ACT Vocabulary Plus
Vocabulary Five in Context
From the list below, supply the words needed to complete the paragraph. Some words will not be used.
nebulousimprecationpedanticdeference
Impairfoprakishcarnal
- Martin, a(n) ______since high school, had at least nine p airs of sneakers in his closet. The ______man wouldn’t even go to the gym if he weren’t wearing crisp new workout cloths. His habit of looking in every mirror he passed in public had alienated him from his friends, and when he returned to Uniontown after earning his doctorate, his ______conduct drove his family away. Martin never realized that his vanity ______his social life; his ______explanations never included any faults of his own. He reasoned that his good looks and superior intellect were a(n) ______that he would just have to live with.
From the list below, supply the words needed to complete the paragraph. Some words will not be used.
sanguine ebullient elegy fop panegyric non sequitur deference
- All the citizens of the small town attended the viewing to show their ______for the late Dr. Clarke. A local writer read a(n) ______that recalled Dr. Clarke’s friendly, ______attitude and ______approach to carrying for the townspeople. He had known all of his patients by their first names, and he had made house calls at no additional expense. The children of the town remembered Dr. Clarke not only as their gentle doctor, but also as the man who occasionally stood on the bleachers during soccer matches to shout a(n) ______for the little town’s home team.
From the list below, supply the words needed to complete the paragraph. Some words will not be used.
Carnalbowdlerizenon sequiturquandarypedantic
3. Many of the world’s greatest works of literature and drama contain violent or ______contexts, and some groups regularly attempt to ______the works until there is scarcely a book left to read. Whether people, specifically school-aged children, should be allowed to read such literature has been a(n) ______of parents and educators for decades. Some people claim that exposure to immoral texts will have negative effects on young readers; however, others feel that the idea of children suffering as a result of reading books is a(n) ______.
Complete the sentence in a way that shows you understand the meaning of the italicized vocabulary word.
- When Dawn recited the moving elegy during the funeral, some of the guests. . .
- Censors often bowdlerize novels because. . .
- Finding a diamond bracelet in the parking lot created a quandary for Gary, because he. . .
- The crowd screamed panegyrics when. . .
- The pedantic teacher offered to chaperone the field trip, but the students. . .
- Out of deference for the fallen soldier, the honor guard . . .
- The rakish young professional stood out among. . .
- Some actors are regarded as fops because they. . .
- The coach maintained a sanguine attitude even though. . .
- Dave’s ebullient interest in math led him to. . .
- Superstitions are silly; to have bad luck is a non sequitur to. . .
- The old hermit put an imprecation on the entire family because. . .
- When the teacher sees your nebulous essay on the text, she will know that. . .
- You will probably impair your hearing if you. . .
- The piranhas went into a carnal frenzy when. . .
Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes
Study the entries and answer the questions that follow.
The root petr means “stone.”The rootsviv andvit mean “to live.”
The suffixsub means “under.”The root sist means “to stand,” “to stop,” or “to rest.”
The suffix ous means “full of.”The suffix id means “tending to.”
The rootglyph means “to carve.”The suffix al means “pertaining to.”
- Using literal translations as guidance, define the following words without using any assistance.
- vivid b. vivaciousc. vitald. revitalizee. existf. insist
- Someone or something that has been turned to stone is ______. A(n) ______
would be a good place to find petroglyphs, and it would also be a good place to practice petrology, which is the study of ______.
- Subsist literally translates to “stand under.” Explain how subsist, which means “to maintain life,” evolved
from “stand under.”
- We use the term ______to describe oils that we extract from the earth to use as fuel.
- List as many words as you can think of that end with the suffix id.