PAGE CONTENTS

The many word lists that come with the registered version of the program.

Using word lists

• List format

Creating word lists

• Word list editor

USA spelling

• USA spelling lists

Oz/UK spelling

• Oz/UK spelling lists

Adult spelling

• Adult spelling lists

Child/school spelling

• Child lists
• School lists

Medical terms

• Medical word lists

Police terms

• Police word lists

Personal Best Spelling

• Order form

USA version

Download or on CD. Orders

Australian/UK version

Download or on CD. Orders

Learn to Read in Nine Easy Steps

Personal Best Spelling Word Lists

Using word lists

Personal Best Spelling comes complete with hundreds of word lists when the program is registered. Unregistered, the program contains some word lists for demonstration purposes only.

The program has to be registered before you can use these word lists. Instructions for registering the program and installing word lists are contained in the FAQ page.

There are hundreds of word lists for adults and for children; for U.S. and U.K./Oz spelling conventions; and for various professional groups like medical practitioners and police officers. New lists are provided, from time to time. All lists are free to download and use by registered users of Personal Best Spelling.

For convenience, most word lists lists are organised into categories, e.g., nouns; specific areas of professional practice, e.g., neurology; words that typically cause spelling problems (demons); and so on.

Please note the following details about these lists:

• Lists are zipped text files (ASCII DOS TEXT), take up very little disk space on your computer; will download quickly; will self-install; and most are accompanied by a brief description.
• The lists should unzip to the same folder as the one in which you installed the spelling program (usually c:\windows\pbs16adu\), so that the program can automatically find and use the word lists. If you have changed the default program installation folder then you will have to ensure that the word lists also go into that folder.
• Words are available in both U.S. English and U.K./Oz English spelling, except for medical and police terms.
• New lists are added from time to time.

As useful as these word lists are, they cannot hope to cover all the words you might want or need to learn.

Therefore, the best way to use this spelling program is by creating your own word lists. This can be done either within the program itself or by using a word processor. Instructions are contained within the program.

You can fully edit word lists—add new terms, delete outdated terms and alter the spelling of any word in the list to suit your own spelling conventions. In fact, you are encouraged to edit the lists in order to make them more suitable for your own use.

You can create your own word lists and include only those words that you habitually misspell or always have to look up in a medical dictionary. This is the best way to use the spelling program.

Word lists can contain different kinds of entries all mixed together. A word list can contain entries that consist of one word, e.g., enucleated, or an entry can be a medical term that consists of multiple words, e.g., arcus senilis. An entry can also consist of an abbreviation along with its expanded form, e.g., CIS (carcinoma in situ).

This flexibility in creating your own word lists is also useful when learning a foreign language that may require word list entries to contain multiple words, e.g., billet-doux.

Basically, you can enter whatever you like into a word list. The important thing to note, though, is that when the program asks you to spell (type) the word you must type it from memory exactly as it appears, including any spaces, brackets, hyphens, punctuation marks, and so on.

If what you type does not mirror exactly what is written then it will register an error and you will be asked to re-enter the item. For this reason, you may wish to edit some of the entries in the word lists prior to use, in order to make each entry more suitable for your own preferences.

Here are three examples of different ways you can use the word lists that you create.

1. You have received a list of new words that you have to learn. Create a word list containing these words using the spelling program and then use the Learn New Words section of the program to learn the words in the word list.
   
   Important - keep your word lists short, say no more than 5 words in a list, especially when using the program for the first time. Far better to have two lists each containing 5 words than one list with 10 words.
   
   Why? The program takes time to walk you through each word list and if the list is long then the whole process is too lengthy and too demanding. As well, the program won't let you stop half way through a list and then pick up from where you left off when you restart the program next time; it makes you start all over again from the beginning of a word list.
   
   Therefore, you have to work through all the words in a word list in one sitting. That's no problem if your word list is short but it can become a problem if your word list is long.
   
   You may find that some of the word lists that are supplied with the program are simply too long to learn in one sitting. This problem can be overcome by splitting the word list into two or more shorter lists. This can be done using a word processor or a text editor such as Notepad or WordPad in Windows XP. Word lists must be saved as a "text" file with a .txt extension, and the filename should be no more than 8 characters in length, e.g., bigwords.txt


2. You have some words that you are unsure how to spell and you always have to look up the spelling. Create one or more word lists containing these words and then use the Correct Problem Words section of the program to learn how to spell and remember these words, once and for all.


3. You have learnt some new words using the Learning New Words section of the program and now want to practise those words and test yourself. Use the Spelling Tester section of the program to do this. It will improve your memory for spelling and provide the necessary practice.
   
