Vocabulary Workshop Unit 14 Study Guide

A tavern in a state of infirmity looks: a) dilapidated b) organized c) new d) vacant

A - dilapidated

an extraneous consideration is: a) superfluous b) dreary c) essential d) rewarding

A - superfluous

Someone who is credulous is: a) influential b) naive c) cynical d) feeble

B - naive

a precocious child is a) dirty and dowdy b) shy and wary c) mature beyond her years d) beloved by all

C - mature beyond her years

An obdurate person is NOT: a) sorrowful b) staunch c) obstinate d) compliant

D - compliant

Our dean is a strict disciplinarian, but I have always found her (amenable, turgid) to reasonable requests.

amenable

Synonym: not ACQUIESCENT to that idea

amenable

When my stubborn younger brother proved so ____ to my request, I began to suspect that he had some special reason for wanting to please me.

amenable

Although Gone with the Wind won a Pulitzer Prize, critics often (berate, expatiate) the novel for its stereotypical portrayals of African Americans.

berate

You deserve to be severely ____ for your misbehavior during such as solemn ceremony.

berated

Instead of constantly (berating, depleting) the children, why don't you try to explain quietly and clearly how you expect them to behave?

berating

It is difficult to imagine the ____ that would result from an all-out war fought with nuclear weapons.

carnage

The (infirmity, carnage) caused each year by careless driving has become a major national scandal.

carnage

Antonym: too PERCEPTIVE for her own good

credulous

Synonym: too NAIVE to perceive trickery

credulous

The more ____ you are, the easier it will be for swindlers and con artists to hoodwink you.

credulous

Vic is so (sententious, credulous) that he actually believed me when I said that I had invented an automatic composition-writing machine.

credulous

Synonym: a GUIDELINE by which to judge the entries

criterion

The sales manager said she would apply only one (criterion, carnage) when assembling my plan for an advertising campaign: "Will it sell more mouthwash?"

criterion

Usefulness is not the only ____ for including words in this book, but it is the primary one.

criterion

My last date turned out to be such an expensive affair that my funds were sadly ____ for the rest of the month.

depleted

The prolonged drought has so (depleted, berated) the supplies of in our reservoir that we may have to consider rationing water.

depleted

It's painful to have to listen to him ____ on his own virtues when I'm dying to give some fascinating details about my own life and accomplishments.

expatiate

Although he (expatiates, supplicates) fluently on the need for a new community action program, I have yet to see him do anything to bring it about.q

expatiates

Her instructions told me exactly what I wanted to know, without a single ____ detail.

extraneous

My rules for effective writing are, "Emphasize what is essential, play down what is secondary, eliminate what is (extraneous, turgid)."

extraneous

At the very (inception, criterion) of my career, I set the goals and adopted the basic strategies that were to guide me through the many years of outstanding success.

inception

At the very ____ of his administration, the new President announced a list of the objectives he hoped to accomplish.

inception

Since its (carnage, inception), the electric guitar had been a symbol of innovation, energy and rebellion.

inception

Synonym: was present at the product LAUNCH

inception

One of the benefits that I derived from my summer job in the new hospital was learning to be patient with people suffering from various types of ____.

infirmities

Few things are more tragic than to see a great mind fall victim to a serious (inception, infirmity).

infirmity

"How do you expect your mind to grow when you feed it solely on the ____ pap that comes out of the boob tube?" I asked him pointedly.

jejune

A well-known actor submitted his poems to a publisher, who deemed the verses (precocious, jejune) and tedious.

jejune

Antonym: a SOPHISTICATED sense

jejune

Synonym: an INSIPID view of history

jejune

You cannot dismiss everything he says as (obdurate, jejune) simply because he is young and lacks experience of the world.

jejune

In spite of all our efforts to appeal to whatever human sympathies the kidnappers might have, they remained ____.

obdurate

What disturbs the coach is not that Tom called the wrong play, but that he refuses (obdurately, precociously) to admit that he made a mistake.

obdurately

Antonym: a LACK OF VARIETY in the show's acts

potpourri

I think the class show will be much more effective if it has a constant theme running through it, instead of being just a (potpourri, surfeit) of songs, dances, and sketches.

potpourri

Our reading program this term is a delightful ____ of stories, essays, poetry, and drama from many different periods.

potpourri

Synonym: a MELANGE of spices

potpourri

Any child who can read at the age of four must be considered remarkably ____.

precocious

Given the kinds of tools the ancient Egyptians had to work with, the construction of the pyramids was an extraordinary (precocious, jejune) feat of engineering.

precocious

Although he announces piously how much it hurts him to punish people, I think he takes a ____ pleasure in it.

sadistic

Although he is not given to physical maltreatment, I think there is a truly (precocious, sadistic) element in his willingness to humiliate people by belittling them in public.

sadistic

Passengers who are stranded on airplanes and forced to sit on the tarmac for hours may begin to think of airlines as (amenable, sadistic) agencies.

sadistic

Antonym: bored by the WORDY presentation

sententious

In his efforts to impress moral principles on the children. he made use of (tortuous, sententious) formulas, such as "To be good, do good."

sententious

Synonym: a DIDACTIC way of addressing the group

sententious

When I asked him why he wasn't going to the prom, he answered in his usual ____ style, "No dough, no dance!"

sententious

Although I ask no special consideration for myself, I am not too proud to ____ on behalf of my children.

supplicate

In the poem and prayers of many ancient cultures, human beings (expatiate, supplicate) their deities for mercy and aid.

supplicate

Synonym: ENTREAT the captain on behalf of her son

supplicate

I have had my (surfeit, carnage) of excuses and evasions; now I want action.

surfeit

Wouldn't you agree that TV has been ____ lately with sitcoms and soap operas?

surfeited

She tried to justify the lies she had told us, but I was unable to follow her (amenable, tortuous) explanation.

tortuous

Some journalists find researching materials in a library a (tortuous, credulous) task, preferring to sit and let their computers do the work.

tortuous

Synonym: a MEANDERING, complicated plot

tortuous

The stream followed a ____ course as it twisted through the broken countryside.

tortuous

Antonym: thought the decor too PLAIN

turgid

His (obdurate, turgid) conversation, with its exaggerated adjectives and far-fetched figures of speech, made me realize once and for all the virtues of plain speaking.

turgid

Synonym: the OVERBLOWN rhetoric of the politician

turgid

The simple and austere prose of the Gettysburg Address stands in stark contrast to the ____ and overblown rhetoric of a great many other 19th-century orations.

turgid