LESSON 32 ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL WORDS

 

ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL WORDS LESSON 32

 

1 refer (ri fir') hand over; send, direct, or turn for information, help, or action; (refer to) direct attention to or speak about; assign to or think of as caused by a Let us refer the dispute* to the dean. b Our teacher referred us to the dictionary for the meanings of the difficult words in the novel.* c The speaker referred to a verse in the Bible to support his theory.* 2 distress (dis tres') great pain or sorrow; misfortune; dangerous or difficult situation; to cause pain or make unhappy a The family was in great distress over the accident that maimed* Kenny. b My teacher was distressed by the dismal performance of our class on the final* examination. c Long, unscheduled delays at the station cause distress to commuters.* 3 diminish (dɪˈmɪnɪʃ) make or become smaller in size, amount or importance a The excessive* heat diminished as the sun went down. b Our diminishing supply of food was carefully wrapped and placed with the baggage.* c The latest news from the battlefront confirms* the report of diminishing military activity.     Words in Use Read the following passage to see how the new words are used in it. How Our Language Grows Many popular* expressions in our language have interesting backgrounds. When we refer to a person’s weak spot as his Achilles heel, we are recalling the story of the mighty Greek hero of the Trojan War, Achilles, a warrior of unusual strength and valor.* The mother of Achilles, in whose veins* flowed the blood of the gods, was warned at his birth that her son would die in battle. In great distress, she sought to save her son. In order to diminish his chances of being hurt and to give him maximum protection* in combat, she dipped the infant in the river Styx. The magic waters touched every part of the child’s body except the heel that she held in her hand. Thus it happened many years later that as Achilles started to flee from an attack, a poisoned arrow struck him in the heel, the only spot where he was vulnerable. Today, the meaning of Achilles heel is not confined* to a weak spot in the body but it also signifies a weakness in the character of an individual, or in the defenses of a nation, or in the structure of a system. American politics, rather than mythology, provides the explanation for the word bunk. This word came into the language in 1820 when Felix Walker, the representative from Buncombe County, North Carolina, formed the habit of making long, unnecessary speeches in Congress. When his colleagues asked him why he was tormenting them so, he apologized by saying it was his patriotic* duty to put those speeches in the record out of loyalty to his supporters at home. The word “Buncombe” was shortened to “bunk” and came to mean any thought that has little or no worth.   Fill in the Blanks Place one of the new words in each of the blanks below. 1 The uneventful* flow of news was interrupted by a report of a ship in ________ . 2 Our temperature for the day dropped from a ________ of 85 degrees to a minimum* of 70 degrees 3 The dishonest employee* planned to ________ with several thousand dollars of the company’s money. 4 It was easy to see that the club members resented* Phil’s ________ them with silly questions. 5 Colonel Bishop’s deep sense of ________ to his men signifies* an honest and honorable nature. 6 Elizabeth was finally* persuaded* to ________ for her remark and to pledge* to be more careful in the future 7 What I admire in Marty is that he never abandoned* his _______in their time of need. 8 Mr. Harris’ manipulation* of the bank funds ________ his greed.* 9 Debra had a tendency* to ________ all her questions to the librarian instead of looking them upherself. 10 The registration for this course has ________ to the point where we must consider* eliminating* it from the curriculum. 11 The names of the days of the week are based on the names of the gods and goddesses of Norse ________ . 12 The distressing* fact is that we are all ________ to natural disasters.*   Word Detective From the list of 12 new words that follows, choose the one that corresponds to each definition below. refer distress dimisnish maximum flee vulnerable signify mythology colleague torment apologize loyalty   1 be a sign of ______________________________ 2 run away ______________________________ 3 great pain or sorrow ______________________________ 4 greatest amount ______________________________ 5 direct, send, or turn for information, help, or action ______________________________ 6 faithfulness ______________________________ 7 associate; fellow worker ______________________________ 8 legends or stories ______________________________ 9 capable of being injured ______________________________ 10 cause very great pain to ______________________________ 11 become smaller in size ______________________________ 12 express regret ______________________________   Picture It Which of the words studied in this lesson is suggested by the picture?   Spotlight On colleague—You may hear people use this word, but most writers find it difficult to spell. The word follows no rules and the only way to learn it is to memorize it once and for all. On the other hand, you can probably get along quite well with “associate,” but that’s not easy to spell either.

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