Five Simple Spelling Tips
Someone sent me a message through my sidebar chat box, even though I was offline:
MiddleSchooler: Hi, I’m a Middle Schooler & I have a spelling bee tomorrow. I don’t know if you’ll be able to read this in time, but I just wanted to suggest “tips to memorize the correct spelling for words” for a spelling bee? Thanks, and nice site.
Thanks for the suggestion, MiddleSchooler! I’ll be working more on this topic when I start updating my posts from my old blog, but for now, here’s a quick list of spelling tips:
- Know the rules. Memorizing the spelling of a word is all about noticing and remembering patterns. For some spelling guidelines, see AskOxford: Grammar and Spelling Tips.
- Know the origin. English borrows words from many other languages, each with their own spelling rules. Check out Sounds and Spelling in English Words: Some Correspondences with Language of Origin.
- Practice. The more you read and write, the better your spelling will become. This doesn’t happen overnight, of course. For an upcoming spelling bee, you’ll probably just have to sit down and review words for a while.
- Use mnemonics. These little memory tricks work wonders for some people. For example, you can remember how to spell mnemonics by turning it into an acronym: Mnemonics Now Erase Man’s Oldest Nemesis, Insufficient Cerebral Storage. See English Mnemonics for more ideas.
- Keep a list. Every time I discover a word I misspell often, I add it to my list of difficult words and write down how and why I misspelled it. After doing this, I’ve never misspelled the word separately again!
I hope you find those tips and links helpful, and good luck with that spelling bee!
