3 ms·

With no disrespect to the great man, just think "Em, jeff Barr is an Ass." when you want to get embarrassed. Have you tried breaking down words logically by li

by Evbn 14y ago

With no disrespect to the great man, just think "Em, jeff Barr is an Ass." when you want to get embarrassed. Have you tried breaking down words logically by linguistic origin to supplement rote memorization drills?

btilly 14y ago
The only two mnemonics that I've taught him are, There are two too many ways to spell 'tu' and I before e except after c, or when says "a" as in neighbor and weigh. I know that lots of people use mnemonics, but I've personally tended to find them more trouble than they are worth. Until this week we hadn't encountered any facts that were sufficiently hard that he had to break them down to successfully master them. It is clear that he uses tricks acquired from one card to do another card. But I've not had to tell him how to do that. I should note that drills usually involve under 10 cards. We're not talking about endless work. (In fact most of the work is reading to him. Which stretches his vocabulary, and is also a learning exercise, but I won't tell him that if you don't tell him that.)
- DanBC 14y ago
  The i before e rule isn't much use. There are so many words that don't fit, and so the rule gets expanded. I before E. I before E, except after C. I before E, except after C or when the sound is "a" as in neighbor and weigh. It's a weird rule. Off the top of my head: seize, eider, science, frequencies, vacancies, fallacies, either, feisty, society. Etc etc.
  - gjm11 14y ago
    The form of the rule that I was told in school is: I before E, except after C, when the sound is "ee". This (1) is pretty simple, (2) has rather few exceptions, and (3) does correctly give the spelling of lots of words that some people would otherwise find tricky. Note that "except after C" means "ignore the rule in this case" rather than "reverse the rule in this case". That is, it doesn't mean "E before I, after C". Of the 9 words on your list: 5 (science, frequencies, vacancies, fallacies, society) are "after C" and therefore not covered by the rule; 2 (eider, feisty) are never pronounced with an "ee" sound and therefore not covered by the rule; 1 (either) is sometimes pronounced that way and sometimes not and therefore a kinda-half-exception; 1 (seize) is a definite genuine exception. There are a few other exceptions, but the rule in this form correctly fixes the spelling of a whole lot of common words (a few examples: piece, frieze, grief, believe, retrieve) that would be easy to get wrong without it.

by Evbn 14y ago

btilly 14y ago

The only two mnemonics that I've taught him are, There are two too many ways to spell 'tu' and I before e except after c, or when says "a" as in neighbor and weigh. I know that lots of people use mnemonics, but I've personally tended to find them more trouble than they are worth. Until this week we hadn't encountered any facts that were sufficiently hard that he had to break them down to successfully master them. It is clear that he uses tricks acquired from one card to do another card. But I've not had to tell him how to do that. I should note that drills usually involve under 10 cards. We're not talking about endless work. (In fact most of the work is reading to him. Which stretches his vocabulary, and is also a learning exercise, but I won't tell him that if you don't tell him that.)

DanBC 14y ago
The i before e rule isn't much use. There are so many words that don't fit, and so the rule gets expanded. I before E. I before E, except after C. I before E, except after C or when the sound is "a" as in neighbor and weigh. It's a weird rule. Off the top of my head: seize, eider, science, frequencies, vacancies, fallacies, either, feisty, society. Etc etc.
- gjm11 14y ago
  The form of the rule that I was told in school is: I before E, except after C, when the sound is "ee". This (1) is pretty simple, (2) has rather few exceptions, and (3) does correctly give the spelling of lots of words that some people would otherwise find tricky. Note that "except after C" means "ignore the rule in this case" rather than "reverse the rule in this case". That is, it doesn't mean "E before I, after C". Of the 9 words on your list: 5 (science, frequencies, vacancies, fallacies, society) are "after C" and therefore not covered by the rule; 2 (eider, feisty) are never pronounced with an "ee" sound and therefore not covered by the rule; 1 (either) is sometimes pronounced that way and sometimes not and therefore a kinda-half-exception; 1 (seize) is a definite genuine exception. There are a few other exceptions, but the rule in this form correctly fixes the spelling of a whole lot of common words (a few examples: piece, frieze, grief, believe, retrieve) that would be easy to get wrong without it.