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WOW! The Incredible World of Palindromes

WOW! The Incredible World of Palindromes

WOW! The Incredible World of Palindromes

A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same both forwards and backwards, for example ‘kayak’. The second part is the same as the first, only in reverse, which makes them symmetrical. The word ‘palindrome’ comes from the Greek words for ‘back’ (palin) and ‘direction’ (dromos). They have been a popular word game since at least 70 AD. Spaces and punctuation are allowed.

For example: the first name ‘Anna’ is a palindrome: AN | NA, as are the words ‘deed’ DE | ED, ‘noon’ NO | ON, ‘mum’ M U M and ‘dad’ D A D. In words / sentences with an odd number of letters the mid-point is a letter (as in M-U-M) and in words / sentences with an even number of letters it falls between letters (as in DE-ED).

Palindromes can be:

1. WORDS:

civic
DVD
gig
kayak
level
madam
nan
peep
poop
radar
redder
refer
solos
stats
wow

2. NAMES:

Ana
Anna-Susanna
Ava
Bob
Elle
Eve
Hannah
Otto

3. PHRASES:

dumb mud
face decaf
mail Liam
my gym
nurses run
race car
top spot
UFO tofu

Some palindromes make more sense than others, e. g. ‘race car’ is an actual phrase, while ‘UFO tofu’ could be hard to fit into a sentence! The best palindromes make perfect sense without needing a particular context. Which of the following sentences do you like the most? Why?

4. SENTENCES:

Dammit, I’m mad!
Eva, can I see bees in a cave?
If I had a Hi-Fi.
No lemon, no melon.
Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron.
Some men interpret nine memos.
Tell a mate, ‘Go get a mallet!’
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Here is a longer sentence which makes perfect sense on its own:

Madame, not one man is selfless; I name not one, madam.

Word palindromes (also called pseudodromes) are phrases or sentences which use words instead of letters:

  1. WORD PALINDROMES:

First ladies rule the state, and state the rule: ‘Ladies First!’

Bores are people that say that people are bores.

Happy were people that comment that people were happy.

Is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?

King, are you glad you are king?

So patient a nurse to nurse a patient so.

You can cage a swallow, can’t you, but you can’t swallow a cage, can you?

  1. PLACES:

Glenelg (Scotland)

Kanakanak (Alaska)

Kinikinik (Colorado)

Navan (Meath, Ireland)

Neuquen (Argentina)

Ward Draw (South Dakota)

Wassamassaw (S. Carolina)

Yreka Bakery (California)

Making up new palindromes is a favourite word game for many people. There have even been complete novels (e.g. Satire: Veritas by David Stephens, 1980, 58,795 letters), poems (e.g. Dammit I’m Mad by Demetri Martin), and songs (e.g. Bob by Weird Al Yankovic) which are composed entirely as palindromes. Part of Haydn’s Symphony No.47 (Minuet and Trio) is also a palindrome, with the first half reversed in the second half!

There are also palindromes with numbers. The same basic principle applies.

  1. NUMBERS:

Numbers: e.g. 898, 1001, 2002

Dates: e.g. 11/11/11, 02/02/2020, 12.02.2021

Times: e.g. 05:50, 10:01, 23:32

  1. SEMORDNILAPS

Finally, if we have inspired you to create your very own shiny new palindromes, you should check out a related group of words called semordnilaps. These are words that have a pair word which is spelled the same in reverse, e.g. HOT – TOP. Together they become a palindrome (semordnilap is palindrome backwards). If you build your new palindrome around a semordnilap pair, some of the work is already done for you, e.g. this palindrome from earlier:

Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Here are some of the most common semordnilap pairs:

boy – yob

decaf – faced

deliver – reviled

desserts – stressed

drawer – reward

edit – tide

flog – golf

gateman – nametag

keep – peek

laid – dial

maps – spam

now – won

on – no

peels – sleep

repaid – diaper

smart – trams

spot – tops

star – rats

stressed – desserts

tide – edit

was – saw

If you need more, check out our free worksheet below:

111 Semordnilap Pairs in English

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/111-semordnilap-pairs-in-english.pdf


Activities with Palindromes:

1. Unscramble the letters to find a palindrome:

  1. EDED
  2. UMM
  3. PEPE
  4. TROOR
  5. REARPEP
  6. OWW
  7. DAMAM
  8. NNU

2. Mark the middle letter or midpoint in each palindrome:

a) race car

b) top spot

c) Was it a cat I saw?

d) He did, eh?

e) Never odd or even.

f) Name not one man.

g) Mr Owl ate my metal worm.

3. Complete the second half of each palindrome.

  1. A Toyota. Race fast
  2. No lemon,
  3. Won’t lovers
  4. Stressed was I er
  5. Step on
  6. No ‘x’ in

4. Fill in the missing word in each of these popular palindromes:

  1. __________ in Eden, I’m Adam.
  2. I did, __________ I?
  3. __________ at a bar grab at a star.
  4. Able was I, ere I __________ Elba.
  5. Do geese __________ God?
  6. A man, a __________, a canal – Panama.

5. Put these words in order to make word palindromes (pseudodromes):

  1. leaves fall as leaves Fall soon as.
  2. glad king are King, you are you?
  3. patient So a nurse patient nurse a so to.
  4. few women understand men understand Women; men.

6. Is each word or phrase a palindrome or not?

  1. Hanna
  2. Hannah
  3. radar
  4. solo
  5. To hot to hoot.
  6. Yo, banana boy!
  7. revived
  8. minim
  9. rotator
  10. kiwi wiki

7. Which word forms a pair with each semordnilap?

  1. raw
  2. drawer
  3. but
  4. gas
  5. mined
  6. spot
  7. was
  8. pay
  9. lager
  10. diva

8. Make up nonsense palindromes and give definitions, e.g. a ‘loomamool’ is an Australian sheep. You could compete with your classmates to see who can think up the best definition for the same word.

