Ultimate word success - Peterson's 2009

Day 16 Study 100 Key SAT or ACT Words
Part V Collect More Valuable Words

Some words keep showing up on standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT because they are especially useful in college speech and writing. As a result, test makers love them—and by the time you finish this chapter, you will, too. So let’s talk about words that you are highly likely to encounter on the SAT or ACT. To help you learn these words more easily, they are grouped according to their part of speech.

Learn Twenty Vital Test-worthy Nouns

When asked why he robbed banks, famous thief Willie Sutton is said to have replied: “Because that’s where the money is.” When asked why you take standardized tests, the answer is: “Because standardized tests are generally required for college and grad school admission, as well as for certain careers.” Learning these twenty test-worthy nouns can help you do your best on test day.

Administered by the College Board, the SAT is a 4-hour standardized test divided into three sections: math, critical reading, and writing. The SAT is used chiefly as a factor in college admissions, and, to a much lesser extent, as a factor in admissions to elite academic summer programs and private high schools.

Give It a Try: Puzzle Me This!

Complete the following crossword puzzle with the twenty test-worthy words that you just learned. If you’re feeling smug, do the puzzle in ink rather than pencil. The answers appear on here.

ACROSS

1. Pompous language

3. Recklessness

5. Bitter resentment

10. Scarcity

11. Participation in a crime

13. Resentment

14. A conspiracy

16. Force

18. A grossly inferior imitation

19. Luck

DOWN

2. Something that differs from the norm

4. Motion

6. Disharmonious sound

7. Stinginess

8. Uprightness, extreme morality

9. Something of tremendous power or size

10. A disastrous failure

12. Instrument used to measure the thickness of an object

15. An overabundance

17. An imaginary and remote place of perfection

Time for Fun: Word-Find Puzzle #1

To really own a word, you have to practice using it. That’s what these games, puzzles, and activities help you do. For example, there are twenty words hidden in this word-find puzzle. All twenty words were defined in “Learn Twenty Vital Test-worthy Nouns,” but you’ll find the definitions here, too. To complete the puzzle, locate and circle all the words. (See the word list on the next page.) The words may be written forward, backward, diagonally, or upside down. The answers appear on here. Good luck!

Word List

1. aberration: something that differs from the norm

2. behemoth: something of tremendous power or size

3. cacophony: tremendous noise, disharmonious sound

4. caliper: instrument used to measure the thickness of an object

5. collusion: conspiracy

6. complicity: participation in a crime

7. dearth: lack, scarcity

8. debacle: disastrous failure, disruption

9. duress: force

10. grandiloquence: lofty, pompous language

11. kinetic: motion

12. parsimony: frugality, stinginess

13. rancor: deep, bitter resentment

14. rectitude: uprightness, extreme morality

15. serendipity: luck, finding good things without looking for them

16. surfeit: overabundant supply or indulgence

17. temerity: audacity, recklessness

18. travesty: grossly inferior imitation

19. umbrage: resentment, offense

20. utopia: imaginary and remote place of perfection

Make Ten More Nouns Your Own

In 1823, Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh discovered that the newfangled substance called “rubber” could be dissolved with the chemical naphtha and painted on cloth to create a waterproof covering. Clothing made with this fabric came to be called mackintoshes (raincoats).

Here are ten more test-worthy nouns. They’re not waterproof, but they are useful on tests and in daily conversation. Use the memory tricks you learned earlier to make it easier to remember these words.

1. abstinence (ab-stih-nehns) self denial

2. bourgeois (bore-zhwah) a middle-class person, capitalist

3. dissonance (dis-oh-nans) discord

4. edict (ee-dihkt) an order, decree

5. guile (gy-uhl) deceitful behavior

6. hegemony (heh-jih-moh-nee) domination over others

7. hiatus (hy-ay-tuhs) a break or gap in duration or continuity

8. iniquity (ih-nih-kwih-tee) evil, wickedness

9. medley (mehd-lee) a mixture of differing things

10. translucent (trans-loo-sehnt) the property or state of allowing the passage of light

Give It a Try: Synonyms and Antonyms

Complete this puzzle by writing a synonym (word that means the same) and an antonym (word that means the opposite) for each of these ten words. See if you can come up with more than one synonym and antonym for each word. The answers appear on here.

