Vocabulary Week 4Name:

Bryan stood staring at the ramshackle house sitting in the middle of a lot overgrown with weeds. His curiosity about the house was intense ever since he had heard the high school boys talking about it in whispers. Ever so carefully, Bryan crept to the front door which was hanging by only one hinge. As he peeked into the dark interior of the house, he heard a small whining noise coming from the other side of the door. Drawing on his courage, he made his way inside. No sooner had he done so, he heard the noise again. His eyes followed it to a corner of the front room where he saw a punypuppy huddled next to what appeared to be its dead mother’s body. Bryan had to pick his way carefully through piles of old moldy clothes, empty bottles, scattered paper, and other rubbish on the floor to get to the frightened puppy. He reached his hand down and spoke in soothing tones to coax the puppy to come to him. Almost instantly the tiny bundle of fur came on shaky legs to Bryan.

  1. Coax – (verb) to use gentle persuasion
  2. Interior – (noun) the internal part; inside

(adj.) within

  1. Puny – (adj.) of less than normal size or strength; weak
  2. Ramshackle – (adj.) loosely made or held together; rickety
  3. Rubbish – (noun) worthless, unwanted material that is discarded or thrown out

Exercise 1 - Select one of the above vocabulary words and write it on the line.

  1. My goal is to get the entire ______of the house painted this summer.
  2. There were mounds of ______scattered all over the vacant lot that the city had to remove.
  3. Sarah tried to ______her little sister into giving up her share of the candy.
  4. Because the house was so ______(ed) and would require so much work to repair, no one wanted to buy it.
  5. Even though Ginger was the ______puppy in the litter, she is now bigger than her brother and sisters.

Exercise 2 – Match each word to its correct definition.

  1. Coax ___a. to move or jump suddenly as in surprise or alarm
  2. Interior ____b. worthless, unwanted material that is discarded or thrown away
  3. Puny ____c. to see or observe
  4. Ramshackle ____d. inside
  5. Rubbish ____e. to supply with water by artificial means
  6. Startle____f. a number of animals of one kind that feed or keep together
  7. Behold____g. weak; of less than normal size or strength
  8. Flock ____h. smoke or other atmospheric pollutants combined with fog
  9. Irrigate ____i. to use gentle persuasion
  10. Smog _____j. loosely made or held together; rickety

Exercise 3 – Synonyms; think of and write one word that has the same or nearly the same as the vocabulary word. (Use a dictionary or thesaurus)

  1. Coax = ______
  2. Interior= ______
  3. Puny = ______
  4. Ramshackle = ______
  5. Rubbish = ______