Speak a ommon spelling error list (hints on demand)

I keep a registry shortcut to a text file for all the words that get red
squiggled when I type, where I'd like Windows to SPEAK the list to me on
command so that I can start embedding into my brain the distinctions.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\spell.exe
Default = c:\notes\spelling_errors.txt

Whenever I misspell a word, I type "Start Run spell" which brings up
this file for me to add the newly misspelled word.

But I want the command to also SPEAK the file out loud so that it starts
impacting my brain (because I repeatedly misspell the same words over and
over again).

What software can you recommend that will speak the file of the format
below on command?

These are my most recently misspelled words found in spell.txt:

afficianados or aficianados vs aficionados (one f & ion not ian)
aglomeration vs agglomeration (two G's, not one G)
androgenous vs androgynous (gyn not gen)
asymetrical vs asymmetrical (two M's, not one M)
chaparal vs chaparral (two R's, not one R)
chaparall vs chaparral (one L, not two L's)
clientelle vs clientele (one L, not two L's)
concomittent vs concomitant (tant not tent)
corolary vs corollary (two L's, not one L)
corraborate vs corroborate (rob not rab)
cuyanne pepper vs cayenne pepper (cay not cuy)
delectible vs delectable (able not ible)
eminate vs emanate (man not min)
ernest vs earnest (earn not ern)
exageration vs exaggeration (two G's, not one G)
extoll vs extol (one L in tol)
guarranteed vs guaranteed (one R, not two R's)
hygeine vs hygiene (i before e except after c)
immensly vs immensely (sely not sly)
indescretion vs indiscretion (dis not des)
intractible vs intractable (able not ible)
juristiction vs jurisdiction (diction not stiction)
loquatious vs loquacious (c not t)
naieve vs naive (only one e in naive)
quadrapeds vs quadrupeds (drup not drap)
respectible vs respectable (able not ible)
saavy vs savvy (two V's not two A's)
siezing vs seizing (i before e except after s)
superceded vs superseded (s not c)
symetrical vs symmetrical (the m is symmetrical)
traiterous vs tratourous vs tratorous vs traitorous (tor not ter)
viscious vs viscous (only one i in viscous)

On 28/08/2017 07:38, Joe Scotch wrote:
I keep a registry shortcut to a text file for all the words that get red
squiggled when I type, where I'd like Windows to SPEAK the list to me on
command so that I can start embedding into my brain the distinctions.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\spell.exe
Default =:\notes\spelling_errors.txt

Whenever I misspell a word, I type "Start Run spell" which brings up
this file for me to add the newly misspelled word.

But I want the command to also SPEAK the file out loud so that it starts
impacting my brain (because I repeatedly misspell the same words over and
over again).

What software can you recommend that will speak the file of the format
below on command?

These are my most recently misspelled words found in spell.txt:

afficianados or aficianados vs aficionados (one f & ion not ian)
aglomeration vs agglomeration (two G's, not one G)
androgenous vs androgynous (gyn not gen)
asymetrical vs asymmetrical (two M's, not one M)
chaparal vs chaparral (two R's, not one R)
chaparall vs chaparral (one L, not two L's)
clientelle vs clientele (one L, not two L's)
concomittent vs concomitant (tant not tent)
corolary vs corollary (two L's, not one L)
corraborate vs corroborate (rob not rab)
cuyanne pepper vs cayenne pepper (cay not cuy)
delectible vs delectable (able not ible)
eminate vs emanate (man not min)
ernest vs earnest (earn not ern)
exageration vs exaggeration (two G's, not one G)
extoll vs extol (one L in tol)
guarranteed vs guaranteedÂ* (one R, not two R's)
hygeine vs hygiene (i before e except after c)
immensly vs immensely (sely not sly)
indescretion vs indiscretion (dis not des)
intractible vs intractable (able not ible)
juristiction vs jurisdiction (diction not stiction)
loquatious vs loquacious (c not t)
naieve vs naive (only one e in naive) quadrapeds vs quadrupeds (drup not
drap)
respectible vs respectable (able not ible)
saavy vs savvy (two V's not two A's)
siezing vs seizing (i before e except after s)
superceded vs superseded (s not c)
symetrical vs symmetrical (the m is symmetrical)
traiterous vs tratourous vs tratorous vs traitorous (tor not ter)
viscious vs viscous (only one i in viscous)

How about ommon vs common?
--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

"Joe Scotch" wrote


What software can you recommend that will speak the file of the format
below on command?


