Rectangle
A rectangle is a 2D shape that has four sides, four corners, and four right angles. Opposite sides of a rectangle shape are the same length, with one pair being longer than the other. If a rectangle’s sides were the same size, it would be known as a square.
What is a Rectangle?
A rectangle is a 2D shape that has four sides, four corners, and four right angles. Opposite sides of a rectangle shape are the same length, with one pair being longer than the other. If a rectangle’s sides were the same size, it would be known as a square.
The pairs of opposite sides are parallel to one another, which means that rectangles are also a type of parallelogram.
The word “rectangle” comes from the Latin word “rect,” which means “right,” and the Latin word “angulus,” which means “angle.” From those two words, we get “rectangle.” Each corner of a rectangle shape has a right angle of 90º.
A rectangle has two diagonals equal in length and intersects in the middle.
A rectangle is oblong. It has two pairs of parallel sides and four right angles.
A rectangle can also be known as an equiangular quadrilateral. It is because a rectangle is a quadrilateral shape (4-sided) with equal parallel sides, and all four corners have angles that are 90º. Because all the angles are 90º, a rectangle shape can also be called an equiangular quadrilateral.
Rectangle shapes are all around us. For instance, TVs, tablets, envelopes, pillows, towels, exercise books, mobile phones, and measuring rulers can all be rectangle shape.
Can you get children to think of rectangular things they might see daily?
Calculate the perimeter of a rectangle
Calculate the perimeter of a rectangle shape by adding the length and width before multiplying the sum of those two measurements by 2.
Calculate the area of a rectangle
You can calculate the area of a rectangle shape if you know its length and width. Then, multiply the length by the width to get the area.
Using the blue rectangle in the example above, this is the sum to work out the area:
3cm× 4 cm = 12 cm²
Remember to put a small 2 above the cm part to show the area of a shape.
Is a square a rectangle?
It is a question that will always come up or get asked. Is a square a rectangle? Luckily it’s got a pretty easy answer. Yes! A square is a rectangle, by definition. To figure this out, you must look at each shape’s definitions.
A square is a shape that has four equal-length sides and four 90-degree right angles. A rectangle is a shape with four straight sides and four right angles. That means that, by definition, a square can be classed as a rectangle. However, a rectangle cannot be classed as a square.
What is a Syllable?
Syllable
What is a syllable in English? A syllable is a unit of spoken language that forms an entire word or parts of words.
What is a syllable in English? – Examples:
Below are some examples of words with different numbers of syllables:
- ‘Tie’ has one syllable.
- ‘Rescue’ has two syllables – Res + cue
- ‘Alphabet’ has three syllables – Al + pha + bet
- ‘Activity’ has four syllables – Ac + tiv + i + ty
- ‘Electricity’ has five syllables – E + lec + tri + ci + ty
A word with only one syllable can be called monosyllabic. There are names for other syllable amounts in words, too: disyllabic for two, trisyllabic for three, and quadrisyllabic for four. Or, you can refer to them as polysyllabic if they have more than one!
An important thing to note is that the length of the word doesn’t affect the number of syllables it has. Instead, it’s all about the number of vowel sounds.
What are the six types of syllables?
Next up in our journey of learning ‘what is a syllable in English?’, we’ll learn about the different kinds of syllables. While there are two main types of syllables, closed and open, there can also be split into six other classes. Let’s learn a bit about what these are:
1) Closed Syllable
A closed syllable is a word unit with a single vowel that ends with a consonant. These have short sounds such as bat, plant, shop, and rabbit.
2) Open Syllable
An open syllable is a word unit that ends with a single vowel, such as go, me, you, and potato.
There are more types of syllables that you might come across in more advanced grammar, including:
- Magic ‘e’ or vowel-consonant -e;
- R-controlled syllables;
- Diphthong (vowel team);
- And consonant ‘le.’
3) Vowel-consonant-e Syllable (VCE)
These syllables end in a final silent ‘e’ (hence why they’ve nicknamed magic ‘e’ syllables) with a consonant just before the silent ‘e.’ The silent ‘e’ makes the vowel before the consonant have a long sound. Here are some examples:
- line
- cute
- mine
- pine
- mute
- home
This syllable is usually taught after children are familiar with short and long sounds and closed and open syllables. So here’s a teaching tip: to transition from closed syllables to VCE words, try adding a silent ‘E’ to CVC words. For example, ‘hat’ becomes ‘hate,’ and ‘tap’ becomes ‘tape.’
4) R-controlled Syllable (VR)
In r-controlled syllable words, there’s always a vowel followed by an ‘r.’ The ‘r’ gives the word a unique sound. Examples of VR words:
- her
- fur
- ear
- for
- purr
This kind of syllable is taught after open, closed, and VCE syllables.
5) Diphthong (vowel team) Syllable
A diphthong syllable usually has two vowels next to each other which are pronounced together, which is why they’re dubbed ‘vowel teams’ – the vowels work together as a syllable. The vowel combinations are typical:
- ai
- ay
- ow
- oe
- ie
- ee
- oi
- ea
- oa
Here are examples of words with diphthong syllables:
- tail;
- play;
- grow;
- oboe;
- eight;
- meet;
- beat;
For example, many words have the vowel combination ‘io’ in them, such as ‘lion’. With these vowel combinations, you split the syllable between ‘i’ and ‘o’ so that the word has two syllables. These syllables are still known as vowel teams.
6) Consonant ‘le’ Syllable
These syllables have no vowel sound – the silent ‘e’ at the end of the syllable works as the only vowel. You only pronounce the consonant and the ‘l’. Examples of words with the ‘le’ syllable:
- maple
- purple
- turtle
- ripple
- circle
- cycle
- tableTop of Form
