Word Choice

1. Word Choice

2. The brontosaurus, I learned, was an animal that had drowned in the Flood, being too big for Noah to ship aboard the Ark. I pictured a shaggy, lumbering creature with claws and fangs and a malicious green light in its eyes. Sometimes the brontosaurus would crash through the bedroom wall and wake me from my sleep. Show how the writer’s choice of words make these lines particularly effective. (A) 2

3. Answer • Shaggy: hairy, overgrown • Lumbering: enormous, slow moving, heavy, ponderous, lacking in speed and elegance • Malicious: evil, frightening, vengeful • Crash: loud, scary, destructive force.

4. Perhaps we are gasping for air on some interminable mountain slope that seems to get steeper at every step without bringing us closer to the elusive summit. Perhaps we are trembling on some disintegrating rock ledge from where all routes onward seem to involve moves at which Spiderman would baulk. Quote two expressions which make hillwalking sound rather an unpleasant and uncomfortable activity 2 (A) Quote the word which the writer uses to suggest that sometimes the summit seems beyond reach 1 (A)

5. Answer • Gasping for air • Some interminable mountain slope • Seems to get steeper at every step • Trembling • Disintegrating rock ledge • Elusive

6. But they should beware of talking to slick admen about glossy campaigns, and here I speak as a slick adman. Scientists aren’t a brand to be packaged and given a superficial makeover. Giving examples which support your answer, explain how the writer’s choice of words underlines his distrust of what he calls admen. 2(A)

7. Answer • Expressions like: “beware”/”slick”/”glossy”/”superficial” • suggest admen should be avoided/are underhand/artificial.