Using Numerals to Teach Words

The number words ONE, TWO, FOUR, and EIGHT have unusual spelling-sound mappings. Instead of memorizing them, you can take advantage of the fact that your students already know the numbers 1-10.

They can recognize the numerals and they know the words for them. The numerals provide strong contexts for the words.



If they see the numeral 2 with the word TWO, it’s clear that the word is pronounced “too”. If the numeral is 4 and the word is FOUR, it’s clear that the pronunciation is "for".

You can do the same thing for other number words as well.

One (ōn). [From Gr. -ώνη, signifying, female descendant.] (Chem.) A suffix indicating that the substance, in the name of which it appears, is a ketone; as, acetone. One (wŭn), adjective [OE. one, on, an, AS. ān; akin to D. een, OS. ēn, OFries. ēn, ān, G. ein, Dan. een, Sw. en, Icel. einn, Goth. ains, W. un, Ir. & Gael. aon, L. unus, earlier oinos, oenos, Gr. οἴνη the ace on dice; cf. Skr. ēka. The same word as the indefinite article a, an. √ 299. Cf. 2d A, 1st An, Alone, Anon, Any, None, Nonce, Only, Onion, Unit.]

1. Being a single unit, or entire being or thing, and no more; not multifold; single; individual.

The dream of Pharaoh is one. Gen. xli. 25.

O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England. Shak.

2. Denoting a person or thing conceived or spoken of indefinitely; a certain.

“I am the sister of one Claudio” [Shak.], that is, of a certain man named Claudio.

3. Pointing out a contrast, or denoting a particular thing or person different from some other specified; – used as a correlative adjective, with or without the.

From the one side of heaven unto the other. Deut. iv. 32.

4. Closely bound together; undivided; united; constituting a whole.

The church is therefore one, though the members may be many. Bp. Pearson

5. Single in kind; the same; a common.

One plague was on you all, and on your lords. 1 Sam. vi. 4.

6. Single; unmarried. [Obs.]

Men may counsel a woman to be one. Chaucer.

☞ One is often used in forming compound words, the meaning of which is obvious; as, one-armed, one-celled, one-eyed, one-handed, one-hearted, one-horned, one-idead, one-leaved, one-masted, one-ribbed, one-story, one-syllable, one-stringed, one-winged, etc.

All one

of the same or equal nature, or consequence; all the same; as, he says that it is all one what course you take. - Shak.

One day

(a) On a certain day, not definitely specified, referring to time past.

One day when Phoebe fair,
With all her band, was following the chase. Spenser.

(b)

Referring to future time: At some uncertain day or period in the future; some day.
Well, I will marry one day. Shak.

One, noun

1. A single unit; as, one is the base of all numbers.

2. A symbol representing a unit, as 1, or i.

3. A single person or thing.

“The shining ones.” Bunyan.

“Hence, with your little ones.” Shak.

He will hate the one, and love the other. Matt. vi. 24.

That we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. Mark x. 37.

One (wŭn),

indefinite pronoun Any person, indefinitely; a person or body; as, what one would have well done, one should do one’s self.

It was well worth one's while. Hawthorne.

Against this sort of condemnation one must steel one's self as one best can. G. Eliot.

The church is therefore one, though the members may be many. Bp. Pearson

One is often used with some, any, no, each, every, such, a, many a, another, the other, etc. It is sometimes joined with another, to denote a reciprocal relation.

When any one heareth the word. Matt. xiii. 19.

She knew every one who was any one in the land of Bohemia. Compton Reade.

The Peloponnesians and the Athenians fought against one another. Jowett (Thucyd. ).

The gentry received one another. Thackeray.

One, transitive verb To cause to become one; to gather into a single whole; to unite; to assimilite. [Obs.]

The rich folk that embraced and oned all their heart to treasure of the world. Chaucer.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913