the group of people together in one place to watch or listen to a play, film, someone speaking → audience

a part of a play or film in which the action stays in one place for a continuous period of time

in a fast or sudden way

After years of neglect, the old building looked quite __________. It needed a new coat of paint and several repairs to the roof.

They decided to buy the house because of the large living room and bedrooms. They were much more __________ than their previous apartment.

If you want true peace, you should rent a cabin in that __________ village in the mountains. It's miles away from any major city.

The small, traditional cottage was __________, with a beautiful garden and a very pretty, old-fashioned interior.

During his first year after graduation, he couldn't afford a full apartment and instead rented a __________, which was just a single room for living, sleeping, and cooking.

My grandmother finds it difficult to use stairs, so she is looking for a __________.

The billionaire's wedding was an __________ event, starting with fireworks that cost over a million dollars.

From the top floor of the skyscraper, we had a __________ view of the entire city skyline as the sun set.

In the enormous castle, the royal family's private __________ quarters were located in the west wing, separate from the rooms and halls used for official events.

Having a large garden is very desirable for families with young children. In this sentence, what is the opposite of DESIRABLE?

The interior of the building was completely destroyed by the fire, but its outer walls remained standing. In this sentence, what is the opposite of INTERIOR?

The museum's most valuable exhibit is a crown decorated with fine jewels. In this context, what is a similar meaning to FINE?

With its large dining hall and several guest bedrooms, the house was perfectly equipped to entertain visitors. In this sentence, what is the closest meaning of ENTERTAIN?

The celebrity was criticized for her extravagant lifestyle, which included owning ten sports cars and a private jet. In this sentence, what is the closest meaning of EXTRAVAGANT?

Traffic congestion and high living costs are common problems in many urban areas. In this sentence, URBAN describes something related to a...

It is hard to ................... on my homework when people are talking loudly.

Ben's broken leg is ................... him from going on the bicycle trip.

Please ................... during the lesson, or you will not remember anything for the test.

It is very important to eat a ................... diet that contains fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

The company installed a firewall to ................... its computer security.

The car could not be ................... after the accident left it destroyed.

If I get a ................... score on my final exam, my mom said she would buy me a new watch.

The actor's last movie ................... his best work.

In the next chapter, we will learn about the ................... of the moon around the Earth.

The city's crime ................... has dropped five percent over the last year.

The plan we made was too difficult, so we could not ................... it.

The process is more complicated than I had ................... thought.

Being more ................... active is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

The town's best Italian restaurant will ................... the high school's fund raising event.

Many people believe the government should ................... the public school system.

Snow has been ................... on the roads all night. It is now about six centimeters deep.

Only a few of the ................... that we visited still had monks living in them.

Someone ................... two names on the largest tree in the park.

City officials plan to ................... the old library in order to build a new one.

I'm worried that something will happen to the portrait. It is quite valuable and ...................

Becoming independent is important for teenagers. Below are the necessary skills ____________________ to achieve independence for the future.

First, make sure you can safely get around by yourself ________________, walking, or cycling.

Do some part-time jobs and get to know how ______________. You should also learn to cook healthy meals for your family.

To begin with, _________________ and come up with as many solutions as possible.

_______________ which option could be the best for you. Don’t base your decision on emotion only.

Make use of time-management tools, such as apps or diaries, to know _______________ next.

__________________, but it is not as challenging as you may think.

I could see Neal and Jefron from a block away. They walked in my direction. As they approached, I could see from the looks on their faces that they were happy.

The word "approached" means:

Question 1. Emily has three dogs and two cats. They are all brown, but one of the dogs has spots. His name is Spot. Which of the following is true?

Question 2. Genealogy is fun. Just as a piece of furniture or a picture takes on much more interest if you know its history, so does an individual become more real once the ancestral elements that shaped him are known. An in-depth family history is a tapestry of all those to whom we owe our existence.

Which statement best conveys the theme of this paragraph?

