Gateway to Grammar: Mnemonics to remember difficult words

Oh hi! Sorry I was busy making t-shirts for bees. Let’s talk about mnemonics and how they can help you remember difficult spellings, vocabulary, and pronunciations for words.

Mnemonics (nee-mon-iks) are images, songs, noises, or lists of letters you can use to help you remember words or phrases. There are some famous ones people use for example: “‘I’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’, but only when it sounds like ‘bee’!” This mnemonic helps you to remember than in English spelling in words like “achieve” and “piece” the “i” comes before the “e”. When the word rhymes with “bee” this rule is not true, like “receive” and “receipt”.

In my opinion the best mnemonics are the ones you make yourself. These are best because they come from your imagination, which means they fit nicely with your brain. The very best mnemonics are the ones that make you laugh. Funny things are easier to remember.

I will share some of my own personal mnemonics with you!

·         How to pronounce “diabetes” – Dye some bee tees.

·         How to pronounce “capacity” – Put a cap on a city.

·         How to spell “beautiful” – This one makes no sense! I just sing it in little sections like this “be, a, you, ti, ful!”

·         How to spell “necessary” – One collar (c) and two socks (s’).

·         How to remember what a “stalagmite” and a “stalactite” are – A stalactite holds tightly to the ceiling (of a cave), a stalagmite might grow up to reach it.

Do you know any funny or silly mnemonics? I’m dyslexic so the way I manage is to have a brain full of crazy stuff like this! This is how I can teach people correct English without making mistakes all the time!

To find out more about the private English lessons I teach online, visit www.wrightenglish.com. You can book a free trial lesson with me, just email lana@wrightenglish.com!

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