(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]) / him / her / it
之
=
丶
+
Z
:
Mnemonic symbol: Sooo sleepy... "zZz" (the character looks like a "Z"). James II of England (zh) fell asleep in front of the space station (Ø1). He sleeps on a big petal leaf (丶), making loud "zZz" (之) sounds.
within / among / in / middle / center / while (doing sth) / during / (dialect) OK / all right
中
=
丨
+
口
:
Mnemonic symbol: a dart board, because you always try to hit the center.
Julian Giant Squid (zhu-) is throwing dinosaur bones (丨) as darts on a dart board in front of the engine ((e)ng1). To make it a bit more difficult he's throwing mandarins (口) into the air as well and skewers them up right in the center (中 is a mandarin skewered on a dinosaur bone) in mid flight with the dinosaur bones. He's still able to consistently hit the center (中) of the dart board.