Pick the letter that precedes in the sentence.
Each word in here (foil, skein, patriot, assail, hogshead, ostentatious, spurn, assimilate, fallow, touchy, charitable, emulate, tremor, morose, deposit, mishap) is used four times in the sentences below; one of the sentences in each group uses the word incorrectly Please pick the letter that precedes that sentence.
1
a) The two fencers picked up their foils and began the duel.
b) They foiled the tips of the swords to sharp points
c) We foiled his plans to take over the club.
Please hand me that box of aluminum foil.
2
a) Pick up a skein of dark blue yarn for me at the store.
b) She skeined her elbow when she fell off her bicycle
c) The police slowly unraveled the tangled skein of evidence.
d) The skein of cotton tread became hopelessly tangled.
3
a) The national anthem and the flag are two patriots that help unite our country.
b) She was a true patriot, a woman who loved her country more than life itself.
c) The crowd sang “God Bless America” and other patriotic songs.
d) Although he did not fight in the war, no one has questioned his patriotism.
6
a) He displays his wealth in a very ostentatious manner
b) She is very religious, but not in an ostentatious way.
c) The neighbors thought we were being ostentatious in building a swimming pool in our back yard.
d) She looked ostentatiously at me, afraid of what I was going to say.
7
a) I was very upset at the way she spurned my offer.
b) Even small a sum as one dollar is not to be spurned.
c) The judge angrily spurned the bribe that was offered.
d) The rider spurned his horse on to greater and greater efforts.
8
a) We learned in science class today how the body assimilates food.
b) The two girls look alike, but actually they are quuite assimilate.
c) He reads fast, but he doesn’t assimilate what he reads.
d) People from all contries have been assimilated into America life.
9
a) This field is planted with crops for three years and left fallow every fourth year.
b) The farmer is growng oats, barley, fallow, and corn this year.
c) Don’t let your mind lie fallow for too long.
d) This land has lain fallow for several years now.
10
a) He is very touchy about his height
b) I’ve been in the sun all day, and my skin is very touchy.
c) This is a touchy situation that will require all your skill.
d) “Don’t be so touchy,” she said to her brother when he snapped at her.
11
a) The Children’s Hospital is a charitable institution and relies almost entirely on gifts from the public.
b) You should try to be more charitable in judging people.
c) She left all her money to her favorite charitable.
d) Money spent for charitable purpose is example from taxes.
12
a) When it is trapped, an opossum will lie down and emulate death.
b) You cannot do better than try to emulate your mother.
c) Many poets have tried to emulate the simplicity of Robert Frost’s poetry.
d) She envied her friends but could not emulate them, for they were wiser than she.
13
a) He was so excited that I saw him tremor his whole body.
b) A tremor of excitement ran through the crowd.
c) The first warning of the earthquake was a slight tremor.
d) There was a nervous tremor in her voice.
15
a) The delta area of the Mississippi is made up of mud deposited by the river.
b) There are large oil deposits thousands of feet below the bottom of the ocean.
c) I left two hundred dollars as a deposit on the car.
d) The king was deposited from his throne after reigning for only one year.
16
a) During the voyage, we struck an iceberg, lost a woman over the side, and suffered numerous othe mishaps.
b) On my first day as a waiter I dropped a tray, but that was my only mishap.
c) The twenty-year-old conducted the orchestra with none of the mishaps you might expect from one so young.
d) This is your last chance, so don’t mishap it.
