Vocabulary Week 1 Name:
There was an old spinster who lived down the street in a large house on the corner. Whenever the question came up of why she had never married, she would clench her hands tightly together in her lap, and her eyes would take on a pained look. Rumor had it that once, long ago, she was to have been married on a summer evening just at dusk. She had been dressed in her wedding attire and about to go to the church when she received news that her husband- to- be had perished in a train wreck on his way to marry her.
1. Attire - (verb) to dress for a special occasion
(noun) clothes or apparel, especially rich or splendid garments
2. Clench – (verb) to close tightly or grasp firmly
3. Dusk - (noun) the state of partial darkness between day and night
4. Perish – (verb) to die or be destroyed through violence; to suffer destruction
5. Spinster – (noun) a woman still unmarried after the usual age of marrying; a woman whose occupation is spinning
Exercise 1 – Select one of the above vocabulary words to correctly complete each sentence below and write the word on the line.
1. After we shore the wool from the sheep, we took it to a ______to be made into yarn.
2. The appropriate ______for attending the prom is an evening gown for girls and a tuxedo for boys.
3. My dentist told me not to ______my teeth together or I would have problems.
4. The hardest time to see clearly when driving is at ______because of poor light conditions.
5. The news report said that at least 1,000 people had ______(ed) in the horrible earthquake.
Exercise 2 – Select the best word to complete the sentence and write the word on the line.
1. We were amazed at the strange ______the aliens were wearing.
a. Catastrophe b. attire c. dusk d. rickety
2. Because she never married, she was known as the community ______.
a. Spinster b. perish c. clench d. shudder
3. With the temperature so high, if I don’t get water soon, I may ______.
a. Shudder b. catastrophe c. perish d. clench
4. We could tell Mother was angry because she ______(ed) her teeth and started to whisper.
a. Perish b. clench c. dusk d. attire
5. At ______, a deer ran out in front of the car, and because it was so hard to see it, we hit it with the front fender.
a. Catastrophe b. clench c. dusk d. rickety
Exercise 3 – Synonyms; think of and write one word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as the vocabulary word. (Use a dictionary or thesaurus)
1. Attire = ______
2. Clench = ______
3. Dusk = ______
4. Perish = ______
5. Spinster = ______
Exercise 4 – Antonyms; think of and write one word that has the opposite or nearly the opposite meaning as the vocabulary word. (Use a dictionary or thesaurus)
1. Dusk = ______
2. Perish = ______
Exercise 5 – Write the definitions of the following words. (USE A DICTIONARY)
1. Catastrophe = ______.
2. Rickety = ______.
3. Forlorn = ______.