Maybe you were thinking differently when you bought your Mac.
More likely, you were just thinking.
I hope Master Spell reinforces the habit.
Contents
1. The Aim of Master Spell
2. Features
3. Changing the voice
4. Custom Spelling Lists
5. Recommended Lesson Plan
6. Minimum Requirements
7. Limitations and Caveats
8. Master Spell is Shareware
9. Miscellaneous
10. Version History
1. The Aim of Master Spell
• To help Mac users of all ages spell better. (I wish I could help Windows users too, but first they
have to help themselves choose a better computing platform.)
• To be Mac’ish: simple enough for an eight year-old to operate, sophisticated
and powerful enough for an adult.
• To help high school-aged, college-aged and older adults spell better by collecting
many hundreds of commonly misspelled words for tests.
• To allow the spelling words for younger people to be determined by their teachers
and then easily typed as a text file to be used as a test.
2. Features
Master Spell administers spelling drills using the Mac’s speech capabilities. It’s a FAT binary application which means it runs at optimal speed regardless of whether you have a PowerPC Macintosh or a 68K Macintosh. The front panel will fit on even the smallest color monitor (512 x 384).
Custom Spelling Word Lists
Master Spell uses plain text files for its spelling tests. These can be easily created, edited and tested for correct pronunciation in SimpleText. (See 4. Custom Spelling Lists below).
Individual Scoring and History
Each user gets a pupil file which contains the pupil's score history, the pupil's trouble words and the pupil's last settings.
Multiple Review Options with Variable Emphasis on Trouble Words
For each pupil, Master Spell keeps a rotating list of the last 50 misspelled words. These trouble words can be integrated into tests randomly with the "Integrate Trouble Words" option in the Review menu. It is also possible to test on the trouble words alone with the "Test on Trouble Words" item in the Review menu. And one can study their trouble words, save their trouble words as a test file or clear the trouble words list from the "Study Trouble Words…" item in the Review menu.
At the end of a test, Master Spell prompts you to option to retry any misspelled words for half credit.
Comprehensive Score Analyzation
At the end of a test, you are presented with an itemized "Test Summary" containing words you spelled correctly, incorrectly and correctly on the second try. The "Test History…" item in the Results menu displays a window that contains your test history. The "Graph Scores…" item in the Results menu presents you with a graph of your scores, the total number of words you've been tested on and your per word average.
Printing of Graph and Score History
Master Spell can print your graph, number of words tested, per word average and complete history using the "Print…" item in the File menu.
Anti-redundancy Routines
Master Spell picks words randomly and, in so doing, tries to avoid giving the same word more than once in a test. On a PowerPC Macintosh, redundancy will likely never occur within a test unless the test list contains less words than the number of words you choose to have administered. On a 68K Macintosh, Master Spell makes a valiant attempt to avoid redundancy.
Alternate Spellings
Master Spell accepts alternate spellings for words. If the word is spelled correctly, Master Spell will present you with the alternate spelling. If the word is spelled incorrectly, Master Spell will present both spellings. (See 4. Custom Spelling Lists below for syntax on adding alternate spellings)
Adjustable Pronunciation and Definitive Clues
Master Spell lists allow the ability to give definitions, examples and clarification for words that are pronounced the same way but have different spellings and different meanings.
Audible and Visible Correction
Misspelled words are presented letter by letter visually and audibly.
3. Changing the voice
Use the "Speech" control panel to change the voice and rate of speech. I recommend "Fred" which is installed with Macintalk 3. I have done all I can to overcome any problems with understanding what Fred is saying by adding clarifications for all of the Master Spell words. Just think of Fred as someone with a strange accent which you have to get used to. I understand everything Fred says now because I’ve been listening to him and the original Macintalk since the early Talking Moose days.
4. Custom Spelling Lists
A spelling word test file can be made with SimpleText or any other text editor that can save its contents as a plain text file. SimpleText is probably the best because you can test out the pronunciation of a word before using it in the test.
The syntax of a spelling words text file is as follows:
grey/gray; gray, as in gray is such a gloomy color.
The first word, “grey”, is the actual spelling word
A second word followed by a slash, “gray”, is the alternate spelling word.
A semicolon following a spelling word indicates to Master Spell that it should say whatever follows the semicolon on that line. The text following the semicolon may be phonetically spelled. In this case, “gray, as in gray is such a gloomy color.” will be spoken. If you add a semicolon and do not add any text after it, Master Spell will say, "Spell..." and nothing else at which point you can play a not so fun guessing game or you can test your psychic friend.
To make a pause in the text the Master Spell will say, use a comma since the semicolon indicates the seperation between the spelling word and the text Master Spell will say.
If you don’t provide spoken text after the semicolon, Master Spell will say the spelling word or it will say the alternate spelling if it is present.
Other examples of valid spelling word entries:
three
traveler/traveller
repetitious; repehtih shus, as in, I try not to be repehtih shus
See the spelling word test file, “Syntax Example”.
5. Recommended Lesson Plan
The spelling words included with Master Spell are intended for high school students, college students and beyond. So that you don’t overwhelm yourself and so that you can start to see progress earlier, I have broken the 1,345 words down into four files.
