Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 39 to 45.
Both native English speakers and non-native speakers find the spelling of English one of its most difficult characteristics. The English spelling system is not based on a phonetic link between sounds and letters, as is the spelling of Spanish and certain other languages. Instead, English spelling is affected by the historical development of the language. Some words are pronounced in several different ways; similarly, different combinations of letters can produce the same pronunciation.
The six different pronunciations of “ough” provide an outstanding example of the differences between spelling and pronunciation, as in “bough, cough, thorough, thought, through”, and “rough”. The spellings come from a time when “gh” represented a sound that was pronounced. Another difference is the many different spellings of the “sh” sound, as for example in anxious, fission, fuchsia, and ocean.
The link between sound and spelling in English is not phonetically exact for two main reasons. First, spelling changes did not keep pace with changes in the sound system after the development of printing and of conventions for spelling. For example, the “k” in “knife” and the “gh” in “right” come from the Middle English period (from about 1100 to about 1500), when they were pronounced as separate sounds. Second, there are some spelling conventions that are based on other languages. For example, during the 16th century the 'b' was inserted into the word doubt (formerly spelled “doute”). This reflected the Latin word, “dubitare”, even though the 'b' was not pronounced in English.
There have been many attempts to reform English spelling. The author and playwright George Bernard Shaw proposed a completely new alphabet, but this had very limited success. American English has developed some of its own spelling conventions, largely as a result of the work of spelling reformer Noah Webster. Webster attempted to remove some of the irregularities from the English spelling system and distance American English from British English. Nevertheless, the system as a whole remains particularly complex, and English is widely regarded as having the worst spelling of any language in the world.
Which best serves as the title for the passage?