Each of the key-syllables given below is followed by (1) a list of fairly
familiar words that embody it, (2) a list of less familiar words that
embody it, (3) several sentences containing blank spaces, into each of
which you are ultimately to fit the appropriate word from the first list.
(The existence of the two lists will show you that learned words may have
commonplace kinfolks.)
First, however, you are to study each word in both lists for (1) its exact
meaning, (2) the influence of the key-syllable upon that meaning, (3) any
variation of the key-syllable from its ordinary form. (A few words have
been introduced to show how varied the forms may be and yet remain
recognizable.)
Also, as an aid to your memory, you are to copy each list, underscoring
the key-syllable each time you encounter it.
(The lists are practical, not meticulously academic. In many instances
they contain words derived, not from a single original, but from cognates.
No list is exhaustive.)
<Ag, act, ig> (carry on, do, drive): (1) agent, agitate, agile, act,
actor, actuate, exact, enact, reaction, counteract, transact, mitigate,
navigate, prodigal, assay, essay; (2) agenda, pedagogue, synagogue,
actuary, redact, castigate, litigation, exigency, ambiguous, variegated,
cogent, cogitate.
_Sentences_ (inflect forms if necessary; for example, use the past
tense, participle, or infinitive of a verb instead of its present tense):
It was ____ into law. The legislators had been ____ by honest motives, but
the popular ____ was immediate. The ____ of the mining company refused to
let us proceed with the ____. Nothing could ____ the offense. The father
was ____, the son ____. The student handed in his ____ at the ____ time
designated. Though ____ enough on land, he could not ____ a ship.
The ____ by missing his cue so ____ the manager that his good work
thereafter could not ____ the ill impression.
<Burn, brun, brand> (burn): (1 and 2 combined) burn, burnish,
brunette, brunt, bruin, brand, brandish, brandy, brown.
_Sentences_: He plucked a ____ from the ____. The ____ hair of
the ____ was so glossy it seemed ____. He ____ his sword and bore
the ____ of the conflict. After drinking so much ____ he saw snakes in his
imagination, he staggered off into the woods and met Old ____ in reality.
<Cad, cas, cid> (fall): (1) cadence, decadent, case, casual,
casualty, occasion, accident, incident, mischance, cheat; (2) casuistry,
coincide, occidental, deciduous.
_Sentences_: The period was a ____ one. He gave but ____ attention
to the ____ of the music. On this ____ an ____ befell him. To the general
it was a mere ____ that his ____ were heavy. As a result of this ____ he
was accused of trying to ____ them.
<Cede, ceed, cess> (go): (1) cede, recede, secede, concede,
intercede, procedure, precedent, succeed, exceed, success, recess,
concession, procession, intercession, abscess, ancestor, cease, decease;
(2) antecedent, precedence, cessation, accessory, predecessor.
_Sentences_: He ____ the existence of a ____ that justified
such ____. The delegate ____ his authority when he consented to ____ the
territory. He would not ____ from his position or ____ for mercy.
At ____ the pupils ____ in forming a ____. His ____ was suffering from
an ____ at the time the Southern states ____. His agony ____ only with
his ____.
<Ceive, ceit, cept, cip, cap(t)> (take): (1) receive, deceive,
perceive, deceit, conceit, receipt, reception, perception, inception,
conception, interception, accept, except, precept, municipal, participate,
anticipate, capable, capture, captivate, case (chest, covering), casement,
incase, cash, cashier, chase, catch, prince, forceps, occupy;
(2) receptacle, recipient, incipient, precipitate, accipiter, capacious,
incapacitate.
_Sentences_: Though she ____ the officers, she did not prevent
the ____ of the fugitive. He ____ that the man was very ____. The mayor
skilfully ____ the alderman and proposed that ____ bonds be issued. The
sight of the money ____ him and he quickly gave me a ____. He uttered
musty ____, which were not always given a friendly ____. From the ____ of
the movement he plotted to ____ the leadership in it. The ____ took part
in the ____, but failed to ____ any of the game.
