6th grade lesson 14 spelling list

letters (plural noun): standard characters used in writing or printing

thousands (plural noun): 2 or more thousands

databases(plural noun): places where computers store information for ease of use

languages (plural noun): words, sounds, pronunciations, and methods of combining words used and understood by people

cities (plural noun): self governed permanently located communities of residences and businesses

dictionaries (plural noun): reference books containing alphabetically arranged words together with their definitions and usages

libraries (plural noun): collections of books, pamphlets, magazines, and reference books kept for reading, reference, or borrowing; buildings that lend books

flamingoes/ flamingos both ways are correct (plural noun): large, long-necked, tropical waiting birds, having very long legs, and pink or red plumage

studios (plural noun): places of work for artists, photographers, or other creative people

dominoes (plural noun): small rectangular blocks of wood or plastic with faces marked with dots

volcanoes (plural noun): mountains with a crater where lava comes out of

reefs (plural noun): chains of rocks, coral, or sand at or near the surface of the water

staffs (plural noun): people employed to assist in the day-to-day affairs of running a business, organization, or government

bookshelves (plural noun): open shelving areas used to display and store books

calves (plural noun): young offspring of the domestic cow

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Some clarification on ARTICLES

Articles are the, a, and an.
  
Q: What do articles do in a sentence?

A: Articles signal that a noun is going to follow.

Example:
Who invented the telephone?
The wheel?
The refrigerator?
The airplane?
A cat was chasing a mouse in my back yard.

Modifiers (adjectives & adverbs) can appear between an article and a noun.

Examples:
A sunset.
A spectacular sunset.
An exceptionally spectacular sunset.

The indefinite article ‘a’ can only appear before nouns that begin with a consonant sound: a hand, a book, a world, a computer…

The indefinite article ‘an’ can only appear before nouns that begin with a vowel sound: an apartment, an hour, an article…
  
General Rules for the Use of Articles:

I. Use a/an with singular count nouns whose specific identity is not known to the reader either because it is being mentioned for the first time, or because its specific identity is unknown even to the writer.
  
Examples:
Huda arrived in a limousine. (a = one among many. Not a specific one.)
We’re looking for an apartment. (an = any one.)

II. Do not use a/an with non-count nouns. Only use a/an with non-count nouns if you add a count noun in front of the non-count noun.

Example:
Ahlam asked her mother for an advice.
Ahlam asked her mother for a piece of advice.   

III. Use the with most nouns whose specific identity is known to the reader because:

1. the noun has been previously mentioned:
Yesterday I saw a group of ESL students. The students were playing with a ball. The ball was white and blue. The ball rolled into a hole. The hole was small.

2. the noun is made specific by a superlative:
I bought the fastest computer they had.

3. the noun describes a unique person, place, or thing:
Please give this to the manager.
Thesun is bright today.
Rain is falling heavily in theNorth.

4. the context or situation makes the noun’s identity clear:
Please don’t slam the door when you leave.
Bob warned me that the dog playing in his yard is very affectionate and jumps on every person it meets.

IV. Do not use the with plural or non-count nouns meaning “all” or “in general” (i.e. generic reference nouns). Do not use the with most singular proper nouns.
The fountains are an expensive element of landscape design.
In some parts of the world, the rice is preferred to all other grains.

V. Do not use articles with other noun markers or determiners, i.e. possessive nouns (Helen’s) ; and some pronouns (his, her, its, ours, their, whose, this, that, these, those, all, any, each, either, every, few, many, more, most, much, neither, several, some).

Exceptions:

All the…

A few…

The most…

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Here is a link to the Lesson 14 spelling words. This website will be helpful insha’Allah. It quizzes you on your knowledge of the words. Let me know if you like it or have any questions.

http://quizlet.com/893953/wordly-wise-3000-book-8-lesson-14-flash-cards/

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7th grade spelling lesson 14 words

congenial adj. getting along with others, affable; suited to one’s tastes, agreeable

decipher v. to convert from a code or secret writing into ordinary language, to decode; to interpret the meaning of something puzzling, to solve

dissect v. to cut in order to study; to study closely to analyze

enigma n. anything that is puzzling, myseterious, or hard to figure out

ineffectual adj. not bringing about the desired result, futile

infallible adj. Incapable of making an error, never wrong; unlikely to fail or go wrong

irrepressible adj. incapable of being controlled or held back

luminous adj. giving off light; clear, easy to understand

millennium n. a period of one thousand years

mire n. an area of wet, swampy ground, deep mud; v. unable to make progress

pestilence n. a rapidly spreading and usually fatal disease

stagnate v. to fail to develop, change, or move

sublime adj. great or noble in expression, thought or manner; splendid

vie v. to compete for, as in a contest

voluminous adj. having a great bulk of volume; ample

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Need more help with prepositions?

