Word Story Text

And is a great word for beginning readers.

It is a high frequency word.

It is a short word that will be decodeable once a child is taught the letter sound correspondences for the three letters in the word, and it is a word with lots of friends. Once a child has learned how to sound out the word and, why not use the word when practicing other letter sound correspondences?

For example, when talking about the letter sounds for B, l, and S, you can talk about how and has the friends band, land and sand.

These high frequency words like and that have predictable pronunciations from their spelling, provide a great opportunity to present words with their friends in order to demonstrate that there are spelling patterns that are common across many words.

And conjunction [AS. and; akin to OS. endi, Icel. enda, OHG. anti, enti, inti, unti, G. und, D. en, OD. ende. Cf, An if, Ante-.]

1. A particle which expresses the relation of connection or addition. It is used to conjoin a word with a word, a clause with a clause, or a sentence with a sentence. (a) It is sometimes used emphatically; as, “there are women and women,” that is, two very different sorts of women. (b) By a rhetorical figure, notions, one of which is modificatory of the other, are connected by and; as, “the tediousness and process of my travel,” that is, the tedious process, etc.; “thy fair and outward character,” that is, thy outwardly fair character, Schmidt’s Shak. Lex.2. In order to; – used instead of the infinitival to, especially after try, come, go.

2. In order to; – used instead of the infinitival to, especially after try, come, go.

At least to try and teach the erring soul. Milton.

3. It is sometimes, in old songs, a mere expletive.

When that I was and a little tiny boy. Shak.

4. If; though. See An, conjunction [Obs.] Chaucer.

As they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs. Bacon.

And so forth

and others; and the rest; and similar things; and other things or ingredients. The abbreviation, etc. (et cetera), or &c., is usually read and so forth.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913