Name:______Date:______

English 8Period:_____

Vocabulary – Unit 9 – Level C

Worksheet 1

Circle the boldface word that more satisfactorily completes each of the following sentences.

  1. His plain clothing and quiet (prodigy, mien) were not what we expected in a famous Hollywood director.
  2. Some great composers, such as Mozart and Mendelssohn, have shown an amazing (pertinence, aptitude) for music at a very early age.
  3. The lecturer is a man who served ten years in prison and is now devoting his life to bringing about reforms in our (penal, predominant) system.
  4. When the featured singer failed to appear, the (disgruntled, apt) fans demanded their money back.
  5. Yes, we are still friends, but not as close as we used to be; something has gone (awry, dire) in our relationship.
  6. The injured quarterback (chafed, defiled) at sitting on the bench while his team was being badly beaten on the field.
  7. A team as determined to win as ours is will never (capitulate, endow), no matter how many points behind it is in the final moments of a game.
  8. Alvin York performed such (impunities, prodigies) on the battlefields of France that he was awarded this nation's highest honors.
  9. During the winter the wind usually blows from the north in that area, but during the summer southerly currents are (predominant, awry).
  10. What bad taste it is for her to approach people she scarcely knows and (bludgeon, capitulate) her way into private conversations!
  11. The message of a great work of literature may be as (pertinent, disgruntled) today as it was when it was first written.
  12. Do you understand how someone can live as a (mien, recluse) even in the midst of a great city?
  13. My problem was to (fend, bludgeon) off their unwelcome attentions without being openly insulting.
  14. The college my sister attends is a small one, but it has gained a great deal of (recluse, renown) for the quality of its faculty.
  15. As we use up the earth's fossil-fuel supplies, we are faced with an increasingly (disarming, dire) need to develop new energy sources.
  16. The rights guaranteed us by the U.S. Constitution do not permit us to (fend, encroach) on the rights of others.
  17. The Declaration of Independence mentions a number of "unalienable rights" with which all people "are (endowed, chafed) by their Creator."
  18. Nature is kind to us in many ways, but we must learn that we cannot violate nature's laws with (impunity, renown).
  19. I was so (disarmed, chafed) by the way in which he asked for a loan that almost to my surprise I found myself giving him the money.
  20. He claims to be a patriot, but his appeals to racism are (encroaching, defiling) the great ideals on which this nation was built.