Page 109 - Use Your Memory

9 The Alphabet System

The Alphabet System is the final Peg System and is similar in
construction to the Number-Shape and Number-Rhyme
Systems, the only difference being that, instead of using numbers,
it uses the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. As with all the other
memory systems, the Basic Memory Principles apply. The rules
for constructing your Alphabet Memory System are simple; they
are as follows: you select a Key Memory Image Word that starts
with the sound of the letter and is easily memorised. If you think of
several possibilities for a letter, use the one that comes first in the
dictionary. For example, for the letter L it would be possible to use
elastic, elegy, elephant, elbow, elm, etc. If you were looking up
these words in the dictionary, the first one you would come to
would be elastic, and that is therefore the word you would select
for your Alphabet System. The reason for this rule is that if you
should ever forget your Alphabet Key Image Word, you can
mentally flick through the letters of the alphabet in order, rapidly
arriving at the correct word. In the example given, if you had
forgotten your Alphabet System image for the letter L, you would
try ela and would immediately be able to recall your Key Image
Word, elastic.
Another rule in the construction of your Alphabet System is
that if the letter itself makes a word (for example I makes the word
eye, and J makes the word jay, the bird), then that word should be
used. In some cases, it is possible to use meaningful initials instead
of complete words - for example, UN.
On page 67 are listed the letters of the alphabet. Paying close
attention to the now-familiar rules for constructing a system,
pencil in your own Alphabet System Image Words.

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