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- An acronym<\/strong> takes the first letter of a few words and puts them together. You might already use acronyms online or in texts. LOL<\/strong>, for example, stands for “Laughing Out Loud.”<\/strong>\u00a0BRB<\/strong> is “Be Right Back.”<\/strong>\u00a0One way to remember some tricky spellings is by turning each letter into a word. For example, to remember \u201crhythm\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0just remember \u201cRhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Turn difficult words into silly sentences and you will remember them in no time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- Some mnemonics use sentences<\/strong> to explain the difficult part of spelling a word. Having trouble spelling the word \u201cisland\u201d<\/strong>? Just remember that \u201cAn island is land<\/strong> surrounded by water.\u201d Is \u201cseparate”<\/strong>\u00a0spelled with an e<\/strong> or an a <\/strong>in the middle? \u201cThere\u2019s a rat<\/strong> in separate!\u201d\u00a0You can find more useful sentences on ThoughtCo.<\/a>, or make up your own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
2. Learn a Few Rules<\/h2>\n
Sometimes the best way to learn is to know the rules. Start by learning a few. Then, as you learn new words, you can add more and more rules. Before you know it, you’ll be able to spell most words!<\/p>\n
You can find short lists of basic spelling rules at\u00a0ThoughtCo.<\/a> and YourDictionary<\/a>. Don\u2019t try to learn them all at once! Instead, learn and practice one or two at a time until you understand them.<\/p>\n
The next time you find a word that you can’t spell, try finding out if it follows a rule.<\/p>\n
For example, why does the y<\/b> in \u201cfriendly\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0turn into an i<\/b> in \u201cfriendliness\u201d<\/strong>?<\/p>\n
Well, when you add a suffix (a word ending like\u00a0“-ness”<\/strong>) to a word that ends in the letter y<\/b>, that y<\/b>\u00a0is changed to an i.\u00a0<\/b>But<\/em>\u00a0that’s not the case if the suffix starts with an i<\/strong> (like\u00a0“-ing”<\/strong>).<\/p>\n
So someone can be “trying”<\/strong> but that same person “tries.”<\/strong>\u00a0You can be “partying”<\/strong> or go to many “parties.”<\/strong>\u00a0Thanks to knowing one word, you can learn how to spell many others that follow the same rule!<\/p>\n
3. Learn Commonly Misspelled Words<\/h2>\n
Some words are so tough to spell<\/a> that even native speakers can get them wrong. You can find some commonly misspelled English words in\u00a0this list<\/a>\u00a0on YourDictionary.<\/p>\n
You can also find some videos of misspelled words.\u00a0This video<\/a> looks through YouTube comments and corrects the spelling and this one<\/a>\u00a0teaches\u00a0a song to help you remember seven tough-to-spell words.<\/p>\n
Many commonly misspelled words are not words you need to use too often. But here are ten commonly misspelled words you might actually need to know how to spell:<\/p>\n
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- across<\/em><\/li>\n
- basically<\/em><\/li>\n
- beginning<\/em><\/li>\n
- believe<\/em><\/li>\n
- foreign<\/em><\/li>\n
- friend<\/em><\/li>\n
- forty<\/em><\/li>\n
- interrupt<\/em><\/li>\n
- until<\/em><\/li>\n
- weird<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should memorize all these words at once! Learn them one at a time, starting with the ones you use the most often.\u00a0<\/p>\n
4. Make a List of the Words You Have Trouble Spelling<\/h2>\n
Maybe you already know how to spell most commonly misspelled words, or maybe you just don’t use the word “vacuum”\u00a0<\/strong>too often when you’re writing.<\/p>\n
Instead of studying a list of words<\/a> made by someone else, why not make your own? Write down words that you have trouble spelling, even if they seem simple. Then learn their spelling rules or memorize them with mnemonics.<\/p>\n
You might find that you have trouble with certain groups of words. For example: “percent,” “preview,” “presentation”<\/strong>… when do you write “pre”<\/strong> and when is it “per”<\/strong>? Knowing what you need to learn is an important part of learning!<\/p>\n
To keep associating the sound with how it\u2019s spelled, consider using authentic media like movies and TV shows as you study.<\/p>\n
FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n
<\/p> \r\n
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n
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- basically<\/em><\/li>\n
- across<\/em><\/li>\n
- Some mnemonics use sentences<\/strong> to explain the difficult part of spelling a word. Having trouble spelling the word \u201cisland\u201d<\/strong>? Just remember that \u201cAn island is land<\/strong> surrounded by water.\u201d Is \u201cseparate”<\/strong>\u00a0spelled with an e<\/strong> or an a <\/strong>in the middle? \u201cThere\u2019s a rat<\/strong> in separate!\u201d\u00a0You can find more useful sentences on ThoughtCo.<\/a>, or make up your own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n