TTS is built into Windows and there's a control
panel applet for adjusting things like voice used.
It's called SAPI. (Microsoft Speech API)

The following text can be saved from Notepad
as a .vbs file. Before saving, check the 4th line,
which begins "Set TS = FSO". Make sure the
path in quotes is right.

Leave the VBS file on the Desktop, or link
it from the start menu, then double-click it
anytime you want to hear the list spoken.

What this does is to start the SAPI engine, open
the file, read the file in and split it into lines based
on CrLf. (Character 13, character 10. The standard
Windows line return.) It then directs SAPI to speak
each line in turn.

'-- begin script --------------------

Dim Voice, FSO, TS, s, A1, i2
Set Voice = CreateObject("Sapi.spVoice")
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set TS = FSO.OpenTextFile("C:\notes\spelling_errors.txt", 1)
s = TS.ReadAll
A1 = Split(s, vbCrLf)
TS.Close
Set TS = Nothing

For i2 = 0 to UBound(A1)
s = A1(i2)
Voice.Speak s, 0
Next

Set Voice = Nothing
Set FSO = Nothing

'-- end script -------------------------

/nIn , GordonD
wrote:

How about ommon vs common?

That was a typo, borne (born?) of (from?) carelessness, which is completely
different philosophically from a spelling error, borne from ignorance.

For this to work, it has to be fast and easy and automatic as much as
possible.

Presently (currently?) whenever I get squiggled, I press the Windows+R key,
which brings up a "Run" window, where I type "spell" and hit return. That
brings up the spelling text file, where I type the before-and-after
squiggled word.

That's fast. That's easy. Hence it gets done.

However, the problem I'm finding is that I'm not LEARNING the word, because
it's too easy to right-click on a squiggled word so I now force myself to
try spelling it without right clicking repair of the spelling.

I just want to go one step further (farther?) which is to have the entire
list read out to me, adding in the speech output my parenthetically
inserted (parenthetically-inserted?) hints.

It's a combination psychology, habit-forming, verbal reminder to learn how
to spell better (betterly?).

Any advice on improving the process will help not only me, but everyone.

/nIn news wrote:

TTS is built into Windows and there's a control
panel applet for adjusting things like voice used.
It's called SAPI. (Microsoft Speech API)

Great. This will help everyone then because there's nothing to install.
Since this will help everyone, I will try to write down all the steps.
That way anyone can follow in our footsteps & benefit from the effort.

The following text can be saved from Notepad
as a .vbs file. Before saving, check the 4th line,
which begins "Set TS = FSO". Make sure the
path in quotes is right.

1. I modified the one line in your vbs file to:
Set TS = FSO.OpenTextFile("C:\User\joe\notes\spellfile.txt" , 1)
2. I saved that vbs text file to: "C:\User\joe\Desktop\spellspeak.vbs"
3. I doubleclicked (double-clicked?) on the vbs file & it worked!

Woo hoo! This is GREAT! It's speaking my misspelled words!

Weeeee! Windows is presently telling me how to spell correctly!
Thanks!

Since the Microsoft native speech engine spells out "vs" instead of
"versus", I had to change the file a tiny bit (see below).

Since we want thousands of people to benefit from each of our efforts,
here's how anyone can create a "Run" command to make it pushbutton
(push-button?) easy to keep a spoken list of your spelling errors!

Pick a name for the command (I chose "spellfile" as the command to edit the
file and "spellspeak") as the command to speak the file (but any command
name and file name not already used will work just fine).

First, make sure (ensure?) that your command-name choice doesn't yet exist.
a. Win+R spellspeak
b. You should get this error:
Windows cannot find 'spellspeak'. Make sure you typed the
name correctly, and then try again.

Then add your own custom "spellspeak" command out of Mayayana's VBS script.
a. Press Win+R to open the Run dialog
b. Type %windir% to open the Windows directory
c. Copy (or create) a shortcut targeted to the spellspeak.vbs file.
C:\Windows\spellspeak.lnk
Target = C:\Users\joe\Desktop\spellspeak.vbs

To execute this new custom Run command in the future, just type:
Win+R spellspeak -or- Start Run spellspeak
(You can also put the spellspeak shortcut in your Windows Start menu.)

There is a second (App Paths) method for creating custom Run commands.