9. Think of your own palindrome: word, phrase, or sentence. Start off by making a nonsense word or phrase which is symmetrical, e.g. ‘sportrops’ or ‘My name is Eve si eman ym’.

10. Write a story, poem, or text containing words which are palindromes.

11. Find palindromes in your language, if possible.

12. Translate English palindromes into your first language, then translate palindromes from your language into English.

13. Write 5 date palindromes with numbers.

14. Write 5 time palindromes with numbers.

Answers:

WOW! The Incredible World of Palindromes - Answers

WOW! The Incredible World of Palindromes – Answers

Palindrome / Semordnilap Sources:

https://examples.yourdictionary.com/palindrome-examples.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome

http://www.palindromelist.net/

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/16-surprisingly-funny-palindromes/

http://www.rinkworks.com/words/palindromes.shtml

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-palindrome-1691560

https://wisdombiscuits.com/what-is-a-semordnilap/

https://www.sightwordsgame.com/vocabulary-words/word-play/reverse-pair/


This material is completely free to use, so please feel free to share it widely!

If you have any feedback about these free resources, we’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment or review below or on Facebook or Twitter.

First Names Which Are Also Verbs In English

First Names Which Are Also Verbs In English

First Names Which Are Also Verbs In English

There are lots of English first names which are the same – or sound the same – as verbs, like Mark (mark some tests), Rob (rob a house), and Carrie (carry somebody or something). The aim of this lesson is for students to learn two sets of vocabulary – common English first names and unusual verbs – and to learn the connections between them.


Who’s Doing What? – Picture Quiz 1

Who’s Doing What? - Picture Quiz 1

Who’s Doing What? – Picture Quiz 1


Who’s Doing What? – Picture Quiz 2

Who’s Doing What? - Picture Quiz 2

Who’s Doing What? – Picture Quiz 2


Instructions:

First, try one or both of the picture quizzes – Who’s Doing What? 1 & 2 (above) – following the given instructions. Answers will vary. Make the quizzes more difficult by not supplying the names. Then continue with one or more of the extensions below.

There are two sets of 20 first names. These extensions can be done with either or both sets of names:

1. Check everybody knows the target vocabulary: first names and verbs. T (teacher) or a student says a name and a tense, e.g. “Bob” and “Present Continuous”. SS (students) write in notebooks / on the board, or call out a sentence: “Bob is bobbing in the water.” SS could try to make longer sentences by adding conjunctions, such as: and, but, because, so, or, etc. For example, T or a student says a name, tense, and conjunction, then the others make a sentence, e.g. “Mark”, “Past Continuous”, and “because”: “Mark was marking some tests, because his students needed the results”. Next, somebody says a name and a conditional, e.g. “Bob” and “Zero Conditional” and others make a sentence, e.g. “If Bob bobs in the water for too long, his skin gets wrinkly” – and so on.

2. Build sentences with continuous tenses and ‘while’, e.g.

Past Continuous:    Ty was tying his shoelaces, while Pat was patting her puppy.

Future Continuous:    Bob will be bobbing in the water tomorrow, while Mark will be marking.

3. T or a student says a riddle and the others in the group or class have to guess what is happening, e.g.

Riddle:                                   Something is heavy for her.                    Carry carries.

Riddle:                                   She would like the best outcome.           Hope hopes.

…and so on.

4. SS could improvise / write / record a film, dialogue, presentation, role play, song, sketch, etc. based on one or more of the situations they have produced. For example, you could imagine that all the people live in the same apartment block and their lives interweave. Maybe Bet is Hope’s mother and Hope is hoping that her mum will stop gambling, because… and so on.

5. SS speculate about the people, based on the verbs that their first names share, e.g. Mark is marking, so he is a teacher, while Russell is an older man who is relaxing reading the paper, so maybe he is retired, or he has just finished his shift driving an HGV lorry. What is Win winning? What does it mean to her? What is Stew stewing about? Why is he so upset and angry?

6. Improvise a quiz based on the information in either or both of the grids below. For example, SS work in teams with one runner in each team and T asks: “Whose full name is Terry?” (“Tel”) It could get progressively harder, as the options narrow, e.g.

Whose name is a homophone?                                                           e.g. Moe

Whose name is a homophone and a regular verb?                         e.g. Phil

Whose name is a homophone and a regular intransitive verb?    e.g. Neil

…and so on.

The teams confer, then the runners run to write the answer on the board. Whoever is first to write it correctly wins a point. Runners could change after every few questions, to allow each student to write.

7. Another option is to get the SS to research and fill in a blank version of the grid, with part or all of the information missing.

8. SS create discussion questions or agree / disagree statements based on the pictures, e.g.

Discussion question:               Have you ever won a competition or contest? What happened?

Agree or disagree statement:  I don’t like people joshing with me. [SS say whether they agree or disagree and why]

9. Make your own names/verbs picture quiz based on people that you know, e.g. your classmates.

10. Devise your own activity or project using first names which are also verbs.


Answers:

First Names / Verbs - Set 1 - Answers

First Names / Verbs – Set 1 – Answers

First Names / Verbs - Set 2 - Answers

First Names / Verbs – Set 2 – Answers


This material is completely free to use, so please feel free to share it widely!

If you have any feedback about these free resources, we’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment or review below or on Facebook or Twitter.

Picture credits: https://pixabay.com/; https://unsplash.com/; https://www.canva.com/