Nebulous
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•
•
•
(NEB yoo lus)
adjective
vague or unclear
The nebulous answer revealed the student’s
lack of understanding.
Myopic
• (mi O pik)
• adjective
• near-sighted; lack of long-range thinking or
planning
• The myopic teenager refused to discuss his
future.
Oblique
• (oh BLEEK)
• adjective
• 1. having a slanting position or direction
2. indirect; not straight to the point
• “The oblique ramp allowed me to master the
new trick,” the skateboarded responded.
Passe
•
•
•
•
(pa SAY)
adjective
out-of-date; old-fashioned
My mom insisted, “This passe dress WILL
come back into style!”
Rectitude
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(REK tuh tood)
noun
moral or religious correctness
Sara’s rectitude was challenged during the
test.
Sibilant
(SIB lunt)
adjective
having or making a hissing sound
The lisp created a sibilant sound in his
speech.
Label the group of words that is highlighted.
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Tacit
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(TA sit)
adjective
making no sound; unspoken; implied
At my grandmother’s house, my sister and I
have a tacit agreement to try and stay out of
trouble.
Label the highlighted phrase.
Umbrage
(UM brej)
noun
offense or displeasure
Emily took umbrage with the foul language
being used in class.
Put brackets around the 2 prepositional phrases.
In the remaining clause, underline the subject
once and the verb twice.
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Vehement
(Ve uh ment)
adjective
acting with great force; intensely emotional
The teacher is vehement about her students
success in the class this year.
Put brackets around the 2 prepositional phrases.
In the remaining clause, underline the subject
once and the verb twice.
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Wrought
● (rot)
● adjective
● formed or fashioned; shaped by hammering
or beating (as in metal)
● In class yesterday, my students perfected
their carefully wrought SAQs.
In “The Necklace,” find and highlight a sentence
that includes a prepositional phrase.
Banal
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●
●
●
(buh NAL)
adjective
commonplace and often predictable
The banal lecture made the students fall
asleep, so they missed some important
information.
Find the subject(s) and verb(s) in the sentence.
What do you notice?
Cerebral
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●
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●
(suh REE brul)
adjective
brainy; intellectual
The cerebral student almost always had the
right answer, but yesterday was an
exception.
Find the subject(s) and verb(s) in the sentence.
Disseminate
●
●
●
●
(dis SIM uh nayt)
verb
to spread the seeds of something
Teachers use Edline to disseminate
information to students, so the material
covered in class is always accessible.
Elusive
● (i LOO siv)
● adjective
● hard to pin down; evasive
● Vivian spent hours searching for her elusive
cat, and she finally found it hiding in a
kitchen cabinet.
Feral
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•
•
•
•
(FER uhl)
adjective
untamed; wild
The feral dog in the hallway must have
scared the students because there was a
mass exodus from the building.
Find the subject(s) and verb(s) in the
sentence. What do you notice?
Hypothetical
•
•
•
•
(hi po thet ical)
adjective
guessed; proposed outcome
Scientists utilize hypothetical situations to
experiment since they want to make sure
their theories are correct.
Lampoon
•
•
•
•
(lam POON)
verb
to satirize; to mock; to parody
Even though its opinion is not always
politically correct, the New Yorker lampoons
politicians in cartoons.
Maverick
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•
•
•
(MAV rik)
n.
a nonconformist; a rebel
Steve Jobs is a considered a maverick
because he pioneered the trend of putting
technology in people’s hands.
Novel
•
•
•
•
•
(NAH vul)
adjective
new or original
Although students should be familiar with them, the
sentence types covered in class can seem like a novel
concept, and some students struggle.
Find the subject(s) and verb(s) in the sentence. What
do you notice?
Placid
• (PLA sid)
• adjective
• undisturbed; tranquil
• Even though Marissa appeared placid when she saw
the enormous roach, she was shaking with fear on the
inside, so she yelled, “Help!”
• Underline the subject/verb in each highlighted clause,
and decide whether each clause is independent or
dependent.
•
•
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•
•
Catalyst
(KAT uh list)
noun
a person or thing that brings about an event or change
Allen was the catalyst for the accident at Coit and
Campbell, but he left the scene because he was scared
of the consequences.
Bracket each of the clauses and decide whether they
are independent or dependent.
Decimate
• (DES uh mayt)
• verb
• to kill or destroy a large part of
•
•
Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast in 2005,
yet the people of Louisiana are resilient since they have
rebuilt a large portion of the damaged areas.
Bracket each of the clauses and decide whether they
are independent or dependent.
Enigma
• (en IG ma)
• noun
• one that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable
• Mrs. Desai thinks it is quite an enigma that the Eagles
lost yesterday even though she painted her nails green
for good luck!
bracket the clauses - what type of sentence is this?
Finesse
•
•
•
(fi NES)
noun
skillful maneuvering
Running relieves my stress, but I don’t always
run with finesse due to my clumsy nature.
What do you notice about the underlined word?
Guile
•(gīl)
•noun
•treacherous cunning; skillful deceit
•“Studying is delightful,” the student said with
guile on his face, indicating his sarcasm.
•Underline the gerund. What role does it play in
the sentence (ex. subject, verb, direct object,
etc.)?
Homily
•(HAHM uh lee)
•noun
•a sermon
•Each month, one child has the privilege of reading
the homily during church.
Underline the gerund. What is it used as in the sentence
(ex. subject, direct object, object of a preposition, etc.)?
