Lesson 12

Moby Dick

b. Take a spelling test of the next ten words from the Commonly Misspelled Words List. If you miss any, add them to your Personal Spelling List and study them throughout the week.

c. Vocabulary Builder - opine, obliterated, olfactories

Write a dictionary sounding definition for the words opine, obliterated, and olfactories, using context clues and your own knowledge. Can you gain any clues by looking at the Word Parts Lists?

Now look up these words in the Glossary to see if you were right. Write a sentence using each word.

Points to Ponder

Cologne, most oftenly seen as "eau de cologne" means water of Cologne. Cologne is a city in Germany. We very often use the words cologne or perfume for any scented liquid, but originally perfumed toilet water was made in the German city of Cologne in 1709, hence the name. This is why Cologne is capitalized in this literature passage, even though we now use it to name any perfumed toilet water.

Why "toilet" water? The word toilet comes from the French word, toile, meaning cloth. A cloth was usually spread over a table in a chamber or dressing room. The word began to be used to name the dressing table and then to include the whole room.