Grammar girl here, this week I have memory tricks to help you remember the spelling of

two sets of difficult words.

The first difficult set of words are the two spellings of stationary.

One word is spelled with an A and the other one is spelled with an E. They're pronounced

the same, but mean different things.

They're homophones.

Stationary with an E is paper, usually paper that you use for writing letters or notes.

You use nice stationary to write to your grandmother.

You can remember that it's spelled with an E by thinking that the E stands for email.

Who writes letters any more anyway?

We're more likely to write email messages even to our grandmother's, it would probably

rather get a paper note.

Actually some email programs have stationary backgrounds you can use that mimic paper

stationary, but I don't like them, they seem cheesy.

But I digress.

Remember that just as you write E, mail, you write on stationary with an E.

Now stationary with an A means not moving, fixed in one place or still.

Almost every big gem has a row of stationary bikes.

You can remember this one by thinking that when you're stationary, you're often standing.

Since standing is also spelled with an A, the association can remind you to put the

second A in stationary.

The next set of words are the two spellings of complement, again their homophones.

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