Strengthlessnesses---Longest Word With One Vowel



Wordy Wednesday!

Welcome to Wordy Wednesday! Did you know that strengthlessnesses is the longest word containing only one (albeit very repeating) vowel? Neither did I. And I don't really care for it. I mean, it is cumbersome to say--and that is a whole lot of e's and s's to remember to spell the crazy word.

But I love unique and unusual--and strengthlessnesses is definitely both of those! Here are some vitals about this "longest word containing only one (albeit very repeating) vowel":

1. It is a noun--did you know that when a word ends in ness, it is almost always a noun? This helps with standardized testing greatly. Ness words are nearly always nouns, so in a "fill in the blank" type of assignment, if the word in question ends in ness, it has to go in a spot where a noun fits.

Tricky Trick to Help It Stick: We have students learn key words to remember things. For instance, to remember that ness words are nearly always nouns, memorize a key word or two that you know is a noun and that ends in ness.

Other ness nouns: happiness, hopefulness, craziness, gratefulness, joyfulness, smartness

2. It has to do with having strength--we teach our students to think about what you already know--anytime--but especially when approaching a new word. Is there anything about the word strengthlessnesses that you already know?
     a. You know what its base means. You already what strength means!
     b. You know that less means less or not having that quality. (We do a lot of root and affix studies here!)
 
Because of those two "things you already know," you can know that strengthlessnesses has something to do with not having strength (i.e. less strength).

Note: You know more than you think you know! Repeat this over and over to yourself: "I know more than I think I know. I know more than I think I know." Use what you know to learn more!

3. It can be spelled syllable-by-syllable (if you are a biphonic man or biphonic woman!): strength-less-ness-es.

4. You can also make up a trick to remember how to spell it, such as "It contains four e's and six s's. Or that it has four syllables--which tells you that it will have at least four vowels in it (or y's acting like vowels)--because a syllable always contains at least one vowel. A vowel is what makes a syllable!

5. You can learn the variations of this word--because you can remember from your vocabulary studies with Language Lady that suffixes (affixes added to the ends of words) might change the SPELLING of the base word (pity is changed to piti in pitiful) but does not change the MEANING of the base word. Even with three suffixes added (less, ness, and es), the base word of strength still means strength.
             a.  stengthless--adjective meaning without strength (less words are often adjectives!)
             b. strengthlessly--adverb meaning without strength (ly words are often adverbs)
             c. strengthelessness--a noun describing someone or something that is without strength (ness words are often nouns)
            d. strengthlessnesses--a noun that means more than one someone or something that is without strength (es makes the word plural).


So there you have it--the longest word with only one repeating vowel. Did you know that you could learn so much from one word? You know a lot more than you think you know! Smile...

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Know How You Learn

Recently, my son and I were meeting about our novel. Joshua started to describe the changes he thought we should make to a particular scene and told me I could just jot down whatever I thought I needed to. I told him to hold on for a minute while I got a blank sheet of paper, then I promptly did the following:

1. Numbered each note as he spoke
2. Put sub notes under the note with the character's initial and the motivational changes that Joshua thought we needed (M: Needs to begin this scene....)
3. Drew arrows to and from things as he spoke

Then when I was ready to rewrite that scene, guess what I did? I typed those notes all up--complete with the numbering and sub-numbering, etc.

Why am I telling you this? If you are a student, pay close attention to HOW you learn. I could not have written from paragraph notes. I could not have written with a word or two for each point. I could not have written from my handwritten notes--I needed to type it up in order to further understand it.

Whatever you do as a student to learn tells you a lot about how you learn! Utilize this information for test preparation, writing projects, and more. And like I always tell my students: "You know more than you realize you know!"

Writing With Descriptive Adjectives

Students writing stories this week? Parents/teachers helping kids with stories this week? Follow this "describing tip" we use with our student to help with the descriptions in your writing:

"Only use an adjective that will cause your reader to have a different picture in his mind than he would have without the adjective."

For example, do not write "small, wooden, isolated cabin." The picture that a reader gets when reading that is not much different than he would get if he just read "cabin." By their nature, most cabins are small, wooden, and isolated (or at least we picture them as so).

Only use an adjective if it creates a different picture of the noun than the noun alone paints. Use specific and vivid adjectives--or omit them altogether. 

P.S. Are you following us on Facebook? We offer a lot more tips and tidbits daily at our Facebook page than we can get put up on the blog. Join us!

Sentences make up...

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Day 127: Reflexive Pronouns

Last week we discussed subjective (used as subject) and objective (used as object) pronouns. If you are one who is unsure of whether to say “Then she gave it to her and I” or “Then she gave it to her and me,” go back and read those last two posts for help.

I want to continue with the pronoun theme, but discuss the use of myself. This actually trips me up more often than I care to admit, and I study grammar and writing on a daily basis!

First of all, myself, yourself, and ourselves are pronouns known as reflexive pronouns. That is, they reflect back to the antecedent (a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence).

 When we say that Donna is the antecedent to herself in the sentence “Donna gave herself a pat on the back,” we are saying that herself is a pronoun and Donna is the antecedent (the word that herself refers back to).

So, reflexive pronouns reflect or refer back to another word. They cannot be used alone (i.e. myself can not be used without a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence (as its antecedent).

1.       I bought myself some candy. (Myself refers back to/is reflexive of I.)

2.       Donna bought herself some candy. (Herself refers back to/is reflexive of Donna.)

3.       He looked at himself in the mirror. (Himself refers back to/is reflexive of He.)

The key to understanding and using reflexive pronouns is to not use them by themselves!

Thus, you wouldn’t say the following:

1.       Ray and myself went to town. (There is no noun for myself to refer back to. You need the subjective I in this sentence…Ray and I.)

2.       They gave it to him and myself. (Same thing—no noun or pronoun for myself to refer back to.)

Day 126: Wordy Wednesday—root TEN

I missed Wordy Wednesday, and it’s nearly time for another one! Keeping with our root word theme, today we are going to look at TEN and variations of it.

TEN, TENS, TEND, TENU

Definition: STRETCH or THIN

What words do we already know with this root? What can we know about each word—even if we do not know it before?

1. tension
2. extend
3. tendency
4. tendon
5. tent
6. distend
7. intent
8. tenable
9. attention
10. detention
11. extent
12. retention
13. ostentatious
14. malcontent
15. potent