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Vocabulary Training

I. Understanding Word Meaning from Context.

Choose a word or a word group that has the same meaning as the word in bold.

1. Window grates were of elaborate design.

a. beautiful b. tasteless c. complicated d. tasteful

2. I don’t feel I’ve accomplished very much today.

a. learned b. achieved c. communicated d. received

3. The company is in financial predicament.

a. advantage b. period c. development d. difficult situation

4. “Who cares?” said he with feigned indifference.

a. absolute b. sincere c. pretended d. offensive

5. Office software has been modified over the years.

a. disliked b. appreciated c. adapted d. substituted

6. The company employs no more than a couple of dozen people.

a. two b. five c. twelve d. a hundred

7. He was charged for possessing a shotgun without a license.

a. buying b. selling c. pointing d. having

II. Find in the text

a) nouns that have the same roots as the verbs “to annoy” and “to solve”, respectively;

b) a noun which has the same root as the adjective “anxious”;

c) an adjective which means “huge, very great”.

III. The verbs “to follow” and “to catch” have several quite different meanings. In what meanings are they used in the text? Find the corresponding sentences and paraphrase them.

IV. a) Note that the words “fuss” and “hint” can be both nouns and verbs. In what meaning are they used in the text? What prepositions follow these words if they are used as verbs? Give your examples.

Find in the text an adjective which has the same root as the noun and the verb “fuss”.

b) The meaning of the verb “to humour” is quite different from the noun “humour”. Explain what the sentence containing this verb means in the context of the story.

c) Note that the word “insult” can be both a noun and a verb and its stress pattern changes correspondingly: in the noun the first syllable is stressed whereas in the verb the stress in on the second syllable. Find in the text two sentences with this word and read them correctly, depending on whether “insult” is a verb or a noun.

d) In the word “elaborate”, which can be both an adjective and a verb, the stress is always on the second syllable, but the pronunciation of the vowel in the last syllable changes. In the adjective it is [ɪ] or schwa [ə]; in the verb it is [eɪ], a diphthong. Give your examples with “elaborate” as a verb and as an adjective.

V. Explain the following words in English. Use an explanatory dictionary if necessary. If a word has several meanings, point out the meaning in which it is used in the text.

1) impostor 2) dabbler 3) deadpan (adj.) 4) welter

VI. Note how each of the following idioms is used in the text:

1) to set up a problem; 2) to be taken in by; 3) to happen to be; 4) to be in (firm) keeping with/to be out of keeping with; 5) in spite of; 6) to prevent smb from doing smth; 7) to raise one’s voice; 8) to stick to the point; 9) to fiddle with; 10) at a safe distance.

Now use idioms number 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9 in examples of your own. Try to relate them to your own experience.

Recounting and Interpreting Details

1. What kind of person was Harry Conner? How did he discipline his mind? Did his wife follow these techniques as well?

2. Who was Bert Scursey? What were his most remarkable traits?

3. What kind of joke did Scursey play on Mrs. Conner one day?

4. How did it happen that Harry Conner got involved in the joke?

5. How did Harry Conner behave in the situation brought about by Scursey’s joke?

6. What was the outcome of the practical joke?

7. Throughout the story the narrator uses many pejorative and negative characteristics describing Bert Scursey. Why? Find some of them.

8. What was the root of the problem caused by Scursey?

9. Were inspirational “mind and personality” books popular at the time when the action took place? Prove it from the text.

10. What is the narrator’s attitude towards such books? In what ways does he show it? What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

Creative Follow-up Work

I. Find in the text the sentences that Bert Scursey pronounces imitating Edith Rummum. Can you “decipher” all of them? Rewrite them in correct English.

II. Have you ever had any misunderstanding over the phone, a funny situation caused by dialling a wrong number?

Find as many words and expressions related to the topic “telephone” in the text as you can. Tell your story shortly (150-200 words) using this vocabulary.