Eric Ink misspells the word "what" as w-h-o-t while Miss Trunchbull, the sadistic head of school, is visiting Miss Honey's class. Miss Trunchbull responds, first, by shouting at him and insulting him. She then picks him up painfully by his ears so that he is dangling over the floor. Following this, she shouts out the correct spelling and has him repeat it.

Matilda manages to topple the water glass by using the power of her thoughts to will to make it move. From the start, Miss Honey perceived, as Matilda's parents could not, that Matilda was an especially gifted little girl. Miss Honey is also able to understand that Matilda has a special gift. At first, Miss Honey doesn't want to believe that Matilda had caused the glass to fall over with her thoughts. However, when she asks Matilda to repeat the experiment and Matilda does so successfully, Miss Honey believes that her student has developed an especially miraculous talent.

Mr. Wormword is a shady, dishonest used car salesman. At first, Miss Trunchbell foolishly believes he has given her a great deal on her used car. Later, when she realizes he sold her a dud, her opinion of him changes and sours.