Advanced Vocabulary Booster 1 + Practical Exercises (For C1/C2 level students)

ADVANCED VOCABULARY BOOSTER 1 + PRACTICAL EXERCISES (for C1/C2 level students). This time we´re going to focus on the following 10 words:

ENTHRALLING (adj.) ; (v.) 6. MEMENTO (n.)
DEPICT/ED/ED (v.); (n.) 7. OUTWIT/TED/TED (v.)
PREPOSTEROUS (adj.) 8. ANTSY (adj.)
PERIL (n.) 9. BLINDSIDE/ED/ED (v.)
LOOT/ED/ED (v.) 10. COMPELLING(adj.); (v.)

ENTHRALLING (adj.): fascinating; mesmerizing; very interesting or exciting

Ex. Frederick is no doubt an enthralling speaker. He kept the audience´s attention throughout his speech.

ENTHRALL/ED/ED (v.): to captivate; to fascinate; to mesmerize

Ex. “We were all enthralled by the performance of the players at the Lakers game last night. We had an awesome time really!”, Rick told a friend.

DEPICT/ED/ED (v.): to describe something by using words, a drawing or images;to represent; to portray

Ex. “I love the way that author depicts the characters in his short stories. I think he´s a very talented writer.”, said Ruth to her roommate.

DEPICTION (n.): representation; description

Ex. The book presents a realistic depiction of what life was like in the eighteenth century.

PREPOSTEROUS (adj.): absurd; foolish; ridiculous

Ex. “I think Nick´s suggestion to solve the problem sounds totally preposterous. I mean, it doesn´t make any sense, does it?”, said Charlie to his friends.

PERIL (n.): danger; hazard; risk

Ex. “Harry is too young and inexperienced. Someone ought to talk to him about the perils of unsafe sex.”, Amanda told Donald.

LOOT/ED/ED (v.): to steal goods during a war, a riot or after a disaster such as a fire or a flood; to rob or take goods by force; to plunder

Ex. Many storeowners had closed their establishments during the demonstration as they feared the rioters might loot them.

LOOT (n.): goods or money obtained illegally, especially during riots, wartime, etc.

Ex. The raiders were smart enough to outwit the police and get away with the loot.

MEMENTO (n.): something that you keep to remember a place, person, event or experience; a souvenir

Ex. “I´ll keep this photo as a memento of our trip to France.”, Hillary told Joe.

OUTWIT/TED/TED (v.): to be more clever than; to outsmart

Ex. Raymond was smart enough to outwit his opponents and win the competition.

ANTSY (adj.): nervous; impatient; unable to keep still

Ex.“Tony seems rather antsy to go back to his home country. I think he misses his family.”, Gary told Mick.

BLINDSIDE/ED/ED (v.): to take by surprise, usually with harmful consequences

Ex. George had expected to start a new business, but was blindsided by the economic downturn.

COMPELLING (adj.): a. very exciting and interesting, able to capture one´s attention b. convincing; persuasive

Ex. a: “That movie has a compelling plot. I had a great time watching it.”, Dave told a friend.

Ex. b:The lawyer hoped to make a compelling argument and win the case.

COMPELL/ED/ED (v.): to force someone to do something

Ex. Amber´s parents compelled her to take ballet lessons when she was a teenager.

EXERCISES

I – Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with a word presented in Advanced Vocabulary Booster 1.

Thelma usually gets _____________ before a test.
The news had _______________ them and for a while they didn´t have a clue what to do.
“What a _____________ story! I got a kick out of reading that book.”, James told Martha.
Mike came up with some ______________ ideas during our brainstorming session. You know, the kind of things that just aren´t feasible.
With no water left in the desert, Denzel feared that his life was in ____________.
Many stores were _____________ and five people were arrested during the riot.
Cindy has a _______________ of every country she´s ever visited in Europe.
“What an ______________ book, I couldn´t put it down!”, Jake told Claire.
The movie ______________ a group of teenagers rebelling against their parents.
“I´d bet on Michael if I were you. I´m sure he´s got what it takes to _____________ the other contenders.”, said Barry.

II – Matching: Find the most appropriate definition for each word in the left-hand column.