jamiekeddie.com header image 2

Another book cover puzzle

March 11th, 2009 · 1 Comment

One of the title words on the book cover below has been covered up. Can you work out what the word is?

health-matters-hidden-title-word-for-web.jpg

Here is an excerpt from the synopsis:

What is Health _ _ _ _ _ _ _ about?
Health _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is an innovative new book about lifestyle, disease risks, diseases and treatments covering a vast range of subjects from period pains to heart attacks; spots to skin cancer; itchy bums to sore heads; and big ears to big bellies.

Do you have the answer yet? OK, here are a couple of clues:

  1. The title, which is a play on words, is a bit of a cliché. The same formula has been used for the titles of books on football, money, family, etc.
  2. The title means, ‘Issues related to health
  3. The title also means, ‘Health is important

Now if we were in the classroom, we could play hangman with the missing seven-lettered word. But since we’re not, I’ll have to give you the link to the book: Click here.

Perhaps this title could be described as a Parser Pun. The word ‘matters‘ can be comprehended as either a verb in the third person singular form or as a plural noun.

Here are some more examples of this formulaic title:

Tags: Grammar · Lesson plans · Third person singular

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Aimee // Nov 1, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    I used this a couple of weeks ago with my b1 group. It went really well, despite the fact that it was Friday morning at 8:00, which is always our most challenging classtime. I enjoyed the lesson, even though it required teaching “period pains” to an all-male group of 20-year-olds! It took about 25 minutes.

Leave a Comment