Exercises.

Exercise 1. Complete the sentences using one of these words or their derivatives: (un)taught, straight, right, through, fight, daughter-in-law, thoughts, light, midnight, might.

1. ………. trees have crooked roots.

2. One-hour sleep before ………. is worth three after.

3. Second ………. are better.

4. The way to an Englishman’s heart is ………. his stomach.

5. The mother-in-law remembers not that she was a ………. .

6. Zeal without knowledge is fire without ………. .

7. Two wrongs don’t make a ………. .

8. Better ………. than ill-………. .

9. It’s better to ………. and lose, than never to ………. at all.

10. ………. is right.

Exercise 2. Complete the words in the sentences adding ‘ight’, ‘eigh(t)’, ‘aight’, ‘augh(t)’ or ‘ough(t)’.

1. Sweet discourse makes short days and n…..s.

2. You cannot f….. against the future. Time is on our side.

3. He took it as a personal sl….. and was dreadfully offended.

4. She paused, then went on again with a sl….. change of tone.

5. I m….. practise as a conjurer if I liked.

6. I had to confess that he was r….. .

7. A l….. purse makes a heavy heart.

8. Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats among birds, they ever fly by twil….. .

9. He grinned nervously and was immediately aware of his father’s s….. .

10. Crooked by nature is never str….. by education.

11. We can live without our friends, but not without our n…..bours.

12. His hands were bound tightly behind his back and threw his w….. forward.

13. The prize we s….. is won.

14. A woman seldom asks advice until she has b….. her wedding clothes.

15. The wish is father to the th….. .

16. He is br….. as a lamb to the sl…..er.

Exercise 3. There are only two words with silent ‘g’ below. Find and write them out.

Cognate, significant, stagnant, Agnes, physiognomy, malignant, phlegmatic, pragmatic, pugnacious, champagne.

Exercise 4. Match the words with their definitions: gnat, resign, signor, gnarled, champagne, cognac, gnu, malign, chignon, gnaw, physiognomy.

1. A large African antelope.

2. To bite steadily at smth hard.

3. A small two-winged fly that stings.

4. Covered with knobs.

5. French wine.

6. To speak ill of somebody, to tell a lie.

7. To give up a post.

8. Art of judging about character by the face.

9. Knot of hair worn at the back of the head by women.

10. Fine French brandy.

11. Title used of Italians.

Exercise 5. Answer the questions.

1. Does the king reign or rein over the country?

2. Do you sine or sign your name?

3. Does the dog nor or gnaw at a bone?

4. What is a trick: wile or while?

5. What is a card game: wist or whist?

6. Does the bicycle have weals or wheels?

7. What is another word for intelligence: wit or whit?

8. What is a sea animal: wale or whale?

9. Which of these is a herb: time or thyme?

10. Which is another word for hoarfrost: rhyme or rime?

11. What is left after separation of curds: way or whey?

12. Which of these is a unit of electrical power: what or watt?

13. Which is another word for false hair: whig or wig?

14. Do people weep or whip over their misfortunes?

15. Are your shoes showing signs of wear or where?

16. Who uses magic: a which or a witch?

Exercise 6. Choose the correct spelling.

1. Then the reign/rain/rein came lashing down in white hissing clouds on the open boats.

2. She is a child who likes to give reign/rain/rein to her imagination.

3. A groom sprang to catch the reigns/rains/reins.

4. Frankie darted inside and opened the champaign/champagne.

5. A flat open expanse of the country is called champaign/champagne.

6. She was gnawing/noring her fingernails with impatience.

7. Not a flower gnaw/nor even a blade of grass will grow in this desert.

8. There was a mosquito net/gnat over the bed.

9. The resin/resign was hardening in the air.

10. The situation was worse than he had imagined. His heart burned. He would not, simply would not resin/resign.

Exercise 7. Guess the words with silent ‘h’.

1. Causing disgust, horror or fear.

2. Spirit of a dead body.

3. Jewish quarter of a town.

4. Military uniform of a dull brown colour.

5. Title of a ruler in some states of Central Asia.

6. Art of oratory.

7. (Music) composition.

8. Thick-skinned animal living in Africa.

9. Evergreen shrub.

10. Painful disease.

11. German river.

12. Regular succession of stresses, sounds and movements.

13. English river.

14. Female name.

Exercise 8. Supply the words with the vowels.

Dnbrgh, slhtt, vhmnt, rhmtsm, hnr, shphrd, nthn, Bcknghm, spghtt, rhncrs, ctrrh, gnghm, hnst, Thmsn, hr, xhst, vhcl, xhbt, Skhln.

Exercise 9. Unscramble the words.

Anhltniiae, hrie, wahte, hruo, buhrgre, rhbltteaiiae, Snhlsigaee, wthi, ryhem, mihw, hiwp, wahfr, hleew, lehaw, ythme, eohrxt, ginchon, wang, hesmta, gaccon, skerwhis, cerosrhino, tang, itebxhinoi, ngihpysomoy, mhasot, ghaspetti, hausextion, dendohodronr.

Exercise 10. Write out the words a) with silent ‘g’; b) with silent ‘h’. Make sure you know the meaning of all the words below.

Gnaw, griffin, gnomic, glue, gnat, physiognomy, Agnes, diaphragm, ghost, ghetto, design, glutton, grapple, signor, ghastly, resign, resignation, gnostic, agnostic, glow.

Exercise 11. Each name on the left rhymes with one of the words on the right. Match the rhyming words and try your hand at writing verses.

Edward	weigh
Claudie (from Claude)	designer
Lorraine	wheel
Jane	naughty
Carlotta	gnome
Camille	high
Leonore	height
Claude	whirl
Pearl	shepherd
Clay	design
Lauren (from Laurence)	forehead
Norm (from Norman)	gnaw
Di (from Diana)	caught
Delight	foreign
Galahad	champagne
Celestine	daughter
Carolina	reign

Exercise 12. Make up new words by joining together a word from the left column with a word from the right column.

daughter-	-head
chamois-	-reader
fore-	-leather
tomb-	-in-law
bomb-	-edge
knife-	-shell
thought-	-stone

Exercise 13. Make up phrases by joining together a word from the left column with a word from the right column.

to knit	scale
rheumatic	wine
knotty	whiskers
white	fever
to thumb	a lift
worth	train
through	while
cat’s	one’s brows
Fahrenheit	problem

Exercise 14. Choose the correct variant.

1. I bow/bough to your decision, to his knowledge in these matters.

2. The light of the lamp-post winked at her threw/through the cold night.

3. Most pasta is made of a pure wit/wheat flour which/witch is mixed with water into an elastic doe/dough.

4. Place the doe/dough back in the pan.

5. The Earl had the whole court/caught dancing to his tune.

6. He court/caught his breath sharply.

7. Experience has taut/taught us that we cannot rely on them.

8. His muscles, still taut/taught from the thrill of the chase, he rode the first mile at a gallop.

9. Straight/strait, ‘narrow’, is occasionally confused with straight/strait, ‘direct’.

10. Though he slays/sleighs me, yet will I trust in him.

11. In the memory of many Americans, a slay/sleigh was a more comfortable and stylish vehicle than a sled.

12. Of what size/sighs is our future army to be?

13. He is worth his weight/wait in gold.