Let's create a "spelledit" Run command using the "App Paths" method.
a. Place your spellfile.txt file anywhere you want it
C:\Users\joe\notes\spellfile.txt
b. Add this registry key (note the name has to (must?) end with ".exe".
(Note that there is no file named "spelledit.exe" on your system.)
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\spelledit.exe
c. Set the "App Paths" key value to the location of your text file:
value="C:\Users\joe\notes\spellfile.txt"

To execute this new custom Run command in the future, just type:
Win+R spelledit -or- Start Run spelledit

To keep everything together in one post, below are the files I used.

===== cut below for the spellspeak.vbs script from Mayayana =====
'-- begin script --------------------

Dim Voice, FSO, TS, s, A1, i2
Set Voice = CreateObject("Sapi.spVoice")
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set TS = FSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Users\joe\notes\spellfile.txt ", 1)
s = TS.ReadAll
A1 = Split(s, vbCrLf)
TS.Close
Set TS = Nothing

For i2 = 0 to UBound(A1)
s = A1(i2)
Voice.Speak s, 0
Next

Set Voice = Nothing
Set FSO = Nothing

'-- end script -------------------------
===== cut above for the spellspeak.vbs script from Mayayana =====
===== cut below for the spellfile.txt from Joe =====
afficianados or aficianados versus aficionados (one f and ion not ian)
aglomeration versus agglomeration (two G's, not one G)
androgenous versus androgynous (gyn not gen)
asymetrical versus asymmetrical (two M's, not one M)
chaparal versus chaparral (two R's, not one R)
chaparall versus chaparral (one L, not two L's)
clientelle versus clientele (one L, not two L's)
concomittent versus concomitant (tant not tent)
corolary versus corollary (two L's, not one L)
corraborate versus corroborate (rob not rab)
cuyanne pepper versus cayenne pepper (cay not cuy)
delectible versus delectable (able not ible)
eminate versus emanate (man not min)
ernest versus earnest (earn not ern)
exageration versus exaggeration (two G's, not one G)
extoll versus extol (one L in tol)
guarranteed versus guaranteed (one R, not two R's)
hygeine versus hygiene (i before e except after c)
immensly versus immensely (sely not sly)
indescretion versus indiscretion (dis not des)
intractible versus intractable (able not ible)
juristiction versus jurisdiction (diction not stiction)
loquatious versus loquacious (c not t)
naieve versus naive (only one e in naive)
quadrapeds versus quadrupeds (drup not drap)
respectible versus respectable (able not ible)
saavy versus savvy (two V's not two A's)
siezing versus seizing (i before e except after s)
superceded versus superseded (s not c)
symetrical versus symmetrical (the m is symmetrical)
traiterous versus tratourous versus tratorous versus traitorous (tor not ter)
viscious versus viscous (only one i in viscous)
===== cut above for the spellfile.txt from Joe =====

Let us know how it works for you!

/nIn news wrote:

TTS is built into Windows and there's a control
panel applet for adjusting things like voice used.
It's called SAPI. (Microsoft Speech API)

That SAPI speech API in the control panel is not easily found.

Interestingly, for a.u.e, I found (by accident) that the speech engine
follows a universal "grammar specification" that I didn't know existed.
https://www.w3.org/TR/speech-grammar/

Anyway, to change the narrator voice, press "Win+I: to open "Settings".
Settings Ease of Access Narrator Voice
I only saw two choices on Windows 10:
Microsoft David Desktop - English (United States)
Microsoft Zira Desktop - English (United States)

NOTE: I had to temporarily turn "Narrator" on just to enable the change.
Win+R narrator -or- Start Run narrator
Then I turned Narrator off once I selected the voice I wanted.

On 28/08/2017 16:26, Joe Scotch wrote:
/nIn , GordonD
wrote:

How about ommon vs common?

That was a typo, borne (born?) of (from?) carelessness, which is completely
different philosophically from a spelling error, borne from ignorance.

I know, and I wasn't having a go at you. I would not claim that I've
never made a typo in the past!
--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

"Joe Scotch" wrote


Anyway, to change the narrator voice, press "Win+I: to open "Settings".
Settings Ease of Access Narrator Voice
I only saw two choices on Windows 10:
Microsoft David Desktop - English (United States)
Microsoft Zira Desktop - English (United States)


There are other voices available, but some
don't work on some systems, and some cost
money. You'd need to do some research. I
haven't heard "Zira", but she can't be any less
fetching than "Mary".

/nIn news wrote:

There are other voices available, but some
don't work on some systems, and some cost
money. You'd need to do some research. I
haven't heard "Zira", but she can't be any less
fetching than "Mary".

