silent b doubt quiz

Do you doubt that our elephant is having a good time? 

You need to take your mind far back in history to the time of knights on horseback to see how the letter b got into the word doubt. 

More than one thousand years before the word doubt was spoken, people used the word tweogan when they were unsure about something, like whether our elephant is having a good time on this bicycle. Being unsure, hesitating about what to do, was called being of two minds.

Is the answer yes or no? Should I wear a blue shirt or a red shirt? Do I know the right answer? Should I raise my hand?  All of these questions show that you are of two minds. 

In ancient times, when a person was unsure, of two minds about a matter, the person used the word tweogan or tweon.  Which of our modern words come from the ancient words tweogan and tweon?        tweet    or    two

The answer is two. Two comes from ancient tweon. Tweogan meant to be of two minds, to doubt. By the time of the knights, another word which meant being of two minds, being unsure, hesitating - had come into our language. This was the Latin word, dubitare: to have doubt.

The word doubt came into being in ancient India with the word dwou. Ancient traders and travelers carried the Indian word dwou to Rome where Latin was spoken and written.

Latin took dwou and made it dubitare, which meant to hesitate, to be unsure, to be of two minds.
Over the years, the French people took dubitare and made the word doter: to be unsure, to hesitate, to be of two minds.

In those long ago times, very few people could read or write. During the time of the knights, the kings, and very rich people, had secretaries to write their notes and letters. The old word for a secretary was scribe. 

During the years of the 1300s, scribes begin thinking doter should have the old Latin spelling with a letter b. Even though there was no b sound in doubt, scribes began spelling it with a b. Hundreds of years later, are we still spelling doubt with b?  yes  no

So, all these years, doubt has not been spoken with b, but it has been spelled with letter b. Look at these other words which come from that time and are cousins of the word doubt:

duo, double, dubious - all of these words share the meaning of two, being unsure, hesitating.

Can you choose the correct word?

1) The clerk was __________ that the little boy had enough money to buy the toy truck.
                          doubtful    doughnut

2) The clerk was __________ that the little boy had enough money to buy the toy truck.
                           dumb      dubious

3) Adam was _____________ that the huge elephant could stay on the little unicycle.
                       dull        dubious

4) Susie was _____________ that the huge elephant was really having fun on the unicycle.
                      doubtful     dubious

Answers:1) doubtful, 2) dubious, say do be us; 3) dubious, 4) both words mean unsure - so both words can be correct.

You might like to look at the list of lessons on the right side of this blog. 

You may also like to look at the books I have to help your child become a strong, skillful reader. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you to see. All books teach a powerful comprehension method to help your reader connect to meaning. Recent test scores show that students are not doing well on vocabulary tests; all of my books will help your child quickly see how to make a strong connection to vocabulary.
Have fun with words, Mary Maisner