Question 3. Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe and illegal. Many rear-end collisions are caused by drivers following too close to the vehicle in front of them. The rules state that a driver must keep sufficient distance from the vehicle in front in order to stop safely and avoid a collision. Drivers should allow a minimum two seconds’ gap between their vehicle and the one ahead. At sixty kilometres an hour, this equates to thirty-three metres; at a hundred it equates to fifty-five metres. More distance is needed to safely stop in rain or poor visibility.

‘More distance is needed to safely stop in rain or poor visibility.’ We can infer from this that:

Question 4. There is a place forty kilometres north-east of Portland, Victoria, which makes for an unusual visit. It is Lake Condah. Here are to be found remains of aboriginal settlements: the circular stone bases of several hundred huts, rock-lined water channels, and stone tools chipped from rock not normally found in the area. One of the attractions of Lake Condah long ago was its fish and the most startling evidence of aboriginal technology and engineering to be found there are the systems built to trap fish. Water courses had been constructed by redirecting streams, building stone sides and even scraping out new channels. At strategic spots, they piled rocks across the water courses to create weirs and build funnels to channel eels and fish into conical baskets. This is an eel-fishing technique which has hardly changed to the present day. Beside some of the larger traps, there are the outlines of rectangular, stone-lined ponds, probably to hold fish and keep them fresh. On the bluffs overlooking the lake, stone circles are all that remain of ancient dwellings. Not all of the stones were quarried locally. The huts vary in size, but all have gaps for doorways located on the lee side, away from the prevailing wind. One theory is that the stone walls were only waist to shoulder high, with the top roofed by branches and possibly packed with mud. The site presents a picture of a semi-settled people quite different from the stereotype of nomadic hunter-gatherers of the desert.

Lake Condah is seen as unusual, mainly because:

Question 5. What does this sentence suggest?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Question 6. Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea. Besides holding our hearts together through long periods of separation, it had the effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns-and even convictions. The Lawyer-the best of old fellows-had, because of his many years and many virtues, the only cushion on deck, and was lying on the only rug. The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones. Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol. The Director, satisfied the anchor had good hold, made his way aft and sat down amongst us. We exchanged a few words lazily. Afterwards there was silence on board the yacht. For some reason or other we did not begin that game of dominoes. We felt meditative, and fit for nothing but placid staring. The day was ending in a serenity of still and exquisite brilliance. The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds. Only the gloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more sombre every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun. And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and from glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat, as if about to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that gloom brooding over a crowd of men. From ‘The Heart of Darkness’, by Joseph Conrad.

The narrator of this passage is telling his story from:

Question 7. Among predatory dinosaurs, few flesh-eaters were bigger, faster and nastier than the "tyrant lizard" of popular imagination, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. At least, that is what we have been led to believe.

Now research suggests that, far from being the Ferrari of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose ferocious reputation has fascinated generations of schoolchildren, was in fact a cumbersome creature with a usual running speed of twenty-five kilometres an hour. This is a mere snail's pace compared with modern animals such as the cheetah.

Unlike some of the predators of today's African savannah, which can change direction almost immediately, the dinosaur would have had to turn slowly or risk tumbling over. And while a human can spin forty-five degrees in a twentieth of a second, a Tyrannosaurus would have taken as much as two seconds, as it would have been hampered by its long tail. Thankfully, however, all its prey, such as triceratops, would have been afflicted with the same lack of speed and agility.

The findings were reached after researchers used computer modelling and biomechanical calculations to work out the dinosaur's speed, agility and weight. They based their calculations on measurements taken from a fossil dinosaur representative of an average Tyrannosaurus and concluded the creatures probably weighed between six and eight tonnes.

Calculations of the leg muscles suggest that the animal would have had a top speed of forty kilometres an hour, which is nothing compared to a cheetah’s one hundred kilometres an hour. It is sobering to reflect, though, that an Olympic sprinter runs at about thirty-five kilometres an hour, not sufficient to outrun a Tyrannosaurus, should Man have been around at that time!

