Some folks are still struggling with adapting a paper on
Ethan Frome to a Prezi. We'll take the time in class today to review the book.And you may ask specific questions. We'll begin the presentations tomorrow.
Remember the thesis question is, Is
Ethan Frome an example of Naturalism?
DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS: YOUR
ETHAN FROME QUESTIONS
As class time will be taken up with presentations most of this week, your homework is vocabulary 10 and 11. Both are due next Monday.
Vocabulary 10
definitions
1. askance
(adverb)- with suspicion, distrust or disapproval; skeptically; suspiciously
2. attenuate
(verb) – to make thin or slender, to weaken or lessen in force, intensity or
value; dilute; water down
3. benign
(adj)- gentle, kind; forgiving, understanding; having a favorable or beneficial
effect; not malignant; salutary; salubrious
4. cavil
(verb)- to find fault in a petty way, carp; nitpick, quibble (noun)- a trivial objection or criticism
5. charlatan
(noun) – one who feigns knowledge or ability; a pretender, imposter or quack
6. decimate
(verb)- to kill or destroy a large part of; ravage, devastate
7. foible
(noun)- weak point, failing, minor flaw; shortcoming, defect, quirk
8. forgo
(verb)- to do without, abstain from, give up; renounce
9. fraught
(adj)- full or loaded with; accompanied by; charged with
10. inure (verb)-
to toughen, harden’ render used to something by long subjection or exposure;
accustom, acclimate
11. luminous
(adj)- emitting or reflecting light, glowing; radiant, bright, refulgent
12. obsequious
(adj)- marked by slavish attentiveness; excessively submissive, often for
purely self-interested reasons.
13. obtuse
(adj)- blunt, not coming to the point; slow or dull in understanding; not
causing a sharp impression; stupid, dumb, thick
14. oscillate
(verb)- to swing back and forth with a steady rhythm, to fluctuate or waver;
vibrate, vacillate
15. penitent
(adj)- regretful for one’s sins or mistakes; (noun) one who is sorry for
wrongdoing; repentant; regretful, rueful, sorry
16. peremptory
(adj)- having the nature of a command that leaves no opportunity for debate,
denial or refusal; high-handed, unconditional
17. rebuff
(verb) to snub; to repel, drive away, spurn, repulse, reject; (noun) a curt
rejection; a check; a set back
18. reconnoiter
(verb)- to engage in reconnaissance; to make a preliminary inspection; scout
19. shambles
(noun)- a slaughterhouse; a place of mass bloodshed; a state of complete
disorder and confusion, mess
20. sporadic
(adj)- occurring at irregular intervals, having no set plan or order;
intermittent, spasmodic
Vocabulary 10,
exercise 1 Use correct form
1. Life
on the family farm has __________________________me to hard physical labor and
long hours of unremitting toil.
2. The
general sent scouts on ahead of the army to _________________________ the area
for a suitable site to pitch camp.
3. Although
there had been some ____________________________ fighting earlier, the real
battles of the Civil War did not begin until Bull Run
in July, 1861.
4. Unless
the title Special Aide to the Assistant Section Manager involves a salary
increase, I would just as soon _______________________ it.
5. The
riot converted the quiet streets of that suburban community into a ghastly
______________________________.
6. Although
the moon appears to be a(n) ______________________________ body, the fact is
that it only reflects light received from the sun.
7. As
all kinds of wild rumors ran rampant through the besieged city, the mood of the
populace _________________________ between hope and despair.
8. Good
supervisors know that they can get more cooperation from their staff by making
polite requests than by issuing __________________________ orders.
9. The
man’s personality was a strange mixture of strengths and weaknesses, fortes and
_____________________________.
10. I was
totally taken aback when they ___________________________ my kind offers of
assistance so rudely and nastily.
11. No doubt
he’s very sorry he got caught, but that does not mean that he’s at all
_____________________ about what he did.
12. Any
“investment counselor” who promises to double your money overnight must be
regarded as a(n) _____________________________ or crook.
