Test #8.
  1. The _____ seems to be the most difficult form of dance.  a) ballay  b) balley  c) ballet  d) baillet  e) balay
  2. Will you teach me your painting ______?  a) tecnique  b) technique  c) teqnique  d) technic  e) techniche
  3. The long hike left us weak with _____.  a) fatigue  b) fateege  c) fateage  d) fateegue  e) fategue
  4. The young actor was nervous about his _____.  a) dabue  b) debue  c) debut  d) debute  e) debuy
  5. She is too tall to be called _____.  a) pettite  b) petite  c) petitte d) pitite  e) pitete
  6. An __ boxer does not compete for money.  a) amature  b) amatuer  c) ameture  d) amateur  e) ameteur
  7. The bride carried a beautiful __ of  flowers.  a) boukay  b) bouquet  c) booquet  d) bouket  e) bouquay
  8. A ________ will relax those tight muscles.   a) message  b) masage  c) mesage  d) massage  e) massaj
  9. His _______ chair is hundreds of years old. a) antique  b) anteek  c) anteeque  d) anteque  e) anteak
  10. His directions were so ________ --"Go for a little bit, until you see a tree..."--that we got lost.  a) vaige  b) vauge  c) vaugue  d) vaigue  e) none of the above
  11. Please sit still while I finish your _______ .  a) potrate  b) portait  c) portrait  d) portraite  e) pourtrait
  12. We cruised the __ in our low rider.  a) boulevard  b) boulavard  c) boulavarde  d) boulevarde  e) bolevard.
  13. Heavy rains filled the __________(s), like Lake Nacimiento.  a) reservoire  b) reserver  c) researvoir  d) resevoir  e) reservoir
  14. The storm blew ___ all over the yard.  a) debrit  b) debrise  c) debrite  d) debris  e) none of the above
  15. The dress ______ is having a sale. a) boutike  b) bootique  c) bouteke  d) boutique  e) none of the above
  16. The view from the ______ is splendid.  a) plato  b) plateau  c) platteau  d) plattoe  e) platoe
  17. I have a _______ for a $1.99 pizza. a) qupon  b)  quepon  c) coupon  d) quopon  e) none of the above
  18. The train leaves the ________ at noon.  a) depoe  b) depote  c) deepot  d) deepoe  e) depot
  19. Our names were engraved on the ___ by the door.  a) plack  b) plaque  c) placque  d) placke  e) none of the above
  20. My aunt would ___ a scarf for you.  a) croshay  b) croshet  c) crochay  d) crochet  e) none of the above
  21. Ponyboy had experienced too much to be called innocent or ________.  a) naive  b) niave  c) neive  d) nieve  e) none of the above
  22. The criminal's actions were caught by the store ________ camera.  a) surveilance  b) surveillence  c) surviellance  d) surveillance  e) none of the above
  23. It was just a _________ day; nothing special happened.  a) rutine  b) routine  c) routien  d) rutiene  e) routiene
  24. The singing _____ made beautiful music.  a) onsomble  b) enemble  c) ensamble  d) enseamble  e) none of the above
  25. The road construction created a _______.  a) detoure  b) deatour  c)  deature  d) detour  e) deatoure
  26. His presence in the class was ________. Once he was gone the class was "healthy" again.  a) allusion  b) malignant  c) jaunty  d) elaborate  e) dubious
  27. puzzled : baffled :: complicated : _________  a) saturated  b) malignant  c) wherewithal  d) elaborate  e) jaunty
  28. Even though Huck had the ________ to live like everyone else (or even better), he didn't like it.  a) hoard  b) baffled  c) allusion  d) stature e) wherewithal
  29. As I was talking to her, she made  ____________ (s) about something she had heard, but even though I knew she was hinting at something, I didn't know what it was.  a) saturation  b) elaborations  c) stature  d) allusion  e) wherewithal
  30. That commercial has __________(ed) television programming for the last week. It has been showing on almost every channel, several times a day.  a) elaborate  b) saturate  c) allusion  d) baffle  e) hoard
  31. Tom kept hoping they would find a(n) ___________ of treasure, and then they finally did.  a) hoard  b) stature  c) wherewithal  d) allusion  e) malignant
  32. Even though she was small in ________, her _________ in the community was large.  a) hoard, stature  b) allusion, hoard  c) wherewithal, wherewithal  d) wherewithal, stature  e) stature, stature
  33. Tom and his friends believed, that when you were trying to escape, crossing creeks and rivers  would leave your pursuers _________.  a) wherewithalled  b) baffled  c) elaborated  d) dubious  e) jaunty
  34. First period says they can be quiet and respectful for an entire period. I, however, remain __________.  a) malignant  b) elaborate  c) dubious  d) baffled  e) jaunty
  35. When the boys asked Thwaites to __________ on his theory that your spit made gobstoppers change color, he said, "You wouldn't understand it if I did tell you."  a) baffle  b) elaborate  c) saturate  d) hoard  e) wherewithal
  36. specific : vague :: beneficial : ______  a) saturate  b) elaborate  c) hoard  d) wherewithal  e) malignant
  37. The train roared through the tunnel, blasting its horn.  a) roared, through  b) through  c) the  d) the, through  e) no prepositions
  38. Hundreds of people swarmed into the theater for the show.  a) of  b) of, into, swarmed  c) of, into  d) of, into, for  e) of, for
  39. Without a doubt, spitting on the subway is against the law.  a) without, doubt, on  b) without, on, is  c) without, on, against  d) on, against  e) against
  40. He made us walk around together.  a) around  b) together  c) around, together  d) walk, around, together  e) no prepositions
  41. After years as head coach, he decided to step down.   a) after  b) after, as  c) after, as, down  d) after, down  e) after, as , to
  42. The class about snacking was held in the gym.  a) about  b) about, in  c) about, snacking, in  d) the(2), about, in  e) no prepositions
  43. We came inside, we sat around the table, and we ate.  a) inside  b) inside, and  c) inside, around  d) around  e) inside, and, around
  44. At the post office, Myron mailed the letter to his grandma. a) at  b) to  c) at, to  d) at, the(2), to  e) no prepositions
  45. If you try, you know that you can fly...over the rainbow.  a) that  b) can  c) can, over  d) over  e) that, over
Mental Floss.
  1. Read the next sentence, and determine what the four uppercase words have in common. As you put down your bowl of STEW and take your SEAT, you let out a SHOUT and leap back up; you sat on a THORN!
  2. If you balanced a broom horizontally on your finger, so that your finger was exactly on the broom's center of gravity, marked that spot and cut the broom in two, then you would have a long and a short piece; the long piece being most of the handle and the short piece being the bristle end and a small part of the handle. Now, if you weigh both pieces, which will weigh more? Or will they weight the same?
  3. Bob owns a pet store. He has thirty-five birds for sale. If twenty of those birds are parrots, what is the probability that any of the remaining birds are dodo birds?
  4. You have 27 marbles. You have 4 cups. How could you put an odd number of marbles in each cup?
  5. An antigram is an anagram which has a meaning opposite to its unscrambled version. (Example: Evil's Agents --> Evangelists)