Being known as the ‘Ferrari of dinosaurs’ means Tyrannosaurus Rex:

Question 8. The debate on whether Australia will have a nation-wide carbon trading scheme ended last week with the government committed to a national emissions scheme from 2012. However, the decision making as to how we power the economy in a carbon constrained world is only just beginning. Fossil fuels like coal and oil have underpinned our economic growth and standard of living for decades. The current resources boom is there because other countries want our fossil fuels, and for all these reasons it is profitable to keep mining them. Ironically, the income may help develop the technologies to replace them, but it is a matter of which and when. Almost certainly, in the race to reduce emissions, new technologies such as solar, wind and geothermal (heat from rocks) power will compete against gas, clean coal and perhaps nuclear energy to win the hearts and minds of the business world. In the end, business will favour whatever is a cheap, abundant and reliable solution. You can imagine the lobbying that will ensue from the different interest groups, to attract business capital and government support so that their technology wins out. There may be many collapsed ventures and lost fortunes along the way.

Fossil fuels will be in demand for some time yet because:

Question 9. Many people think that we can learn a lot about the culture of a foreign country simply by living in that country. However, this is not necessarily true. Often, the longer we stay in a foreign country, the more we realize how little we actually know about the culture of that country. Books and talks about other people's culture can even be dangerous because they concentrate on cultural differences and exaggerate national character, and sometimes a lot of information they contain is untrue. In a study recently carried out in Britain, people were asked to make a list of anything that they thought was typical of Britain and would interest a foreign visitor there. Most mentioned Shakespeare, the Queen, village inns, English folk dancing, English castles, and fish chips wrapped in newspaper. Although all of these characters can be found in British culture, they do not show the real interest of ordinary British people: (They are, in fact, simply stereotype- that is, general character which people wrongly think are typical.) What is surprising is that they were suggested by British people themselves as representing their culture. If people have such a wrong impression of their own culture, how much false would their impression of other cultures be!

If we stay a long time in a foreign country, __________.

Question 10. Critical reading is a demanding process. To read critically, you must slow down your reading and, with pencil in hand, perform specific operations on the text. Mark up the text with your reactions, conclusions, and questions. When you read, become an active participant.

This paragraph best supports the statement that:

Carbon tetrachloride is a colorless and inflammable liquid that can be produced by combining carbon disulfide and chlorine. This compound is widely used in industry today because of its effectiveness as a solvent as well as its use in the production of propellants.   Despite its widespread use in industry, carbon tetrachloride has been banned for home use. In the past, carbon tetrachloride was a common ingredient in cleaning compounds that were used throughout the home, but it was found to be dangerous: when heated, it changes into a poisonous gas that can cause severe illness and even death if it is inhaled. Because of this dangerous characteristic, the United States revoked permission for the home use of carbon tetrachloride in 1970. The United States has taken similar action with various other chemical compounds. What is the main point of the passage?

Carbon tetrachloride is a colorless and inflammable liquid that can be produced by combining carbon disulfide and chlorine. This compound is widely used in industry today because of its effectiveness as a solvent as well as its use in the production of propellants.   Despite its widespread use in industry, carbon tetrachloride has been banned for home use. In the past, carbon tetrachloride was a common ingredient in cleaning compounds that were used throughout the home, but it was found to be dangerous: when heated, it changes into a poisonous gas that can cause severe illness and even death if it is inhaled. Because of this dangerous characteristic, the United States revoked permission for the home use of carbon tetrachloride in 1970. The United States has taken similar action with various other chemical compounds. It is stated in the passage that when carbon tetrachloride is heated, it becomes ____

The expression "point of view" could best be replaced by____

The word "inhaled" is closest in meaning to ____

Carbon tetrachloride is a colorless and inflammable liquid that can be produced by combining carbon disulfide and chlorine. This compound is widely used in industry today because of its effectiveness as a solvent as well as its use in the production of propellants.   Despite its widespread use in industry, carbon tetrachloride has been banned for home use. In the past, carbon tetrachloride was a common ingredient in cleaning compounds that were used throughout the home, but it was found to be dangerous: when heated, it changes into a poisonous gas that can cause severe illness and even death if it is inhaled. Because of this dangerous characteristic, the United States revoked permission for the home use of carbon tetrachloride in 1970. According to the passage, before 1970, carbon tetrachloride was _____

