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English Language: Middle School: Grades 6, 7 and 8 Quiz - Vocabulary Words 4 - Feeling Comfortable using those Big Words (Questions)

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You have at last reached the last of your vocabulary word quizzes! On your journey you have come across some really “big words” to add to your vocabulary word bank. You should feel very proud of yourself.

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But learning new words, as you learned earlier, never really stops so it’s always a good thing to see how many new words you can continue to add each year. Then try and use those words as often as possible both in writing and in speaking until you feel quite comfortable with them, as comfortable as you would with those smaller, more frequently used words.

For this quiz you will once again be given a series of ten sentences.

Each sentence has a word that is underlined along with four possible definitions. By substituting each definition for the underlined word, you can more often than not come up with the correct definition of your new word. Although at times it might appear as though there is more than one definition that could fit, be careful to really study the entire context of the sentence as it will act as your guide to find not just a definition that “might” fit but the definition that will fit.

If you need a little practice, be sure to check out the Vocabulary Word quizzes, Parts 1, 2 and 3. They will help you to fully be able to take this quiz. If you feel comfortable already, then you can begin the quiz!

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1. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst catastrophes to hit the United States.
[ ] weather events
[ ] destructive occurrences
[ ] financial disasters
[ ] thunderstorms
2. The birth of their new baby girl was very poignant.
[ ] surprising
[ ] unexpected
[ ] satisfying to accomplish
[ ] deeply affecting of one's feelings
3. Mark Twain is the pseudonym for Samuel Clemens.
[ ] writer
[ ] relative
[ ] fictitious name
[ ] publisher
4. The children were mesmerized by all of the Christmas lights on the town’s Christmas tree!
[ ] overwhelmed
[ ] totally confused
[ ] fascinated or hypnotized
[ ] extremely frightened
5. The test results from the doctor showed that his father was suffering from hypertension.
[ ] abnormal high blood pressure
[ ] old age
[ ] a muscle pull
[ ] a loss of memory
6. When one goes to the beach they will see a modicum of dress.
[ ] modernization
[ ] a limited amount
[ ] sea
[ ] whimsical
7. To say that the uniforms are pretty ugly is an oxymoron.
[ ] understatement
[ ] unfounded opinion
[ ] interesting idea
[ ] contradiction of two things
8. The idea that you can win the lottery without playing it is quixotic.
[ ] highly likely
[ ] foolish and impractical
[ ] bettering the odds
[ ] a calculated risk
9. The athletes gave homage to their coach for his guidance.
[ ] a form of respectful payment
[ ] back talk
[ ] unquestionable loyalty
[ ] the winning trophy
10. Do you know what kind of an escapade the senior class went on?
[ ] waterfall
[ ] collaboration
[ ] circuit breaker
[ ] adventure
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English Language: Middle School: Grades 6, 7 and 8 Quiz - Vocabulary Words 4 - Feeling Comfortable using those Big Words (Answers)
1. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst catastrophes to hit the United States.
[ ] weather events
[x] destructive occurrences
[ ] financial disasters
[ ] thunderstorms
The definitions given in Answers (a), (c) and (d) when used to substitute the underlined word “catastrophes” do not really fit in properly with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Remember to always look at the context of your sentence for clues to the definition of unknown or new words. We know that hurricanes are very “destructive.” Now look for a definition that might fit this. As we can see, Answer (c) is “destructive occurrences” and that is also the definition of “catastrophes.” Therefore, Answer (b) is the correct answer
2. The birth of their new baby girl was very poignant.
[ ] surprising
[ ] unexpected
[ ] satisfying to accomplish
[x] deeply affecting of one's feelings
By reading this sentence and then substituting each of the four definitions provided, Answers (a), (b) and (c) do not give the sentence the meaning it is trying to convey. However, to say that “The birth of their new baby girl was very deeply affecting of one’s feelings,” does convey a strong message and understanding of the context of the sentence. Not surprisingly, the definition of “poignant” is something that deeply affects one’s feelings making Answer (d) the correct definition that we are looking for here
3. Mark Twain is the pseudonym for Samuel Clemens.
[ ] writer
[ ] relative
[x] fictitious name
[ ] publisher
Looking at the definitions provided in Answers (a), (b) and (d), none of them fit well into this sentence and, in fact, do not convey the proper meaning for “pseudonym”. “Pseudonym” means a fictitious name so if we substitute that definition with the underlined word, it would read, “Mark Twain is the fictitious name for Samuel Clemens.” This is, indeed, the correct definition we are looking for here making Answer (c) correct
