SPELLING AND VOCABULARY – UNIT 3
WORDS
1. atrocious adj. extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, or brutal
2. augury n. an omen, token, or indication
3. axiom n. a self-evident truth that requires no proof
4. balmy adj. mild and refreshing; soft; soothing
5. bandy v. to pass from one to another or back and forth; give and take; trade; exchange
6. bauble n. a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket
7. bedlam n. a scene or state of wild uproar and confusion
8. beneficent adj. doing good or causing good to be done
9. bestride v. to get or be astride of; have or place the legs on both sides of
10. botch v. to spoil by poor work
11. boycott v. to abstain from buying or using
12. brigand n. a bandit, especially one of a band of robbers in mountain or forest regions
13. brunt n. the main force or impact, as of an attack or blow
14. brusque adj. abrupt in manner; blunt; rough
15. buffoon n. a person who amuses others by tricks, jokes, odd gestures and postures
WORD POWER
16. corp – body
Example words: corporation, corporal, corpulent, corpse
17. deca – ten
Example words: decade, decathlon, decadent
18. extra – beyond
Example words: extrajudicial, extraterrestrial, extraordinary
19. - able, - ible able, can, do
Example words: charitable, inconceivable, veritable, susceptible
20. - al relating to
Example words: external, refusal, choral, communal
Name ______________________________
Date ___________________ Period _____
10th Grade Vocabulary Study – Unit 3
I. Sentence Completion and Context Clues: Use the context clue(s) to determine which word
from your list best completes each sentence. Write your answer neatly on the line. Spelling and
capitalization DO count!
1. Robin Hood was a __________________________who led a group of men to rob from the rich
and give to the poor.
2. The ________________________chap stick made Ursula’s chapped lips feel smooth.
3. The girl was the _________________________ of the bully’s hard punch.
4. The student _________________________(ed) the assignment by using sloppy handwriting.
5. The patrons will _________________________ Netflix until the company lowers their prices.
6. Another name for a class clown is a ___________________________ because he likes to pull
tricks on others in a poor attempt to make them laugh.
7. “_______________________the horse, do not ride side-saddle,” said the trainer to the little girl.
8. My aunt always sends me __________________________, or ugly ornaments for Christmas.
9. The player saw his shattering a baseball as an ___________________ that they will win the game.
10. My grandfather used to _________________________baseball cards with his friends until he
received the player he wanted.
II. Synonyms and Antonyms: Provide a term from this week’s list on the blank provided.
SYNONYMS
1. to prohibit - ____________________________ 2. a joker - ___________________________
3. abrupt - _______________________________ 4. helpful - ___________________________
5. a knickknack - __________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ANTONYMS
6. to beautify - __________________________
8. police- ____________________________
7. a lie - _____________________________
9. peaceful scene - _______________________
10. below - ________________________________
III. Word Power: Using the definition for each word part as a starting point, answer the
Following questions.
1. A body of departments working together as one company is called a ___________________.
2. Something that is beyond the normal is called a(n) _____________________________ event.
3. A Decalogue is a basic set of ________________________ rules carrying binding authority.
4. Merchandise that is only on display at certain times of the year, because it relates to a particular
season is called ____________________________ merchandise.
5. If you had to decode the word incapable, what does the in- prefix mean? __________________;
what does the suffix –able mean? _______________________________
IV. Reading Comprehension – Read the passage then answer the following questions.
From My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
The slave mother can be spared long enough from the field to endure all the bitterness of a
mother’s anguish, when it adds another name to a master’s ledger, but not long enough to receive
the joyous reward afforded by the intelligent smiles of her child. I never think of this terrible
interference of slavery with my infantile affections, and in diverting them from their natural
course, without feelings to which I can give no adequate expression.
I do not remember to have seen my mother at my grandmother’s at any time. I remember
her only in her visits to me at Col. Lloyd’s plantation, and in the kitchen of my old master. Her
visits to me there were few in number, brief in duration, and mostly made in the night. The pains
she took, and the toil she endured, to see me, tells me that a true mother’s heart was hers, and that
slavery had difficulty in paralyzing it with unmotherly indifference.
My mother was hired out to a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve miles from Old
Master’s, and, being a field hand, she seldom had leisure, by day, for the performance of the
journey. The nights and the distance were both obstacles to her visits. She was obliged to walk,
unless chance flung into her way an opportunity to ride; and the latter was sometimes her good
luck. But she always had to walk one way or the other. It was a greater luxury than slavery could
afford, to allow a black slave mother a horse or a mule, upon which to travel twenty-four miles,
when she could walk the distance. Besides, it is deemed a foolish whim for a slave mother to
manifest concern to see her children, and, in one point of view, the case is made out—she can do
nothing for them. She has no control over them; the master is even more than the mother, in all
matters touching the fate of her child. Why, then, should she give herself any concern? She has no
responsibility. Such is the reasoning, and such the practice. The iron rule of the plantation, always
passionately and violently enforced in that neighborhood, makes flogging the penalty of failing to
be in the field before sunrise in the morning, unless special permission be given to the absenting
slave. “I went to see my child,” is no excuse to the heart of the overseer.
Recalling Facts
1. Slave masters wanted slave women to ________.
a. love their children.
b. educate their children.
c. have children
2. The narrator couldn’t recall his mother ________.
a. visiting at his grandmother’s.
b. ever visiting him.
c. loving him.
3. The narrator saw his mother mostly _________.
a. at night
b. in the morning.
c. during the summer.
4. The narrator’s mother worked for ________.
a. herself
b. Mr. Stewart
c. Colonel Lloyd
5. The penalty for failing to show up for work on time was
a. lost privileges.
b. confinement.
c. a flogging.
Understanding the Passage
6. To the master, slave women were _______.
a. unproductive
b. completely helpless
c. like farm animals
7. The narrator ________.
a. accepted the conditions of slavery
b. could barely control his rage
c. never saw his mother
8. The narrator’s mother ________.
a. truly loved him
b. felt indifference towards him
c. argued with the overseer
9. Slaves usually traveled by ________.
a. horse
b. mule
c. foot
10. Overseers of slaves were __________.
a. hardhearted
b. well-meaning
c. easily bribed
.