Finding the common four-letter word (not swearing though ^^)

 NPR SUNDAY PUZZLE created by Will Shortz aired on October 4^th, 2020

Are you good at using 'set phrases'? Complete the following incomplete phrases. Put the same word in each blank to complete them. Every answer is a four-letter word.

Ex. ___ of wolves / ___ of cigarettes --> PACK

 

1. ___ of sale / ___ of rights

2. ___ of arms / ___ of paint

3. ___ of thought / ___ of scrimmage

4. ___ of fire / ___ of wax

5. ___ of thumb / ___ of law

6. ___ of mouth / ___ of God

7. ___ of hands / ___ of force

8. ___ of Africa / ___ of plenty

9. ___ of paper / ___ of the tongue

10. ___ of luck / ___ of both worlds

 

Answer Keys

   1.  bill

   2.  coat 

   3.  line

    4.  fall

    5.  rule

    6.  word

    7.  show

    8.  horn

    9.  slip

   10.  best

NPR Sunday Puzzle aired on the Last Week of September, 2020

Time to play the puzzle by Will Shortz on NPR Sunday On-air challenge!! In each of the given sentences below, the name of a state capital is hidden in consecutive letters. You name the capitals.

 

Example: Check the chart for details. --> HARTFORD

1. You can't rent only one trailer.

2. How does golf rank for television?

3. That's not too pleasant a feeling.

4. Dad prepared flapjacks once.

5. The numeral eight comes before nine.

6. We fly to Zurich Monday.

7. Are you and Eric on cordial terms?

8. I wanna polish off dinner.

 

Answer Keys    

    1.  Trenton (capital of New Jersey)

    2.  Frankfort (capital of Kentucky)

    3.  Santa Fe (capital of New Mexico)

    4.  Jackson (capital of Mississippi)

    5.  Raleigh (capital of North Carolina)

    6.  Richmond (capital of Virginia)

    7.  Concord (capital of New Hampshire)

    8.  Annapolis (capital of Maryland)

Synonyms with Different Connotations

 Are you good at choosing and putting proper words in English sentences? Without knowing the subtle difference between synonyms, you’d sound a bit awkward or weird with your choice of words. Let’s practice using synonymous words in a sentence by finding one word in each group that has a negative connotation.

In each of the following groups of similar words describing people, choose the words that have somewhat negative connotation (as many as you can find), the words that have positive connotation, and lastly, the one that has a neutral meaning.

 

    1.   childlike, youthful, childish, young

 

    2.   disabled, crippled, handicapped, retarded

 

    3.   relaxed, laid-back, lackadaisical, easygoing

 

    4.   slim, skinny, slender, thin

 

    5.   cheap, frugal, miserly, stingy, economical

 

    6.   adolescent, immature, juvenile, innocent

 

    7.   inquisitive, interested, curious, prying

 

    8.   confident, secure, proud, egotistical

 

    9.   lovely, knockout, beautiful, stunning

 

    10.               talkative, conversational, chatty, jabbering

 

    11.               fictional, fictitious, fictive

 

Answer Keys 

    1.  negative connotation: childish (to describe someone who behaves immaturely)

positive connotation: childlike and youthful

neutral denotation: young

 

 

    2.  negative connotation: crippled, handicapped, retarded (all three of these words have offensive and negative connotation)

positive connotation:

neutral denotation: disabled

 

    3.  negative connotation: lackadaisical (implying laziness)

positive connotation: easygoing and laid-back

neutral denotation: relaxed

 

    4.  negative connotation: skinny (describing somebody is too thin)

positive connotation: slim and slender (used as a compliment)

neutral connotation: thin

 

    5.  negative connotation: cheap, miserly, stingy (meaning not generous at all)

positive connotation: frugal (meaning thrifty)

neutral denotation: economical

 

    6.  negative connotation: immature

slightly negative to neutral: juvenile

positive connotation : innocent

neutral denotation: adolescent

 

    7.  negative connotation: prying

positive connotation: interested

neutral denotation: inquisitive and curious

 

    8.  negative connotation: egotistical (meaning ‘self-centered’)

positive connotation: confident and proud

neutral denotation: secure

 

    9.  negative/ sexist connotation: knockout (this word can be used as a compliment, but it has somewhat negative or sexist connotation

positive connotation: lovely, beautiful, stunning

 

    10.              negative connotation: jabbering (to describe somebody who is annoying)

positive connotation: talkative and chatty (to convey the feeling of “friendly” tone)

neutral denotation: conversational

 

 

    11.              negative connotation: fictitious (used to convey the meaning of something or somebody made up to deceive others or conceal oneself)

neutral denotation: fictional and fictive

 

(*source from www.dictionary.com and https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-connotative-words.html)

Time to Play a Puzzle! (from this last Sunday on NPR)

 Time to play a word puzzle created by Will Shortz from the On-air challenge of NPR.

