Thesaurus usage

To make his writing more interesting, Leo looked up 'walk' in a thesaurus. Which synonym best completes the sentence: 'After a long day, he had to ________ through the deep mud to get back to camp.'?

• stroll

• march

• trudge

• skip

Answer explanation

'Trudge' means to walk slowly with heavy steps, typically due to exhaustion or difficult conditions, which fits the context of walking through deep mud after a long day. The other options imply a lighter or more energetic form of walking.

A thesaurus entry often includes the part of speech. Match each word to the primary part of speech a thesaurus would list for it.

• Adverb

• courage

• Verb

• quickly

• Adjective

• imagine

• Noun

• heavy

Answer explanation

Each word is matched to its correct part of speech: 'quickly' (describes a verb) is an adverb, 'courage' (a thing/quality) is a noun, 'imagine' (an action) is a verb, and 'heavy' (describes a noun) is an adjective.

If you use a thesaurus to find a synonym for the word 'enormous', which of the following words would you most likely find?

• tiny

• average

• immense

• heavy

Answer explanation

'Immense' is a direct synonym for 'enormous', meaning extremely large or great. 'Tiny' is an antonym, while 'average' and 'heavy' describe different attributes.

A thesaurus can help you find antonyms (opposites). Sort these words into three antonym pairs.

Groups:

(a) Antonym Pair 1

,

(b) Antonym Pair 2

,

(c) Antonym Pair 3

• modern

• destroy

• ancient

• simple

• create

• complex

Answer explanation

Each pair consists of words with opposite meanings: 'ancient' is the opposite of 'modern', 'create' is the opposite of 'destroy', and 'simple' is the opposite of 'complex'.

In the sentence, 'The crowd was loud during the game,' which synonym for 'loud' from a thesaurus would best suggest the crowd was also energetic and unruly?

• noisy

• boisterous

• audible

• resounding

Answer explanation

'Boisterous' specifically means noisy, energetic, and cheerful in a wild way, which best captures the unruly energy. 'Noisy' is more general, and 'audible' and 'resounding' lack the connotation of rowdiness.

Using a thesaurus to find an antonym for 'generous' would lead you to which word?

• kind

• stingy

• thoughtful

• helpful

Answer explanation

An antonym is a word with the opposite meaning. 'Stingy,' meaning unwilling to give or spend, is the direct opposite of 'generous.' The other options are synonyms or related positive traits.

A thesaurus is a book of synonyms. Match each common word to its more descriptive synonym.

• ecstatic

• angry

• petrified

• happy

• irate

• scared

• melancholy

• sad

Answer explanation

Each word is matched with a stronger, more descriptive synonym: 'ecstatic' is very happy, 'melancholy' is deeply sad, 'irate' is very angry, and 'petrified' is extremely scared.

Your friend writes, 'The new video game is good.' If you use a thesaurus to improve this, which word best shows the game is captivating and hard to put down?

• satisfactory

• acceptable

• engaging

• pleasant

Answer explanation

'Engaging' means occupying one's attention or interest, which best describes a game that is captivating and hard to stop playing. The other options are weaker and less specific.

A thesaurus entry for 'bright' can list synonyms that are different parts of speech. Sort these synonyms for 'bright' by their part of speech.

Groups:

(a) Adjective

,

(b) Verb

,

(c) Noun

• vivid

• smart

• shine

• radiance

• intelligent

• illuminate

Answer explanation

Words are sorted by their function: Adjectives (intelligent, vivid, smart) describe nouns. Verbs (shine, illuminate) are actions. Nouns (radiance) are things or concepts.

A thesaurus can help you find new words and check their spelling. If you look up a synonym for 'necessary', which of the following is spelled correctly?

• esential

• vital

• requred

• indispensible

Answer explanation

'Vital' is a correctly spelled synonym for 'necessary'. The other options contain common spelling errors for the words 'essential', 'required', and 'indispensable'.