Joy English · Level C2 · Language and meaningjoy-english.com

Test 1: The life of words

Name:Date:

A proficiency-level mixed test on how words change meaning: subtle collocation, inversion, fixed phrases and derived forms.

Part 1: Multiple-choice gaps

Choose the word or phrase that best completes each sentence.

The word nice once meant foolish, a shift that shows how readily words ___ new associations, good or bad.
- a) achieve
- b) obtain
- c) acquire
- d) attain
Purists lament the arrival of loanwords, seemingly ___ of the fact that English has grown largely by borrowing.
- a) indifferent
- b) oblivious
- c) reluctant
- d) wary
Slang that is all the ___ among teenagers one year can sound hopelessly dated the next.
- a) custom
- b) trend
- c) mode
- d) rage
In admitting such words, editors lay themselves ___ to the charge that they are legitimising careless usage.
- a) wide
- b) free
- c) open
- d) clear
Not until the printing press arrived ___ to be standardised.
- a) did spelling begin
- b) spelling began
- c) began spelling
- d) spelling did begin
The poet’s phrase was so apt that it has passed ___ the language as a proverb.
- a) to
- b) into
- c) onto
- d) across
Some words resist translation: they are so bound ___ the culture that coined them that any equivalent feels thin.
- a) in with
- b) up with
- c) over with
- d) out with
Whether language shapes thought remains a ___ point among linguists, though few doubt that it influences it.
- a) moot
- b) mute
- c) void
- d) blank

Type the missing word or words in each gap. Write one word unless the item clearly needs a short phrase.

Little ___ the early lexicographers realise how far their work would shape ideas of correct usage.
Words, ___ people, have histories that explain much of their present behaviour.
It is ___ no means certain that the word will survive another decade.
The term, ___ originally coined in jest, has since been adopted by serious scholars.
Whatever its other merits, the 1926 report ___ little to settle the matter.
Slang thrives ___ the margins of society, where inventiveness is a way of belonging.
Not ___ the manuscript was discovered did scholars grasp the true origin of the word.
___ it not been for a chance remark, the etymology might never have come to light.

Use the word in CAPITALS at the end of each sentence to form a word that fits the gap. Type one word.

The ___ of the word salary from a Latin term connected with salt is often repeated, though it is disputed. (DERIVE)
His account of the committee’s debates was refreshingly ___ about the usual academic pieties. (REVERE)
Overuse has led to a gradual ___ of the word’s force. (DILUTE)
The author’s ___ for obscure vocabulary irritated his critics. (FOND)
It is ___ to expect a single dictionary to record every word in use. (REAL)
Her essay explores the ___ between spoken and written registers. (DISTINCT)
The proposal to abolish the apostrophe was met with widespread ___ among readers, who flooded the newspaper with angry letters. (APPROVE)
Without their cultural background, many idioms are simply ___ to a learner. (COMPREHEND)

c) acquireWe say words acquire associations or connotations. Achieve and attain go with goals, and obtain with things such as permission or a result.
b) obliviousOblivious of (or to) the fact means completely unaware of it. Indifferent and reluctant would need to, and wary of means cautious about, which makes no sense here.
d) rageAll the rage is a fixed idiom meaning extremely popular. The other nouns do not work in this phrase.
c) openTo lay yourself open to a charge or criticism is a fixed phrase meaning to expose yourself to it.
a) did spelling beginAfter a negative adverbial such as not until, the auxiliary comes before the subject: did spelling begin.
b) intoA phrase passes into the language when it becomes part of everyday speech. The other prepositions do not collocate.
b) up withTo be bound up with something means to be closely connected with it. The other phrasal combinations do not exist in this sense.
a) mootA moot point is one that is open to debate. Mute means silent, and void and blank do not collocate with point in this sense.

didLittle at the start of a sentence is a negative adverb, so the auxiliary comes before the subject: Little did they realise.
likeLike introduces a comparison: words resemble people in having histories.
byBy no means is a fixed phrase meaning not at all.
though / although / albeit / while / whilstA concessive word is needed to introduce the reduced clause originally coined in jest. Though, although, albeit, while and whilst all work.
did / doesDid little to settle means achieved very little towards settling. The past fits the date, and the present does is also possible when we describe what a document says.
on / at / inThrives on, at or in the margins are all natural. The sentence needs a preposition of place.
until / tillNot until (or not till) introduces a time before which something did not happen, and it triggers inversion: did scholars grasp.
hadThis is an inverted third conditional: Had it not been for means If it had not been for.

derivationWe need a noun after the: derive + -ation gives derivation.
irreverentRefreshingly signals something that goes against convention, so we need the negative adjective irreverent.
dilutionAfter the adjective gradual and before of, we need a noun: dilution.
fondnessA noun is needed after the possessive: fond + -ness gives fondness.
unrealisticWe need a negative adjective meaning not sensible or achievable: unrealistic.
distinction / distinctionsAfter the, we need a noun. Distinction (or distinctions) between two things is the natural collocation.
disapproval / disapprobationWe need a negative noun: disapproval. Disapprobation is a rarer, formal synonym.
incomprehensibleThe adjective means impossible to understand: in- + comprehend + -ible gives incomprehensible.