Word for Wednesday: Decide

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Our Word for Wednesday theme for 2023 is tricky spelling words. This year, after sharing the definition and etymology of each week’s word, we will end every blog post with some tips and tricks to help you spell it.

So far this month we've looked at the words immediately and ceiling. Our third word for April is decide.

If you decide to do something, it means you choose to do it over another option. 

Here is decide used in some example sentences: 

  • We decided to go for a walk. 
  • When will you decide which university to go to?
  • The teacher decided to let us go to lunch early.

Decide dates to the late-fourteenth century and comes from the Latin ‘decidere’ which means ‘to cut off’ (from the prefix de- meaning ‘off’ and ‘caedere’ meaning ‘to cut’) – in order to decide, one must cut off all the important option.

 The tricky part of this word is the ci in the middle. You can about ci words in Spellzone Unit 20. Soft c: ce, ci, cy.

 Imagine buying Christmas presents to help you remember that this word is spelt with a C and not an S: 'In December you need to decide which presents to buy'.


19 Apr 2023
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One of the students has put in a huge amount of effort in completing Spellzone at least 3 times a week since his arrival with us in January. Looking at his scores after the latest GL testing, his standardised score has risen from 99 to 131. This is a truly phenomenal result. I just wanted to share the best result I have ever seen.

Terrie Penrose-Toms, Casterton College

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