English Language Department
Academic Year 2020-2021
Secondary 1 - SEMESTER 2
Exercise 1
Below are several sentences
with a blank. Following each
sentence are three words or
phrases that all have similar
denotations,
but
different
connotations. See how the
sentence sounds with each word
in the blank. Then rank those
words by connotation, marking
the word with the strongest
connotation 1 and the word
with the weakest, or most
neutral, connotation 3.
1. Joe has been looking a little ________ lately.
2 unwell
3 sick
1 under the weather
4. I’m totally ________.
2 worn out
3 beat
1 exhausted
2. Our new neighbours are ________.
3 well off
2 rich
1 loaded
5. She told him a ________.
1 lie
2 fib
3 half-truth
3. It takes a lot of ________ to do what he did.
2 courage
1 guts
3 confidence
6. This is clearly a ________ situation.
3 risky
2 dangerous
1 life-threatening
1