Often Misused Words

aghast – amazed, appalled or angry? (appalled)

ascendancy – dynasty, ancestry or mastery? (Sounds like ancestry – but it means mastery.)

battery – array, attack or barrage? (array)

belie – betray, reveal or contradict? (contradict)

compunction – compulsion, compassion or contrition? (None of these – it’s a prick of conscience.)

diffidence – reluctance, respect or shyness? (shyness)

edifice – the front of a building, a building or a tower? (A building – the front is the façade.)

foray – battle, excursion or raid? (A fray is a battle, a foray is a raid or incursion.)

hallowed – high, holy or hollow? (holy)

hiatus – gap, heyday or exodus? (gap)

homily – porridge, sermon or homage? (sermon)

imbue – endow, infuse, permeate or drain? (permeate) (There’s an archaic word “endue” or “indue” which means “endow”. And “imbrue” or “embrue” means “to saturate”. Endue thy ministers with righteousness!)

inherent – installed, innate or inevitable? (innate)

insipid – tepid, insidious or bland? (bland)

invariably – unavoidably, always or nearly always? (always)

lauded – praised, boasted or saluted? (praised)

novitiate – novice nun, group of novice nuns or member of a religion? (Sounds like initiate, but it means a group of trainee nuns, not a single novice.)

obloquy – defamation, funeral or obligation? (defamation)

obtuse – lateral, stupid or impermeable? (stupid)

opprobrium – approval or disapproval? (disapproval)

ostensibly – originally, apparently or showily? (apparently – if you want showy, try ostentatious)

preoccupation – prejudice, worry or obsession? (worry)

proviso – provision, premise or caveat? (caveat)

reticent – disinclined, reserved or religious? (reserved. If you’re disinclined to do something you’re reluctant.)

sacrosanct – holy, taboo or superb? (holy)

sanguine – sarcastic, optimistic or sardonic? (optimistic)

spatchcocked – sprawled, straddled, splayed or botched up? (splayed)

touted – praised, rejected or sold in the street? (sold)

vaunt – leap, brag or advertise? (brag – it’s vaulting ambition that o’erleaps itself)

When you examine something closely, do you pore, pour or paw over it? (pore)

Found Poetry

Haiku
Coffee cools
because quasar 3C 273
grows ever more distant

Lawrence Schulman, New Scientist Feb 5 2000

This poem is put together from newspaper and magazine headlines.
Monkey species ‘gone for good’.
Huge waves eroding British coast.
Maps show homes at risk of flood.
Global warming worse than feared.
Extreme events will be the norm.
Heavy traffic heads for Mars.


Typing Exercises
Yesterday I went to see the house and found it to my liking.
A tall figure with a square box entered and closed the door.
She could hear the water rushing and flooding all around her.
The shop, with the blinds drawn down, was a place of shadows.
John was standing outside a large store watching the traffic.
Every evening the old lady sat by the open door of her house.
The woman had taken a seat quite close to the railings.
His train seemed to go so slowly he wanted to push it.
He stretched himself out on the grass to enjoy the sun,.
The next morning the thunder seemed to have quite gone.
Out of the window she could see large blocks of houses.
The man in the top coat was clearly very nervous.
Anne gazed with excitement at the dazzling scene below.
He strolled downstairs and out into the garden.
She turned and walked slowly back to the bookshop.
A big man in grey flannels was pacing up and down.
I stood unable to move, afraid of who waited there.
He had no intention of hanging about doing nothing.
The blind man sat motionless on the camp bed.
Before going to her room she peeped in at the old man.
Both doors were tightly closed and it was pitch black.