Simplify spellings, says expert

LONDON: English spelling should be simplified and the apostrophe abolished to avoid wasting time at school, a leading London academic said.
John Wells, emeritus professor at University College London and president of the Spelling Society, said children should not be forced to memorise a wide range of spelling complexities.
Instead, a phonetic approach and the language of text messaging and the internet should be adopted, he said.
For centuries academics and teachers have been divided over how strictly the English language should be preserved. University tutors and examiners have said that even bright A-level students misspell common words, and employers have had to adopt a “three strikes and you are out” rule, in which candidates are allowed two spelling errors in job applications before being rejected.
Professor Wells called for greater freedom to allow phonetic spellings. He told The Times: “It seems highly likely that one of the reasons Britain and other English-speaking countries have problems with literacy is because of our spelling and the burden it places on children.
“Lots of other things are neglected in class because so much time is spent on spelling.”
Learning how to use the apostrophe was also a waste of time. The apostrophe should simply be left out, with “it’s” becoming “its”, or replaced with a space, so “we’ll” would be written “we ll”.
“Text messaging, e-mail and internet chat rooms are showing us the way forward for English,” he said.- London Evening Standard

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