always sounds right. The video above and the worked example below work through the same question, with the groups in the same order.

The method

Four steps: read it for the meaning, look at the letters, check the danger spots, prove it or choose N.

Worked example

Find the group of words with the mistake in it. If there is no mistake, choose N.

A. Camping in the woods B. with Zara and Kai was C. an unforgettable D. experiance for us all. N. No mistake

1. Read it for the meaning. Read the whole sentence first: Camping in the woods with Zara and Kai was an unforgettable experience for us all. So it's about a camping trip nobody will ever forget.
2. Look at the letters. Go word by word, reading each group backwards in your head. Two long words need a closer look: unforgettable, and the long word in group D.
3. Check the danger spots. Endings first, because that's where mistakes hide most often. Unforgettable is built on forget. Forget is a whole word, so the ending is able. Now the long word in group D. It should be experience, which ends E, N, C, E. Here it has an A where the E should be. That's the mistake. Sound-alike words next. For sounds like four, the number. Here it means the trip was for us, so it's the right word. Last, double and silent letters. Forget doubles its T before able, and that's right too. So groups A, B and C all pass.
4. Prove it, or choose N. Only choose a group when you can spell its word right yourself. Here you can: experience. N is only for a line where every group passes, and this one has a mistake. So the answer is D.

Answer: D — experiance for us all. (experiance → experience)

Things to watch out for

1. It sounds right. The misspelt word sounds just like the real one, so you won't hear the mistake. Look at the letters, and look hardest at the ending. Experiance, importent and reasonible each have one wrong letter in the ending: they should be experience, important and reasonable.
2. Hard-looking isn't wrong. Long, tricky words that are spelt right are often put in the other groups, to tempt you. Unforgettable is the longest word in the worked example, and it has no mistake. The mistake was in group D. Never choose a group just because a word looks hard.
3. Sound-alike words. A word can be spelt right and still be the mistake, so check what it means in the sentence. In In the final minute, | Keisha's netball team | one the match with | a brilliant goal., one means the number one. But the team won the match: W, O, N. So group C has the mistake.
4. No mistake is a real answer. Some lines have no mistake at all, so you choose N, but only after all four groups pass. In With great patience, | the fisherman waited | in silence for | a bite on the line., group A's patience ends in E, N, C, E, which is right. Group B passes. Group C's silence ends the same way. Group D passes. All four pass, so this time you choose N.

Related

• The complete 11+ question-type guide
• English: Punctuation — the same four groups, checked for marks
• English: Choose the Best Word — pick the word that is correct English and makes sense
• English: Word Classes — the job a word does on its line

All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 25+ learning games, timed mock exams and focused practice. Brainblox is an independent app: not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any exam board, school or assessment publisher, and it contains no past papers.