VOCABULARY
Trends
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In your vocabulary homework, I’m noticing certain trends:
Not using proper form of the word:
A ______ believes that neither ethical nor religious rules can
govern human behavior.
Why doesn’t “nihilism” work?
It is a belief system: a total rejection of religious or moral
beliefs.
The sentence asks for someone who believes in this system.
So we are looking for a nihilist.
Trends
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When deciding on the word form, take into account the part
of speech.
“Vanity” is a noun.
Vanity (noun) made Queen Elizabeth I prey to flatterers.
In Pilgrim’s Progress, the hero is tempted to linger on his
journey at Vanity Fair, where all the vanities (plural noun) of
the world can be purchased.
It is vanity (noun) to think you can change human nature.
Reluctant to vanity (verb) her fame, she travels modestly
under an assumed name.
Trends
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Education reformer Maria Montessori encouraged kindergarteners’
_________ interest in arithmetic by providing games for weighing
and measuring.
We are looking for a word that modifies or describes “interest.”
“Interest” is a noun; a word that modifies a noun is an adjective.
We have two words that are similar in meaning that might work in
that sentence.
Inception: the beginning of something.
Incipient: Beginning; in its early stages.
Which one is the adjective?
Trends
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Specificity
Make sure you are using the specific word and spelling.
In Night, Elie Wiesel records how he survived the
__________ as a 12-year-old Jewish boy in a Nazi
concentration camp.
When specifically referring to the murder by Nazis of
millions of Jews during World War II, you must capitalize
Holocaust.
The more general reference to great destruction is
lowercased holocaust.
Test reminders
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Know the roots and their meanings. Make flash cards if
that helps you.
Don’t worry if you have never heard of a reference in the
sentence. For example, “Easter Island is known for its
large, stone structures, also called __________.
You just need to know that large, stone structures are
monoliths. Don’t worry if you have never heard of Easter
Island.
Review strategies for analogies. The PowerPoint is still
on the Web site.