This blog will give you a chance to improve your vocabulary. New words will be added periodically. There are many, many useful words on this blog!!! Daniel Gauss is an Ivy-educated teacher/tutor. You can reach him at: djg51qu@gmail.com Feel free to add him at https://www.facebook.com/dgauss3 or through Google+. Good luck!
a criterion - a standard by which to measure something fallacious - false a hedonist - someone who lives for pleasure a skeptic - someone who needs proof before he/she believes anything adversity - difficult or trying times
Although the new theory as to how life began on earth sounds nice, I remain a ___________ because there has yet to be any hard proof or sound experiments to verify the theory. Frans Hals is one of my favorite painters and he was certainly no ascetic. Indeed, if anything he was a ____________ who loved the pleasures of life. Many academic experts do not believe that a student should be admitted to a university based on just one test. There should be more than one _____________ by which to determine college admission. I like this philosophical question: Are you ethical or were you lucky? The question implies that people who are 'good' are people who have often not experienced much _______________. It implies that if you have not experienced difficult times, you have not truly been tested and you are 'lucky' and not 'good' or ethical. To say that I can't prove that fairies do not exist, and therefore they may exist is a _________________ argument. You can't prove a 'negative'.
answers are below:
answers:
skeptic hedonist criterion adversity fallacious Paintings by Frans Hals!
1. ascetic - avoiding pleasure, a simple life in which one does not pursue physical comfort (this word can be a noun or adjective) 2. to embellish s/t - to add extra details to make something sound or look better 3. ominous - threatening, scary 4. a reprimand - this is an official statement that a person has violated a rule, it's a verbal or written statement that someone has done something wrong 5. to temper s/t - to decrease a possible response, to make something less severe (s/t = something) 1. If you work with the public, it is a good skill to know how to __________ your anger. You are always going to have to deal with people who will be nasty and unreasonable, but you do not have to respond in a negative way. 2. Jackie Robinson was the first African American athlete to play in Major League Baseball. Many racists opposed his inclusion into "white" baseball. Robinson received many ____________ letters which threatened to harm or kill him, but thankfully nothing that terrible ever happened. 3. What you heard from Joe was partly true. But remember, Joe likes to _______________ his stories so some of what he said was just made-up to make you laugh. 4. Although Congressman Charles Rangle had engaged in various types of misconduct, the US Congress merely issued him a _________________. There was no real punishment. 5. In many religions, religious leaders are expected to live an ____________ life style. The ability to refrain from seeking comfort and pleasure seems to indicate the person is somehow closer to God. answers below: answers: 1. temper 2. ominous 3. embellish 4. reprimand 5. ascetic
1. innocuous - harmless, not bothering anyone 2. miserly - cheap, parsimonious 3. nonchalant - easy going, not in a hurry, casual, very relaxed 4. ostentatious - very flamboyant, showy, deliberately showy to draw attention 5. a quandary - a dilemma, being unable decide what to do next (to be in a quandary) 6. to repudiate something - to turn away from something, to refuse to be associated with something 7. surreptitiously - secretly, in a sneaky way 8. trite - an expression which is used too commonly, a cliche 9. to venerate - to respect highly, to worship 10. a zealot - someone who is extraordinarily passionate about something (usually a cause)
1. I'm in a bit of a _______________. I am not sure whether to go to graduate school or take this new job. 2. As a young man the politician had belonged to a club that did not allow women members. He, of course, _________________ his membership in that club and stated it was a youthful mistake. 3. Foreigners have to realize that in Thailand they do not just respect their king, they _______________ him and a person can be thrown in jail for showing disrespect to the Thai king. 4. The security guard threw the homeless man out of the public library because he had been sleeping. I felt that this was wrong - the homeless guy was ____________________; he wasn't really bothering anyone. 5. One of the reasons Americans have turned against the Tea Party is that members of that political party often seemed to act like ________________. They were very emotional, aggressive and passionate in expressing their hatred for Obama and for liberal government policies. 6. Bob is getting married and I want to write something meaningful in the card I am going to give him. Can you help me think of something that won't sound ______________? I don't want to write, "Congratulations on your marriage!" or "Best of luck in the coming years!" Those expressions have been used too many times before. 7. Our boss is OK but his big problem is that he seems to be a bit ________________. He tries to save money in regard to everything we do and this makes it hard to operate effectively. 8. The American people were shocked to learn that their president, Bill Clinton, had been ___________________ seeing and having an affair with one of his interns in the 1990s. He was married but secretly pursuing this affair. 9. The attitude of some clerks at coffee houses really bothers me. In the morning I am always in a hurry and need to get my cup of coffee quickly. But the clerks are often quite ____________________ and they take their sweet time. 10. I am getting sick of seeing all the women in New York walking around with these big __________________ Louis Vuitton bags. Oh my God! Whom are they trying to impress!? I don't care whether a woman owns such a bag.
1. an analgesic - a drug that eliminates pain 2. to be absolved of something - to be made clean or pure, to be determined innocent 3. a harbinger - something that happens which indicates something else will happen 4. punitive - something done to punish someone 5. inveterate - you usually hear this adjective with 'liar' (an inveterate liar); someone is an inveterate liar if he always lies; if you are inveterate in regard to something, you can't help yourself, you have to do it: an inveterate alcoholic 6. meticulous - very detail oriented 7. apathy - a lack of concern The economic reports of the past few months have shown high unemployment trends. Economists fear this may be a ______________ of another economic recession (severe downturn). Progressive educators tend to steer clear of various ______________ measures in their classrooms. They try to be positive and provide rewards for good behavior instead of punishments for bad behavior. The president of the company turned out to be an ______________ liar. Everything he ahd said over the past three years had been false. Anthony Weiner, an American politician who resigned from his congressional position due to a personal scandal, claimed that he had sought psychological counseling and felt he was now ________________ of all of his previous questionable activities. However, when he was running for a new political office, new scandals emerged, showing he had not truly cleansed himself of his former demons. Toshiro was in the USA to set up a Japanese branch of the company he worked for. he needed American assistants but was afraid they would not be as ______________ as his Japanese assistants. He needed people truly dedicated to details. He was pleasantly surprised to find such assistants here in America as well. In the last mayoral election in New York City, only 24% of eligible New Yorkers voted. This is probably due to _______________. Most people simply do not care who the mayor is since they do not think most politicians are honest and do not think any mayor can really change anything for the better. Sun ae told me that I should avoid taking any type of ________________ for my back pain. She said it removes the pain but not the ultimate cause of the pain. But I have discovered that after I take that type of pill my back feels better for weeks. answers are below: answers: harbinger punitive inveterate absolved meticulous apathy analgesic
1) homogeneous - when all the elements or parts of something are the same 2) integrity - a deep sense of honesty, a moral reliability 3) to jeopardize s/t - to put something at risk, to possibly destroy something 4) kudos - praise, congratulations 5) lavish - too much of something good, overly generous 6) a liaison - two big meanings: 1) someone who is a type of bridge between two organizations and 2) a love affair which is usually kept secret 7) malleable - something that be be changed or re-shaped easily Many teachers enjoy teaching younger students because they are more _____________than older students. These teachers feel they can have more of an impact in the lives of the younger students. It was essential for Sun mi to learn English perfectly, because her company in Seoul wished to send her to America to become a _____________ between a business partner in New York and themselves. Although Shanghai is an amazing city, the population seems quite ________________ compared to a world city like New York, which has amazing diversity. For Jack's graduation party his parents spared no expense - it was a ______________ affair with more food and alcohol than the guests could possibly eat and drink. Maria was a quite humble person, but also an amazing artist. Therefore, it was difficult for her to accept all the _______________ that her teachers and fellow students gave to her. George McGovern was a rare politician in American history. he was not only brave (he had been a war hero in WW II), intelligent and creative, but he had a strong sense of __________________. He was completely honest and always did what he felt to be right. When my best friend Bob asked me to loan him some money, I was afraid to because I thought that loaning him money might ______________ our friendship. Yet, after I loaned him the sum, he paid it back immediately. answers are below: answers: malleable liaison homogeneous lavish kudos integrity jeopardize
A little video about George McGovern. He was the first politician to demand that the Vietnam War end. He was one of the most honest politicians in American history - his integrity was beyond doubt.
amiable - friendly, warm bellicose - warlike complaisant - eager to please decrepit - very old, falling apart because of the old age of the object empirical - based on the evidence of the senses, based on real experience formidable - difficult to defeat, something which seems intimidating, fearful guile - deceitfulness, trickery Bob was one of the most straight-forward guys I knew. He never acted with any type of ____________; I could truly trust him. The photos of the building had not been recently taken. When we arrived to look at the property we expected to buy, it was ________________ and looked as if it might collapse at any moment. When I first met Bill he seemed like an _______________ guy. He was outgoing and warm. But, when he moved in as my roommate he seemed to be a totally different person - rude, selfish and loud. We went to one of the most expensive restaurants in town and, as you might expect, the waiters were especially _________________ and catered to our every need. Many liberal American presidents - like Carter and Obama - begin their presidencies in a peaceful manner but seem to become more __________________ as time goes on. At its beginning stages psychology was very theoretical and there were many competing concepts. Now the subject has become more ________________ and many concepts have been proved through experiments. Was there ever a more _______________ basketball team than the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s? They regularly and easily humiliated the New York Knicks, as well as just about every other basketball team in the NBA. answers are below: answers: guile decrepit amiable complaisant bellicose empirical formidable Chicago Bulls:
hereditary, to be offended by something, to be slain, deliberately, to collaborate with, abundant, to plummet, to emit something, to accommodate someone, Exercise:
1. The difference between murder and manslaughter depends on whether a person was killed _______________ or accidentally. If it was an accident but the death was caused through carelessness, a person can be charged with manslaughter. 2. The two political parties in the USA rarely ________________ each other. This is why the US government recently had to shut down for several days. 3. There are two types of the disease called diabetes. Type one diabetes is _____________ while type two is acquired through bad eating habits and other factors a person can control. 4. A supervisor has to make it clear to an employee that he/she should not be ________________ by any type of job evaluation. An evaluation is meant to help an employee assess how he/she has been doing and to also allow the employee to provide some feedback on what he/she might need in the future. 5. Everyone read some terrible news over the weekend in New York City. A mother and her four children were ________________ by a mentally ill relative in Brooklyn. He killed the entire family. 6. The air in Los Angeles is polluted because of all the carbon monoxide gas that is ____________ by all the cars in that city every day. 7. The waiter was very kind. Even though we were a large group and we had very specific and hard to meet requests, he was able to ___________________ us and give us the types of meals we wanted. 8. The stock market can often be quite unstable. If investors are confident in the government, stock prices can soar. If investors lose confidence at any time, stock prices can _________________. 9. Many people think there is hunger throughout the world because we lack food. No. Food is actually __________________. But, even though there is more than enough food, political and economic systems are not efficient enough to distribute the food adequately. Answers are below: Answers: 1. deliberately 2. collaborate with 3. hereditary 4. offended 5. slain 6. emitted 7. accommodate 8. plummet 9. abundant
