How to remember how to spell "unnecessary" [closed]

Every time I spell "unnecessary", I struggle to remember whether there are 1 or 2 n's, 1 or 2 c's, and 1 or 2 s's. Anybody have any strategies for remembering how to spell this word?

Solution 1:

Here are mnemonics for the spelling of this word based on general English spelling patterns.

The word "unnecessary" is obviously composed of the prefix "un-" combined with the word "necessary". Each of these is spelled with an "n": combined, this makes two "n"s. This is a general pattern: for words prefixed with "un-", the "n" is not dropped, even if it is followed by another "n", e.g. "unnatural," "unnamed", "unnerving".

The word "necessary" is pronounced with two /s/ sounds. It is very rare for an /s/ sound to be represented by a double "cc": normally, that sequence of letters corresponds to the consonant cluster /ks/ (as in "success", "access", "accent", "eccentric") or simply the consonant sound /k/ (as in "accommodate", "succo(u)r", "soccer"). If we ignore words with Italian spellings, the only word spelled with "cc" that is commonly pronounced with no /k/ sound is "flaccid," and that's an irregularity (the regular pronunciation with /ks/ also exists, and some people prefer it).

If you can remember that "necessary" is not spelled irregularly, then you know that it isn't spelled with "cc" because there's no /k/ in the pronunciation, and since you know there's a double consonant in there somewhere, it must be spelled with "ss".

Solution 2:

Unnecessary means 'not necessary' (2 n's), I 'C' (see, i.e. one 'c'), so sue me (2 s's).