Question 1
Few question the propriety of the current haste on the part of manufacturers to bring out “new and improved” products at the prevalent rate. At one time, in the dim, distant past before the advent of television, it was the vogue for products to be advertised on the merits of their “tried and true” qualities. Few advertisers were impious enough to jettison any part of a product that had been accepted by the public. Year after year, the local grocery store owner would proffer the same box of cereal, the same house cleaner. The acceptance was of the time-tested product, and it appeared almost unconscionable for the manufacturer to change his merchandise. Today’s spate of transient products would have been considered an anomaly in those days.
Sample Sentences: Use the new words in these sentences.
A few years ago there was a _____ of science-fiction films about awesome monsters causing pandemonium on our planet, but after a surfeit of that genre, their popularity began to wane.
A spate is a sudden rush or large number of things coming one after another. The phrase a spate of films means many films appeared in a short time. Not advent, because that means the arrival of one new thing, not a large number of them.
Question 2
With the _____ of text messaging, Roger was busy night and day.
Advent means the coming or arrival of something important or new. Here it means that once text messaging arrived, Roger was busy all the time. Not spate, because that means a flood of many things, and it does not mean that something new arrived.
Question 3
We question the _____ of making fun of obese people.
Propriety means whether something is suitable, correct or socially acceptable. To question the propriety of something means to doubt that it is right or appropriate. Here the speaker doubts that making fun of people is acceptable.
Question 4
I’d like to _____ my belated congratulations on your 25 years of married serenity.
Proffer is a formal verb meaning to offer something for someone to accept. The structure I'd like to ___ my congratulations needs a verb after to, and proffer is the only verb among the options.
Question 5
In the milieu of city street life it is not atypical to hear _____ comments about authority.
Impious means lacking respect or reverence. Impious comments about authority are disrespectful remarks about people in power. An adjective is needed before the noun comments, and impious is the only adjective among the options.
Question 6
Definitions: Match the new words with their definitions.
propriety
Propriety means suitability or correctness, especially in behaviour. The passage says few people question the propriety of rushing out new products, meaning few ask whether this is right or appropriate.
Question 7
advent
Advent means the coming or arrival of an important event or invention. For example, before the advent of television means before television existed.
Question 8
impious
Impious means lacking respect, or irreverent. In the passage, few advertisers were impious enough to change a product the public trusted. In other words, they respected the public's acceptance of it.
Question 9
proffer
Proffer means to offer something for someone to accept. In the passage, the grocer would proffer the same box of cereal year after year, meaning he offered it to customers.
Question 10
spate
A spate is a rush or flood of things, a large number coming at once. Today's spate of transient products means the great flood of short-lived new products.
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NEW WORDS
- propriety [prə prī´ ə tē]
“There is a propriety and necessity of preventing interference with the course of justice.” Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, decision, 10/28
- advent [ad´ vent]
“Industrial canning and the advent of freezing have reduced home canning to a curiosity.” Molly O’Neill, New York Times, 7/18/99
- impious [im´ pē əs]
“The Sunis regard the Shias as impious heretics.” Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism
- proffer [prof´ ər]
“Orin came to proffer his condolences when, wonder of wonder, he fell in love with the grieving widow.” Terence Cavanaugh, “An Ill Wind”
- spate [spāt]
“There has been a spate of tell-all memoirs, destroying the organization’s special status.” Jewish Monthly, 9/99
TODAY’S IDIOM
a blind alley—a direction that leads nowhere
The modus operandi was leading up a blind alley and they were barking up the wrong tree.