It’s quiz time again so sharpen your pencils and test your
mettle. I’ve separated the words into
three categories: You’ve Seen One,
Keeping Them Straight, and Word Drop Your Way to a Corner Office. Use your knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and
Greek endings.
You’ve Seen One
1.
Funambulist; 2. Menhir; 3.
Crash; 4. Volute; 5. Caryatid; 6.
Ziyada; 7. Strigil; 8. Tatterdemalion
[Choose one: a –
glutton; b – outer court of a mosque; c – tightrope walker; d – mottled markings;
e – traveler; f – prehistoric monument consisting of a huge upright stone, a
standing stone; g – carved female figure used as column supporting a structure;
h – chemical compound used to dissolve alkaline stains; i – course open-weave
cloth used in book binding as a lining for the spine; j – spiral scroll
decoration used on an Ionic capital; k – person who wears raggedly clothes; l –
astringent; m – curve bladed instrument used to scrape sweat and dirt from the
body after exercise] Not all choices will
be used.
Keeping Them Straight
1.
Exegete, exigent, exiguous
2.
Obviate, obsecrate, objurgate
3.
Apothegm, apothem, apotheosis
4.
Apotropaic, apodictic, apogee
5.
Obloquy, obliquity
6.
Ersatz, erstwhile
[All choices will have a match. a – to scold angrily; b –
highest point of glory and power, elevation of human to status of a god; c –
slander, defamatory statement; d – protective, warding off evil; e – former friend
or supporter; f – urgent; g – make unnecessary; h – pity, terse remark; i – an imitation
or inferior substitute; j – scanty, meager; k – departure from right or moral
principles; l – a perpendicular from the center of a regular polygon to one of
its sides; m – solemnly beseech; n – one who studies, speaks, or writes as a
scriptural expert; o – certain, necessary truth; p – greatest point away from
an object in orbit, farthest away]
Word Drop Your Way to a Corner Office
1.
Anosmia; 2.
Enervate; 3. Sui generis; 4. Naïf; 5. Escheat; 6. Hamartia; 7. Obtund; 8.
Sinecure; 9. Instantiate;
10. Farouche;
11. Telluric; 12. Encomium; 13.
Apposite; 14. Epigone; 15. Onomastics
[Choose one: a – position that requires little or no work
but one that provides a secure salary; b – naïve person; c – reversion of
property to the state after the death of
someone; d – inability to remember names; e – terrestrial, coming from
the earth, soil or atmosphere; f – to invigorate; g – one of a kind, unique; h –
orphaned child; i – splendid carriage used for royal parades; j – place in an adversarial
position; k – inability to smell; l – to weaken or destroy physical, moral or
mental vigor; m – high praise for a speech or writing; n – fatal or tragic flaw
or error that brings an honorable person disproportionate harm; o – alchemist;
p – pretended ignorance; q – study of meaning and origin of proper names; r –
shy or awkward, unsociable; s – to blunt, deaden or dull; t – to explain using
concrete example; u – relevant, well-suited; v – follower of an important
artist or philosopher who is a mediocre imitator] Not all choices will be used.
And the answers are…
You’ve
Seen One: 1/c; 2/f; 3/i; 4/j; 5/g;
6/b; 7/m; 8/k
Keeping
Them Straight: (Answers will be in the order listed) 1. n, f, j;
2. g, m, a; 3. h,
l, b; 4. d, o, p;
5. c, k; 6. i,
e.
Word
Drop Your Way to a Corner Office: 1/k; 2/l; 3/g; 4/b; 5/c; 6/n, 7/s; 8/a; 9/t;
10/r; 11/e; 12/m; 13/u; 14/v; 15/q.
Congratulations. Hope
you enjoyed the mental calisthenics. Now go out there and amaze!
