Elements of Writing

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Elements of Writing

• Vocab Week 8

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Assiduous

• Adj Done with diligence or care
• Robert Langdon carefully attempted to open the
  small coded box with assiduous and careful
  movements of his hands. If he slipped up or
  moved to hastily, the contents could be
  destroyed.

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Belabor

• Verb To beat soundly to assail or attack
  verbally to beat to death
• Mazer Rackham belabored the point that young
  Wiggin could never give up, could never stop,
  could never halt his training. He pounded and
  beat the idea into Wiggins brain.

4
Brusque

• Adj. Blunt abrupt
• The brusque mother told Tom Joad that hes got to
  go. She was very blunt and frank about it, which
  isnt very surprising the whole family is known
  for their candor and blunt honesty.

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Commensurate

• Adj. Equal in extent
• corresponding or equal in size, extent, amount or
  degree
• Jack Ryans position in the NSA shows that
  despite being outside the three equal branches of
  the government, any agency can have commensurate
  power with the presidency. At the end of the
  book, Ryan confronts the President and shows he
  can wield just as much power.

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Commiserate

• Verb To feel or express pity or sympathy for
• Diana commiserated with her friend over the color
  of her hair. The friends attempt to dye her
  hair black resulted in a horrible shade of green
  the original red hair was much nicer, but Diana
  was there to cry with her.

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Esoteric

• Adj. Known only to a chosen few
• Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler went to the esoteric
  island off the coast of Costa Rica. There, known
  only to a few people, millionaire John Hammond
  embarked on a grand project involving cloning and
  genetics.

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Felicitous

• Adj. suitable expressed or well-chosen apt
• The felicitous title of this book is an
  appropriate selection because Trisha McFarland
  often hallucinates that she sees her all-time
  favorite baseball player while shes lost in the
  woods. Its a well-chosen title!

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Gratuitous

• Adj given freely unwarranted
• The Ring, because it was a gratuitous gift,
  didnt overwhelm and twist the Halfling. Since
  his adoptive uncle gave him the Ring freely, he
  did not feel the powerful effects as strongly as
  if he had stolen it or killed to get it.

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Hiatus

• Noun. A gap or pause
• The gravedigger provides a bit of comic relief
  and a small hiatus to the drama of the play. It
  kicks back up full swing after the pause in the
  intensity with the protagonist and his foil
  tumbling into the grave of a girl who drowned.

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Jaded

• Adj to tire or dull by excess or repetition
• Marvin, a jaded robot, does nothing but whine and
  complain. I dont really blame him for being
  worn out by the humdrum of the universe. He was
  left on a desolate planet for several million
  years until the universe came to an end.

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Meander

• Verb. To wind or turn in course to wander
• Bill Bryson meandered up the east coast along the
  Appalachian trail. His movements turned this way
  and that way as he slowly worked his way along
  the winding trail.

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Rapacious

• Adj. Excessively grasping plundering
• Fagin and his gang of
• rapacious pick-pockets
• tried to plunder as
• much as they get their
• grubby little hands on.

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Sardonic

• Adj. Disdainful sarcastic
• John Corey, a sardonic cop on sick leave after
  being shot on duty, found himself thrown into a
  crazy, dangerous mystery full of death, mayhem,
  spies, women, and sarcastic comments. It
  culminates in a climactic conclusion on Plum
  Island.

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Zenith

• Noun. The point directly overhead in the sky a
  summit
• Taran, assistant pig-keeper, battled the undead
  soldiers of Arawn, death lord, near the zenith of
  Mount Dragon. Here, at the summit, he risked his
  life to save the world from evil.