Chapter 6. Review

Academic Vocabulary: Academic Words - Olsen Amy E. 2012

Chapter 6. Review

Focus on Chapters 1-5

The following activities give you the opportunity to further interact with the vocabulary words you've been learning. By taking tests, answering questions, using visuals, and working with others, you will see which words you know well and which ones need additional study.

Self-Tests

1 Match each word with its synonym in Set One and its antonym in Set Two.

2 Pick the word that best completes each sentence.

1. My sister said she needed her ..., so she moved out of our apartment.

a. diction

b. fauna

c. autonomy

d. median

2. I love the fall. The ... trees are so beautiful as they drop their red, yellow, and orange leaves.

a. horizontal

b. deciduous  

c. utmost   

d. parallel

3. I had a hard time deciding whether the frame looked better in a ... or vertical position. Once I decided that I liked the red stripe at the top of the frame instead of on the side, I found a picture to put in it.

a. horizontal

b. vivid 

c. destitute

d. parasitic

4. I was shocked to learn that a bestselling author had ... most of his last book from his brother's journals.

a. persecuted

b. placated

c. intersected

d. plagiarized

5. There was a lack of ... in my uncle's stories. He would begin by telling me about something that happened last week, and suddenly the story would shift to his childhood.

a. statistics

b. magnitude

c. coherence

d. flora

3 Complete the following sentences using the vocabulary words. Use each word once.

martyrdom

thesis

species

flora

quota

1. So many ..., from panda bears to tigers, are endangered these days due to loss of their natural habitats.

2. I had to revise my ... after I discovered some new information on the topic.

3. I worked efficiently and met my ... of phone calls to make about the upcoming election by noon.

4. The ... in the mountains offer a gorgeous array of colors in the spring.

5. The days of ... are not over. People are still willing to die for political and religious beliefs worldwide.

4 Complete the following sentences that illustrate collocations. Use each word or phrase once.

of the problem

to

importance

statement

income

1. It is of the utmost ... that I catch the train. If I miss it another one doesn't leave for ten hours.

2. His thesis ... was easy to find at the end of the first paragraph of his essay.

3. According to the newspaper, the median ... in my city is $43,000 a year.

4. The magnitude ... became clear when we realized that Shonali never made it to the cabin.

5. Matt's intention ... do his homework right after school was thwarted when he saw the video game controller.

5 Fill in the missing word part, and circle the meaning of the word part found in each sentence.

ambi

mag

not

viv

dom

1. When I an ... ate, I use a red pen to mark up the text so that I can easily see my comments.

2. The writer's descriptions were so ... id that they brought the scene to life.

3. My ... valence was easy to identify since I wanted to do both things during my spring break: travel with my family to Hawaii and spend time with my boyfriend at home.

4. In the 1500s martyr ... was a common condition since religious persecution was widespread in many European countries.

5. The ... nitude of the earthquake was great, and the destruction was more than had been projected.

6 Finish the story using the vocabulary words. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

ascertain

ambivalence

calculate

refute

intrinsic

intersect

metamorphosis

utmost

variable

vivid

intention

symbiotic

Making a Quilt

When I was little, I would try to (1)... what my grandmother was doing in the back room of her house at night. She, however, would quickly see me open the door and shoo me back to bed. When I was about eight, the situation changed. My grandmother introduced me to her quilt making. She told me that her (2)... when I was small was not to be mean but to protect me and the quilts. She was afraid I might hurt myself with the needles or disrupt her system of laying out materials. Now she was happy to introduce me to the scraps she had collected over the years.

I watched with some (3)... the first time she cut up one of my favorite child­ hood shirts. Part of me hated to see it destroyed, but I knew she was going to make it into some­thing special. One of the first tasks I learned was to (4)... how many pieces I would need to make a quilt of a certain size. Then she taught me the various steps to perform the (5)... from scraps to blanket. I loved seeing the (6)... colors of the var­ious pieces of clothing transform into something that for years would keep me warm on cold winter nights. To me, it was magical how she made the various shapes (7)... . She could make so many (8)... patterns that I thought I would never be able to learn half of them. I

tried my (9)... to become as good as she was. My needle skills never did match hers, but they are superior to most people's. Since I started sewing at a young age, I feel that sewing is a(n) (10)... part of who I am.

