Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CADENT
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pronounce
CADENT:
Say it "KAY dunt."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Have you heard of the speech-to-song illusion? That's when your ears start to perceive some spoken, repeated phrase as if it were a song.
Like when Legolas shouts "They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard," played over and over in the video below. He's not singing, but by the third or fourth replay, it really sounds like he is! Click on him to hear it for yourself.
Apparently, once we've heard a phrase several times, our brains get bored with the words and focus instead on their rhythm: the up-and-down of the voice, the cadence. And the words become music.
While we're talking about pitch, rhythm, music, and inflection, see if you can recall this lovely verb: to m_____te something--often a sound or a voice, and often a musical one--is to change it or adjust it for artistic effect.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Our word "cadence" traces back through French and Italian to a Latin word meaning "a falling."
In music and poetry, the cadence is the way the sounds "fall" into place: it's the beat, the rhythm, or the flow. ("Cadence" has other specific meanings in these arts and in other fields, but we'll stick with the general meaning.)
And in speech, the cadence of someone's voice is the flow of it: the rise and fall of the pitch.
So, something cadent has a nice rhythm: it seems to rise and fall in a pleasant way.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "the cadent narration of Morgan Freeman;" "We fell asleep to cadent rains on the metal roof."
Other forms:
Cadence(s), cadently.
"Cadence" can also be a verb, the intransitive kind: "Her voice cadences unhurriedly along;" "You could see her soft hands cadencing among the teacups" (Nathalie Sedgwick Colby).
how to use it:
Our adjective "cadent" is rare, beautiful, and artistic.
Pick it when you want to place special emphasis on how musical or poetic something seems. Although you could use a clearer, more familiar word like "flowing," "rhythmic," or "measured," the rare word "cadent" really helps your idea stand out.
You might talk about a cadent voice or sound, a cadent movement, the cadent pace or flow of your days, etc.
examples:
"I looked upon a mighty whirlpool miles and miles wide. It whirled with surges... It cast a cadent spray high to the heavens."
— A. Merritt, The Metal Monster, 1920
"THE CITY'S VOICE.
A mighty undertone of mingled sound;
The cadent tumult rising from a throng
Of urban workers, blending in a song
Of greater life that makes the pulses bound."
— Louis J. Stellman, 1902; anthologized in The California Birthday Book, 1909
has this page helped you understand "cadent"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "cadent" without saying "pulsing" or "metrical."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Something) has a (nice, soothing, pleasant, or reassuring) cadence."
Example 1: "As I help my daughter get ready for school, the morning falls into a pleasant cadence. Dress, brush hair, pack up, sit for breakfast."
Example 2: "Assembling a stack of pizza boxes has a reassuring cadence: lift, crack, fold, tuck, tuck... lift, crack, fold, tuck, tuck..."
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for this month is MYP Wordles!
You're likely familiar with the popular new game Wordle, created by Josh Wardle and recently purchased by the New York Times. You can play the real Wordle each day here.
It's fun, simple, and addictive. You try to guess the five-letter word. Each time you guess, you see how close you are: a green box means you've gotten the right letter in the right spot; a yellow box means you've gotten a letter that's in the word but in the wrong spot; a gray box means you've guessed a letter that isn't in the word at all.
There's only one real Wordle every day. But luckily for us, the good folks at StriveMath.com have created a copycat Wordle tool, so you can play as many Wordles as you want, and even create and share your own.
So, in each issue this month, try the MYP Wordle linked below. The answer will be a word we've studied. I'll give a series of hints that you can reveal if you choose to. If you can't figure out the answer, you can let the puzzle reveal it, or you can scroll all the way down. Enjoy!
Click here to play today's MYP Wordle.
If you need some hints, highlight the hidden white text below.
The letter it starts with is… S
The vowels it includes are… A
The part of speech is… adjective
The definition is… very limited or barely enough
review this word:
A. FORMAL.
B. ERRATIC.
C. DECADENT.
2.
Russell Brand observed, "When you go on telly a lot... the on-camera 'talent' (yuck!) are perfectly amiable when you chat to them normally, but when the red light goes on they immediately transform into shark-eyed Stepford berks talking in a cadence you encounter nowhere else but TV-land – a _____ that implies simultaneously carefree whimsy and stifled hysteria."
A. hush
B. meter
C. falsetto
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
A 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.
Have you heard of the speech-to-song illusion? That's when your ears start to perceive some spoken, repeated phrase as if it were a song.
Our word "cadence" traces back through French and Italian to a Latin word meaning "a falling."
Part of speech:
Our adjective "cadent" is rare, beautiful, and artistic.
"I looked upon a mighty whirlpool miles and miles wide. It whirled with surges... It cast a cadent spray high to the heavens."
Explain the meaning of "cadent" without saying "pulsing" or "metrical."
Fill in the blanks: "(Something) has a (nice, soothing, pleasant, or reassuring) cadence."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |