More Tips for Spelling
There is More Than One Way to Remember How Words are Spelt (part 2)
In this second part there are more tips for spelling and loads of examples of how to combine the memory methods. However if you haven’t looked at part one yet I highly recommend you do before you start on this page, Click here for part 1.
Tips for spelling with your ears and eyes:
Example 1:
Say it out loud the way it is written to help you remember how it is spelt (see graphic).
You can also add a visual layer of memory to make it stick in your mind. The tricky part in the word ‘February’ is the middle two letters (see graphic).
Don’t try to remember the whole word visually just the ‘ru’ in the middle. This is where a lot of people make mistakes when spelling ‘February’.
Example 2:
Again you can use both the visual characteristics and how the word sounds to help you remember it.
Try pronouncing the word scissors the way it is written, (see graphic).
You can also remember how it looks. You can see it has four ’S’s two in the middle and one at each end, (see graphic).
Tips for spelling with your eyes and brain:
Example 1:
I use to forget how to spell the word 'pronouncing'. When you misspell a word it's always important to look at where you went wrong. With the word 'pronouncing' I found it was just the middle four letters I was having trouble with (see graphic).
When ‘ou’ appears in words like:
- Obvious
- Previous
- Precious
The ‘o’ always comes before the ‘u’. You won’t generally find them the other way around.
Now all I need to do is think about how the four letters in the middle of the word look. You can see the ‘ou’ is trapped by two ‘n’s, one on both sides (see graphic above).
Tips for spelling with your eyes, ears and imagination:
Example 1:
The words suit (as in a man’s business suit) and suite (as in an expensive room in a hotel) are almost spelt identically, apart from the ‘e’ at the end of suite. Therefore to remember how to spell both words you just have to remember which one has the ‘e’ on the end (see graphic).
The way I do this is to think that the words suite has an ‘E’ sound in it. Therefore it's the one that should have the letter 'e' on the end.
If you have trouble remembering how 'suit' is spelt try breaking it into two pieces, to make it easier to remember visually (see graphic).
You can sound it out the way that it is written to again make it easier to remember (see graphic).
Example 2:
The word 'decision' can be difficult to remember sometimes. Again we can use a combination of layers of memory to remember how it is spelt. For example, let’s start by breaking it down into three pieces (see graphic).
You can remember the first part of the word visually. To make it stick in your mind even more you can say it to yourself the way it sounds ‘dec’.
For the middle part of the word you can imagine that the two ‘i’s are guarding the ‘s’ as there is one on each side (see graphic above).
Tips for spelling with your eyes, ears and brain:
Example 1:
With the word 'island' the easy way to remember how it is spelt is to break it down into two pieces and remember them visually (see graphic).
You now also have the knowledge that when broken down 'island' forms two other words 'is' and 'land'.
Again to reinforce the other two ways of remembering 'island' you can say it out loud the way it is spelt (see graphic).
Example 2:
You can again use the same process to remember the word 'isle' as in the Isle of Man or the Isle of Skye (see graphic).
Example 3:
If you want to spell the word aisle as in an aisle in a supermarket all you need to do is add the letter ‘A’ to the front of the word 'isle' (see graphic).
Conclusion:
Try to use these techniques as much as possible. Once you get into a good habit of using them it will soon become second nature. Eventually you will break words down like this automatically. Remember you can apply them in any way you like, the only thing that matters is you remember how the words are spelt.