GrammarPhile Blog

It’s a good week to celebrate our independence – make that Independence with a capital I. The Declaration of Independence is dated July 4, 1776, but was signed in August of that year by brave patriots who risked their property, possessions and their very lives to start a new nation. Our words today deal with freedom, independence (or lack of it) and rights. Never forget that freedom was and is not free. Long live America!

Select your answer below for each question. When done, you'll see your score and the correct answers.

(Most People Couldn’t)

If you took our most recent spelling quiz and were disappointed with 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. Anchors away/aweigh, my boys!

❌ WRONG – away: The captain isn’t telling sailors to put the anchor in their pocket.

✔️  RIGHT – aweigh: To “weigh anchor” means to lift an anchor in preparation for sailing (and in doing so, you find out how much the anchor weighs, hence the saying). In other words, “Let’s go!”

2. She has a flair/flare for impressing juries.

❌ WRONG – flare: That thing you light when your ship is headed to Davey Jones’ locker or your car is disabled. Please don’t use them in court.

              ✔️  RIGHT – flair: A unique talent or style.

(Most People Can’t)

This is part 3 of a spelling quiz we recently posed to a group of highly educated legal marketing and business development professionals at an annual conference. They were sure they could ace our questions—after all, communication is the foundation of their businesses.

Guess what?

Many of them made mistakes! In fact, many of them made the same mistakes! They were astounded.

So here’s our challenge: See if you can do better. Then tell us about it in the comments.

December 4 was National Cookie Day. Did you miss it? Well, even if you did, let's celebrate anyway. We love a party, especially when sweets are included. How well do you know your cookies? Many of these are traditional Christmas treats. Take our quiz and test your knowledge. 

On this day in 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected 39^th president of the United States. In 1947, Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose flew for the first … and last … time. In 1929, Richard Taylor, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who proved the existence of quarks, was born. In 1889, North Dakota was made the 39^th state, and South Dakota was made the 40^th state. And in 1570, a tidal wave in the North Sea destroyed the sea walls from Holland to Jutland. More than 1,000 people were killed. Do you have what it takes to rise to fame and fortune on your intellect alone? Or are you strictly a flatlander unable to rise to any level of importance in this age of ineloquence? Take our test and find out!

(Most People Can't)

This is part 2 of a spelling quiz we recently posed to a group of highly educated legal marketing and business development professionals at an annual conference. They were sure they could ace our questions—communication is the foundation of their businesses.

Guess what?

Most of them made mistakes! In fact, many of them made the same mistakes! They were gobsmacked.

                    (Most People Couldn’t)

If you took our most recent spelling quiz and were disappointed with 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 of both.

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

1. The facts involved a study in plain/plane geometry.

❌ WRONG – plain: Not decorated, obvious, boring, or ordinary. (We won’t argue that geometry is boring to some people, but that’s not the intended meaning here.)

✔️  RIGHT – plane: “A flat level or surface” in this case. In other words: the study of 2D shapes.

2. He spoke pidgin/pigeon English when he had to.

❌ WRONG – pigeon: It’s feathered, gray-ish, and poops all over buildings and park benches. But pigeons don’t speak an official language.

✔️  RIGHT – pidgin: A simplified speech that allows people speaking different languages to communicate. The word originated from a Chinese corruption of the word “business.” A “creole” is a complete pidgin language, such as Haitian Creole, Gullah, and Jamaican Creole, passed down to the children of adult pidgin speakers, thereby becoming a native language.

(Most People Can't)

We recently posed this spelling quiz to a group of highly educated legal marketing and business development professionals at an annual conference. They were sure they could ace our questions—communication is the foundation of their businesses.

The surprising results?

Many of them made mistakes! In fact, many of them made the same mistakes! They were flabbergasted.

Think you can do better? Have at it (no help from Google or Chat GPT beforehand, though)!

On this day in 1962, the Four Seasons earned their first No. 1 hit with “Sherry.” Frankie Valli had been hard at work trying to become a star for the better part of a decade before the Four Seasons achieved their breakthrough. They had come together as a group in several stages over the previous four years, changing their name in 1961 from the Four Lovers after failing an audition at a New Jersey bowling alley called The Four Seasons. It was keyboard player Bob Gaudio who wrote the song that would launch the group’s career.

Hello, GrammarPhile blog subscriber,

Many of you have not subscribed to our Words! Words! Words! quizzes. So, I thought you might like to see what you're missing. If you'd like to subscribe, please go to the "Subscribe to Email Updates" block to the right and select the Words! Words! Words! subscription. 

I hope you enjoy this quiz. Let me know how you did in the comments section.

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On September 17, 1976, NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10 billion and took nearly a decade. In 1977, the Enterprise became the first space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to a height of 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released, gliding back to Edwards Air Force Base on its own accord. Try our word quiz and see how high you can soar and how far you can glide.