How to learn individual words

Tips, help learning English spelling Spellzone will teach you the rules of English spelling and will also show you which words break those rules. But with English, however many rules and rule-breakers you learn, you are still going to find some odd words that need extra care.

Another problem with English is that there are often many ways of spelling the same sound. Look at this example from Unit 11:

Unit 11 Spelling the sound /er/: ur, ir, ear, or ?

There are 4 main ways of spelling this vowel sound. There are no rules to help you decide which spelling to use -you have to remember what the word looks like.

Say the words aloud and listen to the vowel sound:


ur as in burger	ir as in shirt	ear as in earth	er as in person

To go to a more advanced unit with a similar example, click here.

Each of the words above has the same vowel sound. How do you know which to choose from ur ir ear er ? The sounds in a word are only the starting point in learning to spell it. It is also important to know what the word looks like. If you have seen it before, you may be able to remember what it looks like. If not, one of the best ways to learn is to use this method:

Look Say Cover Write Check

	LOOK at the word carefully. What letter patterns can you see? Does it have a prefix or a suffix? ***see below Are there any small words within the word?
	SAY the word aloud and listen to the sounds in it. How many syllables? Can you hear the vowel sound in each syllable?
	When you think you know the word, COVER it.
	WRITE the word from memory.
	Look back and CHECK if you are correct. If yes - do it twice more to fix it in your memory. If not - go back to step one.

*** Suffixes and prefixes are covered in detail in Units 9, 23 and 34.

If you keep making mistakes with the same word, try this way of learning it:

Write the whole word
(make sure it is correct - check in a dictionary if necessary)
Write it again with the first letter missing
Write it again, this time missing the second letter - and so on.
Finally, write the complete word again

anxious

nxious

a xious

an ious

anx ous

anxi us

anxio s

anxiou

anxious

Some people find making up anagrams can help them - use Scrabble tiles, or make your own by writing and cutting out the letters. Try it this way:

Look at the correct spelling and pick out
the letters you need.
Muddle up the letters.
Look back at the correct word then hide it.
Arrange the letters to make the word.
Check you are correct, muddle them again and repeat.
Follow up with written practice

If a word keeps causing you problems, it calls for more action. You need to think of a memory trigger - a mnemonic. (The word mnemonic starts with a silent m. It comes from an ancient Greek word mnemonikos, meaning 'mindful').

Work on the part of the word causing problems. Look at this example:
accommodation (a word said to be spelled wrongly by over 50% of adults)

To remember double cc and double mm:
Think of two people with the initials CC and MM sharing accommodation:
Cheerful Charlie and Mad Mick

When you invent a mnemonic, draw it also. This helps to fix it in your memory. Make cc into Cheerful Charlie's eyes and mm into Mad Mick's eyebrows. You will never again forget to put cc and mm in accommodation.

Some more ideas for mnemonics (memory triggers):

1. Look for small words within a word. For example:

what

busy

separate

Parliament

terrible

vegetable

2. Acronyms are words made from the initial letters of a phrase, for example:

radar - radio detection and ranging

laser - light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation

Try this in reverse: make up phrases or short sentences for words you find hard to remember. For example, see how many sentences you can make up for said:


Smelly Albert is dirty.	Sarah Ann is dancing.	Sam ate ice-cream daily.

By the time you have made up ten different sentences, you should have the spelling of said fixed firmly in your mind. If not, choose your favourite sentence and write said many times, saying your sentence as you write each letter.

3. Think of other words that have the same letter pattern as the one you want to learn. Put the words in a sentence, for example:

The guy with the guitar drinks fruit juice

4. Invent your own spelling language: pronounce words as they are spelled.
This works well for:

words with silent letters
words with a weak vowel sound in one syllable

For example, see this extract from Unit 22:

knife knees

.... and from Unit 33:

contestant ornament

Put the words in sentences and read them aloud them to a friend - using your spelling language.

5. How to track down tricky letters:

Sometimes you can link tricky words with others that have the same root.
For example:

All these words are linked in some waywith the word sign
In these words the g is silent:	In these words you can hear the g :
sign design resign consign assign ensign	signal signature signet (ring) insignia designate assignation resignation

To remember a word with silent g, put it in a sentence with one from the other set, e.g.
a) A sign is a kind of signal
b) Put your signature on your design.
c) To resign from your job, hand in your resignation.

Some more examples of how to track down tricky letters:

medicine :	remember the c in medical, medication
receipt :	remember the p in reception, receptacle
muscles :	remember the c in muscular

You'll find many more tips like these throughout the Spellzone course.

Look for the logo:

Use the mnemonics in the Spellzone course as examples but, wherever possible, make up your own - you will remember them better. (And the ones you will remember the most will be the silly or vulgar ones!)

How to learn individual words

Unit 11 Spelling the sound /er/: ur, ir, ear, or ?

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