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THE LANGUAGE ARTS MAGAZINE
Name: ___________________________________________________ Date: ______________
PLAY: The Tell-Tale Heart • Skill: Vocabulary Acquisition, page 1 of 2
The Tell-Tale Heart
1. belittle (bih-LIT-l) verb; to describe someone or something as little or unimportant example: Alex was frustrated by the way his sister constantly belittled his achievements.
2. blather (BLATH-er)1. verb; to talk foolishly at length; to babble; 2. noun; foolish or dull talk that goes on for a long time example: Miss Fletcher listened, her eyebrows raised high, as Manny blathered on about his missing homework. He told her some complicated story about how he left it on the kitchen table, and his family’s new kitten knocked it off, and then their dog ate it, and he would have redone it, but he didn’t realize it was missing until the next morning, because . . . well, you get the idea.
3. bloodcurdling (BLUHD-kurd-ling) adjective; causing great horror; terrifying example: The farmer and his wife were awakened in the middle of the night by a bloodcurdling shriek coming from the barn.
4. cease (SEESS) verb; to stop; to come to an end example: All conversation ceased when Angelina entered the room. There was complete silence as she walked slowly to her table in the corner.
5. Darjeeling (dahr-JEE-ling) noun; a type of black tea grown in the Darjeeling region of India example: Each afternoon, Ms. Griswold enjoys a cup of Darjeeling and a cucumber sandwich.
6. gargoyle (GAHR-goil) noun; a strange or frightening carved figure of a human or animal sticking out from under the roof of a building example: On each side of the archway was a stone gargoyle with a twisted face and huge wings.
7. keen (KEEN) adjective; very strong and sensitive example: Vanessa’s keen eyesight helped her find DeeDee’s missing earring in the carpet. 8. marrow (MARE-oh) noun; the soft tissue that fills the innermost part of bones example: Raphael donated some of his bone marrow to help treat his cousin’s leukemia. 9. stifled (STIHY-fuhld) adjective; kept in or held back; repressed example: The room was full of stifled yawns as Ed’s speech went on and on.
10. vex (VEKS) verb; to annoy or bring distress example: My mom was clearly vexed by our flight delay, but my dad seemed to take it in stride. Scholastic sCOPE ACTIVITY • September 5, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright ©2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
Vocabulary:
Name: ______________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________________ PLAY: The Tell-Tale Heart • Skill: Vocabulary Acquisition, page 2 of 2
Vocabulary Practice: The Tell-Tale Heart
Word Bank belittle
bloodcurdling
Darjeeling
keen
stifled
blather
cease
gargoyle
marrow
vex
1._Drew’s father could ____________________ on for hours on end about the invention of Scotch tape. 2._Whenever I walk past the old building on the corner, I feel like the eyes of the ____________________ are watching me. 3._“That’s enough!” Ms. Abernathy said to Harry and Larry. “You must ____________________ this quarreling at once!” 4._The loud music coming from next door continued to ____________________ Annali’s family. 5._Reiko is a great softball player, but she has a tendency to ____________________ her teammates by making fun of them whenever they make mistakes. 6._“Would you like green tea, peppermint, or ____________________?” the waitress asked. 7._Chloe didn’t want Matt to know she was upset. She walked into his party with a strained smile and ____________________ anger. 8._Many search-and-rescue teams employ dogs because of their ____________________ sense of smell. 9._The most disturbing part of the horror movie was not what we actually saw, but what we imagined while hearing the ____________________ screams coming from off-screen. 10. The witness felt the accused man’s stare deep in the ____________________ of his bones. Scholastic sCOPE activity • september 5, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright ©2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
Directions: Complete the sentences using the vocabulary words listed in the Word Bank.