<Cide, cis(e)> (cut, kill): (1) decide, suicide, homicide, concise,
precise, decisive, incision, scissors, chisel, cement; (2) patricide,
fratricide, infanticide, regicide, germicide, excision, circumcision,
incisors, cesura.
_Sentences_: He could not ____ whether to make the ____ with
a ____ or a pair of ____. There was ____ evidence that he was the ____.
In a few ____ sentences he explained why his friend could never have been
a ____. The prim old lady had very ____ manners of speech.
<Cur, course> (run): (1) current, currency, incur, concur,
occurrence, cursory, excursion, course, discourse, intercourse, recourse;
(2) curriculum, precursor, discursive, recurrent, concourse, courier,
succor, corridor.
_Sentences_: He ____ in the request that payment be made in ____.
The ____ was so strong that the ____ by steamer had to be abandoned. In
the ____ of his remarks he had ____ to various shifts and evasions. By his
____ with one faction, though it was but ____, he ____ the enmity of the
other. It was a disgraceful ____.
<Dic, dict> (speak, say): (1) dedicate, vindicate, indication,
predicament, predict, addict, verdict, indict, dictionary, dictation,
jurisdiction, vindictive, contradiction, benediction, ditto, condition;
(2) abdicate, adjudicate, juridical, diction, dictum, dictator,
dictaphone, dictograph, edict, interdict, valedictory, malediction, ditty,
indite, ipse dixit, on dit.
_Sentences_: The man ____ to drugs was ____ for ____ treatment of his
wife, and the ____ were that the ____ would be against him. He said, on
the contrary, that his character would be ____. The attorney for the
defense ____ that the judge would rule that the matter did not lie within
his ____. This would leave the prosecution in a ____. But the prosecution
issued a strong ____ of this theory, and said ____ were favorable for
proving the man guilty.
<Duce, duct> (lead): (1) induce, reduce, traduce, seduce, introduce,
reproduce, education, deduct, product, production, reduction, conduct,
conductor, abduct, subdue; (2) educe, adduce, superinduce, conducive,
ducat, duct, ductile, induction, aqueduct, viaduct, conduit, duke, duchy.
_Sentences_: We ____ the company to ____ the fare. They ____ ten
cents from the wages of each man, an average ____ of four per cent.
They ____ us when they say we have wilfully lessened ____. The highwaymen
____ the ____. If you have an ____, you can ____ an idea in other words.
<Error> (wander): (1) error, erroneous, erratic, errand;
(2) errata, knight errant, arrant knave, aberration.
_Sentences_: That ____ fellow came on a special ____ to tell us we
had made an ____. And his statement was ____ at that!
<Fact, fic(e), fy, fect, feat, feit> (make, do): (1) fact, factory,
faction, manufacture, satisfaction, suffice, sacrifice, office, difficult,
pacific, terrific, significant, fortification, magnificent, artificial,
beneficial, verify, simplify, stupefy, certify, dignify, glorify, falsify,
beautify, justify, infect, perfect, effect, affection, defective, feat,
defeat, feature, feasible, forfeit, surfeit, counterfeit, affair, fashion;
(2) factor, factotum, malefaction, benefaction, putrefaction, facile,
facsimile, faculty, certificate, edifice, efficacy, prolific, deficient,
proficient, artifice, artificer, beneficiary, versification, unification,
exemplification, deify, petrify, rectify, amplify, fructify, liquefy,
disaffect, refection, comfit, pontiff, ipso facto, de facto, ex post
facto, au fait, fait accompli.
_Sentences_: The opposing ____ by incredible ____ had found
it ____ to take over the ____ of the goods. By this ____ it ____ what
goodwill the owner of the ____ had for it, but it won the ____ of the
public. The owner, though seemingly ____ at first, soon ____ a scheme to
make the success of the enterprise more ____. By an ____ lowering of the
price of his own goods and by ____ that those of his rivals were ____,
he hoped to ____ the public mind with unjust suspicions. But all this did
not ____. In truth the ____ of it was the hastening of his own ____ and a
____ heightening of the public ____ toward his rivals. His directors,
seeing that his policy had failed to ____ itself, met in his ____ and
urged him to take a more ____ attitude.
