Now that you’ve had a chance to meet Aunt Nym, I’d like to take a minute (“make that a moment”) to introduce (“say acquaint you with”) her sister, Syn Nym. Syn, short for “Syndy”, is older and, frankly, a little hard to live with. After years of working as the town librarian and spending much more time with books than people, she’s become a bit of a know-it-all. No matter what you say to her, she knows how to say it just a little bit different—a little bit fancier.
“Syn, want to grab a quick cup of coffee?”
“A rapid cup of coffee? I can fit that in.”
“Great. Can I add a little cold milk to yours?”
“Some frigid milk would be lovely.”
“Do you have room for a small cookie, too?”
“A petite treat would be fine, thank you.”
She’s lucky (make that “fortunate”) someone doesn’t grab the pencil from her bun and poke her with it!
Looking for some synonym groupings to work on? Try these:
| quiet-silent | short-brief | brave-courageous |
| huge-large-big | warm-toasty | slow-pokey |
| strange-unusual | tasty-delicious | mean-nasty |
| simple-easy | error-mistake | simple-easy |
| seat-chair | sofa-couch | ill-sick |
| enjoy-like | stone-rock | throw-toss |
| end-finish | hurry-rush | street-road-avenue |
Possible follow up activity: Have the kids write an authority figure asking permission for a special privilege. Examples might be asking to wear pajamas to school, chewing gum in class one day, etc.
First get the letter constructed, then “fancy” it up by substituting synonyms where appropriate. Remember, you want to impress your reader!
Sample: Dear Principal, We wanted to ask for (request) a special (extraordinary) day.
P.S. Syn Nym wanted to sign off, “my dear readers, farewell have a magnificent day!”
In my speech room, we use letters from Aunt Nym and Syn Nym to practice our skills. You can check it out here.
