Advanced Vocabulary Booster 1 + Practical Exercises (For C1/C2 level students)

ADVANCED VOCABULARY BOOSTER 1 + PRACTICAL EXERCISES (for C1/C2 level students). This time we´re going to focus on the following 10 words:

1. ENTHRALLING (adj.) ; (v.)                                        6. MEMENTO (n.)
2. DEPICT/ED/ED (v.); (n.)                                            7. OUTWIT/TED/TED (v.)
3. PREPOSTEROUS (adj.)                                             8. ANTSY (adj.)
4. PERIL (n.)                                                                          9. BLINDSIDE/ED/ED (v.)
5. LOOT/ED/ED (v.)                                                         10. COMPELLING(adj.); (v.)

 

1. ENTHRALLING (adj.): fascinating; mesmerizing; very interesting or exciting

Ex. Frederick is no doubt an enthralling speaker. He kept the audience´s attention throughout his speech.

ENTHRALL/ED/ED (v.): to captivate; to fascinate; to mesmerize

Ex. “We were all enthralled by the performance of the players at the Lakers game last night. We had an awesome time really!”, Rick told a friend.

2. DEPICT/ED/ED (v.): to describe something by using words, a drawing or images;to represent; to portray

Ex. “I love the way that author depicts the characters in his short stories. I think he´s a very talented writer.”, said Ruth to her roommate.

DEPICTION (n.): representation; description

Ex. The book presents a realistic depiction of what life was like in the eighteenth century. 

3. PREPOSTEROUS (adj.): absurd; foolish; ridiculous

Ex. “I think Nick´s suggestion to solve the problem sounds totally preposterous. I mean, it doesn´t make any sense, does it?”, said Charlie to his friends.

4. PERIL (n.): danger; hazard; risk

Ex. “Harry is too young and inexperienced. Someone ought to talk to him about the perils of unsafe sex.”, Amanda told Donald.

5. LOOT/ED/ED (v.): to steal goods during a war, a riot or after a disaster such as a fire or a flood; to rob or take goods by force; to plunder

Ex. Many storeowners had closed their establishments during the demonstration as they feared the rioters might loot them.

LOOT (n.): goods or money obtained illegally, especially during riots, wartime, etc.

Ex. The raiders were smart enough to outwit the police and get away with the loot.

6. MEMENTO (n.): something that you keep to remember a place, person, event or experience; a souvenir

Ex. “I´ll keep this photo as a memento of our trip to France.”, Hillary told Joe.

7. OUTWIT/TED/TED (v.): to be more clever than; to outsmart

Ex. Raymond was smart enough to outwit his opponents and win the competition.

8. ANTSY (adj.): nervous; impatient; unable to keep still

Ex.“Tony seems rather antsy to go back to his home country. I think he misses his family.”, Gary told Mick.

9. BLINDSIDE/ED/ED (v.): to take by surprise, usually with harmful consequences

Ex. George had expected to start a new business, but was blindsided by the economic downturn.

10. COMPELLING (adj.): a. very exciting and interesting, able to capture one´s attention  b. convincing; persuasive

Ex. a: “That movie has a compelling plot. I had a great time watching it.”, Dave told a friend.

 Ex. b:The lawyer hoped to make a compelling argument and win the case.

COMPELL/ED/ED (v.): to force someone to do something

Ex. Amber´s parents compelled her to take ballet lessons when she was a teenager.

EXERCISES

I – Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with a word presented in Advanced Vocabulary Booster 1.

1. Thelma usually gets _____________ before a test.
2. The news had _______________ them and for a while they didn´t have a clue what to do.
3. “What a _____________ story! I got a kick out of reading that book.”, James told Martha.
4. Mike came up with some ______________ ideas during our brainstorming session. You know, the kind of things that just aren´t feasible.
5. With no water left in the desert, Denzel feared that his life was in ____________.
6. Many stores were _____________ and five people were arrested during the riot.
7. Cindy has a _______________ of every country she´s ever visited in Europe.
8. “What an ______________ book, I couldn´t put it down!”, Jake told Claire.
9. The movie ______________ a group of teenagers rebelling against their parents.
10. “I´d bet on Michael if I were you. I´m sure he´s got what it takes to _____________ the other contenders.”, said Barry.

II – Matching: Find the most appropriate definition for each word in the left-hand column.

1. Loot _____                                a. outsmart; be more clever than
2. Antsy _____                             b. take by surprise, usually with harmful consequences
3. Compell _____                        c. unable to keep still; impatient
4. Outwit _____                           d. take goods by force; plunder
5. Blindside _____                      e. force someone to do something

III – Choose the synonym.

1. Memento
   a. story       b. delicate       c. souvenir       d. risk
2. Peril
   a. affordable       b. danger       c. simple       d. astute
3. Depiction
   a. revelation       b. disposition       c. disclosure       d. description
4. Enthralling
   a. unavoidable       b. fascinating       c. experimental       d. massive

5. Preposterous
   a. absurd       b. avoidable       c. charming       d. intelligible

Key to Exercises

I – Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with a word presented in Vocabulary Booster 1.

1. antsy    2. blindsided     3. compelling     4. preposterous     5.  peril      6. looted     7. memento                       8. enthralling     9. depicts     10. outwit

II – Matching: Find the most appropriate definition for each word in the left-hand column.

1. d       2. c      3. e      4. a      5. b

III – Choose the synonym.

1. c      2. b      3. d      4. b      5. a

Ref. FALE TUDO EM INGLÊS AVANÇADO – Author: José Roberto A. Igreja / Disal Editora

José Roberto A. Igreja is the author and co-author of several ELT books, including:

LET´S TALK ABOUT IT! – The Ultimate ELT Conversation Book  / Available on UICLAP as well

A BRAND-NEW ELT BOOK!

600 Phrasal Verbs (with Jonathan T. Hogan)

Talking Business

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Fluent Business English (with Robert C. Young)

What to say when …?

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American Idioms! (with Joe Bailey Noble III)