By a strange coincidence, two separate classes came up with the word, ‘seize’. One class said it meant to ‘grab something/someone suddenly or firmly’ and the other said ‘to take hold of something.’ Seize has any number of meanings – but there is always something about it being sudden behind its meaning. It comes from a variety of sources:Middle English: from Old French,  from Medieval Latin and from old German. I think that it is quite a difficult word to spell…

I love ostentatious from Mrs Noble’s class. It means something that is very showy-offy, or pretentious, flamboyant or obtrusive – all difficult words, but we know what that means when we say showy-off (even though that is not a proper word…) Distinguishable (another tricky word to spell) means where something can be clearly differentiated from something else. I really love the word bask as well, it means to lie in the sun for relaxation or pleasure – which I guess is what the basking shark (the second largest living shark) must do. And the last word that I have got is futile, which means pointless or useless.

Why not try to use these words in conversation – or just explain them to someone at home. Certainly, write a few sentences for the blog using one or more of these please.

I fell in love with ‘tetchy’ as Word of the Week because its first known use in the English Language was in Romeo and Juliet – by Shakespeare. Tetchy means irritable and bad-tempered, a sort of grumbling anger. I guess we can all be a bit tetchy sometimes (I can be if I’m tired…) No one is really sure of its origin, but it probably comes from old Scottish or French.

Skulk, is a great word and it means lurking, or loitering – as if keeping half-hidden but there nevertheless. It was probably a Danish or Swedish word originally. Conquer is more of a Latin word – meaning to defeat or overcome. William the Conqueror beat the English king, Harald, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and became King of England. Authentic is a super word to be able to use: I paid £10 for a Ralph Lauren shirt the other day, and I am hoping it is authentic as it will have saved me a lot of money: authentic means genuine or real… Impervious means that no liquid can pass through, but more obviously, it means that you are not affected by something. Finally, condemn means to express disapproval of something – if you think something is bad you can condemn it – but it has other meanings: if a building isn’t fit to live in, in can be condemned so it has to be torn down…

Why not blog a sentence or two using one or some of these words? Remember, the better vocabulary you have, the better chance you have of doing well in life.