13. Though my
childhood recollections have been ______________________________ by the passage
of time, they have not been totally effaced from my memory.
14. In a
typical James Bond movie, Agent 007 has a series of adventures that are
_____________________________ with tongue-in-cheek peril.
15. His
statements have been so uniformly _______________________ that I get the
impression that he is wearing a permanent pair of mental blinders.
16. Though critics
________________________ at minor faults
in the new Broadway show, the general public loved it.
17. I was
relieved to learn that the tumor on my arm was _________________________ and my
worst fears were groundless.
18. We took
_________________________ at the program that makes it harder for city dwellers
to get out and enjoy the beauties of nature.
19. During the
14th century, the Black Death suddenly swept across Europe, ____________________ the population and paralyzing everyday life.
20. During
imperial times, the Roman Senate was little more than a collection of
_____________________________ yes-men, intent upon preserving their own lives
by gratifying the emperor’s every whim.
Vocabulary 10, exercise 2
1. The
English teacher looked ________________________ at the suggestion that students
read compendiums of Dicken’s novels.
2. Abraham
Lincoln’s sensitive stepmother had a _________________________ influence on the
lonely boy who had lost his mother.
3. I
suggest that you do not _________________________ over small things but instead
focus on what is important.
4. The
Inuit have become ____________________________ to the hardships of the long
Arctic winters through years of experience.
5. The
reporter exposed the real estate agent as a __________________________ who
routinely deceived her customers.
6. The
terrified narrator in Poe’s story The Pit
and the Pendulum watches the dreaded instrument
________________________________ as it slowly moves toward him.
7. Backbiting
is one human _______________________________ not likely to be eradicated.
8. One
of the best, if not the easiest, ways to lose weight is to
_____________________________ dessert.
9. Infantry
officers often ask for volunteers to _____________________________ the terrain
ahead before ordering their soldiers to advance.
10. Even with
the most advanced equipment, expeditions to the top of Mt. Everest
are still ___________________________ with danger.
11. Walking
under that _______________________________ night sky induced in me weighty
thoughts not often pondered.
12. The
lieutenant was too _____________________________ to see the danger and led his
company right into the hands of the enemy.
13. In the Middle
Ages, ______________________________ often confessed their sins publicly and
were publicly punished.
14. The board
members resented the director’s ____________________________tone of voice.
15. The old man
_____________________________ his neighbors by refusing offers of friendship.
16. After
making sure the wound was clean, the doctor took steps to
__________________________ the victim’s pain.
17. The
burglars made a complete _________________________ of the apartment in their
search for money and jewelry.
18. Again and
again, Napoleon was able to _______________________ the armies of his enemies
and lead his men on to further victories.
19. The
soldiers heard _____________________________ gunfire from the other side of the
river.
20. Jane Austin
ridiculed characters that were _______________________________ to the
aristocracy but condescending to their social inferiors.
Vocabulary 10, exercise 3
Synonyms
1.
quibble over who is at fault
____________________________
2.
exposed him as a complete fraud ____________________________
3.
vacillated between two choices ____________________________
4.
looked skeptically at their
proposals
____________________________
5.
accustomed to extremes of
temperatures
_____________________________
6.
a storm that ravaged the
countryside
___________________________
7.
an attempt to scout the
interior ____________________________
8.
unwilling to renounce her inheritance ___________________________
9.
shocked by the mess they had
created
___________________________
10.
a salutary effect on consumer confidence ____________________________
11.
full of suspense and tension
____________________________
12.
willing to overlook its defects ___________________________
13.
will spurn his offer of
marriage
__________________________
14.
his high-handed challenge to our
authority
___________________________
15.
in the radiant circle of the
spotlight ____________________________
Antonyms
16.
measures that may strengthen the
economy ____________________________
17.
an entirely unrepentant gambler and
thief ____________________________
18.
her acute handling of the issue _____________________________
19.
assumed an overbearing manner ____________________________
20.
his constant attention to
detail ____________________________
Vocabulary 10, exercise 4
1. We must never allow our
passion for justice to be (inured /
attenuated) to mere halfhearted
goodwill.