<Fer> (bear, carry): (1) transfer, prefer, proffer, suffer, confer,
offer, referee, deference, inference, indifferent, ferry, fertile; (2)
referendum, Lucifer, circumference, vociferate, auriferous, coniferous,
pestiferous.
_Sentences_: With real ____ to their wishes he ____ to ____ the
goods by ____. The ____ of the sporting writers was that the ____
was ____ to his duties. After ____ apart, the farmers ____ the use of
their most ____ acres for this experiment. To be mortal is to ____.
<Fide> (trust, believe, have faith): (1) fidelity, confide,
confident, diffident, infidel, perfidious, bona fide, defiance, affiance;
(2) fiduciary, affidavit, fiancé, auto da fé, Santa Fé.
_Sentences_: He was ____ that the man was an ____. He had ____ in
a ____ rascal. He had been ____ for years and had proved his ____. Though
we are somewhat ____ in making it, you may be sure it is a ____ offer. His
attitude toward his father is one of gross ____.
<Grade, gress> (walk, go): (1) grade, gradual, graduate, degrade,
digress, Congress, aggressive, progressive, degree; (2) gradation,
Centigrade, ingress, egress, transgression, retrogression, ingredient.
_Sentences_: His failure to ____ from college made him feel ____
especially as his cronies all received their ____. The engine lost
speed ____ as it climbed the long ____. I ____ to remark that some members
of ____ are more ____ than ____.
<Hab, hib> (have, hold): (1) habit, habitation, inhabitant, exhibit,
prohibition, ability, debit, debt; (2) habituate, habiliment, habeas
corpus, cohabit, dishabille, inhibit.
_Sentences_: The ____ of the island ____ an ____ to live without
permanent ____. It was his ____ to glance first at the ____ side of his
ledger, as he was much worried about his ____. Most women favor ____.
<Hale, heal, hol, whole> (sound): (1) hale, hallow, Hallowe'en, heal,
health, unhealthy, healthful, holy, holiday, hollyhock, whole, wholesome;
(2) halibut, halidom.
_Sentences_: Though he lived in a ____ climate, he was ____. The food
was ____, the man ____ and hearty. He did not think of a ____ as ____. We
had ____ in our garden almost until ____. He wept at hearing the ____ name
of his mother. For a ____ month the wound refused to ____.
<It> (go): (1) exit, transit, transition, initial, initiative,
ambition, circuit, perishable; (2) itinerant, transitory, obituary,
sedition, circumambient.
_Sentences_: The ____ was broken. It was his ____ shipment of ____
goods, and they suffered a good deal in ____. His ____ was to be regarded
as a man of great ____. His ____ was less effective than his entrance.
<Ject> (throw): (1) eject, reject, subject, project, objection,
injection, dejected, conjecture, jet, jetty; (2) abject, traject,
adjective, projectile, interjection, ejaculate, jetsam, jettison.
_Sentences_: With ____ mien he watched the waves lash the ____.
His scheme was ____ to much ridicule and then ____, and he himself
was ____ from the room. From a pipe that ____ from the corner of the
building came a ____ of dirty water. He could only ____ what their ____
was. The ____ brought immediate relief.
<Jud, jur, just> (law, right): (1) judge, judicious, judicial,
prejudice, jurist, jurisdiction, just, justice, justify; (2) judicature,
adjudicate, juridical, jurisprudence, justiciary, de jure.
_Sentences_: The eminent ____ said the matter did not lie within
his ____. Though ____ in most matters, he admitted to ____ in this.
The ____ said he would comment in an unofficial rather than a ____ way.
She could not ____ her suspicions. He was not only ____ himself, but
devoted to ____.
<Junct> (join): (1) junction, juncture, injunction, disjunctive,
conjugal, adjust; (2) adjunct, conjunction, subjunctive, conjugate.
_Sentences_: A ____ force had entered their ____ relationships.
At this ____ he gave the ____ that disturbances should cease. The tramp
halted at the ____ to eat his lunch and ____ his knapsack.
<Jure> (swear): (1 and 2 combined) juror, jury, abjure, adjure,
conjurer, perjury.
