I always had trouble with these words; super and supper, diner and dinner, desert and dessert. I couldn't remember which words had the double letters in them.
My daughter, a 5th grade teacher, told me of a easy way to get the spelling correct. Supper, dessert, dinner: you always go back for seconds! I never spell them incorrectly after that tip from her!
Source: Donna, my daughter.
By dorothy wedenoja from New Creek, WV
Editor's Note: Do you have any other tricks to remember how to spell words? Post then here.
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Great tip. Years ago my mom taught me a trick to spell "cemetery" instead of it ending in ary which happens.
She said"a cemetery is a place of ease(e's).
A college professor told me (many years ago) to always remember there is 'no ice in promise' and I have never again had to go to the dictionary before making a promise!
I can't recall any specific tricks but the one word that I see misspelled over and over is the word "definitely". A lot of people spell it "definately".
I before e, except after c (as in receive and sieve).
I was never sure if I was using affect or effect correctly, so I googled it one day and found this helpful sight:
grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
Principle or principal? Remember the school principal is your friendly "pal"
I love memory tricks, especially spelling ones! Mine is "than" vs "then." Than is a comparison word, so it has the A in it. I might say, for example, "I like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate." Then is an event word. "I went to the gas station, then I went to the drug store."
You know what's really funny? Even with my screen-reader, I'm a better proofreader than a lot of people I know, lol!
Oh, yes, the one thing I always had trouble remembering was which months of the year had 31 days. Then I learned the poem: "30 days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, excepting February alone, having 28 days alone, excepting leap year, when it has 29." It took some repetitions, but I finally got it. And the little poem I learned about "I before E" was "I before E, except before C, and when sounding like A, as in neighbor and weigh."
I could go on all night, lol!
You can also determine which months have 30 or 31 days by counting the knuckles on your fist (31days are the knuckles) and the space in-between the knuckles (30 days; with February being the exception). Begin with the knuckle of your fore-finger (January), the space in-between (Feb.), the next knuckle is March; space = April, etc.
My pet peeves:
You're = You are. (You are going, you are nice.)
Your = possessive: (Your car, your house, your shirt.)
Most abused words in the English language, didn't anyone pay attention in their English classes?
The one bugging me lately is bear and bare - seems like none of the bloggers can get that right anymore. Every time I see this sentence, it's spelled "Please BARE with me" ...uh, you mean you're writing your blog naked & you want is to join you & read it naked? Because that's what "bare" means, naked :D . The word is spelled "bear", like the animal - "please bear with me". Just remember the old saying "bare - *ss naked", in other words, "Please bare - *ss naked with me" - you sure don't want your readers doing that with you - or do you :P
Spelling has always been one of my strong points, I am so glad I've never had a problem with it (with the exception of affect/effect). I'm always telling my kids they need to figure out how to spell right & look it up if they don't know, because it's one thing to spell wrong when writing to your friends, but another thing entirely when doing it for school and work.
My husband is a bad speller & get's annoyed when I correct him - but like I tell him, when you spell words wrong in official communications for business & such, it makes you look stupid.
I don't think younger people as well these days, they depend on spell check & some just don't care. One of my kids actually had a teacher who said "I don't care if they spell right, as long as they know what they are talking about in their papers"!
Cajun
I can't keep your knuckle tongue twister straight in my head. That's a lot of work when all you have to do is remember this old saying:
'30 days has September, April, June and November, All the rest have 31, Excepting February alone'.
(knuckles on my fist? I never knew they were called Knuckles. Glory Be! I've got ten knuckles on each hand and didn't know it. Wont wonders never cease?)
That is an awesome way to remember the difference!! To go back for seconds cuz supper has 2 p's!!!THANK YOU!!!!
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