Advanced English

Oakland English Research Center

Content Created by MD MIZANUR RAHMAN, Lecturer
(English), South Point College, Founder and Chief Trainer,
Oakland Research Center, Coordinator, IELTS Preparation
Course.

Target Words: (15)

Impertinent being disrespectful; improperly forward or bold

Prodigal rashly or wastefully extravagant
Equivocal confusing or ambiguous
Intimate to suggest something subtly
Belie to give a false representation to; misrepresent
Galvanize to excite or inspire (someone) to action
Veracious truthful
Restive restless
making a false statement meant to injure a
Calumny person’s reputation
Egregious standing out in a negative way; shockingly bad
somebody who attacks cherished beliefs or
Iconoclast institutions
Castigate to reprimand (scold) harshly
to clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt
Vindicate with supporting arguments or proof
Ambiguous Open to more than one interpretation, not clear
Obnoxious Loathsome, hateful
Target Idioms & Phrases: (07)

Confess – especially when a person has

Make a clean breast of it
done a wrong thing
Have a card up one’s
Have a secret plan in reserve
sleeve
Like a cat on hot bricks Very nervous
Cat and dog life Life full of quarrels

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Made up story that one should not
Cock and bull story
believe
Cry for the moon Ask for the impossible

Practice the following dialogue between two participants at

least 5 times and try to understand the target words and
phrases.

Friend 01: Would you accept his explanation about his

prodigal spending of the funds?

Friend 02: No way. He just told us another cock and bull story
as usual. He hoped his story would belie the crime he
committed.

Friend 01: What about Mr. Akbar? Is he out of the woods now?

Friend 02: He’s safe. You know everybody loves him for his
veracious nature. In fact, this special trait helped him vindicate
all the accusations against him and come off with flying colors.

Friend 01: Impressive! Incidentally, the iconoclast, Rimon, and

his obnoxious attempts galvanized the entire office to go
against Mr. Akbar. Truly speaking, this is egregious and the
heads must be castigated for this calumny against such a
conscientious man.

Friend 02: Right you are! The authority must take the bull by
the horns and hit the nail on the head. These people should
learn a good lesson.

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Friend 01: They should. However, how about your promotion?
I’m so sorry if I’m being impertinent.

Friend 02: Don’t be sorry. It’s fine. Well, since my immediate

boss and I are having a cat and a dog life, it has become a wee
bit difficult for me to get promoted now. However, I have a
card up my sleeve and I will use it if he made me feel restive
regarding my promotion.

Friend 01: You are not crying for the moon. You deserve this
promotion. Well, if your boss is adamant in his decision, you
may go to your manager and clarify the ambiguity.

Friend 02: It’s a herculean task for me, man. When I stand in
front of my manager, I feel like a cat on the hot bricks. My
points become equivocal. I moved the heaven and earth to
inform him of the matter but the fear enervated me every
time I tried.

Friend 01: Don’t worry. Go and make a clean breast of it that

you feel nervous while talking to him. Hope he will understand
and give you a way out.

Friend 01: Yeah, I should give it a try.

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Writer’s Notes:

I hope he didn't think I was being impertinent when I asked

him about his private life.

If you want to save money for college, you should stop your
prodigal spending. After the prodigal son spent all of his
inheritance, he had to get a low-paying job. The government’s
prodigal spending is going to ruin the country’s economy.

Since the defendant’s alibi is equivocal, the jury will disregard

it almost instantly. The scientist’s theory is equivocal and has
not been proven in a lab experiment.

Janice hoped her smile would belie the sadness she felt. The
woman hoped her excessive shopping would fool her friends
and belie the truth about her empty bank account.

The group is hoping to galvanize (stimulate) public opinion

against the proposed law. The Web site has galvanized
support for the project. Because the charity wants to
galvanize the public in support of its cause, it's holding an
open house to share its achievements and goals. He thought
he could pick up market share and galvanize the airline's
popularity. Perhaps SIV was waiting for some event or
announcement to once again galvanize people into
marching. The effect was to galvanize male trade unionists
to broaden their dispute. He decided to talk loudly and
galvanize the team into action. She decided to shout at him
to galvanize him to take action. He understood their problem

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and it helped galvanize him to volunteer to help them. Asking
questions was the best way to galvanize the final decision.

He might be called an ingenuous hypocrite, an artless

humbug, a veracious liar, so obviously were the traits
indicated innate and organic in him rather than acquired.
Miss Stackpole was a strictly veracious reporter. Honest”
Abraham Lincoln was known as a veracious president who
stood for truth.
Always veracious, Grandma Marlene will tell you the truth
even if it might hurt your feelings.
Pinocchio was not known for being veracious as his lying got
him in lots of trouble.
After listening to all evidence, the jury found the veracious
woman to be truthful and dismissed all charges.

Definition of Restive
feeling bored or impatient while waiting for something to
happen or change.

As the clock ticked past 7:30, the wedding guests became

restive and started to shift in their seats, wondering if
something had happened.

When we finally trapped the feral cat on our back porch, it

became extremely restive, yowling and scratching frantically
at the door. After just a week of summer vacation, the kids
were bored and restive, demanding new things to do.

Because Charles is always pacing the floor, it’s only natural to

conclude that he must have a very restive temperament.

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Definition of Calumny
a false statement made to damage someone’s reputation

The best way for you to defend yourself against calumny is by

ignoring the false statements of others

It was an egregious error for a statesman to show such

ignorance.

Because Jared was an iconoclast and dared to question the

company’s mission, he was fired from his job.

The successful entrepreneur is an iconoclast who is not afraid

to introduce something new to the market. The church
leader was deemed an iconoclast when he spoke out against
his religion’s views. When drunk, my uncle is an annoying
iconoclast who insults the beliefs of others.

The judge castigated the lawyers for their lack of

preparation. He was castigated in the media for making
millions of dollars while the company went bankrupt.

These discoveries vindicate their theory. Their approach to

the problem has been vindicated by the positive results.

Don’t even try to use your charm and good looks to vindicate
your obnoxious (loathsome) behavior last night. You can
vindicate your claim to this property by showing us the

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original deed. If he can vindicate his client of the charges in
spite of the circumstantial evidence against him, he will be
performing a miracle.

His reply to my question was somewhat ambiguous. The

wording of the agreement is ambiguous. The government has
been ambiguous on this issue.

Julia finally made a clean breast of it and admitted that she

had stolen the money.

England have definitely been the weaker side, but I think

they've still got one or two cards up their sleeve

David was like a cat on hot bricks.

I was like a cat on hot bricks when it was my group's turn to

perform.

After two years of marriage they have started leading a cat

and dog life

He gave me some cock-and-bull story about having to be at

his cousin's engagement party. He told us some cock-and-
bull story about having lost all his money.

The striking workers say they just want to be paid what they're
worth. They're not crying for the moon.

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