I'm going to give you some six-letter words. For each one, change one of the consonants to a vowel to make another familiar six-letter word.

 

Example: DEFECT --> DEFEAT

1. AVENGE

2. DIPPER

3. MIGHTY

4. PREPPY

5. GROUSE

6. MADDEN

7. BIKING

8. CARTER

9. GRANGE

10. DECENT

11. STANCH

12. STANCE

 

 

Answer Keys 

    1.  avenue

    2.  diaper

    3.  eighty

    4.  prepay

    5.  arouse

    6.  maiden

    7.  bikini

    8.  career

    9.  orange

   10.   deceit

   11.  stance

   12.  seance

How to Tactfully Agree or Disagree

 

There have been many discussions and debates in my past English classes. Sometimes, students sounded way too blunt or straightforward in expressing their agreement or disagreement while arguing and getting their opinions across. Here are some basic and common tactful ways to express how you feel about others’ comments.

 

Ways to Agree

Ways to Disagree

-       That’s for sure!  -        I couldn’t agree with you more.   -        That is absolutely true.   -        No doubt about it.   -        Fair enough.   -        We’re on the same wavelength.   -        You’re telling me!   -        I second that!   -        You stole my words!   -        Exactly.   -        You have a point there.   -        (In case you agree with someone’s negative statement): Me, neither.

-        I understand where you’re coming from, but…   -        You may be right, but I think….   -        That doesn’t quite make sense to me.   -        I hear you, but that’s not always the case.   -        I beg to differ.   -        I’m sorry, but I don’t think….   -        We don’t see eye to eye on that point.   -        I’m not sure about that.   -        No way!

Weekend Word Puzzle (from NPR)

Time to play the word puzzle (created by Will Shortz) aired on NPR this last Sunday. Every answer to this puzzle is a word or name that has the accented syllable "lee" (in any spelling) somewhere inside it.

 

Example: Expungement --> DELETION

 

1. City in Ohio sometimes called "holy"

 

2. Supreme Court justice Samuel

 

3. Pledge of ___

 

4. Opposite of an atheist

 

5. Island off the coast of California

 

6. Resident of California's largest city

 

7. One-named "Queen of Tejano Music"

 

8. Italian film director Federico

 

9. Leonardo da Vinci painting (two words)

 

 

 

Answer Keys 

    1.  Toledo

    2.  Alito

    3.  Allegiance

    4.  Believer

    5.  Catalina

    6.  Angelino

    7.  Selena

    8.  Fellini

    9.  Mona Lisa

Idioms related to Fun, Joy, and Laughter

 

This week, let us learn about some expressions that are related to fun and joy. Find the proper expressions for each of the following blanks.

 

    1.   Are you inviting Eva to your birthday party? Sounds perfect! She is always the life and _____________ of the party.

 

    2.   Now that our Finals are over, why don’t we go and ____________ out today?

 

    3.   I can tell Janet is in her ____________ in the kitchen. She is such a wonderful cook who finds most of her pleasure in creating delectable dish!

 

    4.   I don’t get Melinda’s jokes. Most of the time, I ask her to give me the _____________ lines of her jokes.

 

    5.   Jeff has been staying cooped up in his house for the last couple of months. He wants to get outside and blow off the _______________ now.

 

    6.   Jean was thrilled to __________ when she won her age group at the trail running race 3 years ago.

 

    7.   Drew looked like a ____________ with two tails at the meeting this morning. He finally got promoted after all those years!

 

    8.   I used to see my mom in __________ and falling about laughing whenever she was watching the rehash of classic sitcom “I Love Lucy”.

 

    9.   (at a party) Oh, c’mon, Brian! Don’t be a wallflower. I want you to meet Rachel. She’s a ________________ of laughs.

 

    10.               Jessica was ______________ pink when she was offered the position of the manager in the financial team.

 

Answer Keys

    1.  soul

    2.  chill

    3.  element

    4.  punch

    5.  cobwebs  

    6.  bits

    7.  dog

    8.  stitches

    9.  barrel

    10.              tickled