   Of course, the best way to practise your spelling is to use the new words that you learn in your day-to-day writing. Remember, if you don't use it; you lose it!
   -Back to top-

U.S. spelling

US spelling. Contains all the word lists that come with the program, for both adult and child versions, except medical and police terms which can be downloaded separately. Lists are easily identified and come with explanatory text.

U.K./Oz spelling

UK and OZ spelling. Contains all word lists that come with the program, for both adult and child versions, except medical and police terms which can be downloaded separately. Lists are easily identified and most come with explanatory text.

Adult spelling lists

Registered users can download and use one or more of the following word lists, as well as create their own word lists.

Download lists of some commonly misspelled words (demons) here.

Download lists of some of the most common words in reading, here.

Download lists of some of the most common nouns in reading, here.

Download lists of a core of words that people should be able to spell on sight, without sounding, here.

Download lists of the most common words that cover about three-quarters of adult reading, here.

Download all the above word lists in one file here: U.S. English and U.K./Oz English.

Child/school lists

Word lists for children and schools contain words that pose problems for school age children. Words are graded/grouped for age level and by first letter of the word, for convenience. The word lists cover commonly misspelled words (demons); the most common words in children's reading; the most common nouns; a core of words that people should be able to spell on sight, without sounding; and the most common words that cover about three-quarters of children's reading.

Download lists of commonly misspelled words (demons) here.

Download lists of the most common words in children's reading, here.

Download lists of the most common nouns in children's reading, here.

Download lists of a core of words that children should be able to spell on sight, without sounding, here.

Download lists of the most common words that cover about three-quarters of children's reading, here.

Download lists of Grade 2 words, here.

Download lists of Grade 3 words, here

Download lists of Grade 4 words, here

Download lists of Grade 5 words, here

Download lists of Grade 6 words, here

Download all the above word lists in one file, here: wordsalluskid.exe (US spelling) or wordsallukkid.exe (UK/Oz spelling).

Medical terms

Medical word lists are now available for Personal Best Spelling. Words follow the U.S. spelling convention but can be edited to conform to other spelling conventions. Intending users should check that the terms are suitable for use within their own medical practice.

The list of medical terms can be downloaded as a self-installing utility from the medical spelling page. The file will unzip (decompress) and place the word lists into the folder where Personal Best Spelling installs by default, i.e., C:\windows\pbs16adu\.

Medical terms are sorted into approximately 600 separate word lists covering the following medical fields, among others:

• cardiovascular
• dermatology
• gastrology
• male reproductive
• musculoskeletal
• nephrology
• neurology
• neuropsychology
• obstetrics and gynecology
• oncology
• opthalmology
• radiology
• respiratory
• urology
• oncology

Medical word lists are organised alphabetically within each medical specialty. Words are listed alphabetically within each word list.

Medical terminology "demons", those terms that typically cause spelling problems, are also covered in 65 lists.

You can fully edit word lists—add new terms, delete outdated terms and alter the spelling of any word in the list to suit your own spelling conventions.

You can even create your own word lists and include only those words that you habitually misspell or always have to look up in a medical dictionary. This is the best way to use the spelling program.

Note that these lists are provided "as is" and apart from being updated from time to time there is no further support provided for these lists.

More information about these medical terms lists is provided on the medical spelling page.

Police terms

Police word lists are now available for Personal Best Spelling. These lists are currently used by the Victorian Police (Australia). Intending users should check that the spelling of these words is consistent with their country's spelling conventions and that the terms are suitable for use within their own police force.

The list of police terms can be downloaded from the police terms lists page as a self-installing utility. The file will unzip (decompress) and place the word lists in the folder where Personal Best Spelling installs by default, i.e., C:\windows\pbs16adu\.

Note that these lists are provided "as is" and apart from being updated from time to time there is no further support provided for these lists.

(In-depth explanation)

A brief explanation:

Spelling teachers and students try to get it right the first time but invariably end up spending a lot of time trying to correct bad spelling habits that somehow develop.

Because these errors were not corrected early, and were repeated over and over (i.e., practiced), many spelling errors quickly develop into bad habits and are then much harder to eradicate. For example, some people always write "recieve" instead of "receive".

We all know that old habits die hard and many spelling errors therefore defy correction by conventional methods.

The usual advice to practice the correct spelling over and over is not very effective. The next day learners seem to have forgotten what they've learned and the same old spelling errors resurface. It seems we just keep falling back to old ways and, consequently, transfer of learning (memory for correct spelling) is poor.

Fortunately, a cognitive science discovery called Old Way New Way^® Learning, endorsed and gazetted by the South Australian Department of Education and built into Personal Best Spelling, offers all learners of all ages:

1. A new perspective on the transfer of learning problem in the learning of spelling

2. A fast and practical way to learn to spell new and unfamiliar words

3. A user-friendly method for quickly and permanently eradicating bad spelling habits.

This page describes the many word lists that come with the registered version of the program.