What does penmanship mean?
Word: Penmanship
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Penmanship means the art of writing neatly by hand, or how well a person forms letters with a pen.
How do you spell penmanship?
Syllables: pen - man - ship
Tricky part: Many pupils think of men and write penmenship, but the middle vowel stays a.
Watch out for: penmenship, penmonship
Memory tip: However many children practise it, the middle of the word stays singular: one man, never the e of men.
Penmanship in a sentence
Example 1: My grandfather's penmanship is so neat that his letters look printed.
Example 2: Our class teacher hands out a star each week for the best penmanship.
Example 3: Writing slowly in a four-line notebook helped Tara improve her penmanship.
Fun Fact
Many primary schools still use four-line notebooks, with ruled guide lines for the tall and short parts of each letter, to train good penmanship.
Practise the CREST Way
Jumble Tumble
Which option has letters that you can rearrange to form the name of a skill pupils practise in school?
a) shinpampen
b) shinpampenn
c) shinpamen
d) shinpampon
Show answer
a) shinpampen. Only this set has exactly the letters of the word for writing neatly by hand; the others have a letter missing, changed or added.
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) workmanship
b) craftsmanship
c) pensmanship
d) sportsmanship
Show answer
c) pensmanship. Unlike sportsmanship and craftsmanship, this word has no s after its first part.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
Before computers, clerks in goverment offices needed good penmanship, as every record and letter was writen by hand.
a) 3
b) 1
c) 0
d) 2
Show answer
d) 2. Government needs an n before the m, and written needs a double t; that makes two.
Word Puzzle
Match each word with the word closest in meaning:
1. courtesy 2. penmanship 3. diligent a. politeness b. industrious c. handwriting
a) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
b) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
c) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b
d) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
Show answer
c) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b. Courtesy means politeness, penmanship is handwriting, and a diligent pupil is industrious.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What would count as poor penmanship?
a) a sum worked out the wrong way
b) a word spelt with the wrong vowel
c) a story that stops too suddenly
d) letters that slope and run into each other
Show answer
d) letters that slope and run into each other
2. Which comment is about a pupil's penmanship?
a) Your story has a clever ending.
b) Your letters are neat and evenly spaced.
c) Your voice was clear in assembly.
d) Your sums are all correct this time.
Show answer
b) Your letters are neat and evenly spaced.