_Sentences_: They ____ their loyalty. He ____ them to remember their
duty as ____. The ____ held the ____ guilty of ____.
<Leg, lig, lect> (read, choose, pick up): (1) elegant, illegible,
college, negligent, diligent, eligible, elect, select, intellect,
recollect, neglect, lecturer, collection, coil, cull; (2) legend, legion,
legacy, legate, delegate, sacrilegious, dialect, lectern, colleague,
lexicon.
_Sentences_: In ____ he listened to the ____ and took an occasional
note in an ____ hand. She ____ an ____ costume. They ____ the only man
who was ____. He did not ____ to take up the ____. He was ____ rather
than ____. Her mind was too ____ to ____ all the circumstances.
<Lig> (bind): (1 and 2 combined) ligament, ligature, obligation,
ally, alliance, allegiance, league, lien, liable, liaison, alloy.
_Sentences_: It was a pleasure that knew no ____. To belong to
the ____ carries ____. In studying anatomy you learn all about ____ and
____. The two nations were in ____. We may be sure of their ____. We will
take a ____ upon your property. As a ____ officer he was ____ for the
equipment which our ____ reported lost.
<Luc, lum, lus> (light): (1) lucid, translucent, luminous,
illuminate, luminary, luster, illustrate, illustrious; (2) lucent,
Lucifer, lucubration, elucidate, pellucid, relume, limn.
_Sentences_: The ____ author spoke very ____. He gave us a ____
explanation of a very abstruse subject. The material was ____ even to the
rays of the feeblest of the heavenly ____. He ____ his theory by the
following anecdote. This deed added ____ to his fame.
<Mand> (order): (1 and 2 combined) mandate, mandamus, mandatory,
demand, remand, countermand, commandment.
_Sentences_: The superior court issued a writ of ____. The case
was ____ to the lower court. His instructions were not discretionary,
but ____. At your ____ the ____ has been issued. The ____ promptly
____ the orders of the offending officer.
<Mit, mis, mise> (send): (1) permit, submit, commit, remit, transmit,
mission, missile, missionary, remiss, omission, commission, admission,
dismissal, promise, surmise, compromise, mass, message; (2) emit,
intermittent, missive, commissary, emissary, manumission, inadmissible,
premise, demise.
_Sentences_: The ____ could only ____ why so many of his people had
not attended ____. The ____ contained a ____ that no one would be held
____. The request was ____ that he would please ____. He ____ to his ____
without a protest. A ____ was appointed to investigate whether the
territory should be granted ____ as a state. His ____ was such as to ____
him to tarry if he chose.
<Move, mote, mob> (move): (1) move, movement, removal, remote,
promote, promotion, motion, motive, emotion, commotion, motor, locomotive,
mob, mobilize, automobile, moment; (2) immovable, motivate, locomotor
ataxia, mobility, immobile, momentum.
_Sentences_: The next ____ was his, and his ____ was profound.
The ____ of the ____ from across the alley enabled the ____ to surge in a
threatening ____ toward the rear of the building. At this ____ the ____
was great. The officer whose ____ had seemed so ____ was now enabled
to ____ strong forces for the campaign. The ____ began a slow ____
forward. His exact ____ was not known.
<Pass, path> (suffer): (1) passion, passive, impassive, impassioned,
compassion, pathos, pathetic, impatient, apathy, sympathy, antipathy; (2)
passible, impassible, dispassionate, pathology, telepathy, hydropathy,
homeopathy, allopathy, osteopathy, neuropathic, pathogenesis.
_Sentences_: With an ____ countenance he spoke of the ____ of our
Lord. The ____ of the story moved her to ____. He allowed his ____ no
further expression than through that one ____ shrug. With a ____ smile he
settled back into dull ____. His plea was ____.
<Ped, pod> (foot): (1) pedal, pedestrian, pedestal, expedite,
expediency, expedition, quadruped, impediment, biped, tripod, chiropodist,
octopus, pew; (2) centiped, pedicle, pedometer, velocipede,
sesquipedalian, antipodes, podium, polypod, polyp, Piedmont.