Ben Franklin first attained popular success through his writings in his brother's newspaper, the New England Current. In these articles, he used a simple style of language and common sense argumentation to defend the point of view of the farmer and the Leather Apron man. He continued with the same common-sense practicality and appealed to the common man with his work on Poor Richard's Almanac from 1733 until 1758. Firmly established in his popular acceptance by the people, Franklin wrote a variety of extremely effective articles and pamphlets about the colonist's revolutionary cause against England. The pronoun "he" in bold refers to...

The locations of stars in the sky relative to one another do not appear to the naked eye to change, and as a result, stars are often considered to be fixed in position. Many unaware stargazers falsely assume that each star has its own permanent home in the nighttime sky. In reality, though, stars are always moving, but because of the tremendous distances between stars themselves and from stars to Earth, the changes are barely perceptible here. An example of a rather fast-moving star demonstrates why this misconception prevails; it takes approximately 200 years for a relatively rapid star-like Bernard's star to move a distance in the skies equal to the diameter of the Earth's moon. When the apparently negligible movement of the stars is contrasted with the movement of the planets, the stars are seemingly unmoving. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

My grandma said, "I might be ninety years old, but I still feel as fresh as a daisy."

"Sit down and be quiet!" What type of sentence is this?

Which is a declarative sentence?

Which sentence uses a transition word to show a difference?

Cats are household pets. ___________, rabbits are household pets.

A lion is a wild animal. _______, a cow is a farm animal.

Kuala Lumpur is a big city. ________, Kangar is a small town.

Lions have four legs. ______, cows have four legs.

What is a similarity between poems and plays?

Imagine you are Evelyn and Ava, comparing two fascinating stories from different cultures that both explain how the world was created. After reading both stories, you notice they use different characters but similar moral lessons. William suggests designing a project that explores how these stories reflect the values of their respective cultures. How would you present your findings in a class presentation to make it engaging and insightful?

Which of the following is a similarity between narrative and expository texts?

Identify a key difference between a news report and an opinion piece on the same topic.

Identify a key difference between historical fiction and non-fiction history books.

What is a similarity between biographies and autobiographies?

The mother prefers to wear a black abaya. _______________ her daugther prefers to wear a brown one.

Kate is very smart and good in her studies. ______________, her sister, Maddie is smart and good in her studies.

Which of the following sentences correctly uses a conjunction to show similarity?

Identify the sentence that shows a contrast between two ideas.

What is a similarity between a simile and a metaphor?

Which sentence uses a transition word to show a difference?

What is a key difference between a novel and a short story?

Which of the following is a similarity between a play and a screenplay?

Identify the sentence that correctly uses a transition to show similarity.

What is a similarity between a haiku and a sonnet?

Which sentence shows a contrast between two characters?

What is a key difference between a biography and a memoir?

Which of the following sentences uses a conjunction to show contrast?

What is a similarity between a fable and a parable?

Identify the sentence that uses a transition word to show similarity.

Identify the main clause in the sentence: 'Although it was raining, we decided to go for a walk.'

Analyze the derivation of the sentence: 'The cat chased the mouse.' What are the underlying structures?

Differentiate between a noun phrase and a verb phrase in the sentence: 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.'

Construct a complex sentence using the independent clause 'She loves to read' and the dependent clause 'because it relaxes her.'

Apply a transformational rule to change the statement 'He is playing soccer' into a question.

Evaluate the grammatical correctness of the sentence: 'She don't like apples.' What is the error?

Identify the phrase type in the sentence: 'The tall building was impressive.' What type of phrase is 'The tall building'?

Analyze the sentence structure of: 'If you study hard, you will pass the exam.' What are the components?

Construct a complex sentence that includes a relative clause about 'the book' you read last summer.

Differentiate between a prepositional phrase and an adverbial phrase in the sentence: 'She ran quickly to the store.'