Pop quiz 1

‘When I was a child, it was a ____ of passage in school to get your ‘pen licence’. We had to
wright in pencil first, and then when we could get our letters and spelling ____, we were allowed
to use ink.’
a. rite / right
b. right / rite
Rite’ is a noun meaning ‘a ceremony with a set of fixed words and actions’, and a ‘rite of
passage’ is ‘an official ceremony or informal activity that marks an important stage or occasion
in a person’s life, especially becoming an adult’. ‘Right’ is an adjective meaning ‘correct,
suitable, or healthy’, or ‘a direction’. So, the correct answer for the 1st and 3rd words is ‘rite /
right’. What is the missing word? The answer is ‘write’ – the verb meaning ‘to record something,
such as a book, poem, or song, on paper or on a computer’. So, the complete answer is: ‘When I
was a child, it was a rite of passage in school to get your ‘pen licence’. We had to write in pencil
first, and then when we could get our letters and spelling right, we were allowed to use ink’

Pop quiz 2
'The fertile soils of Rajasthan produce many ____ crops, including rice, wheat and maize.'
a. Serial
b. Cereal

'Serial' can be an adjective, meaning something done in a series, or arranged one after another,
for example a serial novel. It can also be noun, for example, a serial killer. 'Cereal' is a noun,
meaning a plant that is grown to produce grain. So, the answer for this quiz is 'cereal' - 'The
fertile soils of Rajasthan produce many cereal crops, including rice, wheat and maize.'

to identify the correct meaning of the in context, take a close look at the sentence and
grammatical structure, the useage of punctuation marks, and the meanings of surrounding words.
In some cases, you can figure out the meaning of a word simply based on your understanding of
the passage's main idea.
on the official TOEFL test, some unusual or technical terms have hyperlinked definitions. In this
book, such terms are defined at the end of the passage. Because the definition is provided, these
words will not appear as questions.