So many of my students have trouble spelling today’s day of the week! Wednesday is definitely not phonetic, so students (and adults!) get stuck on the spelling of it. Most people say Wednesday without the sound of the d at all.
We teach our students to spell difficult words in many ways, giving them as many tools as we possibly can.
1.Syllable by syllable—longer words that are phonetic in nature can often be syllabicated and spelled syllable by syllable by a student who is fairly phonetically-savvy: con/se/quence.
2.Tricks and mnemonics—we call these “Tricky Tricks to Help It Stick” and use them often with our “Wacky Words”—words that have a wacky counterpart that can be confusing, such as the homophones their, there, and they’re. I had an elementary student this year who told the class that they could easily spell Nebuchadnezzar if they just divided it up and pronounced the ch as choo (not kuh): Neb/U/Chad/Nez/Zar! Of course, any tricks that help a person are handy tools to have (though the trick must help that person in order to be effective).
3.Visual tricks—many visual people spell by “seeing” the word—its shape, its sequence of letters (and the shapes those letters make), etc.
4.Memorization—some peopleare just naturally good spellers (it is now thought to be a specific skill set separate from intelligence) and can memorize a word’s spelling once it is seen.
Another Wacky Word pair that trips people up is that of breathe and breath. (The latest sign I saw of this had to do with helping people to “breath clean air”!)
This pair is tricky, along with all of the ea pairs, because ea says short e and long e–all by itself. For example:
1. Today I will read the book. 2. The leaf fell to the ground. 3. The thief is going to steal the diamond.
The key to knowing whether to use breath or breathe is to consider the pairs that do have e at the end–it is there to show that, that word is the long e one (not the short e one).
For example:
1. Take a deep breath (breth–short e). 2. Breathe deeply (long e).
3. He took great pleasure in it (short e–plezz). 4. They want to please him (long e).
While there isn’t a fullproof trick (like their/there and affect/effect), it does help to keep in mind that if one of the set has an e at the end of it, it is there for a reason–in these cases, to make the first vowel say its long sound–breathe (long e) vs. breath (short e).
Sit and rise have I’s–and lie does too. “Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do. Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose When each one has an object after it to use.
Here we are at the end of our Wacky Word pair—lie and lay.
Remember these lie and lay tips:
Lie has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
I lie in bed at wide awake.
Yesterday I lay awake half the night.
Before that I had lain down when the cat jumped on me.
Lie means to stretch out in a flat position—anybody or anything can lie, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT laid)
She lies down with a headache every day.
The sun is lying low.
She has lain down for a nap.
Lay must have an object following it—something that it is being laid down.
Lay your book on the table.
He laid his money down.
She has laid the towels in the sun.
Okay…the tenses for the three:
1. Lie
a. Base form: lie—Tomorrow I will lie down early. (Remember—no object; down is an adverb; early is an adverb here, not an object.
b. Past simple: lay—Yesterday I lay in the sun. (Tricky part: past tense of lie is lay; lay is also the present tense of lay—to lay something down!)
b. Past participle: lain—They have lain low ever since then.
d. Third person singular: lies—The dog just lies under the tree all day long.
e. Present participle/gerund: lying—The sun was lying on the horizon for so long today.
2. Lay
Base form: lay—I lay the kids’ clothes out every day. (Tricky: lay is the base form of lay (to put something down; it is also the past tense of lie—to stretch out by yourself or itself.)
Past simple: laid—Yesterday I laid the pink pants out for Jon.
Past participle: laid—Before the dog came in, I had already laid his bones out.
Third person singular: lays—He lays the book down every night at ten.
Present participle/gerund: laying—I am laying the swim suits out to dry.
Tricky Tricks to Help It Stick
Again, do sit/set first (all same base word for tenses of set!) or rise/raise (since many people get this pair correct even if they do not know sit/set and lie/lay very well).
Do rise/raise after sit/set or sit/set after rise/raise (saving lie/lay for last).
Memorize acronym/rhyme to cement the fact that all three with I’s are the ones that are done by someone or something (not to something).
When you get to lie and lay, to lie first all by itself until it is memorized. Then do lay. (I am starting to wait a week between the two with lots of practice on lie during that week before moving on to lay.)
I’m officially done with sit/set; rise/raise; and lie/lay! Time to move on. I feel that I have risen to the occasion and am glad that I did not sit idly by and lay these tricky ones aside. Glad I did not let people lie in agony over these Wacky Words. I would like for all of us to set our grammar burdens aside and raise a toast in honor of sit/set; rise/raise; and lie/lay! J (Last time for a while, honest!)
Sit and rise have I’s–and lie does too. “Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do. Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose When each one has an object after it to use.
I like to start with the simplest Wacky Word pair—sit and set. Then I like to move onto rise and raise. (And leave the “wackiest” pair, lie/lay, for the end.)
Remember these rise and raise tips:
Rise has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
I rise around
Yesterday I rose at dawn yesterday. (Not really!)
Before that I had risen when the cat jumped on me.
Rise means to come up to a higher position—anybody or anything can rise, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT raised)
She rose to greet us.
The sun is rising late.
Our grades have risen lately. (Technically, grades are raised by someone (“I raised my GPA”)—but if you do not state who raised them, they would be rising by themselves—which we know doesn’t really happen!)
Raise does have an i—but not only an I like rise—raise is done to something.
Raise must have an object following it—something that it is being raised.
Raise your glass for a toast.
He raised his children well.
The children are raising their hands in class now.
Okay…the tenses for the two:
1. Rise
a. Base form: rise—Tomorrow I will rise early. (Remember—no object; early is an adverb here, not an object.
b. Past simple: rose—Yesterday I rose late.
b. Past participle: risen—They have risen to the task.
d. Third person singular: rises—The sun rises early now.
e. Present participle/gerund: rising—The sun was rising later in the day before.
2. Raise
Base form: raise—Today I raise my voice in song. (Object—voice)
Past simple: raised—Yesterday I raised the log and found a mole.
Past participle: raised—Before I put the binoculars down, I raised them up and looked through them in the distance.
Third person singular: raises—She always raises her voice when she is angry.
Present participle/gerund: raising—I am raising the bar in that class!
Sit and rise have I’s–and lie does too. “Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do. Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose When each one has an object after it to use.
Fill in the blanks below with the correct forms/tenses of sit/set.
She _________ down and wept when she heard the news.
They _______ down.
They _______ the plants out.
They will be _______ the clothes out beforehand.
Yesterday, he ________ down to rest.
They will ________ the clothes out to dry.
He _________ down.
He is ____________ down.
They will be _________ the clothes out beforehand.
