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Word for Wednesday: Tantalise

Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is words that derive from Greek mythology. So far we’ve looked at the words atlas, chaos, mentor, and narcissist; our final word for June is tantalise. If you tantalise someone, it means you torment or tease them with something they want but can’t get.  Here is tantalise used in some example sentences: The blue skies tantalised us, but it was still very cold outside.  She held the treat just out of reach to tantalise the puppy before finally giving it to him. We were tantalised by the computer in the shop window but we knew we couldn’t afford it. The word gets its name from Tantalus who, as ...

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Word for Wednesday: Atlas

Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is words that derive from Greek mythology. Our first word of the month is atlas.  An atlas is a book that contains a collection of maps. Here is atlas used in some example sentences:  The Geography teacher gave each student an atlas.    The shelves were filled with globes and atlases.   An atlas was published to accompany the fantasy series so that readers could see maps of the different magical lands. The word gets his name from the story of Atlas who, with his brother Menoetius, fought alongside the Titans in in a war against the Olympians. When they were defeated, Zeus, the King of the Gods, condemne...

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Word for Wednesday: Echo

Our Word for Wednesday theme for August is eponymous words.  An eponymous word is a word that is named after a person or fictional character. These people or characters are known as eponyms and examples include the Earl of Sandwich (sandwiches), the Duke of Wellington (wellington boots), and Don Quixote (quixotic).  Eponym comes from the Greek epi- meaning ‘upon’ or ‘called after’ and the Aeolic dialect -onyma meaning ‘name’. ‘Onyma’ comes from the PIE root ‘no-men’ meaning ‘name’. So far we’ve looked at the words August and hoover. This...

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Twenty English Words from Greek Mythology: Part 1

Atlas Definition: Noun 1: a collection of maps in book form Atlas and his brother fought with the Titans in a war against the Olympians. When they were defeated, Zeus, the King of the Gods, condemned Atlas to hold up the heavens on his shoulders as punishment.   Chaos Definition: Noun 1: a state of extreme confusion and disorder 2: the formless and disordered state of matter before the creation of the cosmos The god Chaos personified the empty void that preceded the creation of the universe.   Chronological Definition: Adjective 1: relating to or arranged according to temporal order The god Chronoswas the personification of time. He is i...

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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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