Remember “Akeelah and the Bee” and words that featured in it - xanthosis, parrhesia and so on? The movie is about 11-year old Akeelah, who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Spelling Bees” are competitions, where contestants are asked to spell words. Spellings can be fun. And the more words you know the merrier.
Useful tips
So how does one chance upon new words? Kavya Muralidhar of Chirec Public School, winner of Hyderabad leg of the HDFC Life Spell Bee - India 2012, says, “I used word patterns, asked questions and used word lists on the Internet.”
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Read books and newspapers and make a note of new words you come across. There are also many online games you can try. Spelling and alphabet games as also crosswords are fun methods to expand your knowledge of English. They can help develop vocabulary and grammar too. What makes these word games important is they help in better expression and communication.
“Knowing the meaning and the origin of a word makes it easier to spell a word. Another tip to spell correctly is to always “listen” to the word. Focus on the phonetic aspect,” says VR Damaraj, founder, Zygo Scrabble Club. Unjumbling words is another exercise, in which rearranging letters could form a familiar word.