English language is full of contradictions and exceptions, especially when it comes to spellings.
For example: The word chemist sounds like it should start with a ‘k’ and the word knife can do without the ‘k’.
There are many more such confusing words which make our life difficult every time we sit down to write.
Here are some tricks that can help you spell words correctly:
- Crosswords and Scrabble: Games can help you relax as you learn. Crosswords improve general knowledge as well as spelling. Scrabble motivates the players to learn tough words as these fetch more points!
- Learn the rules: I know it is easier said than done, but we can at least try. Learn the common combinations of letters or endings so that you can guess the spelling if need be. For example -ough, – tion, -een and so on.
Also, keep a check on homophones (words that sound similar but are spelt differently) and words that have silent letters.
- Learn the exceptions: If you learn the rules, you have to learn the exceptions as well. Some rules are very basic (and rhyme too!) like “I before E, except after C”, just remember the words that do not follow the rule like weird and height.
- Mnemonics: Memory aids or Mnemonics are a good way to remember tricky spellings – the easier the mnemonic, the better. The best part is that you can make your own mnemonics to help you remember.
Some mnemonics are:
- You hear with your ear.
- A piece of pie.
- A memento is for memories.
- Read: This is the simplest and most obvious solution. Simply being exposed to English words can help you spell better. Read as much as you can, be it magazines, comics, blogs or the newspaper. This will help you learn spellings without any effort.