2. I have learned that (sporadic / preemptory) sessions of
intense “cramming” can never take the place of a regular study program.
3. Somehow or other, a bull got
into the china shop and turned it into a complete (shambles / foibles).
4. The (decimated / penitent) youths agreed to work without pay until they
could make restitution for the damage their carelessness had caused.
5. When I found that people I
admired were looking (askance /
sporadic) at my unconventional clothing, I resolved to remedy the
situation.
6. How could you have the heart to
(rebuff / cavil) those people’s
piteous appeals for aid?
7. Since he didn’t want to give me
credit for having done a good job, he took refuge in endless (foibles / cavils) about my work.
8. Imagine the general
disappointment when the so-called “miracle cure” was exposed as a fraud promoted
by a (charlatan / cavil).
9. Over the years, her (luminous / obtuse) descriptions and
scintillating wit have helped her students master the difficult subject she
taught.
10. Their relationship has been so
(fraught / benign) with strife and
malice that I don’t see how they can ever patch things up.
11. Though I admire the woman’s
strong points, I find her (rebuffs /
foibles) comic.
12. All angles are classified as
acute, right, (obtuse / benign) or
straight, according to the number of degrees they contain.
13. Though the small nation was
always ready to settle a conflict peacefully, it was not afraid to use (luminous / peremptory) force when
necessary.
14. At an autocrat’s court, free
speech is usually replaced by the (penitent
/ obsequious) twaddle of self-serving flunkies and toadies.
15. Do you want to be a ballet
dancer badly enough to (oscillate /
forgo) all other activities?
16. Bank robbers often spend a
good deal of time (reconnoitering /
rebuffing) the neighborhood in which the bank they intend to rob is
located.
17. During the Civil War the ranks
of both armies were (decimated /
rebuffed) as much by disease as by enemy action.
18. Even though my experiences in
battle have (inured / caviled) me to
scenes of suffering, I was horrified by the devastation wrought by the tornado.
19. Since he is not guided by firm
principles, he (attenuates / oscillates)
between the rival factions, looking for support from both of them.
20. We believe that classes taught
by teachers with specialized training will have a (
sporadic / benign) effect on the troubled children.
11
definitions
1.
abrogate (verb) – to repeal, cancel, declare null and
void; revoke
2.
ambient (adj) – completely surrounding, encompassing.
3.
asperity (noun)- roughness, bitterness, tartness;
rigor, harshness
4.
burnish (verb)- to make smooth or glossy by rubbing,
polish; (noun) gloss, brightness, buff
5.
cabal (noun) -a small group working in secret
6.
delectable (adj)- delightful, highly enjoyable;
deliciously flavored, savory
7.
deprecate (verb)- to express mild disapproval; to
belittle; deplore, frown upon
8.
detritus (noun) loose bits and pieces of material
resulting from disintegration or wearing away; debris, wreckage, ruins, rubble
9.
ebullient (adj)- overflowing with enthusiasm and
excitement, boiling, bubbling; exhilarated, elated
10. eclectic
(adj) drawn from different sources; (noun) one whose beliefs are drawn from
various sources; synthetic
11. flaccid
(adj)- limp, not firm; lacking vigor or effectiveness, soft, flabby
12. impecunious
(adj)- having little or no money; penniless, impoverished, indigent
13. inexorable
(adj)- inflexible, beyond influence, relentless, unyielding; inescapable,
ineluctable, obdurate
14. moribund
(adj)- dying, on the way out, obsolescent
15. necromancer
(noun)- one who claims to reveal or influence the future through magic,
especially communication with the dead; in general a magician or wizard;
sorcerer, conjurer
16. onerous
(adj)- burdensome; involving hardship or difficulty; oppressive, weighty
17. rife
(adj)- common, prevalent, widespread, happening often, full, abounding,
plentiful, abundant, replete
18. rudiments (n.plural)- the parts of any subject or
discipline that are learned first; the earliest sages of anything.
19. sequester
(verb)- to set apart, separate for a special purpose; or take possession of and
hold in custody; seclude, segregate, isolate, closet
20. winnow (verb)- to get rid of something
unwanted, delete; to sift through to obtain what is desirable; to remove the
chaff from wheat by blowing air on it, to fan; to sift, strain, filter, sort
Vocabulary 11, exercise 1 Use the correct form.
1. I
could tell that my boss was really “riled” by the _________________________ of
his tone of voice when he summoned me.
2. I
thought the job of revising the manuscript would be a relatively simple matter,
but it proved to be a(n) ______________________________ task.
3. She
is a very private person who __________________________ any attempt to honor
publicly her great services to humanity.
4. Though
monarchies still exist in some parts of the world, they are more or less a(n) _____________________ form of government.
5. Even
before they said a word, I could tell from their _______________________ expressions
that our team had won.
6. In
a sense, the man is a(n) _________________________ philosopher because his
ideas have been influenced by many different schools of thought.
7. All
the facts and figures point to one __________________________ conclusion: we
are hopelessly outnumbered.
8. As
air slowly seeped out through the tiny puncture, the inner tube became more and
more _________________________________.
9. Some
superstitious Roman emperors consulted __________________________and other
dabblers in black magic to find out what the future held.
10. It is often
difficult to hold a conversation while walking on a busy city street because of
the high level of __________________________ traffic noise.
11. The copper
pots had been so highly ______________________________ that I could see my face
in them.
12. In order to
prevent outside influences from coming into play, a jury is normally
__________________________ until it reaches a decision.
13. Unless you
have mastered the ____________________ of French grammar, you will find it
difficult to speak the language fluently.
14. It was then
that he began to organize the ________________ that would later depose the
king.
15. The
conversation at dinner tables all over town was _______________ with
speculation as to the outcome of the big game.
16. We will
never allow anyone to curtail or ________________________ the basic rights and
liberties guaranteed to us in the Constitution.
17. The plot of
the novel centers on a(n) __________________________ adventurer who attempts to
remedy his financial embarrassment by marrying into money.
18. One of Darwin’s theories
suggests that nature ensures the survival of a species by slowly
____________________________ out the less fit members.
19. Late that
night, we began the heartbreaking task of sifting through the
______________________ of our ravaged home.
20. There is
nothing more _________________________on a hot day than to stretch out in a
hammock with a good book and pitcher of icy lemonade.
Vocabulary 11, exercise 2
1. The
new filtering system is capable of cleaning and deodorizing the
__________________________ air.
2. The
hotel manager ordered the waiters to ________________________ all the brass
candlesticks before the formal banquet.
3. The
eatery attracted customers with a mouth-watering display of
____________________________ in its front window,
4. The
administration _______________________________ such foolish practices as the
hazing of new students but it not ban them outright.
5. After
a string of very favorable reviews, the dance company was in a(n) _____________________ mood for weeks.
6. Because
the injured bodybuilder had not worked out for weeks, his muscles grew
__________________________.
7. In
the Greek tragedies, nothing could save characters like Oedipus Rex from their
______________________________ fates.
8. In
the age of electronic communication, writing letters by hand seems to be a
_____________________ custom.
9. Informing
patients of bad news is a(n) _________________________ duty that every doctor has to perform.
10. Often with
no legal or moral grounds, the U.S.
government would __________________________-- treaties made with Naïve
Americans.
11. The banquet
ended with a truly ______________________________dessert made of peaches,
raspberries and ice cream.
12. In my present
______________________________ state, I will not be able to pay for dinner.
13. Since
rumors were ____________________, the president announced that the company had
been bought out by its major competitor.
14. At a very
young age, the girl learned the __________________________of chess from her
father, a professional player.
15. Spelling
and grammar software programs are designed to help writers _________________________- inaccuracies from
their documents.
