GrammarPhile Blog

(Most People Couldn’t)

If you took part 2 of our most recent spelling quiz and were embarrassed by your score or confused by the answers, this post is for you.

Keep reading for a full breakdown of the right answers, the wrong answers, and definitions/examples of both.

A Breakdown of the Spelling Quiz That Tripped Up a Bunch of Smart Professionals

1. The sad testimony will definitely test one’s medal/metal/mettle/meddle.

❌ WRONG – medal: What Olympians get if they’re in the top three — bronze, silver, and gold. Medals are sometimes made of metal (see directly below).

❌ WRONG – metal: Steel, copper, nickel, bronze, iron, gold, and silver, for example.

❌ WRONG – meddle: This is what the town gossip or your nosy family does. “Meddle” in your affairs. Get all up in your business. Butt in. Ugh!

✔️  RIGHT – mettle: This is the stuff you’re made of: your stamina, grit, temperament, and strength of spirit. Warriors prove their mettle in battle. Parents of toddlers prove their mettle at bed and meal times.

Last week we took you back to high school with an English test that hopefully didn’t bring back any bad memories. Take a look at the answers below to see how you did.

Still feeling exhausted from last week’s exhausting quiz featuring an exhaustive list of easily confused words? Then we’ll get right to the answers! But first, congratulations to Holly Hammond who was the first person to answer all questions correctly. Holly wins a $25 Amazon gift card.

This quiz stumped 91% of those who answered. 9% of respondents correctly answered all ten questions. Now onto the answers.

Let’s see if you’re ready to pick up the Saturday New York Times and conquer every single clue. There were 20% of you who correctly answered all of the questions in last week’s quiz, but Barbara Poole earns bragging rights for being the first to submit her quiz answers and getting them all correct. Very impressive.

Here are the correct responses and explanations, so the next time someone asks you “What’s another word for “sass,” you’ll have the answer.

A big thanks to everyone who took our proofreading quiz last week. Of the 128 respondents, Barb Poole was the only one to answer all 12 questions correctly. For her proofreading prowess, Barb wins a $25 Amazon gift card (and a job with ProofreadNOW.com if she wants it).

The correct answer appears below each question, along with a brief explanation.

Thanks to everyone who took our proofreading quiz last week. Congratulations to Arlene Gregoire, who missed just three of the 51 errors, including some of the sneakiest ones.

The mistakes that tripped up most people appeared in the second and third sentences of paragraph 3: decreases/increases insulin and hyper/hypoglycemic. These errors go beyond basic grammar and punctuation mistakes, many of which Microsoft Word will highlight, and require a closer read to ensure the text makes sense.