Elkhorn pupil Ananya Rao Prassanna’s bid for spelling superstardom ended Wednesday morning within the quarterfinals of the Scripps Nationwide Spelling Bee.
The Nebraska woman misspelled the phrase “puling.”
She took her place on the mic on stage. Upon listening to the phrase, she requested the pronouncer for extra info. It’s an adjective, he stated, which means “of an abject plaintiff nature, spiritless, whining.”
Ananya took her greatest shot: p-e-w-l-i-n-g.
Ding, the dreaded bell rang, signaling a miss.
She had made it to the quarterfinals by surviving a brutal preliminary Tuesday that bounced out greater than half the spellers.
Spellers needed to get by means of three phrases in a single flip on the microphone to advance. First, they got a phrase from a offered listing of 4,000 — greater than twice as many as in years previous. Then, they needed to reply a multiple-choice vocabulary query a couple of phrase on the identical listing. Lastly, they needed to spell a phrase that might be discovered wherever in Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.
Throughout her flip on the microphone, she accurately spelled “darnel” and “asymptote,” and precisely outlined the vocabulary phrase: “louche.”
When Ananya, 11, stepped to heart stage, nonetheless, the percentages weren’t trying good.
5 of the final 10 spellers had misspelled a phrase or flubbed a definition — the kiss of dying underneath bee guidelines.
However immediately, Ananya, who attended fifth grade at Elkhorn’s West Bay Elementary Faculty this previous 12 months, gave the followers again residence a great signal.
When pronouncer Jacques Bailly revealed her Spherical 1 phrase — darnel — Ananya confidently responded.
“Is that this a kind of grass?” she requested.
Sure, certainly, Bailly confirmed. Ananya spelled it accurately.
Ananya stated she remembered the phrase from the 4,000-word listing.
In Spherical 2, spellers have been examined on vocabulary. Bailly requested her if somebody or one thing is described as louche, would it not be: a) sinister, b) perplexing, or c) overly casual.
Ananya appeared rather less assured, however she obtained it proper: sinister.
An expression of reduction unfold throughout her face. She smiled and stated: “Thanks a lot.”
She had studied the phrase solely as soon as.
“I knew it needed to do with one thing being dangerous, so I put sinister, however I used to be really going for an additional choice. So it was a bit nerve-wracking,” she stated.
Her Spherical 3 spelling phrase was asymptote, a geometry time period. She requested for the definition and language of origin.
“Does this come from the Greek sym that means collectively?” she requested.
She spelled it accurately.
“My coach at all times tells me to ask roots and questions,” she stated. “Doing so may also help me work out the phrase.”
This 12 months, the 234 spellers entered the bee from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Division of Protection Colleges in Europe. Spellers additionally signify the Bahamas, Canada, Germany and Ghana.
The champion receives a $50,000 money prize from Scripps, a $2,500 money prize and reference library from Merriam-Webster and $400 of reference supplies from Encyclopaedia Britannica, plus a commemorative medal and trophy.
In accordance with bee data, Nebraska has produced two nationwide bee winners. Virginia Hogan in 1929 gained by accurately spelling the phrase luxuriance. Jennifer Reinke gained in 1967. Her profitable phrase was Chihuahua.