Topic 3: Substitute Words and Phrases - Tutorial 3
For your first exercise in using the Substitute Word System, you are going to memorise the twelve largest English counties, in order of area :
1 North Yorkshire (8,316 square Km) 2 Cumbria (6,809 square Km) 3 Devon (6,715 square Km) 4 Lincolnshire (5,885 square Km) 5 Norfolk (5,515 square Km) 6 Northumberland (5,034 square Km) 7 Hereford & Worcester (3,925 square Km) 8 Suffolk (3,807 square Km) 9 Hampshire (3,772 square Km) 10 Kent (3,730 square Km) 11 Essex (3,674 square Km) 12 Cornwall (3,546 square Km)
There are two steps involved in memorising the list. Firstly, form a Substitute Word or Phrase to remind you of each of the county names. Secondly, apply the Link System to link those Substitute Words and Phrases together.
For each of the county names you are going to be given a Substitute Word or Phrase. If you can though, try and think up some Substitute Words or Phrases of your own for the names. Although using the suggested Substitute Words will normally work perfectly well, suggesting them to you does remove some of your Initial Awareness.
Let's begin with the largest English County, North Yorkshire. You need a Substitute Word or Phrase which will remind you of that county name. For North you might picture snow or a snowstorm. For Yorkshire you might see a giant Yorkshire pudding. So to remember North Yorkshire, you could visualise an enormous Yorkshire pudding in the snow.
The second largest county is Cumbria. The phrase come near, or perhaps comb beer might remind you of that name. Choose one of these phrases or one you can think of yourself. Now start forming your link, by associating that phrase to your mental picture of North Yorkshire. For example, picture that huge Yorkshire Pudding in the snow coming nearer and nearer, until it almost flattens you.
The next county is Devon. A convenient Sustitute Word here might be heaven, which rhymes with DEVON. Continue your link by associating heaven to your Substitute Word or Phrase for Cumbria. For heaven you might visualise, say, some angels sitting on a cloud playing their harps. As you watch, they come nearer and nearer, until the cloud envelopes you and you are sitting on it with the angels.
Next comes Lincolnshire. Link - on - chair sounds very similar, so you might try and associate that phrase to heaven (Devon)\. Picture those angels standing on a gigantic chair. They link arms on the chair, and dance round and round in a circle.
Next on the list is Norfolk. For this you might substitute no fork, or north folk. Now, continue your link. Picture, say, some north Folk - Eskimos - standing on that huge chair. As you watch they link arms on the chair.
Northumberland comes next. A good substitute phrase might be no thumb hand. Now associate that to North Folk. Picture those Eskimos - one by one, they hold up a hand which has four fingers and no thumb. Make the hand as large as possible in your mental image, and the picture will stick.
The next county is Hereford and Worcester. For this you could picture a 'hairy' Ford car. The hair on the car is dripping with a thick black liquid - Worcestershire sauce. Now associate that to no thumb hand. Picture yourself trying to thumb a lift - without a thumb - as lots of Hairy Fords dripping with Worcestershire sauce drive past.
Suffolk comes next. You might substitute South folk or surf fork for this name. Continue your link - visualise that Hairy Ford surfing on a mammoth fork in the sea. Be sure to see that image clearly in your mind.
Next on the list is Hampshire. An obvious substitute Word here is Hamster. Associate that to your Substitute Word for Suffolk. Perhaps a giant Hamster is surfing on that enormous fork. Remember to make the picture as silly as possible - perhaps the hamster is standing upright, wearing swimming trunks and a bathing cap.
Tenth on the list is KENT. For this you might substitute can't or canned. Choose one of these, or a Substitute Word of your own, and continue the Link. See yourself, say, opening a can and hundreds of hamsters jump out into the air - they are canned hamsters.
Next comes Essex. For this you might substitute yes eggs. Associate that, or a substitute word of your own, to canned (Kent). Picture yourself opening a can, when dozens of eggs spring out - they all have faces, and are nodding busily and shouting 'yes'.
The final county in the list is Cornwall. A good substitute might be >corn\, or a packet of Cornflakes growing on a wall. See that picture, and associate it to Essex. You might see those nodding yes eggs popping out of the packet of cornflakes growing on the wall.
That completes the Link. If you've made all the suggested Associations (or used your own Associations), and really seen the images in your mind, then you know the twelve largest English counties, just as you knew the ten unrelated items at the end of Tutorial 1.
One advantage of applying the Substitute Word System is that it forces you to think about that name, to concentrate on it as you normally would not.
Of course, there are many other Substitute Words or Phrases you could have used for the above examples. If you thought of Clotted Cream or Devon Cream Teas or Dartmoor when you thought of Devon, then picturing one of those images would have served the purpose for you.
Remember that Linking and associating are personal and individual - what you think of is usually best for you. Also, the first Substitute Word that comes to mind is normally the best to use.