A frustrating spell

Hugh Reilly (Perspective, 26 November) fails to perceive the parallel between his inability to answer questions because his stutter was exacerbated by his exacting teacher, and the lack of emphasis on spelling and grammar in recent years.

My mind cannot function at its best if it is preoccupied trying to spell each word correctly and construct good grammar; my creative juices dry up.

I may be blamed for spelling imperfectly, but I claim that it is spelling itself that is wrong. Do we have to have oeu in manoeuvre to form the sound “o”, or should that be “oo”? George Bernard Shaw was right; we should have 40 letters in the alphabet so that each sound would have one letter.

I object to being told that something is wrong without being told why and, more significantly, if it would mislead someone. The ten teasers may show errors in grammar such as, ‘“to boldly go” is to split the infinitive, but does it have a different meaning from “to go boldly”?

STANLEY McWHIRTER

Balcarres Street

Edinburgh