Monday, April 1, 2013

Vocab Ex


Sittin’ on the Fence
Words for the Indecisive
Due Monday, April 8

Provide the definition of the following words. Include the dictionary definition and a translation of the dictionary definition into your own words. Write an original sentence for each. Post one sentence as a comment.


  1. Ambiguous
  2. Ambivalent
  3. Apathetic
  4. Arbitrary
  5. Capricious
  6. Equivocate
  7. Indifferent
  8. Spontaneous
  9. Whimsical



It’s a Small World, After All
Words for the Insignificant


  1. Inconsequential
  2. Superficial
  3. Tenuous
  4. Trivial


28 comments:

  1. She was apathetic to the plight of the bacon salesman; she'd found a new love, and feta never failed her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find your superficial claim of feta-love to be spurious and disingenuous; I'm certain you're hoarding bacon surreptitiously.

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    2. Uh, yeah. I might need to dig up my old vocab pages to decipher that one :P

      Delete
  2. My family does not comprehend that I am a whimsical person and simply cannot adhere to the monotonous lifestyle of homework and chores.

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  3. When I asked why our house was sacked, I got the ambiguous reply of, “I screwed up,” not answering my question at all.

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  4. So I am not sure if our 'sentence' can actually be several sentences, but I liked the idea of this one, though I am not sure if it is right. I also wasn't sure if the second one is punctuated and such correctly.

    1) My spontaneity makes my friends laugh. After all, when I text them about my most recent dream, they find my comments most hilarious: “I love it when you have a dream, and while in it everything seems perfectly reasonable, but then you wake up, and you’re like, ‘why would cupcakes have jet packs?’”

    2) My brother was ambivalent about getting a job; he wanted to earn money, however, he did not like to actually work for anything.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Of course it's okay to do extra work. :)

    Your first sentence is punctuated perfectly, though a more appropriate question would be "Why *wouldn't* cupcakes have jet packs?"

    Your second sentence contains a comma splice. Anybody know how to fix it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it should be "My brother was ambivalent about getting a job - he wanted to earn money - however, (though with the dash "however seems unnecessary)he did not like to work for anything.

      Delete
    2. When I know that I have been caught red handed with my hand in something it shouldn’t have been I tend to equivocate about the truth of my predicament. Especially since I shouldn’t have been jumping on the bed, I mean the monkeys all fell off and bumped their heads.

      Delete
    3. The solution is simpler than Kim suggests. Any other suggestions?

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    4. My brother was ambivalent about getting a job; although he wanted to earn money, he did not like actually working for anything.

      Yay? Nay?

      Delete
    5. Yay! The semi-colon does the trick; you didn't need to change "however" to "although," but the change worked just fine.

      Delete
  6. My coach was apathetic towards the amount of homework that I had tonight. He said soccer comes first.


    True story.

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  7. I ambiguously stared at the two fro-yo dispensers, uncertain whether to pick the ginger lemon or huckleberry flavor.

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  8. School officials indifferently set the beginning of school at an outrageously early 7:40.

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  9. The ambiguous leader had difficulty making many important decisions facing his people.

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  10. I am spontaneous in the decisions that I make; although some may cause trouble, I continuously choose to make them despite the consequences I may face.

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  11. Oregon has quite capricious weather; one day it's a balmy seventy degrees and the next it could be a hailstorm.

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  12. As Daniel Tolstrup walked into the room, the spontaneous applause was no surprise.

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  13. Attired in a black turtleneck and baret, the beatnik expressed his ideas through poetry which condemned 1950's society for being conformist and apathetic.

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  14. The workers at the Horse Guards in London have to remain apathetic regardless of the odd faces that the tourists are making at them.

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  15. The tenuous cloud posed no real threat due to it’s rather small and thin nature.

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  16. After a Sunday spent doing homework and a three hour long SAT prep course, I'm ambivalent about coming to school on Monday.

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  17. Claire ChristiansenApril 7, 2013 at 10:20 PM

    The unpopular student was apathetic to the star athlete’s injury.

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  18. Claire ChristiansenApril 7, 2013 at 10:30 PM

    Excitement arose during his boring work day when the office worker’s pants spontaneously combusted.

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  19. The whole family was ambivalent about the move to the countryside and the new school called Oregon City High School.

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  20. She threw the ball to the first person she saw—an arbitrary decision that cost us the game.

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  21. His YouTube videos were always whimsical, fantastically funny and left your hungry mouse searching for the next video.

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