|
|
Search the Site
-
Contest
The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: May Edition
Fri May 30 00:00:00 EDT 2008
This month's crossword has a new wrinkle: solve the mystery clue and you might win a prize!
-
Lesson Plans
Where Math Meets Poetry
Fri May 30 00:00:00 EDT 2008
In this lesson, students identify the algorithm behind Fibonacci's sequence of numbers and then read a New York Times article about how blogger Gregory K. Pincus invented a poetry form based on this number sequence. Students then synthesize their knowledge of the Fibonacci sequence and the VT to create their own "Word Fib" poems that explore the multiple connotations of some challenging one-syllable vocabulary words.
-
Blog Excerpts
"Simpsons" Linguistics
Thu May 29 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Heidi Harley is a linguist and lover of "The Simpsons." For four years she's collected linguistically oriented "Simpsons" jokes ( 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). A perfectly cromulent undertaking.
-
Word Routes
It's Spelling Bee Time Again!
Thu May 29 00:00:00 EDT 2008
The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee kicks off today, and every year there seems to be more and more public attention paid to this preeminent spectacle of word-nerdery. As in the past two years, tomorrow's semifinal and final rounds are being broadcast live on national television (semifinals on ESPN from 11 am to 2 pm, finals on ABC from 8 to 10 pm). It's always exciting to see middle-schoolers battle it out for the spelling crown, in a competition rife with dramatic "thrill of victory" and "agony of defeat" moments (most memorably depicted in the suspenseful documentary Spellbound). Adults can only marvel at the preternatural abilities of the young finalists to spell super-obscure words that most of us have seldom — if ever — come across. Where do they get those words, anyway?
-
Teachers at Work
Those Who Do Not Know History Are Doomed to Fail English
Wed May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2008
On a test given on The Crucible during my first year of teaching high school English, I asked my juniors to name the time period of the play. Now, I'm sure I mentioned this several times while we read it, and — call me crazy — but I'm also fairly certain Miller specified that his play is set in the 1600's, what with his bonnets and "Goodys" and the fact that the Salem Witch Hunt took place in that century. I assumed that this was enough information to answer the question correctly.
O, foolish young teacher! Among the responses I received: "The Civil War," "American times," "Long ago," "the Colonial Era," and, my favorite, "the Early Twentieth Century."
-
Blog Du Jour
Crossword Blogs
Tue May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2008
-
VT Tip o' the Week
Word Suggestions Panel
Mon May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2008
If you make a spelling mistake when searching for a word and the word you typed in was not found in the dictionary, the "Word Suggestions" panel will open automatically. Words that are spelled like or sound like the word you typed in will be listed. You can also open the Word Suggestions panel whenever you want, even if the word in the search box is spelled correctly. This is an easy way to see other words that are spelled similarly, or that sound like the word in the search box.
-
Candlepower
Vocab Lab: Big Words
Mon May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2008
"Don't use big words."
Despite the well-meaning attempts of our teachers to help us develop a thorough grasp of English, we are constantly discouraged from venturing outside the narrow bounds of ordinary language.
Use a "vocabulary word" in class and feel the withering mockery of your classmates; drop a few sophisticated phrases into your presentation and watch someone accuse you of being pretentious or deliberately aiming to confuse. Oooh, using big words.
-
Backstory
David Blixt, Author of "Master of Verona"
Fri May 23 00:00:00 EDT 2008
I always hated Shakespeare.
They made me read him. First it was Julius Caesar. Then Romeo & Juliet, which was only cool because we wasted a week watching the movie. Next came Henry IV, Part One. I said, "You've got to be kidding," and scraped by on class discussions. The Bard and I were not friendly.
So how did I end up writing The Master of Verona, a novel based on his works?
-
Word Routes
How Nice is "Nice"?
Thu May 22 00:00:00 EDT 2008
In the United Kingdom, the "nice decade" is over. When Bank of England governor Mervyn King announced recently that "the nice decade is behind us," he didn't mean that British pleasantness was at an end. Rather, he was using an acronym, NICE, which stands for "Non-Inflationary Consistent Expansion," a condition that King says has characterized the last ten years of British economic prosperity. One economist says the country is now heading into VILE years, playing off NICE with his own readymade acronym for "Volatile Inflation, Less Expansionary," while another says things are going to be EVIL ("Exacting period of Volatile Inflation and Low growth").
BBC News greets the end of the NICE decade with the question, "What's the point of niceness?" Was the acronym an appropriate one to label Britain's sustained economic boom, or is nice just too... nice?
|
|
272 273 274 275 276
Displaying 2731-2740 of 3488 Results