_Sentences_: A ____ suggested that we could ____ matters by each
mounting a ____. The loss of the ____ was a serious ____ to the rider of
the bicycle. The ____ had me place my foot on an artist's ____. The
purpose of this nautical ____ was to capture a live ____. The ____ of
having so large a ____ for the statue had not occurred to us. A ____
scarcely recognizable as human occupied my ____.
<Pell, pulse> (drive): (1) dispel, compel, propeller, repellent,
repulse, repulsive, impulse, compulsory, expulsion, appeal; (2) appellate,
interpellate.
_Sentences_: After the ____ of the attack the mists along the
lowlands were ____. His manner was ____, even ____. The revolutions of the
____ soon ____ the boatmen to shove farther off. After his ____ he ____
for a rehearing of his case. The act was ____, but he felt an ____ toward
it anyhow.
<Pend, pense, pond> (hang, weigh): (1) pending, impending,
independent, pendulum, perpendicular, expenditure, pension, suspense,
expense, pensive, compensate, ponder, ponderous, preponderant, pansy,
poise, pound; (2) pendant, stipend, appendix, compendium, propensity,
recompense, indispensable, dispensation, dispensary, avoirdupois.
_Sentences_: The veterans felt great ____ while action regarding
their ____ was ____. We shall ____ you. An arm of it stood in a
position ____ to the ____ mass. He knew that fate was ____, and he watched
the ____ swing back and forth slowly. He gave a ____ argument in favor of
the ____ of the money. There is ____, that's for thoughts. Let us ____ the
question whether the ____ is needful. She was a woman of rare social ____.
Penny-wise, ____ foolish.
<Pet> (seek): (1 and 2 combined) petition, petulant, impetus,
impetuous, perpetuate, repeat, compete, competent, appetite, centripetal.
_Sentences_: A great ____ force keeps the planets circling about
the sun. The complaints of a ____ woman led him to ____ for the prize. The
sexual ____ leads men to ____ the race. The ____ was pronounced upon ____
authority to be ill drawn up. With ____ wrath he ____ the assertion. The
____ became noticeably weaker.
<Ply, plic, plicate> (fold): (1) ply, reply, imply, plight,
suppliant, explicit, implicit, implicate, supplicate, duplicate,
duplicity, complicate, complicity, accomplice, application, plait,
display, plot, employee, exploit, simple, supple; (2) pliant, pliable,
replica, explication, inexplicable, multiplication, deploy, triple,
quadruple, plexus, duplex.
_Sentences_: We ____ the thief's ____ with questions. He ____ that
others were ____ with him. The king ____ to the ____ that such ____ must
never be ____ in the realm thereafter. It would be a ____ matter to ____
the order. The manager had ____ confidence in his ____. She admired his
courage in this ____, perceived his ____ in the crime, and deplored his
participation in the ____. They ____ him for an ____ promise that mercy
would be shown. She was in a ____, for she had not had time to arrange her
hair in its usual broad ____. He was ____ of body. The ____ was refused.
<Pose, pone> (place): (1) expose, compose, purpose, posture,
position, composure, impostor, postpone, post office, positive, deposit,
disposition, imposition, deponent, opponent, exponent, component;
(2) depose, impost, composite, apposite, repository, preposition,
interposition, juxtaposition, decomposition.
_Sentences_: The ____ said he would ____ the manner in which the
cashier had made away with the ____. The true ____ of the ____ was now
known, yet he retained his ____. For you to make yourself an ____ of these
wild theories is an ____ on your friends. The closing hour at the ____ is
____ thirty minutes on account of the rush of Christmas mail. He
was ____ that his ____ had ____ the letter. One of the ____ elements in
his ____ was gloom.
<Prise, prehend> (seize): (1) prize, apprise, surprise, comprise,
enterprise, imprison, comprehend, apprehension; (a) reprisal, misprision,
reprehend, prehensile, apprentice, impregnable, reprieve.
_Sentences_: He had no ____ as to what the ____ would ____.
His ____ was so great that he could scarcely ____ the fact that the ____
was his. The judge ____ them of the likelihood that they would be ____.
