TWOS Left — Hooks
I used a different approach (a visualization exercise) in another post as an aid to learning these same words (TWOS ALL (101) Cat). This time around I’m going to focus on hooks.
Download this table: TWOS Hook Grid FILLED. In this table, the alphabet runs vertically down the middle of the page and the 101 two-letter Scrabble words are represented as extensions or hooks to the left and/or right of each letter of the alphabet. For example, twelve of the 101 two-letter words can be formed by adding different letters to the left of the letter A – AA, BA, FA, HA, KA, LA, MA, NA, PA, TA, YA, ZA.
After studying the table linked above for a few minutes, down this table: TWOS Hook Grid BLANK. Get a good pen and a timer (and give yourself 10 minutes). Your objective is to write down the 101 two-letter Scrabble words. Decide whether you are going to form left hooks or right hooks, then start at the top and write down all the two-letter words that can be formed by putting a letter either in front or behind the letter A. Then do the same with the letter B, then C, and so on. By the time you finish with the letter Z, you will (hopefully) will have listed all 101 two-letter words. Then give yourself 10 more minutes and do the other side.
You might be tempted to cycle through all 26 letters of the alphabet looking for either front or back hooks for each letter of the alphabet on your list. For example, if you were working on the left side of the chart (front hooks), you might start with AA, then BA, CA, DA and so on, asking yourself each time, “Is AA a word?,” “Is BA a word?,” etc.).
If you look at left side of the completed chart, however, you’ll notice that more than half (51 to be exact) of the two-letter words end in a vowel, so more than half of the two-letter words are formed by adding a letter to one of the five vowels on the list. 12 words can be formed by adding letters to A; 12 words can also be formed by adding letters to E, I, and O. 3 words can be formed by adding letters to U. Remembering the number sequence 12 – 12-12 – 12-3 (12 “A” words, 12 “E” words, 12 “I” words, 12 “O” words and 3 “U” words), therefore, provides some useful structure.
Examining the left side of the chart also reveals that there are six consonants that do not take any front extensions: C, J, K, Q, V, and Z. These six letters can remembered by recalling a simple scene. Imagine an academic admission officer at a four-year college in charge of admitting transfer students from a local junior college (or juco). She is worn out by the process and decides to simplify things. She begins calling up applicants and asking them one simple question. If they get the question right, she admits them. The question is, “What is Kava?” She is, of course, fired as soon as her colleagues discover the practice, but she subsequently becomes famous for what becomes known as her “Juco Kava Quiz.” Remembering the phrase “Juco Kava Quiz” gives you the consonants that do not take front hooks or extensions to form any two-letter words: C, J, K, Q, V, and Z. It is also useful to remember that B and G only take one front extension – A in both cases (to form AB and AG, respectively). This can be remembered by adding the word “big” to “juco kava quiz,” as in “big juco kava quiz.”
It is important to remember that there are three two-letter words that do not have any vowels: sh, hm, and mm. These words are important because they represent “surprise” entries in the extension lists for h and m, respectively. Once you have separated out the five vowels (remember, 12 – 12-12 – 12-3), eliminated the six consonants that do not take any front hooks (C, J, K, V, Q, Z), and penciled in the three “surprise” extensions for the three words with no vowels, then all you need to do is cycle through the five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) for the remaining 15 consonants. Remembering that both N and S take all five vowels (and nothing else) further simplifies this process.
The same approach can be taken for the right side of the chart (the right hooks). The 12 – 12-12 – 12-3 pattern for left hooks doesn’t hold for right hooks, but 50 of the 101 two-letter words are still concentrated on the vowels – A has 16, E has 10, I has 5, O has 13 and U has 6. Only the C and V have no right hooks (C and V have no front hooks either – there are no tw0-letter words with C or V).
Finally, when you’re ready, download this file: TWOS Hook Grid FULL. Give yourself 15 minutes to do both the front and back hooks. When you’re done, give yourself 1 point for every word you got correct and subtract 2 points for every letter combination that isn’t a word – repeat until you can get a score of at least 190.
