11 Plus Exams Forum

This question is from my DD. Are children allowed to create new words e.g. in her piece of writing she wanted to use a word called 'gapening' or 'gappening' to say a gap was developing. Of course the TA has put a coloured mark there but DD didn't argue that it was a deliberate which can be inferred easily from the given context. I thought in fictional writing DCs should be allowed to create, join words. Anyone with any thoughts?

Depends on which year group we are talking about; Hope its not over year 2. I honestly would discourage that habit. Eager to know what the subject expert thinks... What do you think, DG!

Personally, I wouldn't allow it from my pupils - unless it was a nonsense poem or similar.
I would expect them to use 'real' words'.

Not only should you not create new words but you need to be using formal English and no jargon words. It is a text of how well you can write using good vocabulary. DG

I have to point out that Shakespeare did this all the time

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biogr ... ented.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Roald Dahl also liked to do the same - try reading The BFG

If I was marking an essay with a few deliberately made-up words, I'd be pretty impressed. But maybe that's just me

You wouldn't approve of it if it wasn't done as crispier as Dahl, would you?
The invented word cannot be allowed if its done as a pattern [quiet often as a substitute for a word that the child has forgotten]
reminds me of the all-caps-short-form-texting-style some people use thinking it makes them look cool [but annoys the reader.]

The measures for assessing writing - at least as they've been explained to me - are clunky, formulaic and very, very dull. I think good language use should be about how vividly, clearly and appropriately ideas are communicated. DD thinks lovely, whimsical thoughts, communicates her ideas with rich and interesting vocabulary and changes her tone to suit the type of writing required. She is still assessed as 4a, not 5, in Year 6, apparently because she isn't using enough connectives and a wide enough range of punctuation. When I hear that I always think of one of the most powerful sentences in English ever written, the shortest verse in the King James Bible: "Jesus wept." Would that be a 4a at best too? OP, I love the sound of "gappening" and its variant "gapening". Cherish your DC's creativity and don't let the TA's comment grind her down. As DD's lovely teacher says, you can always work on the punctuation and the spelling, but it's much harder to teach creative and powerful use of language.

you should not create new words

This isn't France, folks! This is messy, wonderful, chaotic, growing English!

We are talking about eleven plus exams here where English needs to be treated like Maths. There is a mark scheme and you follow it. You are competing against hundreds who will. One mark lost is twelve places down. Focus on collecting marks. If you don't others will. If you make up words they will simply think you can't spell the right ones.

Would you go into a really important job interview with Senior Management and make up words as you spoke? DG

In the context of reported speech, perhaps (''Gapering', said Fred. But then he always did get words in a muddle'.)? It would seem a little risky to run any chance of the marker thinking that you had just got something wrong, however charming and whimsical you might have intended it.

The measures for assessing writing - at least as they've been explained to me - are clunky, formulaic and very, very dull. I think good language use should be about how vividly, clearly and appropriately ideas are communicated. DD thinks lovely, whimsical thoughts, communicates her ideas with rich and interesting vocabulary and changes her tone to suit the type of writing required. She is still assessed as 4a, not 5, in Year 6, apparently because she isn't using enough connectives and a wide enough range of punctuation. When I hear that I always think of one of the most powerful sentences in English ever written, the shortest verse in the King James Bible: "Jesus wept." Would that be a 4a at best too?

Unfortunately, those are the rules with which schools have to work.