<Prob> (prove): (1 and 2 combined) probe, probation, probate,
probity, approbation, reprobate, improbable.
_Sentences_: The young ____ was placed on ____. The will was brought
into the ____ court. It is ____ that such ____ as his will win the ____ of
evil-doers.
<Rupt> (break): (1 and 2 combined) rupture, abrupt, interrupt,
disrupt, eruption, incorruptible, irruption, bankrupt, rout, route,
routine.
_Sentences_: The volcano was in ____. Though ____, he remained
____. The ____ of the barbarians ____ these reforms. The organization was
____ after having already been put to ____. The ____ he had chosen led to
a ____ in their relationships. It was ____ work.
<Sed, sid(e), sess> (seat): (1) sedulous, sedentary, supersede,
subside, preside, reside, residue, possess, assessment, session, siege;
(2) sediment, insidious, assiduous, subsidy, obsession, see (noun),
assize.
_Sentences_: The ____ was so small that he scarcely noticed he ____
it. The officer was ____ in making the ____ upon every tax-payer fair.
During the ____ Congress remained in ____. He ____ in the city and has a
____ occupation. When the officer who ____ is firm, such commotions will
quickly ____. He ____ the disgraced commander.
<Sequ, secu, sue> (follow): (1) sequel, sequence, consequence,
subsequent, consecutive, execute, prosecute, persecute, sue, ensue,
suitor, suitable, pursuit, rescue, second; (2) obsequies, obsequious,
sequester, inconsequential, non sequitur, executor, suite.
_Sentences_: On the ____ day they continued the ____. In the ____
chapter of the ____ the heroine is ____. The ____ of events is hard to
follow. The ____ was that her brother began to ____ her ____. The district
attorney ____ six ____ offenders, but thought it useless to bring any ____
offender to trial. It was a ____ occasion.
<Shear, share, shore> (cut, separate): (1 and 2 combined) shear,
sheer, shred, share, shard, scar, score, (sea)shore, shorn, shroud, shire,
sheriff.
_Sentences_: The ____ had on his face a ____ made by a ____ thrown at
him. In that ____ an old custom for every one to ____ in the ____ the
sheep. There was, instead of the usual ____, a cliff that rose from the
sea. All ____ as the freshman was, he had hardly a ____ of his former
dignity. The ____ was very one-sided. A ____ of mist was about him.
<Sign> (sign): (1) sign, signal, signify, signature, consign, design,
assign, designate, resignation, insignificant; (2) ensign, signatory,
insignia.
_Sentences_: He ____ his approval of the ____. The disturbance
caused by his ____ was ____. He ____ no reason for ____ those particular
men. As he could not write his own ____, I ____ the document for him. It
was a ____ defeat.
<Solve, solu> (loosen): (r) solve, resolve, dissolve, solution,
dissolute, resolute, absolute; (2) solvent, absolution, indissoluble,
assoil.
_Sentences_: On account of his ____ course he had given his parents
many a problem to ____. He ____ the powder in a cupful of water and ____
to give it to the patient. This ____ of the difficulty did not win the
____ approval of his employer. The obstacles were many, but he was ____.
<Spec(t), spic(e)</b/> (look): (1) spectator, spectacle, suspect,
aspect, prospect, expect, respectable, disrespect, inspection, speculate,
special, especial, species, specify, specimen, spice, suspicion,
conspicuous, despise, despite, spite; (2) specter, spectrum, spectroscope,
prospector, prospectus, introspection, retrospect, circumspectly,
conspectus, perspective, specie, specification, specious, despicable,
auspices, perspicacity, frontispiece, respite.
_Sentences_: His ____ was conducted in such a manner as to show the
utmost ____. In ____ she noticed an odor of ____. From his ____ you would
have taken him to be a ____ of wild animal. The ____ was better than we
had ____ it to be. Though you have no ____ fondness for children, you will
enjoy the ____ of them playing together. The ____ did not ____ what
underhand tactics some of the players were resorting to. In ____ of all
this, we made a ____ showing. The ____ is one you cannot ____. ____ this
____ of matters, she did not ____ the cause of her ____, but let him ____
what it might be.
