Improving Vocabulary Skills

1. Improving Vocabulary Skills Chapter Five

2. Matching words with definitions • Determined by personal judgment, not rule or reason; based on impulse • Motivated by financial gain; greedy • An indirect reference • A group of symptoms typical of a particular disease or condition • A mild or vague term used as a substitute for one considered offensive or unpleasant • To calm, especially by giving in to the demands of • Lacking originality; overused; commonplace • To stain the honor of someone or something • To attack physically or verbally • Unselfishly concerned for the welfare of others; unselfish

3. Sentence check one • There have been people _____enough to sell their own children for the right price. • “Someone hasn’t shown me his report card,” my mother said, making a(n) _____ to my brother. • It takes a(n) _____ person to adopt a disabled child. • The mugger ______ed his victims with a baseball bat. • The local undertaker insists on using a(n) _____ for the chapel of his funeral parlor. He calls it the “slumber room.” • The report that the halfback was addicted to drugs _____(e)d the team’s image. • The only thing that would _____ the dead boy’s parents was the imprisonment of the drunk driver who killed him. • Abraham Lincoln was thought to have had Marfan’s _____, a group of symptoms which include unusually long bones and abnormal blood circulation. • The judge’s harsh sentence was _____. Rather than being based on past similar cases or on the seriousness of the crime, it was based on the judge’s opinion of the defendant. • “You’re special” probably appears on thousands of greeting cards, but when someone says it to you and means it, it never seems _____. • Allusion • Altruistic • Appease • Arbitrary • Assail • Banal • Euphemism • Mercenary • Syndrome • Taint

4. Sentence check Two a. allusion b. altruistic c. appease d. arbitrarye. assail f. Banal g. euphemism h. mercenary i. syndrome j. taint 1-2. _____ people tend to place the public welfare above their own self-interest. In contrast, ______ people will exploit anyone for profit – they will even sell harmful products. 3-4. The angry customer loudly _____(e)d for having sold her a broken clock. The salesman quickly _____(e)d her by giving her a full refund. 5-6. My boss judges performance in a(n) _____ manner, praising and scolding according to his moods. And when he says, “Please stay a few minutes longer today,” “a few minutes” is a(n) ______ for “an hour.” 7-8. A certain rare _____ includes a very odd symptom – an uncontrollable urge to use the obscene language. This disease can _____ a victim’s reputation, because some people who hear the foul language won’t understand the reason for it. 9-10. The critic hated stale language. Instead of writing a(n) _____ comment such as “That ballerina is light on her feet,” he made an interesting _____ to the dancer’s movements: “She was never heavier than moonlight.”