Jj is for Jottings 126.  The Bossy ‘E’.

The bossy ‘e’ (sometimes called the magic ‘e’) appears so often in written language that it is worth revisiting in its own right.  It is a classic case of “Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Once you know the rule, you can unlock thousands of words. Continue reading

Jj is for Jottings 125.  Nonsense Words.

Nonsense words are letter sequences which follow regular phonetic rules and are pronounceable, but which have no meaning.  Examples are ‘bof’, ‘zim’, ‘chog’.  They can also be called nonwords or pseudowords.  There are stages in children’s development where nonsense words may play a part.  These are: babbling, early reading, rhyming, and if they require assistance for speech sound development (speech therapy).   All children babble, but children may not encounter nonsense words when learning to read or to rhyme.  And many will not need speech therapy, or have access to it if they do.

Atticus is a FAN of nonsense words.

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