Odd one out: adjectives

I took some of the words from dictionary.com. 

Ex. Each of the following sets of adjectives consists of three words which are synonyms or near-synonyms and one word whose meaning is different. Choose the word which is different.

1. gaudy; garish; perky; chintzy
2. impressionable; gullible; naive; impregnable
3. mauve; bland; dull; insipid
4. antediluvian; prehistoric; primordial; precarious
5. bubbly; flabby; sparkling; effervescent
6. vitriolic; harsh; scathing; meretricious
7. apt; irrespective; pertinent; germane
8. bereft; deprived; pernicious; lacking
9. inclement; tempestuous; stormy; feigned
10. imperial; royal; regal; infernal
11. immodest; boastful; bragging; indecent
12. incandescent; loquacious; luminous; radiant
13. bemused; perused; perplexed; befuddled

In the following examples the items are idioms and other phrases used as adjectives.

14. off colour; under the weather; right as rain; below par
15. on cloud nine; as happy as Larry; over the moon; over the hill

KEY
1. perky, 2. impregnable, 3. mauve, 4. precarious, 5. flabby, 6. meretricious, 7. irrespective, 8. pernicious, 9. feigned, 10. infernal, 11. indecent, 12. loquacious, 13. perused, 14. right as rain, 15. over the hill

Word stress: The '-able' suffix

 The word able is pronounced /'eɪbəl/ or /'eɪbl̩/. The difference in transcription is just a matter of how we treat the syllabic allophone of /l/, i.e. whether we write the schwa /ə/ symbol or a stroke under the /l/. Some sources regard this unstressed vowel as /ʊ/. The diphthong /eɪ/ occurs in words like table, cable, fable and the name Mabel. 

By contrast, the suffix -able does not have a stressed vowel at all and is pronounced /-əbəl/ or /-əbl̩/. Many foreign speakers of English stress the suffix unnecessarily, which can make the word impossible for listeners to understand. Anecdotal examples include a Polish speaker of English pronouncing comfortable as come for table.

The suffix -ible has same pronunciation as -able.

Ex. 1 Put the following words containing -able in two categories: a. with a stressed sound /eɪ/ or b. with the unstressed /ə/. Which syllable carries primary stress?

preferable, publishable, vegetable, stable, unstable, capable, comfortable, drinkable, portable, irreconcilable, indescribable, unfathomable, unbreakable, sable, remarkable

Ex. 2 Do the following words contain -able or -ible?

leg__ble, illeg__ble, ed__ble, imagin__ble, ined__ble, respons__ble, permiss__ble, inflamm__ble

KEY

1. a. stable - 1st, unstable - 2nd, sable - 1st

b. preferable, publishable, vegetable, capable, comfortable, drinkable, portable - 1st, irreconcilable - 4th, indescribable - 3rd, unfathomable, unbreakable, remarkable - 2nd

2. Inflammable and imaginable have "a"; all the other words have "i"

Adjectives and adverbs

I. Correct the errors in the following sentences and put a tick next to those which are correct.

e.g. Kate is well at maths. good

1. The house looked very largely. 2. This book is usefuller than that one. 3. Henry is my elder brother. 4. This is the older theatre in Manchester. 5. John worked very hardly and passed his exam with flying colours. 6. Do I look well in this dress? 7. Drive more fastly or we’ll be late. 8. This is the boringest lecture I’ve been to. 9. Just wait here and I’ll get the car ready. 10. I don’t want to paint the house pinkly.

II. Put the adjectives and other modifiers in the correct order.

1. the (large/three/brick/first/brown) houses   2. those (metal/ugly/flower/other) pots  

3. a(n) (old/English/beautiful) garden, 4. the (extraordinary/next/military) victory   

5. those (pretty/blue/little/four) flowers   6. a (brown/mahogany/small/square) box   7. a (young/polite/-faced/handsome) man   8. a(n) (Japanese/green/big/sports) car   9. that (terrifying/fierce/big) Alsatian   10. (Riding/Red/Little) Hood

III. Decide which of the two sentences in each pair is incorrect and explain why. 

1. a) The weather was depressing. b) Jane was depressing.

2. a) The cat was still alive. b) It was an alive cat.

3. a) Ban Ki-Moon is the General-Secretary of the UN. b) He is the Secretary-General of the UN.

4. a) He’s a mere child. b) This child is mere.

5. a) She was an afraid girl. b) She was afraid.

6. a) That was a three-mile-long road. b) That was a three-miles road. 7. a) These are my running shoes. b) These shoes of mine are running.

KEY

I. 1. large, 2. more useful, 3. OK, 4. oldest, 5. hard, 6. good, 7. faster, 8. most boring, 9. OK, 10. pink

II. 1. the first three large brown brick houses, 2. those other ugly metal flower pots, 3. a beautiful old English garden, 4. the next extraordinary military victory, 5. those four pretty little blue flowers, 6. a small square brown mahogany box, 7. a polite handsome-faced young man, 8. a big green Japanese sports car, 9. that terrifying big fierce Alsatian, 10. Little Red Riding Hood

III. 1. b) a person can be depressed 2. b) Alive can be used only after a verb, 3. a) General after the noun means ‘the most important person, the president’, 4. b) You cannot use mere before a noun, 5. a) You cannot use afraid before a noun, 6. b) You cannot use the plural in the attributive position., 7. b) Running denotes a purpose, not something the shoes do on their own.

Adjectives starting with P

Read the following words. Look them up in a dictionary if necessary. One of these words does not exist. Can you guess which one it is without looking the words up?

pernicious, precocious, preposterous, prenumptious, precarious, presumptuous, pretentious

Ex. 1 Match the words provided above with their definitions or synonyms.

1. .......... - harmful, affecting something negatively
2. .......... - not clever, absurd
3. .......... - unsafe, not fixed (of an object)
4. .......... - rude, disrespectful
5. .......... - (of a child) smart or behaving like someone older
6. .......... - attempting to appear to be more important or knowledgeable

Ex. 2 Fill in the gaps with one of the words provided above.

1. Kate was a .......... toddler who could read and write before she was three.
2. You really think that the moon is made of cheese? What a ........... idea!
3. The gallery was visited by a .......... critic who wanted to be called 'Maestro'.
4. The bad weather has had a .......... effect on the crops and the tourism industry.
5. The man was in a .......... position and we thought he'd fall any second.
6. When my friend asked me if she was fat, I told her a little white lie. It would have been .......... of me to tell her what I really thought.

KEY
The word prenumptious does not exist.
Ex. 1 1. pernicious, 2. preposterous, 3. precarious, 4. presumptuous, 5. precocious, 6. pretentious
Ex. 2 1. precocious, 2. preposterous, 3. pretentious, 4. pernicious, 5. precarious, 6. presumptuous