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. It took him more than an hour to go to work from the suburban area where he lived.

a. remote b. outside the centre of the city

c. in the centre of the city d. run-down

2. He found it demeaning to work for his former employee.

a. curious b. tragic c. boring d. humiliating

3. His comments were seen as an insult to the president.

a. praise b. address c. offense d. flattery

4. She’s flunked fourteen out of nineteen students.

a. examined b. made fail c. taught d. graduated

5. He didn’t show his wife any affection.

a. love b. emotion c. worrying d. sadness

6. He’s always been self-conscious about being so short.

a. aware of b. proud c. shy d. satisfied

II. Find in the text

a) a word that mans “reliable” which has the same root as the verb “to depend”;

b) at least three phrasal verbs. Illustrate one of them with an example of your own;

c) an expression that serves as a euphemism for the word “bribery”.

III. The word “to grin” has the basic meaning “to smile” and the word “to creep (crept – crept)” has the basic meaning “to move”. Can you explain and illustrate the difference in meaning, respectively?

Who/what can creep?

IV. a) The word “set” has numerous meanings as a verb, noun and adjective. Find in the text two instances of “set” as an adjective. In what meaning is it used?

b) Note that the words “head” and “thumb” can be both nouns and verbs. What do they mean as verbs (each has more than one meaning)? In what context are they used in the story?

With what postposition is the verb “head” used?

Can you find any idioms with the verb “thumb” in a dictionary?

c) Note that the words “insult” and “permit” can be both nouns and verbs. The stress pattern in these words changes depending on whether they are nouns or verbs: in the nouns the first syllable is stressed whereas in the verbs the stress is on the second syllable. Make up examples with these words as nouns and as verbs.

What permits can one have?

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) homesick 2) to feign 3) permit (noun) 4) jerk

Recounting and Interpreting Details

1. Who was Marian? What was Mrs. Ericson’s opinion of her?

2. Why did Marian need to take a driving test?

3. How did Marian feel before the test? Was it her first attempt?

4. In what case was the test generally considered a failure?

5. What impression did the inspector produce on Marian and Mrs. Ericson?

6. Did Marian make any mistakes during the test? Did she manage to fulfil all the tasks?

7. How did the inspector behave during the test? How can you characterize his manner of speaking? Give examples.

8. How did Marian behave throughout the test?

9. Why did the inspector “lose all his joviality” at the end of the test? What is meant by “joviality” here?

10. Why did Marian fail in the test?

Creative Follow-up Work

Find as many words and expressions related to the topic “driving” in the text as you can. Use them to make up a short story of about 150 words. You can also look back and add words from Text 14.