English (Precis and Composition) CSS-2007

ENGLISH (PRÉCIS & COMPOSITION)

• Choose the word that is nearly similar in meaning to the word in capital letters.

• Pick the most nearly opposite in meaning to the capitalized words.

• Correct the following sentences:
• Either of these three umbrellas will suit me.
• Shall you not take my word in this matter?
• This poor man was suffering much for a long time past.
• If he had not died, he would grow up to be a murderer.
• Neither he nor I are in the wrong.
• It is high time they mend this road.
• I heard him went down the stairs.
• Paper is made of wood.

Solution:

• Any of these three umbrellas will suit me.
• Should you not have my word in this matter?
• This poor man had been suffering much for a long time past.
• If he had not died, he would have grown up to be a murderer.
• Neither he nor I am in the wrong.

(I)    It is high time they mended this road.

• I heard him going down the stairs.
• Paper is made from wood.

U Use the following idioms in sentences to make their meaning clear:

1. To put the lid on / keep the lid on —

Meaning: to keep something secret to, to keep something under control

Use in sentence: I don’t know how but we’ll have to put the lid on that rumour about her. Use in sentence: The government is keeping the lid on inflation.

2. Flavour in the month —

Meaning: temporarily popular

Use in sentence: This rap artist is pop music’s current flavour of the month.

3. Zero hour —

Meaning: the time when something important is to start

Use in sentence: The air force planes waited until zero hour in order to begin their bombing mission.

4. Gloom and doom –

Meaning: the feeling that a situation is bad and is not likely to improve

Use in sentence: Come on, it’s not all doom and gloom, if we make a real effort, we could still win.

5. To pig out

Meaning: eat ravenously, gorge oneself

Use in sentence: We went to the store and pigged out on soft ice cream.

6. Bag people —

Meaning: homeless people

Use in sentence: Bag people always^.wander here and there in search of shelter.

7. Compassion fatigue —

Meaning: a weariness of and diminishing public response to frequent requests for charity

Use in sentence: More people are hungry today than ever before. Many social workers have compassion fatigue – tired out with all the repeated calls to do good.

8. Not mince matters —

Meaning: moderate or restrain one’s language to be polite Use in sentence: Not mince matters, I feel he should resign.

❑ Use five of the following pairs of words in sentences: (i)      affluence, effluence           (ii)                                        wretch, retch

(iii) euphemistic, euphuistic                                    (iv) amoral, immoral

(v)         imperial, imperious                                       (vi) degrade, denigrate

(vii) temporal, temporary                                      (viii) precipitate, precipitous

• Affluence:

Meaning: having a lot of money or owning a lot of things

Use in sentence: When the economy crashed, many people of affluence became poor.

Effluence:

Meaning: a thing that flows out or forth

Use in sentence: Its manifestation in time is not a creation; it is an effluence from the eternal fount of spirit.

• Wretch:

Meaning: a person who experiences something unpleasant

Use in sentence: A gentleman said that a week ago he was the wretch in the county, but now saved.

Retch:

Meaning: to react in a way as if you are vomiting Use in sentence: The sight of blood makes him retch.

• Euphemistic:

Meaning: a word or phrase used to avoid saying an unpleasant or offensive word Use in sentence: ‘Senior citizen’ is a euphemism for ‘old person’.

Euphuistic:

Meaning: affected elegance of language

Use in sentence: Euphuistic style has been used in many of his writings.

• Amoral:

Meaning: without moral principles

Use in sentence: During battle, many soldiers become amoral and forget the difference between wrong and right while fighting for their lives.

Immoral:

Meaning: morally wrong

Use in sentence: It’s an immoral tax, because the poor will pay relatively more.

• Imperial:

Meaning: belonging or relating to an empire or the person or country that rules it

Use in sentence: Although the imperial child was so young, he still became the next king.

Imperious:

Meaning: unpleasantly proud and expecting obedience

Use in sentence: He sent them away with an imperious wave of the hand.

• Degrade:

Meaning: to lower in rank or status

Use in sentence: He likes to degrade people by calling them embarrassing names.

Denigrate:

Meaning: to say that someone or something is not good or important

Use in sentence: You shouldn’t denigrate people just because they have different beliefs from you.

• Temporal:

Meaning: relating to practical matters or physical things, rather than spiritual ones

Use in sentence: Her starting point: ‘The future is the only temporal area over which people have power’.

Temporary:

Meaning: not lasting or needed for very long

Use in sentence: The ceasefire will only provide a temporary solution to the crisis.

• Precipitate:

Meaning: to make something happen suddenly or sooner than expected Use in sentence: Fear of losing her job precipitated her into action.

Precipitous:

Meaning: very steep, perpendicular

Use in sentence: People were shocked by his precipitous fall from political power.