GrammarPhile Blog

Vocabulary Test - Rate Your Skills

Posted by Julie DeSilva   Apr 27, 2010 5:00:00 AM

Before we take you to our vocabulary quiz, here's something fun to try! This is interesting, and proves that the brain is a marvelous work of creation!

Instructions: Just read the following sentence straight through without really thinking about it:

Acocdrnig to an Elgnsih unviesitry sutdy, the oredr of letetrs in a wrod dosen't mttaer, the olny thnig thta's iopmrantt is that the frsit and lsat ltteer of eevry word is in the crcreot ptoision. The rset can be jmbueld and one is stlil albe to raed the txet wiohtut dclftfuiiy.

Source: Lisa and www.webmasterworld.com

NOW -- Test Your Vocabulary!

Take your best shots. Compare your answers with those at the bottom of the post.

  • jus soli: (1) a rule that the soloist in an opera is paid more than the chorus; (2) a rule that the citizenship of a child is determined by the place of its birth; (3) a rule that the originator of a conspiracy should receive a harsher penalty; (4) the newest Italian ice drink showing up at convenience stores everywhere.
  • onomatopoeia: (1) being a word or phrase (as a pronoun) that takes its reference from a following word or phrase (as her in before her Jane saw nothing but desert); (2) the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it; (3) the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables (as wild and woolly, threatening throngs); (4) a modification in the rate of a chemical reaction induced by material unchanged at the end of the reaction.
  • fructuous: (1) sugary; (2) drained or incapable of emotion; (3) fruitful; (4) tending to be troublesome.
  • froward: (1) habitually disposed to disobedience; (2) musty, stale; (3) incapable of being changed; (4) flashing with lightning.
  • mammon:(1) something immense of its kind; (2) a ballroom dance of Cuban origin that resembles the rumba and the cha-cha; (3) material wealth especially as having a debasing influence; (4) (Mammon) Roman god of virility.
  • obtuse: (1) having the base narrower than the top; (2) easily discovered; (3) facing the observer or opponent; (4) lacking sharpness or quickness of intellect.
  • ocarina: (1) pasta made from semolina; (2) any of numerous parrots (esp. genus Ara) of South and Central America; (3) a patch of skin altered in color, characteristic of smallpox; (4) a simple wind instrument.

So, how did you do?

Answers: 2, 2, 3, 1, 3, 4, 4

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