Vocabulary plays a large part in parts of the eleven plus
examination. A wide vocabulary is considered to be one of the signs of ability.
It is difficult for most ten year old potential eleven plus candidates not to absorb
new words and ideas. Some words, however, are a little more obscure than
others.
Do you remember the story about the seven year old?
On Mother’s day, my seven-year old son couldn’t wait to
present me with a book of poetry he had written for me. Part of it was an
acrostic of my name – Victoria – with an adjective describing me next to each
letter.
Beside `I’ he had written “intelligent”
Next to `c’, “caring”
And for the `o’, “outstanding”.
I was swelling with pride until I came to the final `a’.
Next to it my son has written: “able to scream”.
I am fortunate to have a 1912 edition of Roget’s Thesaurus of
English words. The word `acrostic’ comes up in the section on `secrets’. Some
of the other words are: mystery, enigma,
teaser, riddle, poser, conundrum, rebus, anagram and acrostic.
When we see elements
of the richness of the English language it is not hard to see why vocabulary is
rated so highly in ability tests.
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