Comments on: Six fun little mnemonics

By: Judit

Judit — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:32:34 +0000

Hi,

I wonder where the word ‘weird’ fits in with the rule…

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:15:33 +0000

Hi Beverly and welcome to this blog! The beginning of that mnemonic does sound familiar, but I’m at a loss to tell you the rest. Maybe someone else here will know? Anyone?

By: Beverly

Beverly — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:27:21 +0000

Great site! When I was in grade school we had a poem that helped to remember the parts of speech. I can only remember the first line or two and was hoping someone would have the whole thing.
What I remember is: A noun is a person, a place or a thing, an example of which is a piece of string An adjective tells us what kind or how many and goes with a noun like one little penny.
That is all I remember – hopefully, someone has the rest. Thank you.

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:49:54 +0000

Yes… the infamous order of adjectives. Nice mnemonic but I always found teaching ALL of those and making students remember them a bit of a waste of time. How often will they encounter a huge string of adjectives like that and need to order them? Gosh, I’d prefer it if my students remembered enough adjectives in English (i.e. instead of always saying “nice” or “bad”) without having to remember the order. However, if the mnemonic helps then so be it!

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:46:54 +0000

Hi Sue, sorry it took me awhile to get back to this one. I found myself remembering the mnemonic the other day actually… great stuff!

By: Lisa Kattelus

Lisa Kattelus — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:10:13 +0000

FANBOY

A learner in a writing class taught me this one to help remember co-ordinating conjustions!

for, and, nor, but, or, yet.

By: Susana Castaneda

Susana Castaneda — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:12:49 +0000

Hi!
As an EFL student in Peru I was taught “OSASCOMP”, which means: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose…you know, the order of adjectives? It was pretty popular here, lots of teachers used it… I thought it was useless, what do u think?

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:17:08 +0000

Nice one Sandy! I’m going to remember that one – I have to admit I kept trying to read more into it than I should (e.g. backwards, it’s perfect). Shame on me !

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:15:27 +0000

Hi there

Thanks for your comment! You’re welcome here of course. I like your suggestions, especially SLoWer. Very nice!

By: Mike Hogan

Mike Hogan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:37:28 +0000

Hi Paola,

Another one for “i” is iPod. My students find this one easier to remember than a full sentence … and I always have one with me as visual but silent prompt.