ESP:

English Spelling & Punctuation

Published by UCL Business PLC

Available for: iPhone 3-6, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad mini.
Android version coming soon.

Apple >> ESP

>> Support >> FAQ

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WHAT IS ESP?

English Spelling & Punctuation (ESP) is a complete approach to improving your spelling and punctuation. The spelling section includes exercises to help you practise the 200 most commonly misspelled English words. A planned in-app add-on will help you practice nearly 1,000 more commonly misspelled words.

Spell-checkers may 'correct' your spelling but offer you the wrong word choice. There is no substitute for knowing the answer yourself!

ESP is a practical app written to help students understand the rules of spelling that are useful to know, while recognizing that we all have difficulty with irregular English spelling. ESP includes a set of top words that are both frequent and frequently mis-spelled, and it helps students practice these irregular or difficult English words.

ESP also includes a guide to precise punctuation that everyone can master, while acknowledging that editorial standards do vary.

ESP includes:

  • Interactive exercises that help you practice regular and irregular spelling
  • A self-learning course on punctuation standards used in a range of contexts, including academic writing.
  • An extensive glossary of important terms

REAL ENGLISH, REAL EXAMPLES

Like our other apps, ESP uses examples of English sentences from our natural language corpus, ICE-GB, as well as from online resources. ICE-GB is a linguistic database compiled and analysed at UCL and used by researchers around the world.

INTERACTIVE EXERCISES

English has numerous irregular spelling patterns. ESP's spelling tests are divided into two sections: using morphology rules and a Spelling Practice module for learning irregular words.

  • The free version of ESP's Spelling Practice module comes with the most common, frequently mis-spelled 200 words in adult English. Each word is presented in context, and your task is to complete the correct spelling.
  • Rather than artificial speak-aloud exercises, our app is designed to simulate, as far as possible, the difficulties of struggling with a mis-spelled word when you are at a keyboard.

LEARN FROM EXPERTS

ESP is written by a team of linguists at University College London (UCL), independently ranked as one of the world's best universities. The approach in the app is based on recent research and best practice in the field, as well as years of experience in writing and teaching.

WHO IS ESP FOR?

Spelling is not just for kids! ESP is designed for teenagers and adults who struggle to get their spelling right first time, but who need to use an advanced vocabulary to succeed. It is for native and non-native speakers of English, but, thanks to that advanced vocabulary, it is not a beginner's English app.

You can practice British English spelling, American English spelling, or both.

GET ESP

Apple >> ESP

Android coming soon

Citation

Wallis, S.A. and Mehl, S. 2014. English Spelling & Punctuation. London: Survey of English Usage / UCL Business PLC.

This page last modified 14 May, 2020 by Survey Web Administrator.