Question

For English class, we're doing a vocab. review for seventh graders, as part of our teaching project. Should seventh graders know what inevitable means? What age should people know that word by? Thank you.

Answer 1

There's no reason why not. It's also a perfect word to break down and show kids how they can discern what unfamiliar words mean if they know common prefixes, root words, and suffixes.

in-evit-able
c.1430, from L. inevitabilis "unavoidable," from in- "not" + evitabilis "avoidable," from evitare "to avoid," from ex- "out" + vitare "shun," originally "go out of the way."
from http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=inevitable&searchmode=none

Answer 2

If seventh graders don't know the meaning of "inevitable," they should learn it because it's part of their lives.

For instance: If you cheat on a test, the consequences are inevitable.