Vocabulary Unit 7

Name:

Period:

Exercise 1

Below are your vocabulary words for this week’s unit. Locate the handout containing these words and their dictionary entries, and copy the entries onto a separate sheet of paper. Copy everything everything everything E V E R Y T H I N G in each entry. Leave N O T H I N G out. Use the same spacing and line breaking used on the handout. You will need the dictionary entries to complete Exercises 2, 3, and 4 throughout the week.

  • A MINIMUM of half credit will be deducted from your grade if you fail to copy over ALL of any entry or if you fail to use the same spacing and line-breaking used on the handout.
  • DO NOT use a word processor. Credit will be given for handwritten work only.

copious
dearth / eloquent
jargon(noun) / levity
meander(verb) / peripheral(adjective)
substantiate / coalesce
vacillate

Exercise 2A and 2B

2A

Directions: Read the two sentences given under each vocabulary word. Use the context clues to figure out the meaning of the word. Consider the three choices under each pair of sentences. Underline the correct answer.

EXAMPLE:

affinity

It is hard for someone with an affinity for warm weather to be happy living in Alaska.

My cat has an affinity for small, dark hiding places – I’ve often found her asleep in my dresser drawer, under the footstool, and inside my suitcase.

affinity means

A. preference

B. fear

C. ignorance

______

1. copious

The food at the party was too copious; the guests stuffed themselves, but there were still platters and bowls of food left over.

Weeds were copious in Charlene’s garden, but flowers are few.

copious means

a. of poor quality

b. plentiful

c. persuasive

2. dearth

The director of the show said gloomily, “We have a dearth of talent this year. Not one of these acts is worth putting on stage.”

The dearth of snow this winter disappointed my children. They had new sleds but never got a chance to use them.

dearthmeans

a. surplus

b. sufficient amount

c. shortage

3.eloquent

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is considered one of the most eloquent speeches of all time; most people who hear it are moved by it’s vivid expressiveness and powerful emotion.

The director of the shelter for battered women wrote an eloquent letter to the newspapers, movingly describing the victims’ plight and pleading for donations.

eloquent means

a. stirring

b. confusing

c. simple

4. jargon

“It’s essential that you learn the vocabulary of this subject,” the instructor warned us, “or the jargon, if you prefer. Whatever you call it, it will be on the test.”

Bernice wanted to make a home-cooked meal for her friends but was puzzled by all the jargon in the cookbook. What did braise mean? Or sauté? Or mince?

jargon means

a. grammatical errors

b. technical language

c. humor

5. levity

The playwright George Bernard Shaw once remarked that his method of writing was to say very serious things, but with “the utmost levity.” He wanted to convey weighty ideas through wit and humor.

The guidance counselor thought Kirk’s attitude showed too much levity. “You should laugh less and spend more time thinking about serious things,” she said.

levity means

a. seriousness

b. surprise

c. lightheartedness

6. meander

“Come straight home from school,” Mom always said to us. “Don’t meander.”

The brook meandered through the valley, disappearing into the underbrush, then coming into view again, and here and there even turning back on itself.

to meander means

a. to wander

b. to hurry

c. to fall

7. peripheral

The meeting to discuss the new road went slowly because the committee kept bringing up peripheral issues, such as the need for traffic lights on the old road.

The lecturer kept getting sidetracked because audience members repeatedly asked questions about peripheral matters that had little to do with her topic.

peripheral means

a. essential

b. nonessential

c. doubtful

8. substantiate

If you expect to win your law suit against the car company, be prepared to substantiate your claim. You’ll need to show all your repair bills and receipts.

A man in our town claims to be 125 years old, but he’s unable to substantiate this. He has no birth certificate, court records, or witnesses.

to substantiate means

a. to report

b. to repeat

c. to prove

9. coalesce

Four block associations in our neighborhood will coalesce to form a single task force.

When I got caught in a rainstorm, I learned that the dyes in my new shirt weren’t waterproof. The red and blue stripes ran and coalesced into purple smears.

to coalesce means

a. to join together

b. to produce

c. to come into being

10. vacillate

Roscoe reaches decisions very slowly. For instance, when we went to get ice cream last night, he vacillated for fifteen minutes between vanilla and chocolate.

