VOCABULARY REQUIREMENTS
1 Composition Notebook
2. Write down memory tips in your notebook
underline or highlight word roots, prefixes, or letter clusters
3. Create your won memory devices.
4. Clip out vocabulary words (clip the entire sentence or phrase , so you have the
context that the word is used in) you see when you read magazines, newspapers
and paste them into your notebook.
5. Make your vocabulary notebook colorful!.
6. Read through your notebook at least once per day.
7. If you need to hear the pronunciation of a word go to dictionary.com and listen.
8. Add ACADEMIC words to you Vocabulary Notebook!
VOCABULARY QUIZ - WEEKLY
Unless otherwise told you will have an SAT Vocabulary quiz weekly.
The Quiz will include:
Matching
1. brevity (n)
a. using a few words in speaking or writing
2. concise (adj)
b. briefness or conciseness in speech or writing
Sentence completion
3. Far from a blabber mouth, Tina is as _____ a young lady as one can find.
(succinct, pithy, taciturn, concisely, acquiescent)
Using words in context
4. Since space was limited, the advertising executive instructed copywriters
to write concise photo captions.
WEEK 1 WORDS – WHAT IS THE THEME?
1. Brevity (n) – briefness or conciseness in speech or writing.
2. Concise (adj) – using few words in speaking or writing.
3. Laconic (adj) – using few words in speech.
4. Pithy (adj) – brief and full of meaning and substance; concise.
5. Quiescent (adj) – quiet; still; inactive.
6. Reticent (adj) – not talking much; reserved.
7. Succinct (adj) – clearly and briefly stated; concise.
8. Taciturn (adj) – silent; sparing of words; close-mouthed.
9. Terse (adj) - using only the words that are needed to make the point; very
concise, sometimes to the point of rudeness.
MEMORY TIPS
BREVITY
Connect this word to a related word that you most likely already know: abbreviate.
Notice how both words share the letter cluster brev!
PITHY
Think of just the pit (central part) of the topic and nothing more. Remember that
pithy expressions are substantial and to the point.
QUIESCENT
Did you notice that the word quiet is within quiescent? Use this to see the
definition within the word: still; inactive; quiet. In your Vocabulary Notebook,
underline or highlight q-u-i-e-t in quiescent. Another SAT-level word, acquiesce, is
related to quiescent. Acquiesce means “to peaceably agree or quietly give in to.
TACITURN
In Latin tacitus means silent. Tacit means implied or expressed without words, as
in a “tacit agreement.”
EXAMPLES
For the sake of brevity, choose your words with care.
A Concise explanation is preferable to a long-winded one.
Because Bush’s laconic reply lacked specificity, it raised more questions than it
answered.
For the yearbook, Jenny searched through Bartlett’s for a pithy quotation about
courage.
Never one to make waves, Leo quiescently followed the coach’s orders.
Tom and Molly are a mismatched pair; he’s shy and reticent, but she never stops
talking.
The title succinctly conveys the point of my paper.
Next to me on the bus sat a taciturn girl who said nothing during the four-hour ride.
The principal’s terse reply was clear: “Skipping class is not allowed.”