The book should be helpful to anyone who wants to improve their spelling of English in a short time, be they native or foreign learners. Native speakers of English are taught English spelling rules and the spellings of over 3000 common words which disobey them in the course of their compulsory schooling, which generally lasts about 11 years. Yet this and even several more years spent in higher education leaves many of them still making numerous spelling errors, and with little idea of how to improve quickly or effectively.This book can help them because it shows exactly what learning to spell English involves. It lists all English spelling patterns and the words which disobey them. It highlights the spellings which cause the biggest difficulties for all learners and shows why they do so. It also enables individuals to identify what most needs their particular attention. The aim of this book is to help poor spellers to improve as quickly as possible. Anyone looking for a more detailed explanation of why learning to read and spell English is relatively slow and difficult should read Masha Bell's 'Understanding English Spelling', published by Pegasus in 2004.