Impeccable
•(im PEK uh bul)
•adjective
•flawless; entirely without sin
Dragging her overburdened suitcase across the
house caused Ashley to ruin her impeccable
wood floors.
Underline the GERUND in this sentence.
Malevolent
•(muh LE vo lent)
•adjective
•evil; harmful; malicious
After swimming practice, Emily’s nemesis
demonstrated his malevolent feelings by sliding
her cell phone into the pool.
•What do you notice about the usage of the word
“swimming” in the sentence? What is it describing?
Look carefully at the use of the
word swimming...
•After swimming practice, Emily’s nemesis
demonstrated his malevolent feelings by
discreetly sliding her cell phone into the pool.
•
Swimming is the best exercise, according to
many physicians.
oblivion
•(uh BLI vee un)
•noun
•total forgetfulness; the state of being forgotten
Rushing to get to school on time, and in a
complete state of oblivion, Ryan forgot his
homework folder at home.
prodigy
•(PRAH duh jee)
•noun
•an extremely talented child; an extraordinary
accomplishment or occurrence
•Considered a child prodigy, Tiger Woods picked up a golf
club for the first time before the age of 2 and won his first
tournament before the age of 7.
Look carefully at the use of the
word considered...
•Considered a child prodigy, Tiger Woods picked up a golf
club for the first time before the age of 2 and won his first
tournament before the age of 7.
•I considered both of the candidates before choosing the
best person for the job.
encumber
•(en KUM bur)
•verb
•to burden; to hinder
Too much homework encumbers my social
life.
The encumbered students must figure out the
best way to stay organized in order to meet all
of the demands of their coursework.
introspective
•(in truh SPEC tiv)
•adjective
•tending to examine one’s own thoughts and feelings
Maryam bought a diary, hoping the purchase would inspire
her to become more introspective.
Purchasing a diary was supposed to make Maryam more
introspective.
Identify each highlighted word as either a gerund or a
participle.
•
•
•
monolithic
(mon uh lith ik)
adjective
1. massive 2. made of a single piece
The essay revised by Sally required only minor tweaks
and not monolithic changes.
Running a marathon seems like a monolithic feat since I
can only run three miles without getting too tired.
Identify each highlighted word as either a gerund or a
obstreperous
• (uhb STREE per us)
• adjective
• noisy, boisterous, or unruly
The obstreperous students left class on Friday complaining
about their homework over the weekend.
Complaining loudly is the only thing my obstreperous friend Sally
does when we try to hang out at the mall!
•
Identify each highlighted word as either a gerund or a
participle.
purloin
• (PER loyn)
• verb
• to steal
Purloining yard signs from our rival school, which is a
tradition, is looked down upon by Mrs. Vance.
Look at the commas around the clause “which is a
tradition.” Are the commas necessary?
repertoire
•(REP er twahr)
•noun
•the stock of special skills, devices, techniques, etc. of a
particular person or particular field
Thomas has a vast repertoire of songs that he likes to sing
throughout each and every class period.
Why are these clauses NOT separated by a comma?
spurious
•(SPYOOR ee us)
•adjective
•not true or genuine; false
The spurious confession by the young boy,
which was suspicious, did not have accurate
facts about the crime.
temerity
•(tuh MER uh tee)
•noun
•boldness; recklessness; audacity
The temerity that some students express with
their attitudes towards school work can cause
trouble for their averages.
undulate
•(un DYOO layt)
•verb
•to move in waves
Watching the ocean undulate under the stars
always calms my nerves.
vex
•(veks)
•verb
•to annoy OR to confuse
We were vexed by the delay, which should
not have occurred, since our team was
completely prepared.
cadence
•(KAYD uns)
•n.
•rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds
•The drum cadence, which is played by the Pearce drum
line before each pep rally, gets students ready to show
their school spirit at the assembly!
•What do you notice about these clauses? What type of
clauses are they?
cadence
•(KAYD uns)
•noun
•rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds
Because The Odyssey has been translated into
English, the cadence of the ancient Greek
language is lost.
Why is there a comma after the word English?
chicanery
•(shi KAY nuh ree)
•noun
•trickery; deceitfulness, especially legal or
political
The chicanery used by the Greeks to deceive
the Trojans was illustrated when they used the
Trojan Horse to infiltrate Troy.
futile
•(FYOO til)
•adjective
•incapable of succeeding; useless
Odysseus’ efforts to leave Calypso's island are
futile until Zeus intervenes.
inconspicuous
•(in con SPIK yoo us)
•adjective
•hard to see; attracting little attention
Odysseus and his crew were inconspicuous
as they hid underneath the wooly sheep to
escape the Cyclops’ cave.
livid
•(LI vid)
•adjective
•extremely angry
The Cyclops was livid when he discovered that
Odysseus had tricked him.
painstaking
•(PAYN stay king)
•adjective
•done with great thoughtfulness or care
The child created a model volcano with
painstaking attention to detail.
puerile
•(PYOOR uhl)
•adjective
•childish, immature
The Black Friday customer threw a puerile fit
when the store was sold out of televisions.
respite
•RES pit
•noun
•a period of rest or relief
After our “Icemageddon” respite, we are
charging ahead to the end of the semester.
sordid
•SOR did
•adjective
•sleazy, dirty, shameful
The con artist engaged in sordid lies and
bribery to acquire money.