CRESTVIEW — Frequently misspelled and misused words and phrases are gaining notoriety at Crestview High School, where teachers have branded them "CHS's 'Unforgivables.'"
Literacy coach Julieann Smith and the school's English teachers hope calling out common errors will lead to students avoiding them in and out of the classroom.
Text-speak is abbreviated language used in text messages, where "ur" stands for "your," "lol" for "laughing out loud," and "hmu" for "hit me up" or "contact me."
Smith implemented the "unforgivables" initiative in conjunction with literacy coaches Rebecca Moore at Davidson Middle School, Susan Colby at Shoal River Middle School and district curriculum instructor Lynn Prevatte. The high school's list was derived from the most common spelling and grammatical mistakes teachers found in ninth- and 10th-graders' English essays.
Smith uses a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the unforgivables in English classrooms. The list includes the frequently misspelled "definitely" and "receive," and homonyms "they're, there and their," "to, too and two" and "your and you're."
One glaring error teachers often see is the non-word "alot," the mistaken combination of "a lot," Smith said.
The words and phrases "must be used and spelled correctly for the rest of the year," hallway posters state.
This is just half the story! See the full report on this program, including the list of the 10 "Unforgivables" and student reaction, in the Jan. 8, 2014 Crestview News Bulletin.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHS teachers brand most frequently misspelled, misused words as 'unforgivables'