English Synonyms and Antonyms Part 128

QUESTIONS.

1. To what matters should _awful_ properly be restricted? 2. Is _awful_ always interchangeable with _alarming_ or _terrible_? with _disagreeable_ or _annoying_?

EXAMPLES.

Then must it be an ---- thing to die.

The silent falling of the snow is to me one of the most ---- things in nature.

AWKWARD (page 70).

QUESTIONS.

1. What is the derivation and original meaning of _awkward_? of _clumsy_? 2. To what, therefore, does _awkward_ primarily refer? and to what _clumsy_? 3. Is a draft-horse distinctively _awkward_ or _clumsy_?

4. Give some metaphorical uses of _awkward_.

EXAMPLES.

Though he was ----, he was kindly.

The apprentice was not only ----, but ----, and had to be taught over and over again the same methods.

The young girl stood in a ---- way, looking in at the showy shop-windows.

AXIOM (page 71).

QUESTIONS.

1. In what do _axiom_ and _truism_ agree? 2. In what do they differ? 3.

How do they compare in interest and utility?

EXAMPLES.

It is almost an ---- that those who do most for the heathen abroad are most liberal for the heathen at home.

Trifling ----s clothed in great, swelling words of vanity.

BABBLE (page 71).

QUESTIONS.

1. To what cla.s.s do most of the words in this group belong? Why are they so called? 2. What is the special significance of _blab_ and _blurt_?

How do they differ from each other in use? 3. What is _chat_? 4. How does _prattling_ differ from _chatting_? 5. In what sense is _jabber_ used? How does it compare with _chatter_?

EXAMPLES.

"The crane," I said, "may ---- of the crane, The dove may ---- of the dove."

Two women sat contentedly ----ing, one of them amusing a ----ing babe.

BANISH (page 72).

QUESTIONS.

1. From what land may one be _banished_? From what _expatriated_ or _exiled_? 2. By whom may one be said to be _banished_? by whom _expatriated_ or _exiled_? 3. Which of these words is of widest import?

Give examples of its metaphorical use.

BANK (page 72).

QUESTIONS.

1. What is a _beach_? a _coast_? 2. How does each of the above words differ from _bank_? 3. What is the distinctive sense of _strand_? In what style of writing is it most commonly used? 4. What are the distinctive senses of _edge_ and _brink_?

BANTER (page 73).

QUESTIONS.

1. What is _banter_? 2. How is _badinage_ distinguished from _banter_?

_raillery_ from both? 3. What is the distinctive sense of _irony_? 4. Is _irony_ kindly or the reverse? _badinage_? _banter_? 5. What words of this group are distinctly hostile? 6. Is _ridicule_ or _derision_ the stronger word? What is the distinction between the two? between _satire_ and _sarcasm_? between _chaff_, _jeering_, and _mockery_?

BARBAROUS (page 73).

QUESTIONS.