Today I am going to show you some easy-to-remember rhymes that can help you with your spellings. Most people learn these rhymes in school when they are young but, if you are an international student, you might have missed out on these!
A lot of people have trouble with the following spellings but, by following these easy rules, you can avoid making mistakes 99% of the time (I can’t say 100% because, as I’m sure you’re aware, there are always exceptions to the rule in English!).
‘I’ Before ‘E’, Except After ‘C’
In words like ‘sieve’ and ‘believe’, the ‘i’ comes before the ‘e’.
However, in words like ‘receive’ and ‘perceive’, the ‘e’ comes after the ‘i’.
Beware of rogue words like ‘seize’, ‘weird’ or ‘reign’ where the ‘e’ comes before the ‘i’ without a ‘c’!
‘Q’ and ‘U’ Stick like Glue
This rhyme helps you to remember that after a ‘q’ there is always a ‘u’ in English. The only exceptions to this are proper nouns from other languages, such as ‘Qatar’.
When the ‘Ing’ Comes to Play, the ‘E’ Runs Away
This rule is used for remembering how to spell the gerund (the ‘ing’ form). Words like ‘come’, which end in an ‘e’, drop the ‘e’ when the ‘ing’ is added:
We come in peace.
We are coming to dinner on Tuesday.
One Cup Two Sugars
This is a little phrase that can help you to spell the word ‘necessary’ correctly as it has one ‘c’ (one ‘cup’) and two ‘s’s’ (two ‘sugars’)
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