A Pair of Blue Eyes - Book to Read

This book can be read online by accessing the link below,

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/224/224-h/224-h.htm

Happy Friday!

Vocabulary.com - Challenge (22/08/13)

Pick the right choice:

1. “Better no facts at all than spurious ones”, in this sentence, spurious means

a. Careful

b. Daunting

c. Grim

d. False

2. “January is our busiest month anyway, as many single people make it their New Year’s _____ to find a partner”, says singles365.com spokeswoman Katie Mowe.

a. Voyage

b. Resolution

c. Damage

d. Grasp

3. Modest means:

a. Honest

b. Crude

c. Humble

d. Secure

4. The purpose of the “chaperone” is to obviate the possibility of accusations by female patients against male doctors. In this sentence, obviate means to:

a. prevent the occurrence of

b. support with evidence or authority

c. commence officially

d. cause physical pain or suffering in

5. Which of the following displays the quality of gallantry?

a. a government official who completes work efficiently

b. a police officer who gives a driver a speeding ticket

c. a clerk who is known for getting to the office on time

d. a soldier who saves a wounded comrade on the battlefield

6. What does “precarious” mean?

a. Indistinct

b. Unsafe

c. Pecuniary

d. Authoritative

Answers:

1. D, (check url: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/spurious)

Something false or inauthentic is spurious. Don't trust spurious ideas and stories. Spurious statements often are lies, just as a spurious coin is a counterfeit coin — a fake.

2. B, Resolution is a noun that means a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner.

3. C, Modest is an adjective that means low or inferior in station or quality

4. A, To obviate means to eliminate the need for something or to prevent something from happening. If you want to obviate the possibility of a roach infestation, clean your kitchen regularly.The prefix ob means "to go against." That makes sense when you look at the words obstruct and obstacle, but how about obstetrics? Why does the name of the branch of medicine dealing with birth have the same root as words that mean "stop" or "get in the way"? Because a midwife stands opposite to, or against, the woman giving birth.

5. D, Gallantry is a noun that means the qualities of a hero or heroine; exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger (especially in battle).

6. B, Grab for the adjective precarious when something is unstable, dangerous or difficult and likely to get worse. Are you totally broke and the people you owe money to keep calling? You're in a precarious financial situation! The Latin root of precarious means "obtained by asking or praying." This fits well as precarious always signals that help is needed desperately. If your life is precarious or you are in a precarious situation, things could become difficult, maybe even dangerous, for you. If your footing or hold on something is precarious, it is unstable or not firmly placed, so that you are likely to slip or lose your grip.

Guided Reading - 20/8/13

Quotes for meditation:

Martha Washington wife of George Washington, once said

"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition".

The word disposition means the particular type of character that a person naturally has. In other words, a natural tendency to do something, or to have or develop something. For example, Sweet disposition, Disposition to deceive. She has a sunny disposition

Words to Learn, Remember and Use - Tirade

Tirade

noun, an angry speech.

A tirade is a speech, usually consisting of a long string of violent, emotionally charged words. Borrow and lose your roommate’s clothes one too many times, and you can bet you’ll be treated to a heated tirade.

Word usages:

• Within Amazon, some former employees who have worked closely with him say his intensity could at times escalate into tirades that humiliated colleagues.
• He was accused of going on an anti-Semitic tirade.
• Diane launched into a tirade about how she has been unfairly treated.
• In a furious tirade of abuse, the opposition spokesperson demanded the minister's resignation.

Words to Learn, Remember and Use - Copious, Profuse

Copious

Copious comes from the Latin copia, meaning "abundance." You can use copious for something quantitative, like your copious admirers, or for something qualitative, like the copious gratitude you feel for your admirers. You will often see the word amounts following copious since the adjective is often used to modify a measurement of something — like copious amounts of wine or copious amounts of hair gel.

Meaning: 

(adjective)

• Yielding or containing plenty,affording ample supply.

• A copious harvest
• Large in quantity; abundant
• Copious rainfall
• Abounding in matter, thoughts or words; wordy:
• I found the speech copious without order, and energetic without rules.

So, If you have a copious amount of something, you have a lot of it. If you take copious notes, you'll do well when it comes time for review sessions — unless you can't read your own handwriting! :) 

Some more example usage of the word:

• Friends say the younger brother smoked copious amount of cigar and rarely played.
• And he insisted that Anne track all her household expenditures, including every 15 cents spent for rubber bands, in copious account books.
• Max hadn't really lived his life, just watched it pass by while making copious notes

Profuse(adjective)

Profuse is a word for a lot of something or even way too much — a profuse rainfall is a serious amount of rain.

This word has to do with extravagance or abundance. If you're bleeding profusely, you're bleeding a lot. If you lavish profuse gifts on your pet, you might have too much money on your hands. When you give someone profuse praise, you're probably laying it on a little thick. If you’re a farmer and your crops are profuse, that’s great because you have a lot of crops. Anything profuse is happening in great amounts.

The adjective means something is marked by unrestrained abundance, for example,

profuse apologies

an profuse growth of flowers

Word usage:

• His teeth sank deep into her arm, causing profuse bleeding
• Complications include profuse bleeding in the digestive system that can lead to death.
• Bombs winced but he went about his mosaics and was soon receiving flattering comments and profuse compliments from the guests.
• Severe cholera causes profuse watery diarrhoea  often accompanied by vomiting.

Word to learn, remember and use! - Affluent

Affluent

Understanding the Origin of the word:

In Middle English, affluent meant "abundant, flowing," from Old French, from Latin affluēns, from affluere "to abound in," from the prefix ad- "to, at" plus fluere "to flow." The meaning of "abundant, flowing" is still seen in phrases such as "affluent prose." But mostly, when you use the word affluent, the thing understood to be flowing is cash.

Meaning:

adjective, having a lot of money or owing a lot of things.

What we are seeing increasingly is a society of private affluence and public squalor.

adjective, Generously supplied with money, property or possessions, Plentiful; abundant; Flowing Free; Copious.

The centre of the city had sadly become a pit of penury, while, only five miles away, multi-million dollar homes spoke of affluence.

Affluent Style homes for sale in FL

noun, A stream or river that follows into a larger one; a tributary

noun, A person who is well-off financially

The so-called emerging affluent.

Learn, remember and use a word - VINDICATE & VINDICTIVE

Understanding the source of these words:

Vindictive is from Latin vindicta "revenge." The related Latin verb vindicare has the very different meaning "to defend or clear someone from guilt," and this is the source of the English verb vindicate.

Vindicate

Synonym: Justify, Defend

Meaning: to clear of accusation, blame, suspicion or doubt with supporting arguments or proofs. 

For example,

• Our society permits people to sue for libel so that they may vindicate their reputations.
• He denied the allegations and said he would be vindicated in the end.
• They said they welcomed the trial as a chance to vindicate themselves.

Vindictive

Synonym: Justify, Defend

Meaning: adj, disposed to seek revenge; revengeful; marked by or resulting from a desire to hurt; spiteful. 

For example,

• It is no fun hanging out with vindictive people, who are forever out to get back at people they think have hurt them. If you forget to say hello to them on day in the hall, they will carry a grudge against you into next week.
• This are vindictive rumours show a spirit full of revenge
• Ian was an angry, bitter, vindictive person, with little thought about how his actions impinge on others.
• Punishments were more vindictive in nature.
• Snakes are very vindictive when people mess up with them. 

Read more:

• Vocabulary.com 
• https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/vindictive
• Wordnik
• http://www.wordnik.com/words/vindictive