English Quiz (Part 106)

'adequate' Meaning

• to change something in order to make it less strongly expressed, less harmful, or less offensive; to change something to make it less upsetting or unpleasant and more acceptable

• enough or satisfactory for a particular purpose

• to (cause to) flow out suddenly and with force, in a fast stream; to increase or grow very quickly, or to suddenly increase by a particular amount; a sudden and short period of increased activity, effort, or speed

Answer explanation

Example:

1. Have we got adequate food for 20 guests?

2. I didn't have adequate time to prepare.

3. It's not a big salary but adequate for our needs.

4. The council's provision for the elderly is barely adequate (= is not enough).

5. We must re-examine the adequacy of our current security procedures.

6. Were you adequately paid, or do you need more money?

'spurts' Meaning

• To (cause to) flow out suddenly and with force, in a fast stream; to increase or grow very quickly, or to suddenly increase by a particular amount; a sudden and short period of increased activity, effort, or speed

• to change something to make it less strongly expressed, less harmful, or less offensive; to change something to make it less upsetting or unpleasant and more acceptable

• Based on a guess and not on information; bought or done to make a profit in the future; done or sent in the hope of getting a job with a company although no job has been advertised; done to make a profit even though there is a risk that you may lose money; a speculative investor is willing to accept a high level of risk in the hope of making a profit

Answer explanation

Example:

1. Blood was spurting out all over the place.

2. His arm was spurting blood where the vein had been severed.

3. Shares of the jewellery store chain spurted $6.

4. There was a sudden spurt of activity in the housing market.

5. He tends to work in spurts.

'sanitized' Meaning

• to change something to make it less strongly expressed, less harmful, or less offensive; to change something to make it less upsetting or unpleasant and more acceptable

• based on a guess and not on information; bought or done in order to make a profit in the future; done or sent in the hope of getting a job with a company although no job has been advertised; done in order to make a profit even though there is risk that you may lose money; a speculative investor is willing to accept a high level of risk in the hope of making a profit

• a comparison between things that have similar features, often used to help explain a principle or idea; a comparison of the features or qualities of two different things to show their similarities

Answer explanation

Example:

1. The military wants to allow only a sanitized report/version of the incident to become public.

2. The new text sanitizes early American history.

'odds' Meaning

• a comparison between things that have similar features, often used to help explain a principle or idea; a comparison of the features or qualities of two different things to show their similarities

• the probability (= how likely it is) that a particular thing will or will not happen; in gambling (= the activity of risking money guessing the result of something), a probability expressed as a number; the likelihood that a particular thing will or will not happen; (against the odds/against all odds) used to say that someone has achieved something or succeeded despite this being very unlikely;  the (odds are against sb/in sb's favour)someone is unlikely/likely to succeed; (over the odds)more than something is really worth; be at odds (with sb/sth)to disagree with someone; if two things are at odds, they are very different and cannot both be correct

• based on a guess and not on information; bought or done in order to make a profit in the future; done or sent in the hope of getting a job with a company although no job has been advertised; done in order to make a profit even though there is risk that you may lose money; a speculative investor is willing to accept a high level of risk in the hope of making a profit

Answer explanation

Example;

1. If you drive a car all your life, the odds are that you'll have an accident at some point.

2. There are heavy odds against people succeeding in such a bad economic climate.

3. What are the odds on him being (= do you think he will be) re-elected?

4. The odds against my horse winning (= that it will not win)/on my horse winning (= that it will win) are a hundred to one.

5. The odds that the US entrant will win the race are ten to one.

6. She was sick yesterday, so the odds are she won’t be in today.

7. Against all odds, she won the case.

8. In a case like this, the odds are against the defendant.

9. They paid way over the odds for their new offices.

10. She and her boss are at odds over the issue of training.

11. On this issue, Britain is at odds with the rest of the EU.

12. These findings are at odds with our research.

13. Management's and shareholders' interests seem to be at odds.

'speculative' Meaning

• to change something in order to make it less strongly expressed, less harmful, or less offensive; to change something to make it less upsetting or unpleasant and more acceptable

• A comparison between things that have similar features, often used to help explain a principle or idea; a comparison of the features or qualities of two different things to show their similarities

• based on a guess and not on information; bought or done in order to make a profit in the future; done or sent in the hope of getting a job with a company although no job has been advertised; done in order to make a profit even though there is risk that you may lose money; a speculative investor is willing to accept a high level of risk in the hope of making a profit

Answer explanation

Example:

1. The article was dismissed as highly speculative.

2. bizarre and speculative theories

3. The office block was built as a speculative venture.

4. Some of these buyers are speculative investors.

5. If you know where you'd really like to work, don't be afraid of making a speculative application.

6. Send a speculative CV to Human Resources.

7. We should remember that a sign of the end of the first bubble was many highly speculative transactions.

8. Company shares advanced 6p to 34p on speculative buying.

9. News of the sale led to considerable speculative activity on the exchange.

10. This stock should only be considered by the speculative investor.

'analogy' Meaning

• a comparison between things that have similar features, often used to help explain a principle or idea; a comparison of the features or qualities of two different things to show their similarities

• based on a guess and not on information; bought or done in order to make a profit in the future; done or sent in the hope of getting a job with a company although no job has been advertised; done in order to make a profit even though there is risk that you may lose money; a speculative investor is willing to accept a high level of risk in the hope of making a profit

• to change something in order to make it less strongly expressed, less harmful, or less offensive; to change something to make it less upsetting or unpleasant and more acceptable

Answer explanation

Example:

1. He drew an analogy between the brain and a vast computer.

2. It is sometimes easier to illustrate an abstract concept by analogy with (= by comparing it with) something concrete.

3. He was explaining that the mind has no form and is invisible, and that a useful analogy is of the mind being like the sky.

4. The stock market recorded a 0.4% annual increase that was roughly analogous to results in the late 1960s.