16. The
_____________________________ of the drama critic’s statement undermined the
young actor’s confidence.
17. Pieces of
people’s homes, furniture and toys could be seen in the ____________________ of
the landslide.
18. The members
of the __________________________ met at an unknown location for the purpose of
fixing prices and stifling competition.
19. The parties
agreed to __________________________ the disputed funds pending a decision by
the court.
20. When the
stock market began to tumble, some desperate investors resorted to
____________________________ for financial advice.
Vocabulary 11, exercise 3
Synonyms
1. sort the good ideas from the bad
________________________________
2. taught us the
fundamentals of physics
________________________________
3. the encompassing sound of the drums
________________________________
4. cleaned up the
debris from the parade
________________________________
5. fooled by a sorcerer’s tricks ________________________________
6. secluded on a remote country
estate
________________________________
7. a ruthless clique of gangsters
________________________________
8. could not miss
the harshness in his tone
________________________________
9. the inescapable consequences of her
action
________________________________
10. rebelled
against the oppressive taxation _________________________________
11. weeds that
were widespread in the area
_______________________________-
12. tempted me
with delicious treats
________________________________
13. a varied collection of opinions ________________________________
14. the exuberant cheerleading squad
________________________________
15. sheltered
the penniless immigrants
________________________________
Antonyms
16. tarnish the silver
________________________________
17. noticed her firm handshake
________________________________
18. the flourishing downtown area
_________________________________
19. will reaffirm his oath to the king
_________________________________
20.countenanced our peaceful protest ________________________________
Vocabulary 11,
exercise 4
1. “The
(inexorable / moribund) march of the
years,” said the aged speaker, “decrees that this is the last time I will
address you.”
2. Writing
so full of soggy clichés, gummy sentence structure and excessive wordiness can
best be described as (inexorable /
flaccid.)
3. What
appeared to be an informal study group was in a reality a highly organized (detritus / cabal) determined to
overthrow the establishment.
4. (Asperity / Necromancy) and other forms
of witchcraft were punishable by death during the Middle Ages.
5. The
investigating committee spent long hours trying to (burnish / winnow) fact from fiction in the witnesses’ testimony.
6. Though
she entered this country as a(n) (impecunious
/ rife) child, she eventually made a fortune in the garment industry.
7. Anyone
who has the slightest acquaintance with the (rudiments / cabals) of economic theory understands that we cannot
solve our financial problems simply by borrowing more and more money.
8. Though
the presidency confers great powers on the person who holds the office, it also
saddles that person with (onerous /
eclectic) responsibilities.
9. (Eclectic /Ambient) schools of art are
typical of a period when there is a little original inspiration or bold
experimentation.
10. Since archeologists
spend a lot of time rummaging through the (detritus
/ asperity) of vanished civilizations, they bear a striking resemblance to
junk collectors or rag pickers.
11. As we sat
in the locker room after our heartbreaking loss, the (ambient / impecunious) gloom was so thick you could almost cut it.
12. It is one
thing to (burnish / deprecate) human
follies and pretensions; it is quite another to correct them.
13. Though
skeptics insist that patriotism is (onerous
/moribund) in America,
I believe that it is alive and well in the hearts of the people.
14. The old
adage that “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” is simply means that what
is considered (delectable / onerous)
is often quite subjective.
15. Any
political party that is (rife /
ebullient) with petty jealousies and backbiting can never hope to present a
united front in an election.
16. The (moribund / burnished) helmets and
breastplates of the warriors gleamed and twinkled in the morning sunlight.
17. As one veteran
aptly observed, a soldier had to be hardy to cope with the (asperities / cabals) of life in the
trenches during World War I.
18. Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr. once observed that he did not wish to lead a(n) (sequestered / abrogated) life far from
the conflicts of his time.
19. The charm
of this musical comedy lies in its slam-bang pacing, its sprightly music, and
its generally (onerous / ebullient)
good cheer.
20.
No one, however powerful or dominant, can (arrogate / sequester) the basic moral
laws on which civilizations rests.