I don't really get into window dressing so either voice is OK by me but
just for the record, those were the only two my stock Windows 10 had.

What I found interesting was that they have a grammar specification which
allows them to pronounce the correctly spelled words slightly better than
the incorrectly spelled words. ( https://www.w3.org/TR/speech-grammar/ )

That the properly spelled words were pronounced slightly better than the
improperly spelled words in most cases was odd, to me, because the
difference often was just a single versus double consonant or an "ant"
instead of an "ent" where we don't pronounce the word the way it's spelled.

Anyway, combining a few windows tricks got the ball rolling because a
spelling error speaking and logging process has to compete with the ease of
right clicking and fixing it and then forgetting about it each time (making
the error again and again and again).

1. When I get squiggled I can right click & fix it, but also
2. I press "Win+R spelledit" to edit the spelling log file, and,
3. I press "Win+R spellspeak" to speak out the current spelling log file.

Thanks mostly to your help, this is all so easy to do now!

On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 06:38:10 -0000 (UTC), Joe Scotch
wrote:

I keep a registry shortcut to a text file for all the words that get red
squiggled when I type, where I'd like Windows to SPEAK the list to me on
command so that I can start embedding into my brain the distinctions.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ap p Paths\spell.exe
Default = c:\notes\spelling_errors.txt

Is it Windows that does this squiggling?

When did it start doing that?

I've been trying to find what it is that does the squiggling because
it so often marks correct spellings as incorrect.

I first noticed it on Facebook, and thought that was responsible, but
now I think it is Firefox that is doing it, but I can't find a setting
for it, or how to find its dictionary.

If it was Windows doing it, then surely it would be checking this
message as I type, but no, my typos are unmarked.

--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com

On 29/08/17 01:26, Joe Scotch wrote:
/nIn , GordonD
wrote:

How about ommon vs common?

That was a typo, borne (born?) of (from?) carelessness, which is completely
different philosophically from a spelling error, borne from ignorance.

For this to work, it has to be fast and easy and automatic as much as
possible.
Presently (currently?) whenever I get squiggled, I press the Windows+R key,
which brings up a "Run" window, where I type "spell" and hit return. That
brings up the spelling text file, where I type the before-and-after
squiggled word.

That's fast. That's easy. Hence it gets done.

However, the problem I'm finding is that I'm not LEARNING the word, because
it's too easy to right-click on a squiggled word so I now force myself to
try spelling it without right clicking repair of the spelling.
I just want to go one step further (farther?) which is to have the entire
list read out to me, adding in the speech output my parenthetically
inserted (parenthetically-inserted?) hints.

It's a combination psychology, habit-forming, verbal reminder to learn how
to spell better (betterly?).

Any advice on improving the process will help not only me, but everyone.

You might want to try a trick I used when starting to learn French. I
had a (not very long) list of words in French, with their translation
into English. Then I wrote a simple computer program -- so simple that
even a beginning programmer could have written it -- to randomly choose
a list entry, and also randomly choose a translation direction, and ask
me to type in the translation.

The random number generator was biased towards the early part of the
list. If I got a correct answer, the entry was demoted in the list, and
if I got it correct often enough it would fall off the end of the list.
Conversely, the ones I got wrong were promoted, so that they were more
likely to be chosen next time. The point of this is that it put the
focus on my most common errors.

As I encountered new words, they were added to the list to replace those
that had fallen off the bottom.

Now, someone in alt.usage.english is sure to mention that there is never
a unique translation from one language to another; it depends on
context. That's true, but that's more of a concern for an advanced
student. It's less important for a beginner. Besides, after a while I
started adding phrases rather than words to my list.

It seems to me that a similar approach could be used for spelling
practice. What's more, I'm not convinced that the audio part would help
much in correcting your errors. The best way to learn how to write a
word is to write it a lot.

When you learn a rule in the form "It should be A, not B", you're
putting too much emphasis on B. In effect, you're drilling both the
right and the wrong spelling into your mind. It's better to just focus
on the right answer, and let the wrong one (through practice) gradually
fall out of your memory.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

On 29/08/17 14:08, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 06:38:10 -0000 (UTC), Joe Scotch
wrote:

I keep a registry shortcut to a text file for all the words that get red
squiggled when I type, where I'd like Windows to SPEAK the list to me on
command so that I can start embedding into my brain the distinctions.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\spell.exe
Default = c:\notes\spelling_errors.txt

Is it Windows that does this squiggling?

When did it start doing that?

I've been trying to find what it is that does the squiggling because
it so often marks correct spellings as incorrect.

