Hello everyone!
Today, we are going to read about some spelling tips! This post is based on a very useful website from the BBC's Education section.
As you well know... Some words in English are difficult to spell because they don’t follow any spelling rules or they have silent letters . Nevertheless, there are certain tools that you can use to improve your spelling :)
Certain tools you can use to help you remember spellings include:
- mnemonics
- acrostics
- words within words
- sounding it out
Don't worry if you don't know what these mean because we are going to explore each tool.
Over the last centuries, English spelling has been influenced by many different languages, including French, German and Latin. Because English has borrowed words from other languages, lots of complex spelling patterns have developed. Also, you are used to pronouncing words phonetically in Spanish - which, unfortunately, doesn't follow the same rules in English.
There are many different reasons a word can be tricky to spell. For example:
They have silent letters , like the letter ‘b’ in the word ‘subtle’.
They have double letters that you also cannot hear, for example, in the words ‘disappoint’ and ‘accommodation’.
They don’t follow a pattern or spelling rule , for example, the word ‘ancient’ does not follow the rule - ‘i before e except after c’.
We also have to watch out for homophones. Homophonesare words that have the same sound, but a different spelling and meaning. These words might lead you to use the wrong spelling in your writing. For example, many people (even native speakers!) confuse the words ‘your’ and ‘you’re’.
Tools you can use to help you with tricky spellings
Mnemonic A mnemonic is a tool that helps you to memorise something specific, like how to spell a word.
For example, the following is a mnemonic for the word ‘necessary’ - ‘one collar and two sleeves’. This mnemonic could help you remember that the word ‘necessary’ has one ‘c’ and two ‘s’s’, which enables you to remember the tricky parts of this spelling.
Mnemonics can also be used to remember tricky homophone spellings. For example, ‘their’ is a possessive word - it has the word ‘heir’ in it - which is someone who may inherit lots of money and possessions.
Acrostic
You can also use an acrostic - a phrase you create from the letters that make up a difficult word.
For example, for the word ‘rhythm’ take the letters ‘R - H - Y - T - H - M’ and make the phrase ‘Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move’ with each word of the phrase beginning with the letters which spell the word ‘rhythm’.
But feel free to make up your own acrostic tricks!
Words within words
It can also be useful to remember shorter words within the tricky spelling.
For example, the word ‘bra’ (sujetador) in library is a memorable way to remember the tricky part of this spelling.
It’s also useful to remember that the word ‘independent’ has the following smaller words inside it - ‘depend’, ‘dependent’, ‘dent’.
The word ‘conscience’ can be difficult to spell. However, if you remember to always include the word ‘science’, it becomes easier to remember the correct spelling.
Sounding it out
Another trick you can use is to sound out the tricky parts of a word, for example ‘Wed - NES - day’ or ‘Feb-RU-ary’. These words aren't pronounced like this (be careful!), but giving emphasis to these sounds can help it stick in your memory.
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I hope you will find these tricks are useful :)
If you want to practise a quiz and an activity about these spelling tricks, you can find them here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zbmv2sg/articles/zjxqf4j
Best wishes,
Carla
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