Word Games, Riddles and Logic Tests Read online

  7. What was the largest island before Australia was discovered?

  8. What goes through all the house without touching a thing?

  9. What turns everything round but never moves?

  10. What is very light but can never be lifted?

  a) A bubble

  b) A hole

  c) A loud voice

  d) A mirror

  e) A pack of cards

  f) A rug

  g) A sponge

  h) Australia

  i) Sleep

  j) Wrong

  © Springer International Publishing AG 2018

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  A. Wallwork, Word Games, Riddles and Logic Tests, Easy English!,

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  Short Forms

  Do you know what the full form of the following words is? e.g. ad = advert = adver-tisement, brill = brilliant

  convo info sec

  cred min tel

  def

  mos def

  typo

  fav prob uni

  Acronyms

  A quick way of writing is to use acronyms, where each letter stands for a word.

  Match the acronyms with their meanings.

  hth

  just kidding

  hwru

  hope this helps

  imho

  sense of humor failure

  jk

  with regard to/with respect to

  lol

  laughing out loud

  sohf

  how are you?

  tafn

  in my humble opinion

  tgif

  thank god it’s Friday

  wrt

  what you see is what you get

  wysiwyg

  that’s all for now

  Grammar Challenge

  Underline the correct form.

  A man drove/ was driving his car when one of the tires punctured/was puncturing.

  He got/was getting out of his car and while he changed/ was changing one of the wheels, all five of the nuts fell/were falling down a drain. He sat/was sitting there thinking about what he was going to do when his young niece arrived/was arriving on her bicycle. She stopped/was stopping and asked him why he sat/ was sitting at the side of the road doing nothing. He explained/was explaining to her what had happened. She said: “I am not really sure what the problem is. Just take one nut from each of the other three wheels, and put them on the wheel that had/was having the puncture. That should be enough to get you to the next garage”.

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  Rhyming Pairs

  These pairs of words look as if they should rhyme, but not many of them do. Which ones do rhyme?

  head

  read

  beard

  heard

  bone

  done

  foot

  boot

  nose

  lose

  face

  pace

  throat

  goat

  voice

  choice

  hair

  chair

  tooth

  smooth

  Funny Book Titles

  Try to understand why the author of the book is appropriate to the title/topic of the book.

  The Housing Problem by Rufus Quick

  House Construction by Bill Jerome Holme

  I Need Insurance by Justin Case

  Teach Me! by I. Wanda No

  More for Your Money by Max Amize

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  Anagrams

  Create an anagram from the letters of the words in the first column. The anagram should correspond to the definition.

  anagram

  definition

  grease

  to be of the same opinion

  ideals

  _____ and gentlemen

  nailed

  negating the probably true facts

  wander

  made aware of a danger

  teaser

  consumers of food

  assume

  has fun

  buries

  comparative of ‘busy’

  caress

  frightens

  cashed

  quickly following someone

  direct

  the opposite of debit

  Mathematical 1

  A tramp makes his own cigarettes by collecting cigarette ends. He needs seven cigarette ends to make one cigarette. How many cigarettes can he make from 49 ends?

  Mathematical 2

  On her first birthday she turned eight. How could this be?

  Mathematical 3

  A cat and a half eat a rat and a half in an hour and a half. How long will it take ten cats to eat 10 rats?

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  Mathematical 4

  Adam and Bill are farmers. Adam says to Bill: “If you give me 100 of your sheep, I’ll have twice as many sheep as you.” Bill says: “No, give me 100 of your sheep, then we’ll have the same amount.” Explain.

  Mathematical 5

  Superman always goes around with a load of chewing gum in his pockets. The other day he said to Superwoman: “If I take a piece of gum from my left trouser pocket and put in tin the right one, I’ll have the same number of pieces in each. But if I take a piece from the right pocket and put it in the left, I’ll have twice as many pieces in the left pocket as in the right”. How many pieces of gum must Superman have in (a) his left pocket, and (b) in his right pocket?

  Mathematical 6

  A bar of chocolate is three pieces wide by eight pieces long. If you are not allowed to double up pieces, what is the minimum number of breaks you will have to make

  to separate them all.

  Palindromes

  The five sentences below are all palindromes, i.e. sentences that can be read letter-by- letter either starting at the beginning or starting from the end. The only problem is that in each case one or more extra words have been inserted. Can you find the extra word(s)? (e.g. Madam I’m not Adam = in this case not is the extra word) Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus.

  Was it Eliot’s toilet I saw?

  Was it a car or it a cat that I saw?

  Yawn a more Roman way.

  Ten animals I slam in a net.

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  Proverbs

  Match the proverbs (1-10) with their explanations (a-j).

  1. There are plenty of other fish in the sea

  2. There’s a time and a place for everything

  3. There’s no smoke without fire

  4. There’s no time like the present

  5. There’s no use crying over spilled/spilt milk

  6. Third time lucky

  7. (This is) just what the doctor ordered

  8. Time is a great healer

  9. Time is money

  10. To kill two birds with one stone

  a) If there are rumors of something then there is probably a reason for the rumors.

  b) Now is the best time to do something.

  c) Pain or sorrow will be felt less strongly as time passes.

  d) Said when someone is behaving in a way that you do not think is suitable for

  the situation they are in.

  e) Something that is good for someone to have or to do.

  f) The third time that you try something you will be successful.

  g) There are many potential substitutes in the world.

  h) There is no point in worrying or complaining about something that you cannot change.

  i) Time is valuable and wasting time is like wasting money.

  j) To accomplish two goals with one action.

