WORDY WEDNESDAY: Write, Right, Rite, and Wright

In my complete language arts books, I have a weekly lesson called “Wacky Words.” When I began writing language arts books for a different publisher fourteen years ago, I did not have this section in my books. 

Then I began testing…and testing…and testing…my materials. As I tested them, I discovered that even mature writers have difficulties with homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings). Then along came message boards, email groups, and FaceBook, and I discovered EVERYBODY has trouble with homophones. From these experiences, the Wacky Word lessons were born.

This week I was thinking of the plays that our daughter is directing for a community youth program called The Young Playwrights. I have seen the word playwrights before, but this week, it struck me that we do not have that word in our Wacky Word lessons with write, right, and rite.

Then, of course, I thought more (thinking is what I do!) and wondered why, if the children are writing plays, the term is not playwrite. So…that takes us to this Wordy Wednesday/Wacky Word post!

The picture above gives us some idea of why the word is playwright and not playwrite. The picture is of a wheelwright shop–that is, a shop in which one crafts wheels.

Though the word “wright” is most commonly associated with crafting with wood (wheelwright), the word “wright” is used in other contexts to indicate crafting or creating as well:

playwright
wheelwright
shipwright
millwright
wainwright

In that way, a playwright is not simply “writing” a play, but he or she is “crafting” something–perhaps he or she is even meticulously creating the script, like a wheelwright meticulously creates wheels.

So our four “Wacky Words” for “Wordy Wednesday” can be remembered with the following tips:

1. Write–to pen or scribe the written word

2. Right–correct; opposite of wrong; from the fight, might, light family, phonetically speaking

3. Rite–a ritual or ceremony; a rite of passage (This makes the Rite-Aid stores all spelled wrong–unless they mean “aid” for a ceremony or passage, which I don’t think they mean. I think they want to say that their stores give the “right” kind of aid/assistance.)

4. Wright–a crafter, especially of wooden creations    

 

WORDY WEDNESDAY: acceleration vs deceleration


The other day I looked down on my steering wheel to find these two abbreviations: accel and decel. I am sure that these are the formal abbreviations, and I also assume that the two are abbreviations for acceleration and deceleration.

The two words are perfect words for working on two of my favorite “wordy” sub-lessons: spelling and prefix/root studies.




As a self-declared bi-phonic woman, I love to point out spelling rules any time there is the slightest bit of phonetic consistency to them. And, it just so happens, that acceleration and deceleration have a little bit of consistency to their spellings:

1. Hard and soft c
     a. ac/cel/er/a/tion
        i. The first c says kuh because it is followed by a c. (When a c or g is followed by a, o, u, or most consonants, it says its hard sound—kuh or guh.)
        ii. The second c says suh because it is followed by an e. (When a c or g is followed by e, i, or y, it says its soft sound–suh or juh.)
     b. de/cel/er/a/tion–This word only contains one c, and that c makes its soft sound (suh) because it is followed by an e.

2. Both spelled the same from then on–syllable by syllable
    a. After our cel phonemes, the remainder of each word is spelled the same.
    b. Both can be spelled syllable by syllable at that point
       i. er
       ii. a
       iii. tion

3. Thus, you can easily remember how to spell both words.
    a. ac/cel and d/cel
    b. er/a/tion (for both)

+Note: If acceleration only had one c, the first two syllables would look (“sound”) like this: a/sell (ay/sell).
+Note: If deceleration had two c’s, the first two syllables would look (“sound”) like this: dek/sell.


If you are not a lover of phonics or you learned to read and spell through sight words and memorization, you might be bored by now, so I will give you something you can take with you from this “wordy” lesson–deciphering meaning from roots and affixes (prefixes and suffixes).

First of all, remember this: You know more than you think you know!

Applying that to our two words: What do you already know about their meanings:

1. They have something to do with movement (on the steering wheel of a car; you hear them association with physics, etc.).

2. De is a prefix you are familiar with–it usually means the opposite.
   a. de-frost–unfrost
   b. de-value–not to value
  
3. tion–Tion (and sion words) words are usually nouns
   a. nation
   b. hypertension
   c. limitation


If you already knew those things (and now you do!), take what you already know and add it to what else you might learn about these two words:

1. ac–Prefix meaning toward

2. In physics, these two words have much more technical meanings that we do not need to concern ourselves with for this lesson. (A part of learning is knowing what you do not need to know!)

