What does shocking mean?
Word: Shocking
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Shocking means very surprising and upsetting, or so bad that it makes people angry or sad.
Synonyms: startling, appalling, dreadful
Antonyms: pleasant
How do you spell shocking?
Syllables: shock - ing
Tricky part: The k sound is spelt ck, and both letters stay when -ing is added. Students write shoking or shokking.
Watch out for: shoking, shokking, shoccing
Memory tip: The c and k in shocking hold hands and never let go, even when -ing joins the end.
Shocking in a sentence
Example 1: It was shocking to see how much litter was left on the beach after the concert.
Example 2: The team's shocking defeat was the talk of the school for a week.
Example 3: Dhruv painted his room a shocking shade of green.
Fun Fact
Shocking pink is a bright colour named in 1937 by Elsa Schiaparelli, an Italian-born fashion designer who worked in Paris.
Practise the CREST Way
Jumble Tumble
Choose the correct sequence of the jumbled letters to form a meaningful word:
nhgoskic 12345678
a) 52486713
b) 25486713
c) 52486731
d) 52468713
Show answer
a) 52486713. Letter 5 starts the word and letter 3 ends it, giving the word for news that surprises and upsets.
Sound Check
Which word does not rhyme with shocking?
a) locking
b) knocking
c) joking
d) stocking
Show answer
c) joking. Joking has a long oh sound, while the others share the short o of shocking.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with the correct options:
1. shocking 2. noisy 3. frequent a. quiet b. rare c. ordinary
a) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
b) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
c) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
d) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
Show answer
a) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. These are opposites: shocking and ordinary, noisy and quiet, frequent and rare.
Spell Spies
Choose the pair which has a spelling error:
a) run : running
b) smile : smiling
c) hope : hopeing
d) shock : shocking
Show answer
c) hope : hopeing. Hope drops its e before -ing, so the right form is hoping.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The shocking price of tomatoes this week made Mum ___.
a) buy extra for the whole week
b) ask for a bigger bag
c) buy far fewer than usual
d) thank the shopkeeper warmly
Show answer
c) buy far fewer than usual
2. Which headline describes something shocking?
a) City shops open at nine as always
b) Sun rises at the usual time today
c) Huge pile of rubbish dumped in city lake
d) Buses run on time all week
Show answer
c) Huge pile of rubbish dumped in city lake
