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ESL Difficult Quiz - In other words (Questions)

We hope you are by now past that stage with your English where you keep clinging ~ like a beginner swimmer or skater ~ to those over-worked easy words like 'nice' and 'get'.

In this Quiz we are hoping to encourage you to express such ideas more interestingly (as we say) 'in other words'.

1. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
When we GET TO your auntie's house we'll have a NICE cup of tea.
[ ] ... reach ... / ... pleasant ...
[ ] ... arrive at ... / ... welcome ...
[ ] ... come to ... / ... warm ...
[ ] ... hit ... / ... tasty ...
2. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'It pains me to say it, but now she's so immobile, she's GETTING PRETTY fat these days.'
[ ] ... becoming somewhat ...
[ ] ... growing rather ...
[ ] ... developing too much ...
[ ] ... piling on the ...
3. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
We went to look at Beachy Head and it was LOVELY.
[ ] amazing.
[ ] awesome.
[ ] fantastic.
[ ] delicious.
4. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
She'd been to such trouble to choose good clothes, and over her hair and makeup; in fact I was pleasantly surprised, she looked REALLY NICE.
[ ] ... quite pretty.
[ ] ... very attractive.
[ ] ... absolutely stunning.
[ ] ... rather beautiful.
5. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
Our friend near Bristol said he knew of a NICE little pub where we could stop for lunch, and clearly he wasn't wrong.
[ ] ... pleasant ...
[ ] ... charming ...
[ ] ... atmospheric ...
[ ] ... friendly ...
6. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
He is GOING to Spain next month.
[ ] ... travelling ...
[ ] ... working ...
[ ] ... driving ...
[ ] ... moving ...
7. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'It's always the same when we go for a meal at my gran's: after we've eaten, Grampa DOES the dishes while she DOES the crossword, and whoever's DONE first treats themself to a biscuit with their coffee.'
[ ] ... rinses ... / ... has a go at ... / ... over ...
[ ] ... washes ... / ... completes ... / ... finished ...
[ ] ... deals with ... / ... tackles ... / ... ended ...
[ ] ... tidies ... / ... grapples with ... / ... complete ...
8. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
Up over the moor is a very NICE walk, but only really when the weather's NICE.
[ ] ... scenic ... / ... clear.
[ ] ... agreeable ... / ... clement.
[ ] ... interesting ... / ... all right.
[ ] ... invigorating ... / ... pretty.
9. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'Yes, it's a FUNNY old building; I went in there once, some years ago now, just out of curiosity, and the only thing I particularly remember about it was the rather FUNNY smell.'
[ ] ... characterful ... / ... peculiar ...
[ ] ... intriguing ... / ... hilarious ...
[ ] ... unusual ... / ... entertaining ...
[ ] ... strange ... / ... repugnant ...
10. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'Why don't we HAVE a cup of tea, then we can HAVE our next round of cards.'
[ ] ... drink ... / ... begin ...
[ ] ... make ... / ... play ...
[ ] ... brew ... / ... hold ...
[ ] ... pour ... / ... start ...
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ESL Difficult Quiz - In other words (Answers)
1. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
When we GET TO your auntie's house we'll have a NICE cup of tea.
[ ] ... reach ... / ... pleasant ...
[x] ... arrive at ... / ... welcome ...
[ ] ... come to ... / ... warm ...
[ ] ... hit ... / ... tasty ...
Each Answer has one or two quite good 'claimants', but Answer 2 is probably the least lame here.
2. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'It pains me to say it, but now she's so immobile, she's GETTING PRETTY fat these days.'
[ ] ... becoming somewhat ...
[x] ... growing rather ...
[ ] ... developing too much ...
[ ] ... piling on the ...
Answer 1 is possible but rather mawkish; in Answers 3 & 4, 'fat' is interpreted as a noun ~ rather than adjectivally, as in the original. These last two Answers ~ built-in apology notwithstanding ~ are blunt to the point of rudeness (even; particularly, behind 'her' back), and Answer 4 is slangy to the point of cruelty, however true it may happen to be.
3. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
We went to look at Beachy Head and it was LOVELY.
[ ] amazing.
[x] awesome.
[ ] fantastic.
[ ] delicious.
'Awesome' is perhaps over-used these days (not least since the 1996 Olympics, when injured athlete Kerry Strug appeared unable to find any other adjectives), but in its original sense ('inspiring a sense of wonder') it could well apply to such a vast natural landmark as Beachy Head. Answers 1 and 3 are possible but also have a rather 'off-the-shelf' feel about them.
'Delicious' only usually applies to food and drink, though occasionally the metaphor might be stretched to include richly emotional music (gorgeous harmonies, vibrant textures etc.) or perhaps a member of one's opposite sex that one finds 'hot' (e.g. younger people looking at a poster of a pop group) ... probably not a good nor suitable usage to emulate!
4. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
She'd been to such trouble to choose good clothes, and over her hair and makeup; in fact I was pleasantly surprised, she looked REALLY NICE.
[ ] ... quite pretty.
[ ] ... very attractive.
[x] ... absolutely stunning.
[ ] ... rather beautiful.
The 'attractiveness' (Answer 2) is probably a deeper quality that could not be artificially added in such ways; and we don't think anyone can be 'rather beautiful' ~ beauty, too, isn't something that one might rate someone as having (say) '65%' of.
