Rhyming tool

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

The following is a rhyming tool I used to use when I wrote song lyrics in English professionally in Brazil. I typed it up on a small card and carried it with me. I lost it years ago, so I had to recompile a new one from word-learning lessons for children and checking through a dictionary.

It is nothing but the main word beginning consonants in English, but I included the vowels at the end as a reminder. If you have the patience (I don't), you can even go back through the list for two or more syllable words that start with those vowels, use the consonants and end with the rhyme.

How you use it: Take a word at the end of a line you created and think is good. Then go "fishing" for a rhyme by going down the list with new word beginnings. For example, if your end word is "love," you go through the following in your mind by going down the list.

bove

brove

cove

chove

clove

crove

dove

(etc.)

If you can get your mind into an alpha state where you can daydream while using it, this tool sends you off in many creative directions.

I suggest you copy this to a Word file (or other word processor), use a non-graded font like Courier (or use tabs or tables), eliminate my comments and print it on a small piece of paper you can carry with you, maybe in your wallet or purse.

I hope you find it as useful as I have.

Michael

RHYMING TOOL

b

bl

br

c

ch

cl

cr

d

dr

f

fl

fr

g

gl

gr

h

j

k

l

m

n

p

ph

pl

pr

qu

r

s

sc

scr

sh

sk

sl

sm

sn

sp

sph

spl

spr

squ

st

str

sw

t

th

thr

tr

tw

v

w

x

y

z

a

e

i

o

u

HERE IS WHAT IT CAN LOOK LIKE ON A CARD

b      h      sh      thr

bl     j      sk      tr

br     k      sl      tw

c      l      sm      v

ch     m      sn      w

cl     n      sp      x

cr     p      sph     y

d      ph     spl     z

dr     pl     spr	

f      pr     squ     a

fl     qu     st      e

fr     r      str     i

g      s      sw      o

gl     sc     t       u

gr     scr    th

[Dragonfly]

To this end I use the good old WP6 for DOS (WP5 probably also works), where you can type a word pattern to find all words with that pattern. To use your example: type *ove and you get a list with all words in the word list that end with "ove". Curiously enough I can't find this option in the modern versions of WP (or Word). The disadvantage of English is that the pronunciation of a pattern is often different (e.g. love - move), but still you get very fast a fairly complete list of possible rhymes.