Should he call Shelley or Robin? Thinking it over at the phone booth, Nitsan vacillated as the moments ticked by and the people waiting for the phone became more and more impatient.

to vacillate means

a. to speak

b. to waver

c. to select

2B

Directions: Read each sentence below. Choose the unit word that best fits in the space. Use each unit word once. TYPE YOUR ANSWER UNDER EACH SENTENCE.

EXAMPLE:

Irene knew her roommate’s family was wealthy, but nothing had prepared her for the ___ of their home; it was like a palace.

opulence
  1. It took Andre all night to put together the wagon he had bought for his daughter. The instructions were written in a _____ he could not understand, such as “Attach flange B to kiniflin pin C and secure with skonovish A.”
  1. I got an unfortunate case of the giggles during the boss’s speech. “This is no time for _____,” a colleague hissed at me.
  1. “Can you _____ your story that the dog ate your homework?” the teacher asked Kay.

“Yes!” Kay replied, holding up the X-rays of her dog’s tummy.

  1. The defense attorney’s closing argument was both _____ and convincing. The jury seemed moved, but they convicted his client anyway.
  1. “We’re supposed to be discussing the death penalty,” the moderator reminded the panel. “Let’s not get into _____ issues like conditions in prisons.”
  1. As she thought about what to wear to her job interview, Cloey _____(e)d between a conservative navy-blue suit and a more stylish floral dress.
  1. Renny’s vegetable garden yielded an uneven crop. There was a(n) _____ of tomatoes – three, to be exact – but about a ton of zucchini.
  1. During the exam, the instructor _____ed through the room, up and down the aisles, left and then right, apparently with no particular purpose – but the students knew she was keeping a sharp eye on them.
  1. Research yielded several key ideas that Sigmund tried to _____ into a single thesis.
  1. Van took _____ notes – they filled three notebooks. But they were so badly organized that they didn’t do him much good.

______

Exercise 3A and 3B

3A

Directions: Under each set of synonyms and/or synonymous phrases, type the matching unit words in the boxes on the left. In the boxes on the right, enter the part of speech (noun, adjective, or verb).

EXAMPLE:

affinity, preference

predilection / noun
  1. lightness of manner or speech
  1. to move aimlessly; wander lazily; stray
  1. of minor importance or relevance; only slightly connected with what is essential
  1. to sway indecisively between two opinions
  1. extremely expressive and persuasive
  1. to fuse or grow together; to mix together different elements
  1. the specialized language of people in the same profession
  1. to prove the truth of; confirm; verify
  1. a scarcity; lack
  1. abundant; in plentiful supply

3B

Directions: Read each sentence below. Choose the TWO unit words that best fit in the spaces. TYPE YOUR ANSWERS UNDER EACH SENTENCE.

EXAMPLE:

Irene knew her roommate’s family was _____, but nothing had prepared her for the ___ of their home; it was like a palace.

affluent / opulence

1.-2. “I’m hearing _____ complaints here,” said Mom at our family meeting, “but there’s a(n) _____ of constructive ideas. For the next few minutes, I’d like everyone to keep quiet unless you have something sagacious to say.”

3.-4. When I compare an _____ speech that can stir great emotion with something cold and impersonal, like a computer user manual full of _____ it’s hard to believe it’s the same language.

5.-6. After our picnic, the kids and I _____ ed lazily through the woods, allowing all the differentparts of that wonderful day to _____ into a general feeling of contentment.

7.-8. “Alice’s Restaurant” is a great song by Arlo Guthrie. It begins with Guthrie and his friends having Thanksgiving dinner, then veers off into a very funny but totally _____ story about being arrested for littering. Despite its _____, it ends up making a serious statement about the absurdity of war.

9.-10. Although the suspect said he could _____ his story about being out of town on the night of the crime, he was not very convincing, as he continued to _____ about whether he’d been inMaine or Georgia at the time of the crime.

Exercise 4

In a separate document, write original sentences for the unit words. Follow the detailed instructions in the handout: “Instructions for Writing Sentences with Vocabulary Words.” The instructions explain how to use context clues, how to complete proper underlining, and how to write sentences in pairs using synonyms or synonymous phrases from Exercise #2 of this worksheet (ONLY!).