Word mnemonics

Explode/blow up these are synonyms. If you listen carefully, Explode has blow in it  because plo sounds like blow

Guide. A guide gives you ideas on how to do something, either as a person (tour guide) or a document (a guide book). So remember give you ideas = G(ive) U IDEas

Knock has two unused, ie silent K sounds, one at either end,  knock, so don't forget to (k)noc(k) them off before you say the word. Knock means hit!

Insure. If you insure something, eg your car, or house, you protect it. You feel peaceful inside. You feel sure in yourself!

Lonely looks like 1onl(e)y, or one only,  1 (one looks like l). Lonely  means unhappy because you are by yourself.

Pursue/ persuade These are often confused. Persuade means to make someone do something. Persuade has an ad (advertisment) in it. An ad tries persuade you to buy something. Pursue means to follow, chase. Think of someone stealing your purse, with you running after him and catching him. Purse you sounds like Pursue.

Rely on (v) sounds like'Real lion' which gives an image of strength and genuineness. If you can rely on someone, they are trustworthy.

Regular/large. In restaurants when you buy coffee or pizza, there are different sizes. Regular is normal size, large is bigger. Regular and large share three letters together, the last three of regular and the first three of large. Where you are at the end of regular, you are in the middle of large. When you finish a regular cup of coffee, you are still in the middle of a large cup.

Singular/plural. Singular has one l, plural has two. Singular means one, plural means more than one.

Step/steep. Think of a step on a staircase. Each letter is one step. Now think of step with double e This step is very high and difficult to climb. This is what steep means.

s                                                         s

t                                                       t

        e                                                 e

                   p                                      e

p

Sufficient. Has the sound fish in it. Fish has one f , Sufficent has two. Double f makes the f sound, but sometimes one f is enough. Sufficient means enough, which also has the f sound, but no letter f. Sometimes you need two fs, but  sometimes one f,  and sometimes no f is enough.

Total  +0+A=L Total means the whole amount. The ts look like plus signs, so plus O plus A equals L looks like a sum. Your total score in the test is 82.Well done!