Doç. Dr. Yalçın İzbul

Hacettepe Üniversitesi eski öğr. üyesi

Advanced Level Exercises

02/14/02 - 0001

GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY

(Questions That Fall Into Our Intermediate Level Range Are Answered In Turkish In Our Wednesday Supplement)

ADVANCED LEVEL READING COMPREHENSION

( PART ONE )

[All I want you to do is to read this lovely passage and translate Prof. Thornton's gems of double meaning into Turkish. You will thus have an impressive armory of ready-made statements at your service when you are asked to write letters of recommendation for downright incompetent people!]

* * * * *

Lexicon of Inconspicuously Ambiguous Recommendations
( Ways to Handle Those Tricky Situations! )

You're called upon for an opinion of a friend who is extremely lazy. You don't want
to lie --- but you also don't want to risk losing even a lazy friend.

Try this line: "In my opinion," you say, as sincerely as you can manage,
"you will be very fortunate to get this person to work for you."

This gem of double meaning is the creation of Robert Thornton, a professor
of economics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.

Thornton was frustrated about an occupational hazard for teachers: having to
write letters of recommendation for people with dubious qualifications;
so he put together an arsenal of statements that can be read two ways.

He calls his collection The Lexicon of Inconspicuously Ambiguous Recommendations
Or LIAR, for short.

LIAR may be used to offer a negative opinion of the personal qualities,
work habits or motivation of the candidate while allowing the candidate
to believe that it is high praise, Thornton explained last week.

Some examples from LIAR

To describe a person who is totally inept: I most enthusiastically
recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.

[ To be continued... ] 

 Here Is A Pronunciation Test For You 

Do you pronounce your words correctly? Does you pronunciation meet the standards expected of well-educated people, even though your interlocutors know that it is not your native tongue? In a nutshell, is your speech an asset or a liability with you?

Here is a very difficult pronunciation test I have prepared for you. Let me tell you from experience that if you get ten correct answers out of a possible fifteen, you can congratulate yourself on your mastery of English pronunciation...

1. acumen :  ı-KYU:-men  or  ACK-yu-mın ??

2. anathema :  ı-NATH-i-mı  or  ı-nı-THEE-mı ??

3. chiropodist :  ki-R�P-ı-dist  or  çi-R�P-ı-dist  ??

4. combatant :  K�M-bı-tınt  or  kım-BEY-tınt  ??

5. comparable :  K�M-pır-ıbl  or  kım-PA-rıbl  or kım-PEY-rıbl  ??

6. grimace :  gri-MEYS  or  GRİM-iss  ??

7. ignominy :  İG-nı-mı-ni  or  ig-NOU-mı-ni  ??

8. impotent :  İM-pı-tınt  or  im-POU-tınt  ??

9. machinations :  mæk-i-NEY-şınz  or  mæç-i-NEY-şınz  ??

10. orgy :  �-ci  or  �-gi  ??

11. piquant :  Pİ:-kınt  or  pi-KUANT  ??

12. plethora : PLEØ-ı-rı  or  ple-ØO:-ra  ??

13. preferable :  PRE-fı-rıbl  or  pri-FÖ-rıbl ??

14. vagary : vı-GEYR-i  or  VEY-gı-ri  ??

15. verbatim : vö-BEY-tim  or  vö-BA:T-im ??

Answers A Little Down The Page

You can always mail me, should you have any doubts lingering on your mind.

 Here Is An Advanced Level Vocabulary Test I have Prepared For You 

Test Yourself And See If You Can Find The Synonyms For : --

(1)...calamity    (2)...candid    (3)...casual    (4)...civil    (5)...cogent    (6)...dire    (7)...elaborate    (8)...insane    (9)...nefarious    (10)...talented

( ) (a) convincing, persuasive, compelling

( ) (b) appalling, calamitous, deplorable

( ) (c) courteous, polite, secular, non-military

( ) (d) laboured, well-studied, detailed, painstaking

( ) (e) happy-go-lucky, easy of manners, random

( ) (f) mad, lunatic, crazy, delirious

( ) (g) frank, straightforward, outspoken

( ) (h) gifted, brilliant, artistic

( ) (i) disaster, catastrophe, misfortune

( ) (j) evil, wicked, base

* * * * *

Answers A Little Down The Page

You can always mail me, should you have any doubts lingering on your mind.

[ All Ads Deleted ]

Key To The Tests:

Pronunciation Test : Just to make matters simpler, all first choices are correct !!

Vocabulary Test :  1-i   2-g   3-e   4-c   5-a   6-b   7-d   8-f   9-j   10-h

AÇIKLAMALAR

1. Pekos Bill'in sevgilisi Jane Calamity'i anımsayın... Felaket Jane !!

2. "Candid Camera" = Bizim TV'lerdeki "gizli kamera" veya "TV şakaları" gibi programların karşılığı. Ayrıca "frank" sözcüğünü de "samimi Sinatra" dan çağrıştırmayı unutmayın !! Hazır ünlülerden söz açılmışken, Asil Nadir nasıl ? = Mr. Noble Rare !!

3. casual manners = rahat, çevresine aldırmayan davranışlar... A casual remark/glance/visit = öylesine, teklifsiz, gayrıresmi, rastgele... casual labourer = geçici işçi... casual dress X formal dress (ikincisi, smokin yada en azından kravat takım)... casualties = zayiat: ölü, yaralı ve kayıplar...

4. civil war = iç savaş... civil rights = yurttaşlık hakları... civil law = medeni yasa... civil marriage = medeni nikah... civil service = devlet memuriyeti... civil servant = devlet memuru, kamu hizmetlisi... civil engineering = inşaat mühendisliği...

8. sane, sanity, insane, insanity... "sanitary" veya "sanitation" ile karıştırmayınız... asylum = korunacak, sığınılacak yer... to seek political asylum = siyasi iltica hakkı istemek... lunatic asylum = akıl hastalıkları hastanesi (dışardakilerin şerrinden kaçıp sığınılan yer ???)...

10. a man of great talent = a very talented man... to have a talent for sth... local talent = belli bir yörede yaşayan becerili, başarılı kişi

[Bütün bu malzemeyi, yayın haklarına saygı göstererek ve kaynak göstererek kullanabilirsiniz]

ANASAYFA  --  TESTLER  --  OKUMA  --  EĞLENCE