Visualize Twenty Vital Verbs

We don’t want to slight words that show action or state of being, so here are twenty important verbs.

1. abase (uh-beys) to humiliate, to degrade

2. abdicate (ab-di-kayt) to give up a position, usually one of leadership

3. balk (bawk) to stop

4. carouse (kuh-rouz) to party, to celebrate

5. extort (eks-tort) to demand payment based on threats

6. extradite (eks-truh-dyt) to give up a fugitive from one state or country to another

7. forge (forj) to counterfeit

8. goad (gohd) to urge on

9. immerse (ih-murs) to absorb, to deeply involve, to engross

10. mitigate (mit-ih-gayt) to alleviate

11. modulate (moj-uh-layt) to change, to transform

12. mollify (mol-uh-fy) to appease

13. procure (pro-kyoor) to purchase

14. sanction (sank-shun) to give approval

15. solder (sah-der) to join metal with melted metal

16. transgress (tranz-gress) to violate

17. transmute (tranz-myoot) to change or alter in form

18. underwrite (un-der-ryt) to offer insurance

19. venerate (ven-uh-rayt) to regard with respect or to honor

20. vituperate (vy-too-puh-rayt) to berate

Seventh-Inning Stretch: Make a Match

Below are ten verbs from the list that you just studied. To complete this game, match each word to its definition. Consider pronouncing the word aloud as you write it, because this will help you fix it more firmly in your mind. Then write the letter of your answer in the space provided. The answers appear on here.

Give It a Try: Puzzle Me This—Take 2!

Complete the following crossword puzzle with ten of the test-worthy verbs that you just learned. The answers appear on here.

ACROSS

4. To demand payment based on threats

7. To absorb

9. To regard with respect or to honor

10. To counterfeit

DOWN

1. To join metal with melted metal

2. To purchase

3. To appease

5. To change or alter in form

6. To celebrate

8. To humiliate

Crack Fifteen Virtuous Verbs

Verbs are useful in life as well as on tests, so here are fifteen more to help you get ahead. Use the techniques that you learned earlier to help you memorize these words and their meanings.

Seventh-Inning Stretch: Multiple Choice

Select the correct meaning for each of the following boldfaced verbs. Circle your choice. The answers appear on here.

1. oscillate

(A) satisfy

(B) annoy

(C) to soften in temper

(D) swing back and forth

(E) to render incomprehensible

2. satiate

(A) relieve

(B) compensate

(C) qualify

(D) clinch

(E) quench

3. rail

(A) reprimand

(B) relieve

(C) review

(D) renew

(E) rewrite

4. obfuscate

(A) confuse

(B) refine

(C) clarify

(D) explain

(E) simplify

5. expurgate

(A) assist

(B) saturate

(C) abridge

(D) berate

(E) pardon

When applied to a business setting, a dingbat (ding-bat) is used to refer to a small symbol such as an arrow, pointing finger, and so forth, which is part of a typeface. For example: Z. In general speech, the word dingbat refers to a crackpot or a weirdo.

Discover Ten Test-worthy Adjectives

Remember that an adjective is a word that modifies (describes) a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives are arranged in specific order before a noun, as follows: opinion, dimension, age, shape, color, origin, and material. Thus, we say delicious hot vegetable soup, not hot delicious vegetable soup or vegetable delicious hot soup.

Here are ten test-worthy adjectives arranged on a chart. As you read them, mentally arrange them in order in a sentence.

Master Fifteen More Adjectives You’ll Likely Encounter on the SAT or ACT

One of the great strengths of English is its welcoming attitude toward new words. People coin new English words daily, and some of them even become a permanent part of our language. For example, fantabulous is a new adjective that means “beyond fabulous.” Can you guess which two words were combined to form this new word? (They’re fantastic and fabulous.) Perhaps this clever word will endure; perhaps not.

