1
Shuffle the letters of each of these words to make new ones. See if you can match the number indicated.
Click on any word to see some anagrams.
Posted February 23
Picture: © Tony Quilty, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
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2
Make as many words as you can using the letters of one nine-letter word. Can you beat our score?
Posted February 21
Picture: © Les Hull, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
3
Develop these short phrases into complete sentences.
Turn these phrases into complete sentences. Each sentence should have at least twice as many words as the original phrase does. Introduce people, objects and actions, and think about where and why.
1 a bedraggled spaniel
2 the largest tree in the neighbourhood
3 the latter
Posted February 15
Picture: By Neoclassicism Enthusiast, Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.
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4
Combine each group of ideas into one sentence, in as many ways as you can. See if you can work in one or more of the words suggested.
1 He felt a tug on his coat-tails. He looked round. It was the fat boy. [Attention. See. When.]
2 The maid was asleep on the kitchen table. They had to wake her. This took some time. [Expect. Necessary. Who.]
Sentences based on Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers.
Posted February 6
Picture: By Ivan Kulikov (1875–1941), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
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5
Compose sentences to illustrate the meaning of these words.
Suppose someone asked you what one of these words meant. What sentences could you compose to make the meaning clear?
IFoist. IIHamper (verb). IIINudge. IVSpurn. VWheedle.
Tip: Try writing sentences that also include a word of opposite meaning, or one that is similar in meaning but creates a helpful contrast.
It’s one thing to ask him to put your friend up for the night, quite another to foist your friend onto him without warning.
Posted January 27
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6
Think of three different kinds of clock or bag, and write sentences to distinguish them.
For each item below, think of three varieties of it, and distinguish them using sentences. Your sentences could be descriptions, or they could be scenes which immediately bring one particular variety to mind.
IClocks. IIFlowers. IIIBags. IVChairs. VKnives. VIWindows.
Posted January 24
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