4. The children were mesmerized by all of the Christmas lights on the town’s Christmas tree!
[ ] overwhelmed
[ ] totally confused
[x] fascinated or hypnotized
[ ] extremely frightened
By reading this sentence and then substituting each of the four definitions provided, Answers (a), (b) and (d) really do not give the sentence the meaning it is trying to convey in this context. However, if you substitute the definition provided by Answer (c) in that, “The children were fascinated by all of the Christmas lights,” then that very much so fits in. In fact, the definition for “mesmerized” is fascinated by and/or hypnotized by making Answer (c) correct
5. The test results from the doctor showed that his father was suffering from hypertension.
[x] abnormal high blood pressure
[ ] old age
[ ] a muscle pull
[ ] a loss of memory
In this sentence each of the definitions could fit in but only one is the true definition of hypertension. When all definitions can fit in, the next step is to try and narrow it down to which definition fits in the best. It is highly unlikely that a test would need to be done to determine a person’s age so Answer (b) can be quickly eliminated. Although a test could reveal a muscle pull, again this type of injury could be learned without having a test so Answer (c) can be eliminated as well. Now let’s look at the underlined word “hypertension” and break that down. What do you imagine “tension” to mean? It means to have pressure. Now look at the remaining definitions and we see that Answer (a) has the word “pressure” in its definition. In fact, hypertension does mean to have abnormal high blood pressure which does need to be tested in order to be detected and this makes Answer (a) the correct definition of our new vocabulary word
6. When one goes to the beach they will see a modicum of dress.
[ ] modernization
[x] a limited amount
[ ] sea
[ ] whimsical
By reading this sentence and then substituting each of the four definitions provided, Answers (a), (c) and (d) really do not give the sentence the meaning it is trying to convey in this context. However, if you substitute the definition provided by Answer (b), i.e., “When one goes to the beach they will see a limited amount of dress,” then this definition does appear to be what the context of the sentence is saying. Answer (b), a limited amount, is the correct definition of the new vocabulary word
7. To say that the uniforms are pretty ugly is an oxymoron.
[ ] understatement
[ ] unfounded opinion
[ ] interesting idea
[x] contradiction of two things
When presented with a new word that is unfamiliar, you need to take a look at the other words in the sentence and see how they relate to each other. In this sentence, “the uniforms are pretty ugly.” What does “pretty ugly” mean because “pretty” and “ugly” mean two different things? Ah, “two different things.” Now let’s look at the definitions and sure enough Answer (d) says “a contradiction of two things.” Now let’s substitute that definition into our sentence making it read, “To say that the uniforms are pretty ugly is a contradiction of two things.” That definition fits in pretty well and it is, in fact, the definition of oxymoron. Answer (d) is the correct answer
8. The idea that you can win the lottery without playing it is quixotic.
[ ] highly likely
[x] foolish and impractical
[ ] bettering the odds
[ ] a calculated risk
Looking at the definitions provided in Answers (a), (c) and (d), none of them fit well into this sentence nor do they fit the context of the sentence. If we, however, substitute the definition provided by Answer (b) in that, “The idea that you can win a lottery without playing it is foolish and impractical,” then we see that it fits the context of the sentence. Answer (b) is correct and provides the correct definition for our underlined word “quixotic”
9. The athletes gave homage to their coach for his guidance.
[x] a form of respectful payment
[ ] back talk
[ ] unquestionable loyalty
[ ] the winning trophy
By reading this sentence and then substituting each of the four definitions provided, Answers (b), (c) and (d) really do not give the sentence the meaning it is trying to convey in this context. However, if you substitute the definition provided by Answer (a), i.e., “The athletes gave a form of respectful payment to their coach for his guidance,” then this definition does appear to be what the context of the sentence is saying and, in fact, a form of respectful payment is the definition of “homage” showing that Answer (a) is correct
10. Do you know what kind of an escapade the senior class went on?
[ ] waterfall
[ ] collaboration
[ ] circuit breaker
[x] adventure
By looking at the four definitions given here, neither Answers (a), (b) nor (c) fit in with the context of this sentence. However, if you substitute the definition given in Answer (d), i.e., “Do you know what kind of an adventure the senior class went on,” that definition fits in very well and it is the definition we are look for making Answer (d) the correct definition of “escapade”