Basic Words (included)
Intermediate Words (available after registering)
Tricky Words (available after registering)
Difficult Words (available after registering)
I suggest starting with the Basic Words since it is immediately available with this package. This test file contains over 300 words for you to concentrate on first. By concentrating on small sets of words you will be able to see your progress sooner.
Unless you are better than me, you will get words wrong. You should take advantage of the Trouble Words tracking by occassionally selecting the “Study Trouble Words…” item in the Review menu. These are, at most, the last 50 words you misspelled. After studying these words, go for a test on just your trouble words by selecting the “Test on Trouble Words” option in the Review menu. The next test you start will be only on these words. See how you do.
Take a look at your graph window to see if you are making progress. I consider spelling mastery to occur when your test percentages consistently fall in the 95% - 100% range. You receive the most enthusiastic cheers when you achieve test result averages in this range. My average per word average is 90% as of this writing.
By the time you have mastered the Basic Words, you should have received your password for the other tests (if you registered) and you can start concentrating on the next test level.
6. Minimum Requirements
• A 32MHz 68030, 68040, or PowerPC Macintosh.
• System 7.1 or newer MacOS
• Version 1.5 or newer of Apple’s PlainTalk Text-to-Speech software. I highly
recommend using the voice “Fred” which is installed with Macintalk 3. All of the
words and internal text is optimized to be most understandable with this voice.
• Apple's Plaintalk software is available at http://www.speech.apple.com/ or it
can likely be found on your MacOS Install CD.
7. Limitations and Caveats
• Changing the printing Chooser device while Master Spell is running and then trying to
print will likely cause Master Spell to quit unexpectedly. This is not a feature.
(fixed in a future version due Summer 98)
• Double-clicking Pupil files in the Finder opens Master Spell but does not load the
Pupil file, as one would expect. (fixed in a future version due Summer 98)
• Test files are limited to 28K in size.
• Pupil History is limited to 28K in size (about 350 test entries, go beyond this and
I’m not really sure what happens).
8. Master Spell is Shareware
This copy of Master Spell contains only the Basic Words test of over 300 words.
The complete package contains three other tests, Intermediate Words, Tricky Words and Difficult Words, for a total of at least 1,345 commonly misspelled words with tested pronunciations. I'm continuing to add more words after this 3.1.2 release. I'll keep registered users informed as I update the tests. The latest tests are available at:
When you register, I will send you the password to unlock that StuffIt archive for the file at this site. If you received this software on a CD collection, it is possible that this password locked StuffIt file was included in the same folder with Master Spell and your extra tests are just waiting for a password.
Registration is $15 for individual users,
$12 a copy for 3 or more copies,
$10 for students,
$150 for a Site license for one school,
and $500 for a World-Wide license for a school district.
Run the included “Register Master Spell” application to register.
A Site License costs $150 and covers all uses for one school. One big advantage of a Site License is that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site are using the software. A World-Wide License costs $500 and it covers all locations for your organization on the planet earth. This may be the most cost effective way to register for larger school districts.
Paying for Master Spell is fairly simple. Open the “Register Master Spell” program that accompanies Master Spell. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to purchase (or Site or World-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. Kagi handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from “Register Master Spell” and paste into the body of an email message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-3X7
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
It is also possible to register online with with a credit card on a secure page at Kagi at:
http://order.kagi.com/?3X7
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical.
If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
9. Miscellaneous
I purposely made one spelling error in this document. What is it? Shame on me if there is more than one spelling error.
If you are reading this and it is after the summer of 1998, there is likely a much improved version by now. As of writing this in March, I am porting my code to yet another IDE which will allow Master Spell many new abilities, cosmetic fixes and logistical fixes.
10. Version History
Changes in version 3.1.3 (March 1998)
• Fixed problem where getting 100% still reported that you got some wrong.
Changes in version 3.1.2 (March 1998)
• Rearranged end test sounds and results so that they come after retrying
the words misspelled.
• Fixed syntax errors and added words to the "Basic Words" test.
• More background events friendly when loading a pupil.
Changes in version 3.1.1 (January 1998)
• Fixed bug where trouble words would be erased when "Load Pupil" or
"New Pupil" were selected and then canceled.
Changes in version 3.1 (January 1998)
• Graph display of test results
• Printing of graph and scores
• Tracking and integrating of trouble words
• Retried words count for half credit
• Various bug fixes and code clean-ups
• Over 1,200 spelling words for registered users
Changes in version 3.0 (December 1997)
• Rewritten from scratch as a stand-alone application
• Added clarification for all Master Spell words
• Added anti-redundancy, alternate spelling capacity, review of misspelled words,
a presentation of all the words spelled correctly, incorrectly and correctly on retry,
per word averaging, individual test history files, and audible and visible
letter-by-letter correction
Changes in version 2.0 (circa 1995) HyperCard
• Changed XCMD from Macintalk to Macintalk 3
• Redid pronunciation for Macintalk 3
Changes in version 1.1 (circa 1993) HyperCard
• Added compact stack on quit
• Improved pronunciation and added clarification for several words
