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Mnemonic Weekly Tip
#11 November
24, 2002 |
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Two words that are often
confused by new readers and readers who have a problem
distinguishing between items that are similar are went
and want. This
is the same problem these students have with was and
saw. Many
people thought that individuals who confuse was and saw
perceived one of these words backwards.
Individuals, who confuse words, do not see words backwards,
rather they have a problem with naming or labeling the word.
Knowing the difference between was and saw
is the same as knowing the difference between went
and want. Words
that are similar can be confused by individuals who have a
right/left discrimination problem.
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| The Mnemonic |
This
week’s clue uses weighted learning: knowing one part of a pair
so well that if it is not that one, it is the other.
The word went can be weighted if the person
can rhyme. Then the
person learns a phrase like went to pay the rent. |
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| If
the person has difficulty rhyming, as do many people with poor
reading skills, then the word want can be weighted
by using the word ant.
By developing a story about why a person may want
an ant will provide him or her with a way to
remember the word want.
For example, I tell the person that I would like him to
have an ant farm. We
discuss the concept of an ant farm, ground in a glass frame so
that one can see the ant’s activities.
I explain that it is fragile because it is made of glass
and therefore should be kept off of the bed so that ants do not
end up in one’s bed.
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The student learns to associate the word ant
with the word want, because I want him
to have an ant farm.
This association is often enough to provide the person with
a mnemonic clue for the word want and if it is not want
then it is went. |
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| The words was and saw
can be distinguished by weighting was, the word that
appears more frequently. If
the word is not was than try saw.
For example: I
was (saw) there yesterday.
He was (saw) going to watch the game.
I saw (was) him leave. |
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