Spelling tricks

A post on spelling tricks and language - for those who like my news links, they’re below as usual.

I decided to write on spelling tricks when I had to write a particular word yesterday many, many times but in a program without autocorrect. I just cannot, no matter how I try, remember how to spell resuscitate. It’s a word that absolutely will not get into this brain data bank of mine.

When my children were in elementary school, they faced the same spelling issues that most of us did when learning how to spell in English. They made the same errors and had the same frustrations. For instance, when to use/spell where, wear, their, there, its, it’s, and so on.

Luckily, I have a knack for spelling and didn’t have a lot of those same spelling issues. And, somehow without thinking about it too much, I was able to come up with some tricks that have helped them over the years. Remember, these are just tricks, they may not have any true basis in spelling history – that’s not the point. They’re only memory aids.

If you have any you’d like to add, please leave them in the comment section and I’ll put them all together and post a link for anyone to access if they want.

A lot – not alot. Why? The measurement is lot so as you would write a bag of apples, you would write a lot of apples.

A while – not awhile. Why? You write say aminute or anhour.

It’s versus its. When you are using it for possessive, as in “that dog has its own bed,” it does not have the apostrophe. How to remember? There’s no apostrophe in her or his: “that girl has her own bed,” or “that boy has his own bed.”

There versus their versus they’re. There is for pointing out a spot. The word here is in the word there. So, if you can write, “put that book over here,” you write: “put that book over there.” The apostrophe on they’re tells you right away it is a replacement for missing letters so it is a replacement for they are.

Where versus wear: - As with there, where has the word here in it. If you can write "Where is the book?" with “over here,” you spell it as where.

Here versus hear: you hear with your ear.

Peace versus piece: a piece is a section of something, like a pie. “I would like a piece of pie, please.”

How to spell

friend: Friend has an end on it.
their: Other than the “i before e” saying, you can remember that both there and their begin with the – always

accelerate: the word rate only has one R in the front

And, for those who need to write my name and can’t remember the letter order: think of the alphabet. MarIJKe.

That’s it’s for the week! I’m starting my vacation very early tomorrow morning. I may post sporadically over the next week but I’m back for sure as of the 24th. I have to – it’s my baby’s birthday. My third one will 16! Please check back if you enjoy reading my blog.

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