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From: pazzani%AEROSPACE@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Spelling Correctors
Message-ID: <951@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 15-Jun-84 11:58:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.951
Posted: Fri Jun 15 11:58:54 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 09:18:51 EDT
Lines: 16

From:  Michael Pazzani 

I disagree with the statement that spelling correctors are knowledge-based
programs capable of outperforming even intelligent humans.

There are two basic parts to spelling correction: detection and correction.

In the case where there is more than one possible correction for a misspelled
word, people can of course use the context to find the correct spelling.
Selecting the proper choice is in many ways like selecting the intended
sense of a word.

Computers, of course, can be much better at detection of spelling errors
except when the misspelling is another word in the vocabulary.  I would
not call checking a word against a prestored vocabulary knowledge based
even with a complex root stripping capability.