Below are fifteen test-worthy adjectives that have withstood the test of time. As a result, it is virtually guaranteed that you will see some of these words on the standardized tests that you take.

1. desiccated (deh-sih-kayt-id) dried up, dehydrated

2. capacious (kuh-pay-shus) very spacious

3. puerile (pure-ill) juvenile, immature

4. banal (buh-nal) commonplace

5. rancid (rant-sid) spoiled

6. sacrosanct (sa-croh-sankt) holy

7. pugnacious (pug-nay-shus) quarrelsome, combative

8. taciturn (ta-suh-tern) not inclined to talk

9. torpid (tor-pid) lethargic

10. benign (be-nyn) mild

11. prosaic (pro-zay-ik) plain

12. sanctimonious (sank-te-moh-nee-us) hypocritical

13. benevolent (be-ne-ve-lent) compassionate

14. bashful (bash-fil) shy

15. vicarious (vy-ker-ee-us) experiencing something through someone else

Ginormous is a newly coined adjective that means “extremely large.” It’s a blend of gigantic and enormous.

Give It a Try: Chart It!

Complete this puzzle by writing a synonym (word that means the same) and an antonym (word that means the opposite) for each of these ten adjectives. See if you can come up with more than one synonym and antonym for each adjective. The answers appear on here.

Study Ten More Critical SAT or ACT Words

Economics has been called “the dismal science.” Learning the following ten test-worthy words from the financial field can keep you cheerful—especially when you see your high score on standardized vocabulary tests!

1. accrue (uh-kroo) verb, to accumulate interest over time

2. actuary (ak-choo-ayr-ee) noun, an expert on statistics

3. amortize (am-or-tyz) verb, to gradually reduce or write off the cost or value of (as an asset)

4. appraise (uh-prayz) verb, to assess the market value of an asset

5. arbitrage (ar-bih-trahzh) verb, to take advantage of differing prices for a commodity

6. arrears (uh-reers) noun, an unpaid and overdue debt

7. contraband (kahn-truh-band) noun, goods illegally transported across a border

8. embargo (em-bar-goh) noun, an official prohibition or restriction of foreign trade by one nation against another

9. entrepreneur (ahn-truh-pruh-ner) noun, someone who takes a risk in a business venture

10. escrow (es-kroh) noun, a temporary account established to hold funds pending the completion of an investment

Time for Fun: Word-Find Puzzle #2

This word-find puzzle has all ten words you just learned. As with the other word-find puzzles that you have enjoyed in this book, to complete the puzzle, locate and circle all the words. (See the word list below.) The words may be written forward, backward, diagonally, or upside down. The answers appear on here. Good luck!

Word List

1. accrue: to accumulate or be added periodically

2. actuary: person who calculates insurance and annuity premiums, reserves, and dividends

3. amortize: to gradually reduce or write off the cost or value of (as an asset)

4. appraise: to evaluate the worth, significance, or status of

5. arbitrage: the purchase of a stock or takeover target especially with a view to selling it profitably to the raider

6. arrears: an unpaid or overdue debt

7. contraband: illegal or prohibited traffic in goods

8. embargo: a legal prohibition on commerce

9. entrepreneur: one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise

10. escrow: a deed, bond, money, or piece of property held in trust by a third party to be turned over to the grantee upon fulfillment of a condition

Answers and Explanations

Puzzle Me This! (here)

Word-Find Puzzle #1 (here)

Synonyms and Antonyms (here)

(Possible answers)

Make a Match (here)

1. d

2. g

3. i

4. f

5. j

6. c

7. a

8. h

9. e

10. b

Seventh-Inning Stretch: Puzzle Me This—Take 2! (here)

Multiple Choice (here)

1. D

2. E

3. A

4. A

5. C

Chart It! (here)

(Possible answers)

Word-Find Puzzle #2 (here)