Spelling test

spelling-test.rb

require 'httparty'

WORDS = [
  'quixotic',
  'abstemious',
  'piquancy',
  'potentate',
  'proselytized',
  'parricide',
  'épater',
  'Encomium',
  'proscription',
  'evinces',
  'en passant',
  'abstruse',
  'invective',
  'eudaimonia',
  'asceticism',
  'mendicant',
  'indigence',
  'epideictic',
  'antithetical',
  'truculence',
  'recuse',
  'otiose',
  'ostentation',
  'disquisition',
  'supererogatory',
  'apposite',
  'patrimony',
  'inimical',
  'avaricious',
  'piquant',
  'licentious',
  'meting',
  'Apropos',
  'malapropisms',
  'peroration',
  'impudence',
  'tetrad',
  'herald',
  'protean',
  'uncongenial',
  'pastoralists',
  'exposition'
]

def getDefinition (word)
  definition = HTTParty.get("https://od-api.oxforddictionaries.com:443/api/v1/entries/en/#{URI.escape(word.downcase)}", 
    headers: {
      'app_id' => ENV['app_id'],
      'app_key' => ENV['app_key']
    })
  
  if definition
    begin
        senses = definition['results'][0]['lexicalEntries'][0]['entries'][0]['senses'][0]
        definition = senses['definitions'][0]
        # print senses
        # print "\n"
        if senses['examples']
          example = senses['examples'][0]['text']
          definition = definition.gsub(/[^0-9a-z ]/i, '') + '. E.g. ' + example.gsub(/[^0-9a-z ]/i, '')
        end
        
        print definition
        print "\n"

    rescue
      definition = 'no definition found.'
    end
  end

  return definition
end

def say (phrase)
  `say #{phrase} `
end

def getWord
  # grab a random word
  word = WORDS.sample

  # print word so we know what it was
  print word
  print "\n"

  definition = getDefinition word

  3.times do |x|
    say word

    # only say definition first time
    if x.eql? 0
      say definition
    end

    sleep 3
  end

  sleep 5
end

say 'okay, ready for your spelling test today? Ok, let\'s go!'

10.times do
  getWord
end

say 'test complete! swap your papers with your classmate and mark each others work'

I miss having spelling tests and often come across words that I want to learn so I created this simple script which gets a random word from the array, looks up a definition from the Oxford English Dictionary API and reads it out. You then get a few moments to write down (with real life pen and paper, not pencil, that's cheating) the spelling of it.

It's best played against another person!