3. In medical terms, these two words have to do with getting hurt via a collision (still retaining the general meaning of movement).

4. The suffix cel can have something to do with movement or an action
   a. cancel
   b. excel


Okay, you have all of the information to unlock the definitions (and the spellings, thank-you very much!) of these two words.

Acceleration/Deceleration

A. They have something to do with movement (cel)
B. They are nouns (tion)
C. One means forward (ac–toward)
D. The other means backwards or not or undo (de).
E. Acceleration means to move forward.
F. Deceleration means to move backwards (de) or not to move.



Wasn’t that fun? 🙂





*For complete steps on “dissecting” words, see the posts about Character Ink’s teaching methods we call Definition Dissection. Here is a list of prefixes to get you started: https://languagelady365.blogspot.com/2011/01/days-13-14-roots-and-affixes-list.html











WORDY WEDNESDAY–Lonnnnnggg Homophone Quiz!

. Fill in each blank provided with the correct Wacky Word—their, there, they’re, wander,             
               wonder, scent, sent, farther, further, bear, or bare.

    1.  ________________ meeting us for lunch.
    2. We are going to ________________ the nursing home to sing.
    3.  ________________ rarely on time.
    4.  ________________ lake is just ahead.
    5. When we get  ________________, we will eat.
    6. We do not know what ________________ going to sing.
    7. Ray and Donna parked ________________ car in the parking garage.
    8. We should be ________________ after lunch.
    9. Maelynn thinks she left her keys ________________.
  10. ________________ going to drop off the food at noon.
                11. I ________________ what time it is.
                12. Please don’t ________________ around the woods too far.
                13. We could ________________ all day without a map.
                14. Jonathan ________________ what time it is.
                15. I ________________ if the Reishes are coming.
                16. Donna ________________ the card in the mail.
                17. Jonathan ________________ Maelynn flowers for Valentine’s Day.
                18. The dogs picked up the ________________ of the drugs.
                19. Did she get the email I ________________ her?
                20. The  ________________ of the candle filled the room.
                21. After church, he explained that concept ________________ .
                22. The  ________________ we go, the more lost we are!
                23. We can discuss the matter  ________________ when everyone gets here.
                24. I believe the store is  ________________ down the street.
                25. That restaurant is  ________________ than this one.
                26. I hope we don’t see a  ________________ while walking the trails.
                27. She gave her sister a stuffed  ________________ for Christmas.
                28. You should put sunscreen on your  ________________ skin.
                 29. The   ________________ slept in the warm sun after his hibernation.
                 30. My  ________________ feet are dirty from walking in the strawberry patch.

Answer Key:

    1.  They’re  meeting us for lunch.
    2. We are going to wander to the nursing home to sing.
    3.  They’re  rarely on time.
    4.  Their  lake is just ahead.
    5. When we get  there , we will eat.
    6. We do not know what  they’re  going to sing.
    7. Ray and Donna parked  their  car in the parking garage.
    8. We should be there after lunch.
    9. Maelynn thinks she left her keys there .
                  10. They’re going to drop off the food at noon.
                  11. I wonder what time it is.
                  12. Please don’t wander around the woods too far.
                  13. We could wander all day without a map.
                  14. Jonathan wonder what time it is.
                  15. I wonder if the Reishes are coming.
                  16. Donna sent the card in the mail.
                  17. Jonathan sent Maelynn flowers for Valentine’s Day.
                  18. The dogs picked up the scent of the drugs.
                  19. Did she get the email I sent her?
                  20. The  scent of the candle filled the room.
                  21. After church, he explained that concept further .
                  22. The  farther we go, the more lost we are!
                  23. We can discuss the matter  further when everyone gets here.
                  24. I believe the store is  farther down the street.
                  25. That restaurant is  farther than this one.
                  26. I hope we don’t see a  bear while walking the trails.
                  27. She gave her sister a stuffed  bear for Christmas.
                  28. You should put sunscreen on your  bare skin.
                  29. The  bear slept in the warm sun after his hibernation.
                  30. My  bare feet are dirty from walking in the strawberry patch.

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