Contributed article
The last time most Americans were quizzed on their grammar skills was in high school. So after several years, do they still remember the basics?
A recent study published by Preply wanted to see which states rely on tools like autocorrect and which have committed grammar and spelling rules to memory. More than 1,800 Americans were surveyed and tested their knowledge.
The study quizzed Americans’ overall grammar, spelling, and punctuation skills. The average state score was compiled and the scores scaled from 0-100.
Arizona ranked second worst for spelling, and fifth in needing more grammar training.
Coming out on top as the only states to receive an A on the quiz were California (92.1), Connecticut (91.3), and Georgia (90.5). A majority of states received a B on the quiz, with only one state — Virginia (79.8) — receiving a C.
Americans particularly struggled to understand when to use “me” or “I.” For example, the majority of respondents selected “me” instead of “I” in the following sentence: “The baker told Kim and __ to come back around noon.”
Key takeaways
- Residents in Virginia, Michigan, and Tennessee received the lowest grammar scores.
- Residents in New Jersey, California, and Wisconsin came out on top as the best spellers.
- Minnesota, Mississippi, and Iowa residents received the highest scores on punctuation-related questions.
Test your grammar skills
Before you read spoilers to the quiz below, consider testing your own skills! At the end of the quiz, you will receive your score. Can you rank among the best states?
Spelling
Spellcheck can truly be a saving grace. For many people, including those living in Maine, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, some words are just impossible to spell without technology fixing them.
In this study, some of the most commonly misspelled words were presented and Americans were asked to select the correct spelling. First on the list was “accommodate” with just 58 percent choosing the correct spelling. Thirty-one percent of people selected “accomodate” and 11 percent “acommodate.”
Next up is “relevant,” with 79 percent of people selecting the correct spelling. Mixing up which letters go where was common, with about one in nine people replacing the “a” with an “e” to write “relevent” and another 5 percent selecting “relavent.” The final 5 percent were a bit further off picking “revelant.”
To wrap up the spelling section of the quiz, respondents were given a list of 11 words, seven of which were misspelled, and asked respondents to select the misspelled words. About 10 percent of people struggled to find any problems, answering that all words were correctly spelled.
While grammar, spelling, and punctuation are all essential skills, language expert Sylvia Johnson said spelling can be the most tricky because, “The English language has words originating from different places. Even words that sound alike can have different spellings due to the diverse origins of English vocabulary.
“Words that sound the same but are spelled differently are known as heterographs, such as ‘hair’ and ‘hare,’ ” she continued. “Additionally, there are heteronyms, which are words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently, such as ‘desert,’ ‘tear,’ and ‘number.’ ”
Punctuation
The final section of the quiz tested Americans’ punctuation skills. While this section seemed to trouble Americans the most, many states excelled. The top three on the list were Minnesota, Mississippi, and Iowa.
While Iowa was among the worst spellers, the state’s residents have a handle on proper punctuation, as it received a 95.2 out of 100 in this section.
One punctuation mark that is lesser known by Americans is the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma. An Oxford comma is the final comma placed before the coordinating conjunction in a list. The study found 55 percent of people didn’t know that.
Another punctuation mark that Americans were unfamiliar with was the ellipse. About one in seven people thought it was an apostrophe, while 5 percent mistook the mark for a tilde, an accent mark used in other languages. For example, a tilde is used in Spanish to accent the “n” in words like señor.
