Test your higher-level English vocabulary (20 words, 10 fill-in-the-blanks)

resentment - the way you feel if a person hurts you and you can't forget it; a grudge
fortitude - strength
elation - extreme joy
eloquence - being able to speak beautifully
elite - among the very top or best
colloquial - conversational
peripatetic - moving around a lot
remunerative - receiving money for a service
vivacious - lively
garrulous - talking too much
amiable - friendly
reticent - not speaking much
symbiotic - a relationship in which two organisms benefit each other
regressive - going backwards
empirical - that which can be sensed, touched, heard etc.
to coerce - to force
intuitive - a feeling that something is right or wrong which cannot be verified
to retract - to take back
to consolidate - to bring a bunch of things together
to disseminate - to spread out


1) Many educators believe that a child will not learn anything that he/she is __________ into learning.  To learn, a child needs to be motivated by something other than fear.

2) Although many state universities are not considered to be as selective as the ________ Ivy League schools, they are less expensive and provide excellent educational opportunities, perhaps as excellent as the Ivy schools.

3) We don't often think of the bacteria in our stomachs as being our friends, but we have an important ____________ relationship with these bacteria.  They help us break down food and we provide them a place to survive.

4)  When the internet was started most people felt this would be a great way to ___________ useful information around the world.  At that time nobody could have anticipated all of the abuses and problems that have come with it.

5)  Martin Luther King Jr. was not only a principled person who fought for the human rights.  People were amazed by his _____________.  He speeches were always well-written and beautifully spoken.

6)  When we look at a work of art we often can't really say what it means, but we often have an ________________ understanding of it.

7)  Although the professor was known as one of the greatest physicists in modern history, students were surprised by how ______________ his lectures were.  It was as if he were having friendly conversations with his students instead of formal lectures.

8)  If a person wants to be a great leader, perhaps the most important character trait will be ______________.  A great leader must be able to withstand a great amount of adversity.

9)  It's true that Jake was amazingly smart, but it was hard for people to tell that because he was so _______________.

10)  In order to go to college, many American students take out loans from several sources.  When it is time to pay the loans back, it is wise to have the loans _______________. This means all the loans are handled by one agency and one payment is made each month to the agency, which disseminates the payment equally to the different loan organizations.

Answers are below:







Answers:

1. coerced
2. elite
3. symbiotic
4. disseminate
5. eloquence
6. intuitive
7. colloquial
8. fortitude
9. reticent
10. consolidated