–Some background on prepositions–

What does the word mean?

If we break the word into parts, we have PRE and POSITION. A preposition when used in a sentence is a word that is positioned before (pre) another word or phrase and relates directly to that second word.

Some examples.

The bold word is the preposition; the italicized word is the word it refers to:

He ran down the hill.

She put it on the table.

He hid behind Charles.

We can play after lunch.

The bird flew over the trees.

We are in the house.

The picture I get in my head when thinking of how prepositions relate to other words is of one word orbiting the other like the moon does the earth.

Types of prepositions.  (Where and when)

Location: under, over, in, by, between, upon, near, beneath, beside, inside, outside, below, etc. The word that follows the preposition is the central object such as in the sentence, “The runners sprinted across the river.”

Time: before, after, since, during, until, as, etc. These relate to a specific time such as in the sentence, “We will play before lunch.” Lunch is the central event… and playing will happen in relation to that event in time.

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Check out these three poems by the famous poet, Robert Frost. Let’s see if you can identify his use of personification in each one…

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

“Blue-Butterfly Day”
It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

“An Old Man’s Winter Night”
All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.
What kept him from remembering what it was
That brought him to that creaking room was age.
He stood with barrels round him — at a loss.
And having scared the cellar under him
In clomping there, he scared it once again
In clomping off; — and scared the outer night,
Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar
Of trees and crack of branches, common things,
But nothing so like beating on a box.
A light he was to no one but himself
Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,
A quiet light, and then not even that.
He consigned to the moon, such as she was,
So late-arising, to the broken moon
As better than the sun in any case
For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,
His icicles along the wall to keep;
And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt
Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,
And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept.
One aged man — one man — can’t keep a house,
A farm, a countryside, or if he can,
It’s thus he does it of a winter night.

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Literary Champion of the Week for Metaphor

Congratulations Ametalrahaman! Your use of metaphor in acrostic verse was a very good example and I really enjoyed your choice of words! Keep up the good work! I hope to see more of this quality of work from you insha’Allah.

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This should be helpful to you, insha’Allah when coming up with your own examples of personification–

Basic Personification Examples: 

The flowers begged for water.

The wind screamed as it raced around the house.

The house was lazy and unkempt.

The bit chewed into the horse’s mouth.

Lightning danced across the sky.

The carved pumpkin smiled at me.

The vines wove their fingers together to form a braid.

The wind whispered softly in the night.

The sun played hide and seek with the clouds.

The stars winked at me. The bed groaned.

The headlights winked.

_________________________________________________________

Personification poetry become popular in the 18th century and continues to be popular today. Creating inanimate objects that are able to think, feel and act the same way a human does can be very helpful in getting the poem’s message across in a more playful manner. For instance, you might say the water sighed in contentment, the willow tree wept with joy or the trained licked up the miles. By using this type of personification, the reader visualizes the action or emotion more fully. Famous authors who used this form of personification include Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost.

Examples of Personification Poetry

“The Train,” by Emily Dickinson

“April Rain Song,” by Langston Hughes

“The Wind,” by James Stephens

“Trees,” by Joyce Kilmer

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Literary Term of the Week: Personification

What is personification?

It is giving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas).

For example: The window winked at me. The verb, wink, is a human action. A window is a non-living object.

Here’s a simple and cute example of personification in a poem–

SNOW

Snow speaks to the people its
falling above in the glooming
sunlight.
Its white sparkling voice
echoes
as it falls through
the air.

By Jake

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Another poem by a well-known poet…

Metaphors

by Sylvia Plath 

I’m a riddle in nine syllables,

An elephant, a ponderous house,

A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.

Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.

I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

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