Commonly Confused Words Test

[mbarker]

Kind of fun (that means I scored well, doesn't it?). Anyway, you can try it at http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-commonly-confused-words-test

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test ...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 87% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

I'm not convinced that 40 questions doth a genius make, but it was fun. And spotting my error in the Expert answers interesting. I'm not sure that I agree that farther is for physical measures, while further is for metaphorical usage, but . . .

Comments

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Beat me on advanced (87%), but not on expert (93%). I haven't figured out how I can do better as an expert than advanced, but I'm sure there's a secret code or something.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

The answer key shows that each question was in a different section. So in theory, someone could get a low beginner grade and high advanced or expert.

[jasini.livejournal.com]

I got the same results as you. I think, though, that what I got wrong was the "awhile" "a while" question.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

In the Baen's Bar Sarah's Diner newsgroup (which is where I saw this), that's one of the discussion points. Several people seem to have tripped over that one, and they are saying it's an English versus American thing?

I can see that

[pakwa26.livejournal.com]

I'm going to turn into one of those really annoying kids from primary school whose mother is a teacher & who whines (sorry, I did it again) "my mother says...". Bill Bryson says, again in his wonderful book 'Troublesome Words', "To write 'for awhile' is wrong because the idea of 'for' is implicit in awhile. Write either 'I will stay here for a while' (two words) or "I will stay here awhile' (one word)." No mention of the divide across the pond or anything. He's a Yank who spent quite some time living with the Poms, so I'd say he'd know.

Re: I can see that

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I think they are just hunting for excuses, myself. Not really thinking about the basis for the test, either, which might help explain differences. Personally, I find it a lot easier on myself to consider identified differences in such tests as opportunities to learn something -- and I may or may not end up agreeing with the identified point.

I don't get it...

[pakwa26.livejournal.com]

Oops, I used that "get" word. Sorry. Let me start again. I don't understand how this can be - I did the HelloQuizzy test & I don't see how can you score 93% in Beginner & 100% in both Intermediate and Advanced? Weird. I didn't even cheat. Was fun though, I actually had to think for some of them. As for 'farther/further', I whipped out Bill Bryson's "Troublesome Words" (ISBN 9780141001357) and he murmurs (sorry, couldn't help myself) "Insofar as the two are distinguished, farther usually appears in contexts involving literal distance ('New York is farther from Sydney than from London') and further in contexts involving figurative distance ('I can take this no further'). But there is, as the OED notes, a large intermediate class of instances in which the choice between the two forms is arbitrary."
Hope this improves your day :-)

Re: I don't get it...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The answer key explains that each question is assigned to one category, so missing one question in Beginner knocks something off there, even if you do perfectly at "higher" categories. Probably shouldn't have used an ordered set of categories, but . . .

I do think that these fine points of word usage tend to be more grey and less black-and-white than people pretend in such tests and guidance. Fun to play, but not all that serious.

Thanks!