Over the years, our relationship became quite (11)... . As her eyesight failed, I helped her thread needles, and she taught me a wonderful skill while sharing priceless family his­tory as we worked together. I would definitely (12)... those who say that children and grandparents can't find much in common these days. I had hours of enjoyment with my grandmother making our quilts, and I now share that joy with my granddaughter and grandson.

Interactive Exercise

Answer the following questions to further test your understanding of the vocabulary words.

1. What could induce you to do something you might not usually think of doing, like skydiving or going to the opera?

2. What are two examples of parasitic relationships?

3. Name a field that uses a lot of statistics.

4. Name two groups that are persecuted in today's world.

5. Cite two examples of successes you have had in college.

6. Name two types of fauna found in your city or town.

7. Write a list of five ages of people you know, and then calculate the median age.

8. List five numbers related to an area of your life (such as test scores, miles walked, or money spent on coffee), and determine the mean for them. Example: miles Jo walked each day for five days: 1, 4, 3, 7, and 5. The mean is 4 miles.

9. Paraphrase the following sentence: "Many Europeans saw America as a place for autonomy."

10. Give an example of a time when informal diction would be appropriate and a time when formal diction would be required.

Title or Headline Making

Write three titles or headlines for each photograph. Use at least six of the words below in your titles or headlines. Feel free to add word endings (i.e., -s, -ing, -ly, -tion).

It might help you to imagine the photograph as the cover of a book, hanging in an art gallery, or accom­panying an article in a newspaper or magazine. Your titles/headlines can be serious or humorous. Share what you have written with your classmates. Your instructor may ask foe class to vote on foe titles and headlines that best capture foe mood or action of each photograph.

Examples

Title: Beach Metamorphosis

Headline: City Cites Persecution of Seals as Reason for Beach Ban

Vocabulary list

induce

placate

persecute

ascertain

cite

refute

vivid

calculate

horizontal

parallel

statistics

fauna

intrinsic

coincide

denote

metamorphosis

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

Make Your Own Tests

A great way to study is to make your own tests in the same style of the tests that you will have in class. Making the tests puts you in the instructor's frame of mind and makes you think about what is important to study.

✵ Before the first test (or quiz), ask your instructor what format(s) the test will be in-true/false, multiple choice, matching, essay.

✵ Create a test in the same format(s) with questions that you think will be asked, neatly hand­written or typed.

✵ Set the test aside for a day.

✵ The next day, take the test and correct yourself. How much did you remember?

✵ Make a test for a friend, and exchange with each other. Did you come up with similar questions?

✵ Examine the first in-class test to give yourself a better idea of what the instructor is looking for. Don't be disappointed if you don't do well on the first test. Mistakes can be learning experiences. Decide what went wrong. Did you not anticipate what material was going to be covered on the test? Did you read the questions too fast? Take the time to understand what you did wrong, and ask your instructor if you are unsure about why you got a question wrong. Evaluating the first test will help you to create more effective homemade tests.

Mix It Up

Making a Scene

Get together with six to nine classmates and divide into two to three groups. Each group creates a situation or uses one of the sug­gestions below to write a short scene using at least six of the vo­cabulary words to be studied. If you want to study several words, make sure each group doesn't pick the same six words. Each group acts out the scene with the rest noting how the words are used. You may choose to emphasize the vocabulary words by your actions or tone of voice when you are doing the scene to help you and your classmates remember the words. Discuss how the words fit in after the scene is completed. The scenes can also be done as role-playing with pairs creating the scenes instead of small groups. Creating scenes is an especially fun and useful activity if you like to act or enjoy movement.

The following are possible scenes related to specific chapters: immigrants sharing their reasons for coming to the United States from Chapter 1, students in a writing circle evaluating a paper from Chapter 2, a teacher and students discussing the homework from Chapter 3, and a ranger leading a group on a hike from Chapter 4.

If you enjoy this collaborative activity, remember to use it again when you are reviewing later chapters in this book. Have fun making the scenes, and you will enjoy the review process.