Test your vocabulary for fce 3

crepancy infringement slick 
coincidence effigy obituary subsidy 
compunction euphemism oversight truancy 
figurehead plaque 
1. When she returned from holiday, there was a(n)................. of work waiting for her. 
2. The T.U.C. is the British ............. of the Swedish L.O. 
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3. You told me you paid £2,000 for your computer, yet the bill only comes to £1,250. How do you explain the 
................. ? 
4. “To pass away” is a(n)................. for “to die”. 
5. “Swinging London” was in its ................. in the 1960s. 
6. My uncle reads th e ................. column in The Times every morning just to check that he’s still alive. 
7. A(n)................. was held to determine the wishes of the people regarding nuclear power. 
8. “ ................. is a very small problem here,” said the headmistress proudly. “Very few of our pupils don’t enjoy 
coming to school.” 
9. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is an old................... 
10. It was such a(n)................. when I met my neighbour in Paris. I thought he was still at home. 
11. No one doubts nowadays that there is a strong................. between smoking arid lung cancer. 
12. A large................. appeared in the playground just after the earthquake. 
13. Having a job is in many ways a(n)................. to being able to enjoy and appreciate one’s free time. 
14. She was in a(n)................. as to whether to take the job or not. She just couldn’t make up her mind. 
15. In many ways sailing boats are a(n)................. in today’s world of supersonic travel. 
16. As it was his first offence, the magistrate showed................. and let him off with a warning. 
17. Britain has a professional army, so ................. is no longer needed. 
18. I don’t really have time to read this report now, Clare. Could you give me the ................. of it? 
19. Because of an unfortunate................. the complimentary tickets to the exhibition were not sent out until the 
day the exhibition closed. 
20. There is a(n)................. of eye diseases in many tropical countries. 
21. As far as I know there is no known................. for this poison. 
22. She didn’t have the slightest................. about phoning her boss and pretending she had a cold so that she could 
take the day off. 
23. We must follow the plan to the letter; just the slightest................. could ruin everything. 
24. Today’s monarch has very little power; he or she is simply a(n)................... 
25. According to th is ................. on the wall, Richard Burton was bom here. 
26. The National Opera in this country gets a Government................. of over £3,000,000 a year. 
27. During the demonstration, some of the students burned a(n)................. of the Prime Minister. 
28. The goal was disallowed because of a previous.................. 
29. There was an oil................. several miles long after the two oil tankers collided. 
30. We all liked the new boss, but he did have one................. - he always wore a dandelion in his buttonhole. 
 KEY 
1 backlog 11 correlation 21 antidote 
2 counterpart 12 fissure 22 compunction 
3 discrepancy 13 prerequisite 23 deviation 
4 euphemism 14 quandary 24 figurehead 
5 heyday 15 anachronism 25 plaque 
6 obituary 16 clemency 26 subsidy 
7 referendum 17 conscription 27 effigy 
8 Truancy 18 gist 28 infringement 
9 adage 19 oversight 29 slick 
10 coincidence 20 prevalence 30 idiosyncrasy 
PHRASAL VERBS 
Complete each of the following sentences with a suitable phrasal verb. 
1. He won’t be able to .................. that speed. (maintain) 
2. Mr Watkins is ....................... with some sort of virus infection. (confined to his bed) 
3. Ms Wilson is .................... Mr Thompson while he’s on holiday. (taking the place of/substituting for) 
4. I don’t see why you .................. foreigners: (despise) 
5. I’m sorry to .................but you’re wanted on the phone. (interrupt) 
6. We must................ a date for the firm’s Christmas party soon. (arrange/decide upon) 
7. Can you................. me.................. for the night? (give me a place to sleep) 
8. It will cost at least £1,000 to .................... the flat. (decorate) 
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9. Her husband treats her really badly. I don’t know how she ............. it. (tolerates) 
10. Let’s ....................... these silly rules. (abolish) 
11. It is very expensive to .................. a large house nowadays. (maintain/look after) 
12. I will never trust her again. She h as ............ me............ so many times. (failed me/disappointed me) 
13. All our plans................because of my sudden illness. (came to nothing) 
14. The number of spectators has ................ considerably in the past year. (decreased) 
15. I wish I knew what............. his attacks. (caused) 
16. “I hope I haven’t ................ you.......... ?” “No, not at all. I never go to bed before midnight.” (prevented you 
from going to bed) 
17. If it ............ soon, we’ll be able to have our picnic as planned. (becomes fine) 
18 It was the first time they had ................. since they got married. (quarrelled) 
19. Since four of the committee were ill, they decided to ...........the meeting until the following week. (postpone) 
20. To some extent the high standard of living in Sweden............the boring social life. (compensates for) 
21. You’d better not eat that food; it’s ............(gone bad) 
22. Each of the runners was given a number, but they decided to ........... number 13 in case anyone was 
superstitious. (omit) 
23. When do British schools.................... ? (close for the holidays) 
24. Dinosaurs................. millions of years ago. (became extinct) 
25. Since it was his first offence, he was....................(not punished/allowed to go free) 
 KEY 
1 keep up 10 do away with 18 fallen out 
2 laid up 11 keep up 19 p ut off 
3 standing in for 12 let (me) down 20 makes up for 
4 look down on 13 fell through 21 gone off 
5 b u tt in 14 fallen off'gone down 22 leave out 
6 fix up 15 brought on 23 break up 
7 put (me) up 16 kept (you) up 24 died out 
8 do up 17 clears up 25 let off 
9 puts up with 
TOO MANY WORDS 
Replace the underlined words in the following sentences with a single word. (The first letter of the word is 
given.) 
1. The shop was offering a £5 reduction from the full price to any customer who paid in cash. (d................. ) 
2. After all the nuclear tests, the island was not fit to live on. (u................. ) 
3. We were all told of the decision in advance. (b................ ) 
4. The President has absolutely and completely refused to meet the terrorist leaders. (c ................. ) 
5. We couldn’t eat the food because it was impure and likely to cause disease. (c ................. ) 
6. This ink is impossible to rub out. (i................. ) 
7. The two roads cross each other here. (i................. ) 
8. After months of negotiations, the treaty has now been formally accepted. (r.................) 
9. All rooms must be left empty before 12 noon. (v................. ) 
10. Do you think the human race will be completely destroyed one day? (a................ ) 
11. The thieves got away with a large quantity of gold and silver bars. (b................) 
12. Plenty of fresh air and exercise is likely to lead to good health. (c ..........) 
13. The officer was freed from blame from the charges that had been made against him. (e................. ) 
14. He has a great natural ability for mathematics. (a................. ) 
15. His flat was dirty and squalid. (s.................) 
16. I think you should change this sentence. As it stands now, it is capable of more than one interpretation. 
(a................. ) 
17. She was given an annual allowance of £3,000. (a................ ) 
18. Many people believe that a Third World War is bound to happen. (i ......... ) 
19. The racing car broke up into small pieces as it hit the crash barrier at 300 m.p.h. (d................. ) 
20. The three men were arrested for being on private land without permission. (t................. ) 
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 KEY 
1 discount 11 bullion 
2 uninhabitable 12 conducive 
3 beforehand 13 exonerated 
4 categorically 14 aptitude 
5 contaminated 15 sordid 
6 indelible 16 ambiguous 
7 intersect 17 annuity 
8 ratified 18 inevitable 
9 vacated 19 disintegrated 
10 annihilated 20 trespassing 
TEXT: ONE WORD ONLY 
Fill in the blanks in the following passage. Use one word only for each blank. 
 I’m just beginning to ................. (I) up to the fact that I’m no longer as young as I used to be. Of course, I’d 
................. (2) for some time that my birthday seemed to come................. (3) rather quickly and that I’d put on 
quite a bit of................... (4) - especially around the waist. But I didn’t really think these things were ................. 
(5) with age - 1 simply put them down to the increased pace of life plus ................. (6) of exercise. In fact, I was 
.................. (7) that I could still easily pass for thirty-four or thirty-five - it was just a question of................. (8) in 
my stomach and wearing the right sort of clothes. After all, I’d been brought up a firm believer in the ................. 
(9) “You’re as old as you feel” and as far as I was ..................(10) I didn’t feel a day over thirty. So it came as 
quite a shock the other day when, just as I’d got on a bus on my way home from work, a young lady................. 
(11) me her seat. I mean, I could understand her giving up her seat to an old-age pensioner, but why me? Unless ... 
No, I ................. (12) to believe the other alternative. “It’s all right, thank you. I’m getting off soon,” I replied, 
forcing a smile, at thesame time trying hard to convince myself that h er ................. (13) was some sort of pr