Let's face it, accurate spelling is a very important part of doing well in English Language.
But spelling is very much difficult to remember in English despite the rules, as there are just so many exceptions.
While there are many ways to remember the spellings, like phonetic spelling and spelling rules, the best way to make sure you spell correctly is to read more (so you see the words enough time to know the spelling) and to write more (so that you can commit the spelling to memory).
So, as you can see, there is no shortcuts to mastering spelling - memorization is the best route. However, there is a good tool to help you memorize effectively - Mnemonics!
Mnemonics are memory devices that help to improve and assist memory.
When using mnemonics, you associate the spelling of certain difficult-to-remember words to things and people that are easy to remember.
I personally like this list of mnemonics from this website Fluent in 3 Months. Here is the extract:
Look at that! Doesn't that seem to make spelling more fun and manageable? You can always create your own mnemonic spelling list for tricky spellings! Let's put that into practice in our next lesson!
- This dessert is so sweet. We have two similar words in English, dessert (a delicious sweet final course of a meal) and a desert (a dry and hot place with lots of sand, and also a verb that means to leave someone behind). I try to remember that it would be way better to get a dessert than to be in a desert, which means the first is “so sweet”. Alternatively, two ‘s’s make it better!
- That liar looks familiar. From the way the word “liar” sounds, it can be hard to know how it’s spelled. It sounds like there could be an ‘e’ or even a ‘y’ in there! But I use this reminder, comparing it to the much easier word familiar, to help me.
- Never believe a lie. Still on lies, the word “lie” is inside of the word “believe”, to help you spell this common word.
- A principal is your pal. A principle is a fundamental truth. It can also mean “main” and is pronounced in the same way as a similar word which refers to the headmaster of a school. Since the latter is a person, and a perfect principal would be friendly, I try to remember that he is my “pal” (American slang for friend).
- Rhythm helps your two hips move. This word (rhythm) is hard to spell because it has no vowels, and you need to remember that it has two ‘h’s. Since rhythm also helps you dance, and you need your two hips to do it, use this mnemonic to help remember the spelling. The mnemonic also spells out the word – look at the first letter of each word of the phrase!
- An island is land in the middle of the water. This word, and others like it, are tricky because of the silent letters – but try to remember this mnemonic so you spell it correctly.
- It’s truly hot in July. I see many English learners make the mistake of spelling “truly” as “truely” or “truley”. Associate truth with the month of July, and you’ll no longer make that mistake.
- Separate a rat! Separate doesn’t quite resemble its pronunciation, so I imagine trying to remove or separating “a rat” from the word.
- Miss Pell never misspells. The ironic thing about English spelling, is that if you forget about the two ‘s’s, you may even misspell misspell. Think of “Miss Pell” to help with this.
- Affect describes an action, effect describes the end result. These two similar words are easy to mix up, so for affect think of action and for effect think of end result.
About the Writer
Ms Vivien Wu is the founder of The Pedagogy Domain, a provider of small-group home-based language workshop for young learners. As an experienced teacher, trainer and facilitator, she is dedicated to improve learners' command of language through interactive, practical and fun workshops. Read more about her here.
If you are keen to join our PSLE English Preparatory Class, registration is open now. See here for details!