Step 2: Spelling and Vocabulary

Exercise 1: Developing spelling skills. Fill in the blanks with missing letters. Remember the spelling and the pronunciation.

a) A - ces - ible, a - q - ire, D - da - sm, Su - - ealism, F - t - rism, t - - bulent, i - ol - ted, sens - b - l - ty, p - - spe - tive, im - rovi - ation, e - - iciency, ab - tra - tion, vis - ali - ation, rect - ng - lar, s - mpli - ity, me - - ani - ation, p – r - ty, d - min - te, pr - di - - able, d - sd - - nful.

b) P - - t M - ndr - - n, Mar - - l Du - - amp, the Ei - - el T - - er, Le C - - bus - - r, Pa - lo Pica - - o, Sa - - ador D - l -, Edva - - Mu - - h.

Exercise 2: Derivatives. In the following pairs of nouns and verbs add the missing one.

Transformation	- _____________	adjustment	- _____________
______________	- communicate	_______________	- represent
population	- _____________	difference	- _____________
______________	- express	_______________	- solve
isolation	- _____________	separation	- _____________
______________	- invent	_______________	- mean
existence	- _____________	comparison	- _____________
______________	- perceive	_______________	- assemble
consideration	- _____________	elimination	- _____________
______________	- experience	_______________	- admire
improvisation	- _____________	commitment	- _____________
______________	- complete	_______________	- predict
definition	- _____________	stimulation	- _____________
______________	- achieve	_______________	- incorporate

Exercise 3:

Prepositions

Nouns, verbs, and adjectives often have dependent prepositions which simply have to be learnt. Put an appropriate preposition into each gap.

1. A revolution ___ transportation has made all parts of the world accessible beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

2. Telephones, radio, television, lasers, computers, and satellites have made communication and access ___ information almost instantaneous.

3. Aided ___ the century’s spectacular advances ___ communication, the Cubism and Expressionism of the early years of the century in Europe led to artistic styles _____ names such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.

4. As we study the artistic events ___ the twentieth century, we need to bear ___ mind that they reflect the events ___ a very turbulent period.

5. Objects were broken and displaced into multiple perspectives – as if we could see the objects _____ all sides.

6. The artist ceased to try to make his work ____ an illusion of the real world.

7. Jazz is a musical form ___ which the uniqueness ____ the individual players is essential ___ the whole created by the group.

8. ___ the turn of the century, anxiety and despair often accompanied the loss of faith ___ stability and order.

9. What was good ___ one man was good ___ all.

10. The mechanized mass killing ___ World War I made people rethink the possibilities ___ the machine.

Exercise 4: Guess the word from its definition and the first letter.

1. the use of symbols to represent things, especially in art and literature – s_____________________;

2. the way in which smth. is planned and made or in which the parts of smth. are arranged – d_________________;

3. a complete change in methods, opinions, etc., often as a result of progress – r_________________;

4. a man-made object that has been sent into space and that moves around a planet for particular purpose – s__________________;

5. success, especially in a competition or a battle; the feeling of joy because of this – t_________________;

6. the conditions in which you live, work, etc. – e_________________;

7. the methods that are used for traveling to and from a place or for sending messages between places – c___________________;

8. a thing that has been made or designed by smb. for the first time; the act or process of making or designing smth. for the first time – i_______________;

9. a piece of strong cloth usually used for making tents, sails, bags, etc. for painting a picture on; the painting itself – c________________;

10. having length, width and height – t_______________________________.

Exercise 5: Put one of the linking words or phrases from the box into each gap.

when that that

although amidst also

and but here

at the same time to many yet

and as it stands although

1. ________________ we can describe what has happened in the twentieth century, it is impossible to know how all of these things eventually will be viewed in relation to the past and the future.

2. The knowledge ______ has been gained during this Information Revolution has far exceeded all the knowledge acquired throughout the previous history of humankind.

3. __________ these triumphs, we have suffered two catastrophic world wars plus several wars on a smaller, ____ still devastating, scale.

4. ______ in this century, the world’s population is fast exceeding its ability to feed itself.

5. ____________________, the legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome ____ all major artistic styles since then have continued and have been joined by influences from cultures in Latin America, Africa, Asia, ______ the Middle East.

6. _______, the painter sought to achieve what had been considered impossible: the representation of movement in painting.

7. __________, the George Washington suspension bridge is a symbol of our civilization.

8. _____, ____________________, the bridge is unfinished.

9. ___________ the engineers had no intention of making the towers of the bridge “beautiful” or “artistic”, they were seen as such.

10. ________ man learned to harness great amounts of energy to be used for his own ends, he began to create what many historians and thinkers called the mechanized world.

11. The twentieth century has been a time when men have found ______ they can no longer believe in absolutes of good and evil.