Make Your Point > Archived Issues > PERCUSSIVE
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connect today's word to others:
Imagine beating a drum and tapping a xylophone. Those are percussion instruments: we play them by striking them, making percussive sounds. But it was only as far back as about 1776 that the words percussion and percussive started describing musical instruments. Before that--going back to at least the 1400s--percussion was simply the act of striking or hitting something.
This might seem random, but we can connect our previous word quash to today's percussive. Peek inside the base word percuss, with the "per" part meaning "through" and the "cuss" part based on quatere, "strike or shake," and you see that percuss is Latin for "to strike or shake through." So can you explain exactly what quash means, knowing that it, too, is based on quatere?
make your point with...
"PERCUSSIVE"
Something percussive reminds you of a drumbeat because it strikes something again and again or because it's forceful and hard-hitting.
Pronunciation:
per CUSS iv
Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "a percussive thing."
2. After a linking verb, as in "It was percussive.")
Other forms:
percussively, percussiveness; percuss, percussed, percussing, percussion
How to use it:
Talk about percussive beats and songs and music, percussive rains and other sounds, percussive machines and processes, percussive bursts of action or activity, percussive voices and manners of speaking, percussive slogans and sayings, percussive colors and images, percussive dialogue and stories, percussive forces and strikes and attacks, etc.
examples:
I couldn't move or speak; my mind had become a percussive montage of memories.
After that first snowfall, there was a glorious silence outdoors. I hated to disrupt it with the percussive scrape of my snow shovel.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "percussive" means when you can explain it without saying "thumping" or "jarring."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone's) voice grows percussive as (he/she) (says something)."
Example: "The narrator's voice grows percussive as he lists the toys and treats the Grinch steals."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month is "A Vocabulary of Movie Quotes."
Jean Picker Firstenberg at the American Film Institute (AFI) says, "Great movie quotes become part of our cultural vocabulary." I believe it! I bet you can recall, verbatim, any of the AFI's "100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time" if all I give you is a single word from the quote.
For example, if I give you the word KANSAS, I bet you can recite this: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
I'll share each answer in the following issue. And we’ll work our way forward in time, starting with the oldest movies. Let’s play!
From the previous issue: From a 1999 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word DEAD?
Answer: From The Sixth Sense: "I see dead people."
Try this last one today: From a 2002 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word PRECIOUS?
review today's word:
1. A close opposite of PERCUSSIVE is
A. FLAWED
B. SMOOTH
C. PROPER
2. The kids _____ the school in one long, percussive _____.
A. filed into .. sigh
B. burst from .. rumble
C. slipped out of .. team effort
Answers are below.
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. B
2. B
Imagine beating a drum and tapping a xylophone. Those are percussion instruments: we play them by striking them, making percussive sounds. But it was only as far back as about 1776 that the words percussion and percussive started describing musical instruments. Before that--going back to at least the 1400s--percussion was simply the act of striking or hitting something.
"PERCUSSIVE" Something percussive reminds you of a drumbeat because it strikes something again and again or because it's forceful and hard-hitting. Part of speech: Other forms:
I couldn't move or speak; my mind had become a percussive montage of memories.
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "percussive" means when you can explain it without saying "thumping" or "jarring."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone's) voice grows percussive as (he/she) (says something)."
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A close opposite of PERCUSSIVE is
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |