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Vocabulary Building Exercise
3
The compendious Oxford
English Dictionary lists over 500,000 words; . The number of words in English
has grown from 50000 or so words in Old English Dictionary. There are a
number of ways in which the English vocabulary increases. About 80% of
the entries in any old English dictionary are borrowed, mainly from Latin.
Another way is by combining words into one word such as housewife, greenhouse,
and overdue. The addition of prefixes and suffixes to words also increases
the immense vocabulary of the English language.
Answers
will be visible after you click the button at the bottom.
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A)
Spelling Check
Here are five words that have been spelled
incorrectly. Find their correct spelling without the aid of dictionary
or spell checker?
| Wrong |
Right |
| skillfull |
skillful,
skilful |
| supercede |
supersede |
| erorr |
error |
| emblum |
emblem |
| seige |
siege |
B) Homonyms
Homonyms are words that are pronounced
the same but have different spellings and meaning. Can you tell the difference
in the following words.
stationary, stationery
stationary:
not
moving
stationery:
paper
used for correspondence
populace, populous
populace:population
populous:
heavily
populated
gorilla, guerrilla
gorilla:
a
type of ape
guerrilla:
a
soldier who makes surprise raids
C) Find the word for which the meaning
or synonyms are given.
Superficial
Concerned with
or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; shallow. Apparent rather
than actual or substantial.Trivial; insignificant: made only a few superficial
changes in the manuscript.
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Superfluous
Being beyond
what is required or sufficient.
Synonyms: excess,
extra, spare, supernumerary, surplus. The central meaning shared by these
adjectives is “being more than is needed, desired, required, or appropriate”:
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Supreme
Greatest in power,
authority, or rank; paramount or dominant.
Greatest in importance,
degree, significance, character, or achievement.
.Ultimate; final
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Supremacy
The quality or
condition of being Greatest in power, authority, or rank,importance, degree,
significance, character, or achievement.
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Suppress
.To put an end
to forcibly; subdue, To curtail or prohibit the activities of. To keep
from being revealed, published, or circulated, To deliberately exclude
(unacceptable desires or thoughts) from the mind. To inhibit the expression
of (an impulse, for example); check: suppress a smile. To reduce the incidence
or severity of (a hemorrhage or a cough, for example); arrest.
Synonyms: stifle,
repress.
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