<Spire, spirit> (breathe, breath): (1 and 2 combined) spirit,
spiritual, perspire, transpire, respire, aspire, conspiracy, inspiration,
expiration, esprit de corps.
_Sentences_: At the ____ of a few days it ____ that a ____ had
actually been formed. The ____ of the division was such that every man
____ to meet the enemy forthwith. He was a man of much ____ and marked
powers of ____. As he lay there, he merely ____ and ____; he had no
thought whatsoever of things ____.
<Sta, sti(t), sist> (stand): (1) stand, stage, statue, stall,
stationary, state, reinstate, station, forestall, instant, instance,
distance, constant, withstand, understand, circumstance, estate,
establish, substance, obstacle, obstinate, destiny, destination,
destitute, substitute, superstition, desist, persist, resist, insist,
assist, exist, consistent, stead, rest, restore, restaurant, contrast; (2)
stature, statute, stadium, stability, instable, static, statistics,
ecstasy, stamen, stamina, standard, stanza, stanchion, capstan, extant,
constabulary, apostate, transubstantiation, status quo, armistice,
solstice, interstice, institute, restitution, constituent, subsistence,
pre-existence, presto.
_Sentences_: The ____ of the motion was that the student who had been
expelled should be ____. He ____ in his ____ resolution to go on the ____.
She could not ____ the pleas of ____ people. He ____ her to alight at the
____. In an ____ you shall ____ what the ____ was that drove me to
tempt ____ thus. We had gone but a little ____ when I perceived by the
hungry working of his jaws that his ____ was the ____ in the next block.
No ____ could cause him to ____. She was ____ in a ____ at the bazaar.
<Stead> (place): (1 and 2 combined) stead, steadfast, instead,
homestead, farmstead, roadstead, bestead.
_Sentences_: ____ of resting in a harbor, the ships were tossed about
in an open ____. Little did it ____ him to cling to the old ____. A ____
nestled by the highway. To be known as ____ now stood him in good ____.
<Strict, string, strain> (bind): (1) district, restrict, strictly,
stringent, strain, restrain, constrain; (2) stricture, constriction, boa
constrictor, astringent, strait, stress.
_Sentences_: We ____ them by means of ____ regulations. He ____ them
to this course by his mere example. He attended ____ to his duties. You
should not ____ your pleasures in this way. The ____ of long effort was
telling on him.
<Tact, tang, tain, ting, teg> (touch): (1) tact, contact, intact,
intangible, attain, taint, stain, tinge, contingent, integrity, entire,
tint; (2) tactile, tactual, tangent, distain, attaint, attainder, integer,
disintegrate, contagion, contaminate, contiguous.
_Sentences_: His appointment is ____ upon his removing this ____ from
his name. His ____ is such that no ____ with evil could leave any ____
upon him. The contents were ____. With ____ he hopes to ____ the ____
approval of his auditors. It was a dark ____. The reason is ____.
<Tail> (cut): (1 and 2 combined) detail, curtail, entail, retail,
tailor, tally.
_Sentences_: He held the property in ____. He kept the reckoning
straight by means of ____ cut in a shingle. He resolved to ____ expenses
by visiting the ____ less often. We need not go into ____. The profit lies
in the difference between wholesale and ____ prices.
<Tain> (hold--for related _ten_ group see above under Two
Admonitions): (1 and 2 combined) detain, abstain, contain, obtain,
maintain, entertain, pertain, appertain, sustain, retain.
_Sentences_: Village life and things ____ thereto I shall willingly
____ from. I ____ that precepts of this kind in no sense ____ to public
morals. If the gentleman can ____ the consent of his second, the chair
will ____ the motion as he restates it. Though your forces may ____ heavy
losses, they must ____ their position and ____ the enemy.
<Term, termin> (end, bound): (1 and 2 combined) term, terminus,
terminal, terminate, determine, indeterminate, interminable, exterminate.
_Sentences_: At the ____ of the railroad stands a beautiful ____
station. The manner in which we may ____ the agreement remains ____.
He ____ that rather than yield he would make the negotiations ____. During
the second ____ they ____ all the rodents about the school.
