Learning Together
Words for distance
Learn words and phrases for distance from the poem.
'Try Again' is about climbing, so it's full of words for distance. Your book picks four: 'a long way up', 'inch by inch', 'higher and higher', 'half-yard higher'. (A yard is about 90 cm, so half a yard is about 45 cm.)
See how they change the feeling. "A long way up to the ceiling" makes the climb sound impossible. "Inch by inch" makes it sound slow but possible. Same climb, different feeling!
English has many distance words. Sort them into near and far:
Near words:
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| proximity | nearness: the shop is in close proximity to the school |
| vicinity | the area nearby |
| adjacent | right next to, touching or almost touching |
| a stone's throw | very close (as far as you could throw a stone) |
| hairline gap | as thin as a hair: almost no distance |
Far words:
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| the middle of nowhere | a place far from everywhere |
| remoteness | being far away and hard to reach |
| yonder | over there, at a distance you can still see (an old word) |
| afar | far off |
| farther | more distant |
| light year | the distance light travels in a year (used in astronomy); "light years away" = unimaginably far |
Pick the word that fits the feeling you want. "The house was adjacent to ours" and "the house was a stone's throw away" both mean near, but the second sounds more casual and friendly.
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