WORD FORMATION PRACTICE

The ( 1) (CONCEIVE) of 'rhetoric', or effective public speaking, dates back thousands of

years. The underlying (2) (ASSUME) behind rhetoric is that how you present an argument
can greatly influence whether people are persuaded by you or not. There is (3) . (DOUBT)
plenty of evidence to support this idea - it's practically (4) (THINK), for example, for a
successful politician to be a poor communicator - but is it just a question of style winning
over substance? Certainly, it is often said of politicians that they talk complete (5) (SENSE)
but what they say they say with such (6) (CONVINCE) that we tend to believe them, at least
when they're in opposition. On the other hand, (7) (WISE) and knowledge are of little value if
you cannot communicate them effectively to your peers or to the next generation. It is the
combination of clear (8) (REASON), sound (9) (JUDGE) and effective presentation and
communication skills that defines true rhetoric. A true rhetorician should always come across
as knowledgeable, and never as (10) (OPINION) or ignorant.

1. concept
2. assumption
3. undoubtedly/doubtless
4.unthinkable
5. nonsense
6. conviction
7. wisdom
8. reasoning
9. judgement
10. Opinionated
We often think of ourselves as living in a time of 1. (continue) technological change and
development. We tend to believe that we are unique in history in dealing with a constantly 2.
(evolve) world of gadgets, devices and innovations. However, the end of the nineteenth
century and the start of the twentieth was also a time that saw many 3. (revolt) changes.
People had needed to show 4. (flexible) throughout the nineteenth century, as the effects of
the industrial Revolution meant constantly making 5. (adjust) to deal with changing working
conditions. Towards the end of the century, though, people had to become more 6. (adapt)
than ever before. The typewriter (1873), the telephone (1876), the electric light bulb (1879)
and other 7. (influence) developments gave people the 8. (capable) to live and work in ways
their grandparents could not have imagined. Over the next 30 years, little remained 9. (alter)
as the camera, the cinema, the phonograph, the plane ... and radio all had an 10. (electric)
effect on people and society.
When people talk about contemporary culture they are therefore just as ________
(LIKE) to be talking about fast cars, trainers or high heels as they are to be talking
about about Shostakovich, Shakespeare or Nabokov.
Goods have become as ________ (MEAN) a measure and marker of culture as the
Great and the Good. The word 'culture' can now cover just about anything. Culture is
no longer merely the beautiful and sublime, the refined.
It wasn't until the late 20th century that a _________ (SCHOOL) interest in items
began to (PLACE) the traditional interest in -isms, with historians, ________
(LITERATE) critics and philosophers all suddenly becoming fascinated by the
meaning of objects, large and small. Is this a sign, perhaps, of a society cracking
under the strain of too many things?
Our current ________ (OBSESSIVE) with material culture, one might argue, is
simply a _______ (RESPOND) to the Western crisis of abundance. There are
obvious problems with this materialist ________ (CONCEPT) of culture. If our
experience of everyday life is ___________ (SATISFY) , then how much more so is
the _________ (SPECTATE) of everyday things under scrutiny.
Likely meaningful scholarly – literary obsession - response - conception –
spectacle
RAIN MAKING

When it rains, it does not always pour. During a typical storm, a (41. COMPARE) _______ small
amount of the lock-up moisture in each cloud reaches the ground as rain. So the idea that
human intervention - a rain dance, perhaps - might encourage the sky to give up a little (42.
ADD) _______ water has been around since prehistoric times. More recently, would-be rain makers
have used a more direct procedure - that of throwing (43. VARY) _______ chemicals out of aero-
planes in an effort to wring more rain from the clouds, a practice known as "cloud seeding".

Yet such techniques, which were first developed in the 1940s, are (44. NOTORIETY) _______
difficult to evaluate. It is hard to (45. CERTAIN) _______, for example, how much rain would have
fallen anyway. So, despite much anecdotal evidence of the advantages of cloud seeding, which
has led to its adoption in more than 40 countries around the world, as far as scientists are
concerned, results are still (46. CONCLUSIVE) _______. That could be about to change. For the past
three years (47. RESEARCH) _______ have been carrying out the most extensive and (48. RIGOUR)
_______ evaluation to date of a revolutionary new technique that will substantially boost the
volume of (49. RAIN) _______.

The preliminary (50. FIND) _______ of their experiments indicate that solid evidence of the
technique's effectiveness is now within the scientists' grasp.

The Art of Giving and Taking

Gift exchange, which is also called ceremonial exchange, is the transfer of goods or services that,
although regarded as (41) _______ (VOLUNTEER) by people involved, is part of the expected social
(42) _______ (BEHAVE). Gift exchange may be distinguished from other types of exchange in several
respects. The first offering is made in a generous manner and there is no haggling between donor and
(43) _______ (RECEIVE). The exchange is an expression of an existing social relationship or the
establishment of a new one that differs from (44) _______ (PERSON) market relationships; and the
profit in gift exchange may be in the sphere of social relationship and prestige rather than in material
advantage. The gift-exchange cycle entails (45) _______ (OBLIGE) to give, to receive, and to return.
Sanctions may exist to induce people to give. (46) _______ (REFUSE) to accept a gift may be seen
as rejection of social relations and may lead to enmity. The reciprocity of the cycle rests in the (47)
_______ (NECESSARY) to return the gift. The prestige associated with the appearance of (48)
_______ (GENEROUS) dictates that the value of the return is (49) _______ (APPROXIMATE) equal
to or greater than the value of the original (50) _______ (SIGNIFY) expression of social relations.

We are used to reading about mysteries in detective novels, but a real - life
mystery was ... (1. recent) solved by archaeologists when they found a
skeleton under a park in a British city. The ... (2. discover) of the remains was
of particular ... (3. interesting) as they returned out to be those of the famous
King Of England, Richard III. ... (4. traditon), most monarchs have a formal ...
(5. burry) and their bones are placed in cathedrals of abbeys, but the final
resting palce of Richard had been ... (6. know). The search to fond his body
had been a long one. Now, ... (7. science) have formally identified the bones
as those of Richard, comparing his DNA with that of another ... (8. descend).
Tests have also proven that Richard's spinal deformity was not as they had ...
(9. origin) thought. However, his reputation of being a ... (10. crime) still stands
and the mystery of what really happened to his nephews remains unsolved.

A brief history of surfing Most (0) HISTORIANS agree that surfing began
centuries ago in the Hawaii HISTORY Islands in the Pacific Ocean, where the
(25) regarded it as an INHABIT important part of their culture, not as a
recreational (26) It ACTIVE was not until the early 2oth century that it achieved
(27) as a RECOGNISE sport, and for many years it remained (28) to see surfers
USUAL anywhere other than in three main (29) Hawaii, California and
LOCATE Australia. All that began to change in the 19603, partly as a result of
(30) IMPROVE in the design of surfboards, but also because of the success of
films and pop bands, (31) The Beach Boys, that were associated with
PARTICULAR surfing culture. Since then there has been rapid (32) in the
GROW popularity of surfing throughout the world, and for many surfers it has
become a highly (33) sport that requires skill and courage COMPETE to deal
with the (34) conditions in some of the roughest seas on CHALLENGE Earth.