Offbeat Ways to Remember How to Spell Hard Words is a series that aims to take Autocorrect's smug overconfidence down a notch by revealing senseless (yet surprisingly memorable) ways to nail the spelling of commonly misspelled words every time.
Let's learn how to spell definitely, once and for all!
How to Spell DEFINITELY: First Thing's First
It is not your fault that you're tempted to write "D-E-F-I-N-A-T-E-L-Y"! Words like "lately" and "passionately" fool you into thinking "definitely" has an "A" in there somewhere. It doesn't! To quote Elsa from Frozen and John Rambo in First Blood: "Let it go."
The only vowels that do work in this word are a pair of two "e's" and two "i's". Please, no comments on how "Y" is a vowel. This isn't about the Y. It's about the how (as in, how to spell definitely).
Definitely Break It Up
You can spell "definitely" correctly without consulting Google (a.k.a. multi-billion dollar spellcheck) by breaking it up into four words you can already spell effortlessly.
First Word: Def
It's definitely safe to say you don't struggle with the first three letters when recalling how to spell definitely. My tired and overworked generation subs the word "definitely" with "def" in both talk and text. And the youths claim "def" to be new slang meaning "cool" or "rad."
It def doesn't matter which generation is right or wrong. What's really def is spelling "definitely" correctly without the assistance of AI.
Second Word: In
You know how to spell "in"! Put "Def" and "in" together, and you've already mastered half of the word "definitely". Get yourself a coffee reward. You're doing great!
Third Word: It
This is the part of "definitely" that pays Autocorrect's paycheck. Phonetic instinct tells you to use an "A" or an "E", but don't fall for it! It really is as simple as "it". When remembering how to spell definitely, remember that "in it" is literally in the middle of the word!
"Init" is in it.
The stars don't often align so perfectly, but when they do it's awesome. Like how "hear" is related to ears and how "here" is just a "w" away from the question of "where?"
Fourth Word: Ely
I understand that "ely" is not a well-known spelling of anything, but if you can Object > Lock > Ely into your brain as the ending to "definitely" (not "ally" or "ily"), then you're golden.
If you need another word association, definitely use the Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England to spark your memory. Just like the English Reformation ended the relationship between the Church of England and the Catholic Church, this gorgeous cathedral's post-Reformation name happens to be the ending to the word "definitely".
If you can spell "Def", "In", "It", and "Ely"separately, you definitely already know how to spell definitely.
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