Mnemonic Help for Poly-atomic Ions

The word in the mnemonic helps you to know number of oxygen atoms by looking at the number of consonants in the word.  The number of vowels in the mnemonic word tells you the charge for the ion. Ignore the words in parentheses other than to help you remember the phrase.

Nick (the) Baby Camel (ate a) Creepy Clam (for) Supper (in) Phoenix

For example: Nick —- N for Nitrogen; three (3) consonants for the subscript on Oxygen, — and one (1) vowel for the charge -1; NO3

Mnemonic WordPolyatomic IonNomenclature
-ate		AcidAcid
(-ic)		One less Oxygen
-ite		AcidAcid
(-ous)
NickNO3-1nitrateHNO3Nitric acidNitriteHNO2Nitrous
BabyBrO3-1bromateHBrO3Bromic acidbromiteHBrO2Bromous
CamelCO3-2carbonateH2CO3Carbonic acidcarboniteH2CO2Carbonous
CreepyCrO4-2chromateH2CrO4Chromic acidchromiteH2CrO3Chromous
ClamClO3-1chlorateHClO3Chloric acidchloriteHClO2Chlorous
SupperSO4-2sulfateH2SO4Sulfuric acidsulfiteH2SO3Sulfurous
PhoenixPO4-3phosphateH3PO4Phosphoric acidphosphiteH3PO3Phosphorous