How do you feel about memorization? Like my former classmates, do you hate the idea? Many people are put off by the work needed to memorize something. But while a good part of your English learning will happen while you're naturally speaking, listening, reading, and writing in the language, you will definitely have to memorize certain things. For example, some words are spelled or pronounced in a way that doesn't seem to follow any of the rules of English.
Luckily, there's help. Have you ever heard of a mnemonic device? A mnemonic device is a memory aid that you can use to remember just about anything. I absolutely love mnemonic devices. You may already use them without realizing it.
For example, if you read music, your music teacher may have given you a way to memorize the names of the notes on the lines and spaces of the staff. Reading up from the bottom, the notes on the four spaces are F, A, C, and E. You can see how that spells the word FACE. That's a pretty simple one. The names of the notes on the lines are E, G, B, D, and F. That's not as easy, as it doesn't spell anything. So in English, music teachers will generally tell the students to think of a sentence where each word begins with the same letter as these notes. I learned, "Every Good Boy Does Fine." I've heard other students learn, "Every Good Boy Deserves Fun." Is there a different way you were taught to learn these notes in your language?
Remember when we learned about the different types of sentences? We talked about the coordinating conjuctions and used the word FANBOYS to help remember the list. Can you still name them? I'm pretty sure you can, because of FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). That was a mnemonic device.
Creating a funny mental picture that you'll remember is another way to use a mnemonic device. The sillier the picture is, the better it will stick in your head. One time I went to a weekend-long Irish dancing festival. I was there by myself so I met a lot of new friends. I used mental pictures to remember people's names when I met them. For example, I met a man named Bill. Bill had a big bushy beard, so in my head I pictured the beard as a duck's bill. I never had a problem remembering his name after that. I also met a woman called Jo who had on a brown shirt. In my head I pictured her spilling coffee all over a white shirt and turning it brown. This reminded me that her name was Jo because in English we sometimes use the word "Joe" as a nickname for coffee--"Hey, can I have a cup of Joe?" (It actually sounds more like "cuppa Joe" when people say it, so listen for this when you're around native speakers.)
Mnemonic devices are great for those words you just can't remember how to spell. I'm a native English speaker and a good speller, but I still need tricks to remember some words. For example, I could never remember how to spell "cemetery." I always forgot whether the third to last letter was an "e" or an "a." Then one day I came across a great mnemonic device. Someone said to picture all the e's in the word lined up in a neat row like headstones in a graveyard (another word for cemetery). I imagined those e's a few times in my head, and now I never have trouble spelling the word.
I also used to have trouble remembering how to spell the homophones "stationary" and "stationery." The one with the "-ary" ending means "not moving" and the one with the "-ery" ending means "writing paper." Finally, I came up with a mnemonic device that worked for me: I pictured a capital "E" as a piece of paper, with the horizontal arms of the E as the lines on the paper. So when I saw the "-ery" ending, I immediately pictured the capital E in my head, saw that lined sheet of paper, and knew it was the word that meant "paper" instead of "not moving."
The great thing about mnemonic devices is that often you only need them temporarily. For a while, you'll have to think of your device every time you encounter the word you want to spell or the person whose name you need to remember. But eventually you won't need the trick anymore. I know how to spell cemetery even without picturing my little rows of e's. And I still remember Bill from the dance class every time I see him, even though he no longer has a beard.
One more word about mnemonic devices: You can find lists of them in books and even websites that will help you create them. This might help you at first until you get the hang of it. But the mnemonic devices that work best are the ones you create yourself. Your own sentence or your own silly picture will work better than anyone else's because it has meaning to you. Practice creating your own memory aids and I know you'll use this skill in every part of your life.
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Vocabulary
- erupted: suddenly and sometimes violently released
- agreed: consented to a course of action
- disappointed: defeated and sad because something you wanted did or did not occur
- former: something that came before, in time
- put off: having a feeling like you don't want to do something
- festival: a celebration or several events
- cemetery: burial ground
- temporarily: for only for a short period of time
- encounter: meet
- eventually: some time in the future
Vocabulary Practice
- Many people enjoy listening to music at an outdoor ___________.
- Jean ______________ lived with her sister while her house was being renovated.
- I hope you're not ____________ by the length of this amazing book.
- My ___________ roommate was very messy; I'm happy that I now live alone.
- Henry was very ___________ when he had to cancel his trip to Japan.
- If you work hard and stay focused, you can _____________ learn to do anything.
- When the volcano in Iceland _____________, many planes in Europe were not able to fly.
- The mother ___________ to let her children have dessert after they finished their lunch.
- I think a ____________ is a very peaceful place to visit, even though it can be associated with sadness.
- Did you ever ___________ a situation that made you scared?
Grammar Point
Prepositions
A preposition is a word that shows relationships between other words in the sentence. The relationships include direction, place, time, cause, manner and amount.
In the sentence
Lisa went to the store.
the word "to" is a preposition that shows direction. In the sentence
He came by bus.
the word "by" is a preposition that shows manner ("How did he come?"). In the sentence
They will be here at three o'clock.
The word "at" is a preposition that shows time. In the sentence
The cat is under the table.
the word "under" is a preposition that shows place.
A preposition always goes with a noun or pronoun that is called the object of the preposition. You may notice that the preposition almost always comes before the noun or pronoun (think: pre + position = preposition). The preposition and the object of the preposition together are called the prepositional phrase.
I'll repeat the examples in green text above. This time the preposition will be blue, the object of the preposition will be red, and the whole prepositional phrase will be in italic type:
- Lisa went to the store.
- He came by bus.
- They will be here at three o'clock.
- The cat is under the table.
Grammar Practice
In the text above, I've used many prepositions to create prepositional phrases. Can you find at least 5 sentences that have prepositions? List the whole sentence and color-code the preposition, the object of the preposition, and the whole prepositional phrase like I've done in my examples above. E-mail me your answers, and I'll send you feedback and a complete list of the prepositional phrases I've used.
For a review of prepositions, watch this video and listen to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4jIC5HLBdM
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Help With Creating Mnemonic Devices
As I mentioned above, you may need help creating your own mnemonic devices at first. Check out this website for "The Mnemonicizer": http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/cognition/tutorials/mnemonics/jv_mad3ab.html
And this website http://www.bucks.edu/~specpop/mnemonics.htm lays out the different types of mnemoic devices and shows you when to use them.
Lengthy and interesting post. I agree with you about memorization. How difficult is it to learn a few formulas? All language learning involves memorization.
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