`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
What?!
That’s the first verse of the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll. You can read the whole crazy poem by clicking here.
Surprisingly, if you read the whole poem, you really can tell what is going on, despite all the new words.
Lewis Carroll, author of the Alice in Wonderland stories, enjoyed making up words, as you can tell by his poem. In fact, one of the words he concocted for this poem is a word we still use today: “chortled,” as in “He chortled in his joy.” We use it to mean something like a laugh, with great feeling or exuberance.
Now it’s your turn: Create a new word. You can put together pieces of other words or simply make one up. Then write a sentence using it.
A version of this prompt was first posted on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. You can go directly to SchoolhouseTeachers.com to sign up and take advantage of many exciting courses written for grades K-12. This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.
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