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Word for Wednesday: Pencil

Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery.  Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727. Our first stationery-themed word is pencil.  A pencil is a thin cylindrical pointed writing implement.  The word entered English in the mid-fourteenth century as ‘pencel’ and was used to describe a type of fine brush made of camel hair which was used by artists. ‘Pencel’ comes from the Old French ‘pincel’ which comes from the Latin ‘pencillus&r...

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Commonly Confused Words: Tail vs. Tale

What does each word mean? A tail is a flexible part of an animal that extends past the rest of its body. Tail can also be used figuratively to refer to any part that extends past the main body of whatever it is attached to. As a verb, the word describes the act of following someone. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word. Here is tail used in some example sentences: The dog wagged her tail in delight. He wore a tailcoat to the gala. The police officer tailed the suspect. Click here to create a Spellzone vocabulary listincluding the word tail. Tale is another word for story. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition o...

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"I ran the trial with a small group of students over three weeks before the summer holidays," she says. "I quickly saw the benefits, and signed up."

King's Leadership Academy, Warrington

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