Apostrophe not recognised in Fill in the blank

Submitted by aaduale on Sat, 04/17/2021 - 02:11
Forums: 
Bugs in content types

In an activity I put the following as an answer

He’s a doctor.

 

then I attempted the activity and wrote

 

He's a doctor.

 

The answer was marked as wrong due to the apostrophe.

 

I am using a chrome on a chromebook which is updated frequently.

 

Attachments: 
Image icon Screenshot 2021-04-17 01.12.49.png
Summary: 
Apostrophe not recognised
otacke's picture

otacke

Sun, 04/18/2021 - 10:30

Hi aaduale!

In typography there are not only apostrophe's, but also a couple of different single quotes. They look similar, and unfortunately some devices use one, some the other to automatically meet local customs. You can spot the difference if you look at your screenshot closely.

That problem, however, was solved one year ago (https://github.com/h5p/h5p-blanks/pull/61) and has been fixed as of version 1.12.5. Could you please check if the version of Fill in the Blanks is older than that version? Are you by any chance typing the "wrong apostrophe" yourself? If really no to both, it was great if you provided more detailed information on what device and browser you are using to allow the H5P core team to further investigate.

Best,

Oliver 

ctissier

Fri, 11/21/2025 - 11:00

Hi Oliver, I checked the github solution implemented, which apparently consisted in  reducing the stringency of spellchecking. This might work for users who are not bothered about spelling accuracy. However, in case where the solution requires accuracy of writing, this "solution" does not really work... it's a workaround at best. For instance in our case, we are creating items for foreign language practice. Here we can not let spelling mistakes slide. It looks really bad to count as correct, answers that have clear mispelling.

Wouldn't it be possible to hardcode that all apostrophes should be automatically recognized and interchangeable ? That would be a more permanent fix to the issue, no ? Maybe not easy to implement ? Thanks for your work !

otacke's picture

otacke

Fri, 11/21/2025 - 17:30

There are different ways to approach this, but since that's Fill in the Blanks is under the patronage of H5P Group, they must decide how they want the content type to behave.

papi Jo's picture

papi Jo

Sun, 04/18/2021 - 11:15

Did you actually type the expected answer in the H5P Fill in the blanks answer field OR did you copy-paste it from another piece of software, e.g. your word-processor, a website, etc.

aaduale

Mon, 04/19/2021 - 07:52

I typed both using the same chromebook using the same button. I only have one button for apostrophe. The verson pf H5P I am using is the latest.

My expectation was if you use the same button then it should recognise and accept as correct answer.

papi Jo's picture

papi Jo

Tue, 04/20/2021 - 22:58

I don't understand how you could type on this forum:

He’s a doctor. and He's a doctor.

with 2 different apostrophes by using the same key on your keyboard !!!

Maureen McDonald

Sun, 04/25/2021 - 09:48

I have the same problem :(.

I had to copy and paste to test  the 2 apostrophes.  This is the one i have on my keyboard ' and this is the one i copy and paste ’.  The problem is the same in Chrome/Firefox/Brave.   

It would be ideal if at some point in the Behavioural settings an option might be added such as: Show only one correct answer (when more than one answer is correct).  If you visit my profile, I've put up a very short exercise to illustrate the answer and how it looks on the user's end.  In my last sentence alone there are 2 naturally occurring apostrophes so it's really quite an issue for writing task in English.

I absolutely love H5P though and thanks a million to the creators.

H5P file: 
Binary Data the-problem-with-the-apostrophe-1152170.h5p

Chiva English Centre

Thu, 01/26/2023 - 18:47

I'm having the same problem.  I have the latest version of 'fill in the blanks' and have tried adding several possible answers using different apostrophes, but the students are using mobile devices which have apostrophes that I don't have on my keyboard !  

Any ideas??