I first noticed it on Facebook, and thought that was responsible, but
now I think it is Firefox that is doing it, but I can't find a setting
for it, or how to find its dictionary.

If it was Windows doing it, then surely it would be checking this
message as I type, but no, my typos are unmarked.

Some application programs come with spelling checkers, some don't. I'm
using Thunderbird to type this, and it works because I've installed an
Australian English dictionary as a Thunderbird add-on. That means it
accepts "colour" but puts a squiggly line under "color". If I hadn't
installed that add-on, it would have insisted on American spellings.

I imagine that your Forte Agent doesn't including a spilling chukka. No
great loss if you're a good speller anyway.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

/nIn news wrote:

When you learn a rule in the form "It should be A, not B", you're
putting too much emphasis on B

I read with interest your response and I agree with you on all your points,
even the one about context - and I have a good answer for you - which fits
exactly what you say - but which is work on my part to implement - but if
it were implemented, it would accomplish the lasting effect you wish for
me.

Let's state the obvious first, which is that flash cards are the
time-honored way to "memorize" spelling of a word (quizzes, tests, and
rapped knuckles notwithstanding). So is writing down the word a hundred
times on the blackboard wearing a dunce cap in front of the classroom.

All those will make you "remember" the spelling, but I'm too old for that
now so my method has been (ineffectively, as it turns out) to maintain a
spell.txt file, where I could write down, as they occur, my spelling
errors.

The problem is that I'm making the same errors, so I asked how to make the
spell.txt file SPEAK to me (so that the brain is more engaged), which,
thanks to Mayayana, it now does.

But just like your wife speaking to you, sometimes there's garbage being
spoken and sometimes it's useful information.

At the moment, the spell.txt file, when spoken, is just garbage.

What I need, I think, is a spoken hint, that I put into the file (yes,
that's work).

Something like "i before e except after c" is a great one, since we all
know it, but what about the word sieze/seize?

I would have to change that to something like "i before e except after c or
s" or something like that, which is memorable.

More memorable than a rote expression might be a spoken "observation", such
as for "antartica/antarctica" where I constantly forget the "c" so the
spoken "observation" might be "it's Cold in the antarctic" or "it's an ARC
up north" or anything that comes to mind as a spoken "observation" about
the word and the common misspelling.

Take "juristictional/jurisdictional" for example, where the spoken
"observation" might be "lawyers sure do TALK a lot" or "lawyers dictate the
law", both implying the spelling is as "diction" and not "tiction".

Who knows what the "spoken observation" might be, as for extol/extoll, it
might be "the toll is voluntary" meaning they don't extol the fee.

Each "spoken observation" would have to relate this misspelling to the
word, such as in symetrical/symmetrical where the observation is "symmetry
requires two halves" or some other observation that highlights that there
are two M's in symmetry, and not just one.

In summary, I understand and agree with the concept, and I will try to
implement the idea by identifying spoken observations about each misspelled
word.

Is that along the lines of what you suggest?

On Tue, 29 Aug 2017 15:38:52 +1000, Peter Moylan
wrote:

On 29/08/17 14:08, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 06:38:10 -0000 (UTC), Joe Scotch
wrote:

I keep a registry shortcut to a text file for all the words that get red
squiggled when I type, where I'd like Windows to SPEAK the list to me on
command so that I can start embedding into my brain the distinctions.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\spell.exe
Default = c:\notes\spelling_errors.txt

Is it Windows that does this squiggling?

When did it start doing that?

I've been trying to find what it is that does the squiggling because
it so often marks correct spellings as incorrect.

I first noticed it on Facebook, and thought that was responsible, but
now I think it is Firefox that is doing it, but I can't find a setting
for it, or how to find its dictionary.

If it was Windows doing it, then surely it would be checking this
message as I type, but no, my typos are unmarked.

Some application programs come with spelling checkers, some don't. I'm
using Thunderbird to type this, and it works because I've installed an
Australian English dictionary as a Thunderbird add-on. That means it
accepts "colour" but puts a squiggly line under "color". If I hadn't
installed that add-on, it would have insisted on American spellings.

I imagine that your Forte Agent doesn't including a spilling chukka. No
great loss if you're a good speller anyway.

Agent has had a spell checker for donkey's years.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens

[snip]

And homophones will trip you up, as they did above.

Strangely, the first time I heard "homophone" in school I thought it was
the phone kids used to call home.

born == issued from
borne == carried.

[snip]