English has some strange words! Do you agree? There is a group of words that start with ‘kn’ but the ‘k’ is not pronounced. In Old English the ‘k’ was pronounced so that the word ‘knife’ was pronounced ‘kneefa’. However, over several hundred years English-speaking people felt that the sound ‘kn’ was too hard to say so they stopped saying the ‘k’ sound at the beginning. For some reason they never changed the spelling so even though we no longer pronounce the ‘k’ yet we still spell the word with the ‘k’. Strange isn’t it? Here are several of the most common words spelled with ‘kn’. Make sure you know how to pronounce them and spell them. Try to use them in a sentence as soon as you can. 1. knife 2. knight 3. know 4. knowledge 5. knit 6. knuckle 7. knee 8. knead 9. kneel 10. knob 11. knock 12. knot Now put the best word in these sentences from the words above. 1. In some religions you must always ________ when you pray to God. 2. Most boys want to be a _________ in shining armour and ride a beautiful horse. 3. The old sailor tied his fishing boat to the jetty with a ______ that took him only a second. 4. It is good to make your own bread but it takes a lot of time to ________ the dough properly. 5. Young children must be taught how to use a sharp _________ carefully. 6. The old woman had such bad arthritis that her _________ were very swollen. 7. You should always ________ on the door before you enter the principal’s office. 8. He said to me, “I _______ how to cut hair.” But you can see from the mess that he does not. 9. We all thought it was very funny when the ______ fell off the toilet door and my brother couldn’t get out – but he didn't! 10. In the long winter months my mother and her sisters used to ______ pullovers and gloves but that was before TV arrived. 11. All the young woman wanted to do was dance but the doctor said that the problem with her _____ was permanent and she would never dance again. 12. My father used to say that ___________ was a very light load to carry. If you would like to email your answers to me I will check them and return them to you. Lindsey |
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