Our recommended Answer (No.3) is itself rather a cliche, but at least it's more vigorous than the original.
5. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
Our friend near Bristol said he knew of a NICE little pub where we could stop for lunch, and clearly he wasn't wrong.
[ ] ... pleasant ...
[x] ... charming ...
[ ] ... atmospheric ...
[ ] ... friendly ...
We suspect that the original 'nice' here was an overall qualification on a number of general scales, rather as with the TripAdvisor website: the physical aspects (how the building and its grounds are built and kept), the mood (welcoming, friendly etc.) and the practicalities (not too expensive / overcrowded / un-parkable, etc.). 'Charming' (Answer 2) probably does a better job than the other adjectives of catching at least these first two categories; the place is clearly supposed to have a certain 'magic' and style about it, rather than just being a functional institution.
6. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
He is GOING to Spain next month.
[x] ... travelling ...
[ ] ... working ...
[ ] ... driving ...
[ ] ... moving ...
'Working' is the only Answer that does not fit at all well here. We know that 'he' is travelling (for whatever purpose, and by whatever means), so this is an improvement on the poor old verb 'go'; we don't know how he is travelling, so Answer 3 may well not be true (it's a long way by road, after all), and the original version carries no specific suggestion that he is going 'for good', so Answer 4 may be reading more into the situation than is fairly warranted.
7. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'It's always the same when we go for a meal at my gran's: after we've eaten, Grampa DOES the dishes while she DOES the crossword, and whoever's DONE first treats themself to a biscuit with their coffee.'
[ ] ... rinses ... / ... has a go at ... / ... over ...
[x] ... washes ... / ... completes ... / ... finished ...
[ ] ... deals with ... / ... tackles ... / ... ended ...
[ ] ... tidies ... / ... grapples with ... / ... complete ...
Answer 2 is probably the best, simplest complete set here; but you may wish to check in your dictionary for any other expressions we offered and which were new to you.
8. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
Up over the moor is a very NICE walk, but only really when the weather's NICE.
[x] ... scenic ... / ... clear.
[ ] ... agreeable ... / ... clement.
[ ] ... interesting ... / ... all right.
[ ] ... invigorating ... / ... pretty.
Answer 1 is a good serviceable pair. We don't seem to use 'clement' much (Answer 2) which is a pity, as it is a characterful word (it crops up more often in British party invitations, usually in its opposite form: ' ... or inside the Village Hall, in case of inclement weather'); 'all right' (Answer 3) is not much of an improvement on 'nice', while 'interesting' sounds faintly positive but is very vague. The walk could be 'interesting' in the sense of being a tiresome challenge with lots of mud, stiles and other obstacles, or only interesting if you happened to be keen on certain forms of wildlife (e.g. bog plants).
'Pretty' weather (Answer 4) sounds good too, but the adjective would more naturally refer to the look of the landscape rather than the weather and/or light conditions that made it seem so.
9. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'Yes, it's a FUNNY old building; I went in there once, some years ago now, just out of curiosity, and the only thing I particularly remember about it was the rather FUNNY smell.'
[x] ... characterful ... / ... peculiar ...
[ ] ... intriguing ... / ... hilarious ...
[ ] ... unusual ... / ... entertaining ...
[ ] ... strange ... / ... repugnant ...
Answer 1 offers the best pair here.
English recognises the unhelfpul ambiguity of its own word 'funny' by asking the catchphrase question, 'Funny ha-ha, or funny peculiar?' (i.e. does the word, in some particular context, mean 'amusing' or 'unpleasant and potentially suspicious'?)
The second use in this Question seems unlikely to be matter of amusement (what, after all, is 'an amusing smell'?), so the middle two Answers (2 & 3) are unlikely to make suitable sense; Answer 4 starts well, but 'funny' in its other sense does not really stretch far enough to cover 'repugnant' or 'disgusting'. Its shade and depth of meaning are more likely to refer to a smell that was at least not predominantly unpleasant, but tricky to identify (e.g. a mixture of old-fashioned furniture polish or other cleaning materials, stale housefire or cookery smells, and/or an old or unfamiliar industrial process). The smell may have been puzzling, even faintly disturbing, but probably neither so strong nor so strange as to trigger the 'gag reflex' (tantamount to outright nausea, such that you more or less had either to faint or flee!). Meanwhile, the front adjectives in the two middle Answers each start with a vowel, so they wouldn't fit comfortably after 'a ... ' on technical grounds anyway.
10. Choose the answer which would replace the word/s shown in CAPITALS in a more appropriate and interesting way.
'Why don't we HAVE a cup of tea, then we can HAVE our next round of cards.'
[ ] ... drink ... / ... begin ...
[x] ... make ... / ... play ...
[ ] ... brew ... / ... hold ...
[ ] ... pour ... / ... start ...
Answer 4 is a good pair; but if all the card-players were busy with their previous game, there cannot be any more tea unless someone goes and makes it, which brings us back to Answer 2.
'Hold' is a promising verb for a card-game but it is not the one we generally use.
Answer 1 is also possible, but it suggests the tea is already made and poured, which (from the circumstances, as above) somehow seems a little less than likely.