 | Ways to remember those tricky words |
In the English language there are several words which are so similar it can be difficult to remember which one you use or even how to spell them. Each person will, of course, experience problems with different words. Here are a few mnemonics, shortcuts and phrases I have come across, but I am sure you will have some of your own, so please let us know. Send them into us at june@hintsandthings.co.uk so we can add them to this page and help others – FRIEND Five Red Indians Eating Nuts Downstairs
Meggan & Justin Robertson If you “fri” your friend he’ll come to an “end“. or Friends end in end.
Amante Darmanin Friday is the end of the school week. Luan Carter
ANSWER A Negative Score Will Equal Relegation
..for those footie fans this should be an easy one to remember. Shelagh Spurway RHYTHM Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move or Rhythm Has Your Two Hips Moving Amante Darmanin)
SIGNIFICANT SIGN IF I CAN’T
Amber Patupis-Retsas
CARRIAGE Carry A Royal Rooster In A Gold Egg
JAMES and Tracey Glendinning-Smith
CHURCH CH on the right CH on the left and (you are) U R in the middle.
Amante Darmanin
GEOGRAPHY Gary Eats Old Grey Rats And Paints House Yellow
Rhonda Courtney or Amante Darmanin suggests George Eliot’s old grandmother rode a pig home yesterday.
Maxine Dorot has kindly shared the following tricks with us:- CEMETERY People frequently spell “cemetery” with an ‘a’, in order to spell it correctly, simply remember that late at night all the ghosts come and and go “eeeeeeeee”!
DESSERT Can’t remember how many s’s there are in the word “dessert” (pudding), well just think, when you eat dessert you always want “one more”. Darcy has sent in the following comments – Remembering the difference on how to spell dessert and desert. One usually wants seconds of dessert so there are 2 s’s. One usually wants less desert (I know I do, I live in one) so there is only one s.
PRINCIPAL In the U.S. (and sometimes in the U.K.) the headmaster is called the Principal. To remind you that the ending of this word is ‘p-a-l’ and not ‘p-l-e’ remember he/she is your ‘pal’.
The word principle means a personal code of conduct or fundamental truth.
DIARRHOEA Dash In A Real Rush, Hurry Or Else Accident!
Diana I have a feeling the children are going to remember this one although I appreciate it could be somewhat distasteful to some (sorry) Doesn’t It Always Really Run Horribly Over Each Ankle
Sarah Brown
Nikki Chaplin has sent in the following two tips used by her children – QUEEN To remind children that a Q is followed by the letter U – the Queen always carries an Umbrella.
BECAUSE Big Elephants Can Add Up Sums Easily Nikki Chaplin or Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Exits! Caroline Noon or Big Elephants Cause Accidents Under Small Elephants Gillian Jackson or Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants. Amante Darmanin or Betty Eats Cake And Uncle Sells Eggs
Meggan & Justin Robertson or BEC Always Uses Silly Excuses Loretta
PRACTICE / PRACTISE To distinguish between PRACTISE (verb) and PRACTICE (noun) think of ADVISE and ADVICE. To ADVISE is the verb so PRACTISE is the verb. Jordan Walters
To distinguish PRACTICE (noun) from PRACTISE (verb) and ADVICE (noun) from ADVISE (verb), just remember that ICE is a noun and IS is a verb. John Mihaljevic
PractiSe – verb, spelt with an s, S for sports. Moe
PractICE – I went to the doctor’s practice and he put ice on my leg. Ice is in practice. Debbie Aicken
STATIONERY / STATIONARY STATIONERY meaning paper and Envelopes Mary Ihla STATIONARY meaning “not moving” This can be remembered if you think of “E” stands for Envelopes, therefore, Stationery with an “e” is paper etc. and a CAR not moving, therefore, the word meaning “still” ends in ARY.
StationAry – StAnd still StationEry – PEns, PEncils Moe
Other examples can be see here and here, if that is not enough you will find more on this page and several other pages on the site – why not check out the Library Index to see what else you can find! Mnemonics, Palindromes and word related items of interest |