Mnemonic

Spelling Mnemonics
Aa mnemonic is a method of remembering something. It’s a memorising technique. For example in English we remember the music notes by Every Good Boy has A Football.

Characteristic sequence of letters

• I always comes before E (but after C, E comes before I)
  

In most words like friend, field, piece,pierce, mischief, thief, tier, it is “i“ which comes before “e“. But on some words with c just before the pair of e and i, like receive, perceive, “e“ comes before “i“. This can be remembered by the following mnemonic,

I before E, except after C

But this is not always obeyed as in case of weird and weigh,weight,height,neighbor etc. and can be remembered by extending that mnemonic as given below

I before E, except after C

Or when sounded “A” as in neighbor, weigh and weight

Or when sounded like “eye” as in height

And “weird” is just weird

• Where ever there is a Q there is a U too

Most frequently u follows q. e.g.: Que, queen, question, quack, quark, quartz, quarry, quit, Pique, torque, macaque, exchequer. Hence the mnemonic:

• When two vowels go walking the first does the talking
  

For words like “oat” or “eat”, here the second letter a is silent and first letter o and e respectively are pronounced in the examples

Letters of specific syllables in a word

• BELIEVE
  

Do not believe a lie.

• SECRETARY

A secretary must keep a secret

• PRINCIPAL

The principal is your pal.

• TEACHER

There is an ache in every teacher.

• MEASUREMENT

Be sure of your measurements before you start work.

• FRIEND

A friend is always there when the end comes.

Fri the end of your friend

When Friday ends, you go out with your friends.

• SPECIAL

The CIA have special agents

• BEAUTIFUL

Big Elephants Are Ugly

• SLAUGHTER

Slaughter is laughter with an S at the beginning.

• PIECES

Pieces of a pie

• ASSUME

When you assume, you make an ass of u and me.

• SEPARATE

Always smell a rat when you spell separate

There was a farmer named Sep and one day his wife saw a rat. She yelled, “Sep! A rat – E!!!”

Distinguishing between similar words

• Difference between Advice & Advise, Practice & Practise, Licence & License etc.

Advice, Practice, Licence etc. (those with c) are nouns and Advise, Practise, License etc. are verbs.

One way of remembering this is that the word ‘noun’ comes before the word ‘verb’ in the dictionary; likewise ‘c’ comes before ‘s’, so the nouns are ‘practice,licence,advice’ and the verbs are ‘practise,license,advise’.

• Here or Hear

We hear with our ear.

• Complement and Compliment

complement adds something to make it enough

compliment puts you in the limelight

• Principle and Principal

Your principal is your pal

A rule can be called a principle

• Sculpture and Sculptor

A sculpture is a kind of picture

• Stationary and stationery

Stationery contains er and so does paper; stationary (not moving) contains ar and so does car

A for “at rest”, e for envelope

First letter mnemonics of spelling

• DIARRHOEA

Dashing In A Rush, Running Harder Or Else Accident!

Dining In A Rough Restaurant: Hurry, Otherwise Expect Accidents!

Diarrhoea Is A Really Runny Heap Of Endless Amounts

• ARITHMETIC

A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream

A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tulips In Class

• NECESSARY

Not Every Cat Eats Sardines (Some Are Really Yummy)

Never Eat Crisps, Eat Salad Sandwiches, And Remain Young!

• BECAUSE

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

Big Elephants Cause Accidents Under Small Elephants

Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Exits

Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Entrances