About the Author

JOHN FULFORD’S first experience as a teacher was in a lonely, one-room school in northern Canada.

Among his students that winter were some French-speaking children and half a dozen Native Americans.
He survived the winter, and during his subsequent forty years of teaching he taught every grade from
kindergarten to college prep. as well as adult education. He has also taught overseas.

(^) JOHN FULFORD
Born in Spain of British parents, the author was educated in England and after a stint in the RAF, he
worked as the advertising manager and proofreader on a small magazine in London before emigrating to
Canada, where he earned his B. Ed. at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. After moving to
California, he earned his M.A. at California State University in Long Beach.
Mr Fulford was an avid book worm by the second grade and acquired his love for the English language
from his mother, who was an English teacher, and from his father, who was a Fleet Street journalist and
editor and a war correspondent during World War II.
His deep interest in spelling began when he was teaching English in Barcelona, Spain, where he found
that many students who spoke and read English quite well, disliked writing in English because they had
serious trouble with English spelling. They were, in fact, adamant that there is no logic to English
spelling. Fulford argued otherwise and when he returned to North America, he delved deeper into the
history of the English language and gradually worked out the many rules that govern English spelling.
This book is the result of twenty years of serious research into English spelling, including a study of the
writings of Noah Webster, post-graduate courses in linguistics and a unique computer program. It also
gave the author an excuse to acquire a valuable collection of dictionaries.