ESL: Big If's 20

Read each sentence. If the sentence makes a correct statement, write the appropriate word in the blank. If the sentence makes an incorrect statement, do not write anything in the blank.

Example 1: If "happy" is the opposite of "sad", write "going." ["Happy" is the opposite of "sad", so you would write the word "going" in the blank.

Example 2: If this word--SEPERATE--is spelled correctly, write "people." ["SEPERATE" is NOT spelled correctly, so you do not write anything. Note: It should be spelled SEPARATE.]

1. If "accessible" is used correctly in this sentence, "A good boss is an accessible boss," write the word "nothing": __________________.

2. If "grammar" is to "language" as "map" is to "travel," write the word "annoysa": __________________.

3. If "inadvertent" is a synonym for "unintended", write the word "them": __________________.

4. If "reception" is not a noun formed from the verb "receive," write the word "mostly": __________________.

5. If a "battalion" is the place where a battle is fought, write the word "job": __________________.

6. If the following logic is incorrect, write the word "forgive": __________________.

Some reptiles are snakes.

Some snakes are innocuous.

Therefore, all snakes are innocuous reptiles.

7. If the Italian Renaissance occured more than 2,000 years ago, write the word "durable": __________________.

8. If religious truths are not irrelevant to mathematics, write the word "cautious": __________________.

9. If when pronounced the word "Caribbean" has four syllables, write the word "more": __________________.

10. If American pronunciation of "laboratory" puts the stress on the second and penultimate syllables, write the word "acquiring": __________________.

11. If "similar" is an antonym of "different," write the word "your": __________________.

12. If all materiel is material, write the word "wholesale": __________________.

13. If a nickel is less than a dime, and if a buck is less than a sawbuck, write the word "enemies": __________________.

14. Write the word "always", unless villains are people who are unfairly vilified: __________________.

15. If a personnel manager is the same as a personal manager, write the word "quickly": __________________.

You should now have written eight words. Re-arrange them into a famous saying. Hint: the saying is actually two short sentences connected by a semi-colon.

__________________ __________________ __________________

__________________; __________________ __________________

__________________ __________________.

—Oscar Wilde.

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