<Tort> (twist): (1) torture, tortoise, retort, contort, distortion,
extortionate, torch, (apple) tart, truss, nasturtium; (2) tort, tortuous,
torsion, Dry Tortugas.
_Sentences_: By the light of the ____ he saw a ____ fowl by the
fireside and a ____ in the cupboard. The ____ of his countenance was due
to the ____ he was undergoing. ____ his face into a very knowing look, he
____ that a man with a ____ in his buttonhole and ____ shell glasses on
his nose had leered at the girls as he passed.
<Tract, tra(i)> (draw): (1) tract, tractor, intractable, abstracted,
retract, protract, detract, distract, attractive, contractor, trace,
trail, train, trait, portray, retreat; (2) traction, tractate, distraught,
extraction, subtraction.
_Sentences_: In an ____ manner he drove the ____ across a large ____
of ground. He ____ his gaze at the ____ girl. The ____ was now willing to
____ his statement that in the house as it stood there was no ____ of
departure from the specifications. Down the weary ____ of the pioneer
dashes the palatial modern ____. To be ____ was one of his ____. The
artist ____ her as in a ____ state. The ____ of his forces ____ but little
from his fame.
<Vene, vent> (come): (1) convene, convenient, avenue, revenue,
prevent, event, inventor, adventure, convention, circumvent; (2) venire,
venue, parvenu, advent, adventitious, convent, preventive, eventuate,
intervention.
_Sentences_: The legislature ____ in order to pass a measure
regarding the public ____. At the ____ the wily old politician was able to
____ his enemies. The ____ saw no means of ____ this infringement of his
patent right. In that ____ we are likely to have an ____. Through the
long, shaded ____ they strolled together.
<Vert, vers(e)> (turn): (1) avert, divert, convert, invert, pervert,
advertize, inadvertent, verse, aversion, adverse, adversity, adversary,
version, anniversary, versatile, divers, diversity, conversation,
perverse, universe, university, traverse, subversive, divorce;
(2) vertebra, vertigo, controvert, revert, averse, versus, versification,
animadversion, vice versa, controversy, tergiversation, obverse,
transverse, reversion, vortex.
_Sentences_: Though he carried a large ____ of goods, he was ____ to
____ them. He had ____ forgotten that it was his wedding ____. The ____
was on ____ subjects. They ____ a broad area where nothing had been done
to ____ the danger that threatened them. With ____ stubbornness he held to
his ____ of the story. He held that the reading of ____ is ____ of
masculine qualities. His professors at the ____ soon ____ him to new
social and economic theories. Her husband was such a ____ creature that
she resolved to secure a ____. Americans are the most ____ people in the
____. The anecdote ____ his ____ himself. Her answer not only was ____,
it revealed her ____. He had undergone grave ____ in his time.
<Vince, vict> (conquer): (1 and 2 combined) evince, convince,
province, invincible, evict, convict, conviction, victorious.
_Sentences_: He was ____ that the campaign against the rebels in
the ____ could not be ____. He ____ a lively interest in my theory that
the fugitive could not be ____. He felt an ____ repugnance to ____ the
man, and this in spite of his ____ that the man was guilty.
<Voc, voke> (call, voice): (1) vocal, vocation, advocate,
irrevocable, vociferous, provoke, revoke, evoke, convoke;
(2) vocable, vocabulary, avocation, equivocal, invoke, avouch, vouchsafe.
_Sentences_: He was a ____ ____ of the measure, but no sooner was
the order issued than he wished it ____. In ____ the assembly he ____ the
enthusiasm of his followers. That he should give ____ utterance to this
thought ____ me; but the words, once spoken, were ____.
<Volve, volute> (roll, turn): (1) involve, devolve, revolver,
evolution, revolutionary, revolt, voluble, volume, vault; (2) circumvolve,
convolution, convolvulus.
_Sentences_: It ____ upon me to put down the ____. In this ____ the
heroine is ____ and the hero handy with a ____. He was ____ in a ____
uprising. He had laid the papers away in a ____. The ____ of civilization
is a tedious story.