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The New
Word Families in Sentence Context

by Don McCabe

Catalog # W240N - $39.95                                                     ISBN:  1-56400-420-1      
Completely Cross Referenced to
Volumes 1-5 The Patterns of English Spelling
8½ x 11 316 pages in a 3 ring looseleaf binder
Not only is this book great for developing decoding skills, it helps build vocabulary, demonstrates how words change their meaning as the sentence context changes, and it stimulates thinking-while-reading which is a key element to reading comprehension.

Page 214, a Sample Page
Reduced in size to fit this page
  lack Does Jack lack a concern for others named Jack or Jackson?
  lacks What the world lacks is love.
  lacked Zack’s sister has never lacked for anything. She has everything.
  lacking Something is lacking in your answer to my question.
slacking At times, almost all of us are guilty of slacking off.
slacked My brother Jack has really slacked off in his work. He retired.
slacks I really like the pair of slacks you’re wearing. They’re cool.
slack The rope is much too slack. Tighten it. Take up the slack.
black I don’t mind watching TV programs in black and white.
Blacks I know Blacks named White and Whites named Black.
  sacks My sister carried in all three sacks of groceries by herself.
  sacked My brother Jack got sacked by his boss for being an hour late.
  sacking My sister thinks sacking groceries can be a fun job.

  tacking

My sister Jackie is always tacking up some stupid papers.

  tacked

Did you see what the teacher tacked up on the board?

  tacks

Did you know that they charge sales tax on thumb tacks?

  tack

It’s not so funny when it’s you who sits on a thumb tack.

attack

Everybody should learn how to attack problems.

attacks

Heart attacks can be serious. Do you know C.P.R.?

attacked

Jack and I were attacked by a pack of angry caterpillars.

attacking

You shouldn’t always be attacking what I say.

stack

Zack must be stacking the deck, but I can’t catch him at it.
stacked   I know Zack stacked the deck. He packed it with aces.
stack It’s not nice to stack a deck—unless it’s for a card trick.

  back

Jack doesn’t like to back up—or back you up, either.
  backs I hope Jack backs down and backs you up.

  backed

Jack backed his car into a tree. He really racked it up
  backing I hope Jack gets some backing pretty soon.

snacking

Birds around here are snacking on grubs, worms, and maggots.
snacked My crazy brother snacked on ice cream with mustard and catsup.

  packed

Jack should have packed up his things an hour ago.
  racked Last night Jackie racked up Jack’s car and blamed me for it.

cracked

When Jackie looked at herself in the mirror, it cracked.

quacked

The duck quacked for crackers.

To compare this page (Page 214) to the "ack, black" page (Page 214) in The Patterns of English Spelling, Click here.

All donations are greatly appreciated.  If you would like to support our mission which is to raise the level of literacy to the point where the words, illiteracy, phonemic awareness, learning disabilities, dysgraphia, family literacy, adult literacy, and illegible handwriting will no longer have relevance, please mail your tax-deductible check (in U.S. dollars) to The AVKO Foundation, 3084 Willard Road, Suite W, Birch Run, MI 48415-7801.  The AVKO Foundation is recognized by the IRS as a 501(C)3 publicly supported organization working with teachers, parents, tutors, and home schooling parents, publishing materials developed by its research, and providing free daily tutoring at its local reading clinic.

If you have comments about this website or questions concerning spelling, phonics, learning disabilities, homeschooling, etc., you may always e-mail DonMcCabe@aol.com.  We appreciate any comments that will help us make this website even more useful. 

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or  Write:  
Don McCabe, Research Director
AVKO Educational Research Foundation
3084 Willard Road, Suite W
Birch Run, MI 48415-7801