Basic Details
Word: Literary
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Connected with literature, that is, books, poems and plays; also describes formal language that is used more in writing than in speech.
Word origin: Comes from Latin litterarius, from littera, a letter of the alphabet.
How to Spell Literary
Syllables: lit - er - ar - y
Tricky part: There is only one t, and the middle runs e-r-a-r. It is easy to mix it up with literally, literate and library.
Watch out for: litrary, literery, litterary, literarry
Memory tip: Start from literature and swap its ture for ry: litera + ry. Keep the single t, just as in literature.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The Jaipur festival brings together writers for three days of literary talks.
Example 2: Our English teacher runs a literary club that meets every Friday.
Example 3: Words like thee and thou now sound rather literary and old-fashioned.
Fun Fact
The Jnanpith Award, one of India's highest literary honours, was first given in 1965 to the Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. novelist 2. anthology 3. biography 4. literery
a) the story of a person's life written by someone else
b) a collection of poems or stories by different writers
c) a person who writes novels
d) connected with books, poems and plays
Show answer
d) connected with books, poems and plays. Literery should be literary, with ar before the final y.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The school magazine now has a page for students' yarretil work such as poems and short stories.
a) literary
b) literate
c) military
d) library
Show answer
a) literary. The eight letters with two r's make literary; literate has two t's and only one r, military has no e and library has no t.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
lit_r_ry
a) a, e
b) e, e
c) e, a
d) a, a
Show answer
c) e, a. Say it slowly: lit-er-ar-y, e first and then a.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A literary festival is mostly about ____.
a) food and cooks
b) music and dancers
c) sports and players
d) books and writers
Show answer
d) books and writers
2. Choose the word that fits: He was so tired that he ____ fell asleep standing up.
a) liberally
b) literate
c) literally
d) literary
Show answer
c) literally