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  Limericks

  Practise reading the limericks aloud and hear/find the rhythm.

  Said Queen Isabella of Spain,

  “I like it just now and again;

  But I wish to explain

  That by ‘Now and again’

  I mean now and again and again.

  There was an old man at th
e Cape

  Who made himself garments of crape;

  When asked “Will they tear?

  He replied “Here and there

  But they keep such a beautiful shape”.

  There was a young girl of Majorca

  Whose aunt was a very fast walker;

  She walked sixty miles

  And leaped fifteen stiles

  Which astonished that girl of Majorca.

  Anagrams

  Match a word from the first column with its anagram in the second column.

  adverts

  cleared

  close-up

  couples

  declared

  despair

  stained

  eastern

  hardest

  elapsed

  pleased

  instead

  praised

  premise

  dignity

  starved

  nearest

  tidying

  empires

  trashed

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  Word Ladder

  Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, enjoyed converting one word into another by changing one letter at a time. For example: H A T E > h a v e > h o v e > L O V E

  See if you can convert LIVE into DEAD. You can use the clues in brackets to help you.

  LIVE

  _____

  LIND (not a recognized word, but used by Carroll in any case)

  _____

  _____

  DEAD

  Keys to Chapter 8

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  Keys to Chapter 8

  Riddles

  1. The more you take away form it the larger it becomes, the more you add

  to it the smaller it becomes? What is it? A hole.

  2. What is put on a table, cut, but never eaten? A pack of cards

  3. What holds water yet is full of holes? A sponge

  4. What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary? Wrong

  5. What goes up and down the stairs without moving? A rug

  6. What is that you want, but when you have it you don’t know that you have

  it? Sleep.

  7. What was the largest island before Australia was discovered? Australia.

  8. What goes through all the house without touching a thing? A loud voice.

  9. What turns everything round but never moves? A mirror.

  10. What is very light but can never be lifted? A bubble.

  Short Forms

  convo = conversation, cred = credibility, def = definitely, fav = favorite, info =

  information, min = minute, mos def = most definitely, prob = problem, sec =

  second, tel = telephone, typo = typography mistake, uni = university

  Acronyms

  hth = hope this helps

  hwru = how are you?

  imho = in my humble opinion

  jk = just kidding

  lol = laughing out loud

  sohf = sense of humor failure

  tafn = that’s all for now

  tgif = thank god it’s Friday

  wrt = with regard to/with respect to

  wysiwyg = what you see is what you get

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  Keys to Chapter 8

  Grammar Challenge

  A man was driving his car when one of the tires punctured. He got out of his car and while he was changing one of the wheels, all five of the nuts fell down a drain. He sat/was sitting there thinking about what he was going to do when his young niece arrived on her bicycle. She stopped and asked him why he was sitting at the side of the road doing nothing. He explained to her what had happened. She said: “I am not really sure what the problem is. Just take one

  nut from each of the other three wheels, and put them on the wheel that had

  the puncture. That should be enough to get you to the next garage.

  Rhyming Pairs

  head rhymes with read when read is the past tense of to read Other pairs that rhyme are: face/pace, throat/goat, voice/choice, hair/chair

  Funny Book Titles

  The Housing Problem by Rufus Quick (roof house quick)

  House Construction by Bill Jerome Holme (build your own home)

  I Need Insurance by Justin Case (just in case)

  Teach Me! by I. Wanda No (I want to know)

  More for Your Money by Max Amize (maximize)

  Anagrams

  agrees

  ladies

  denial

  warned

  eaters

  amuses

  busier

  scares

  chased

  credit

  Keys to Chapter 8

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  Mathematical 1

  Eight. He makes seven to start with, smokes them, and then makes the eighth

  from their ends.

  Mathematical 2

  She was born on February 29, 1896. Since only centuries divisible by 400 are

  leap years, the year 1900 was not a leap year. Thus, the next February 29th

  was in 1904, when she turned eight.

  Mathematical 3

  An hour and a half.

  Mathematical 4

  a + 100 = 2(b-100)

  b + 100 = a - 100

  a = b + 200

  b + 200 + 100 = 2b - 200

  b = 500

  500 + 100 = a - 100

  a = 700

  Mathematical 5

  7, 5

  Mathematical 6

  23

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  Keys to Chapter 8

  Palindromes

  Sums are not ever set as a test on Erasmus.

  Was it Thomas Eliot’s toilet I saw?

  Was it a car or was it a cat that I saw?

  Yawn a much more Roman way.

  Ten animals did I slam in a net.

  Proverbs

  There are plenty of other fish in the sea There are many potential substitutes in the world.

  There’s a time and a place for everything Said when someone is behaving in

  a way that you do not think is suitable for the situation they are in There’s no smoke without fire If there are rumors or signs of something then there is probably a reason for the rumors

  There’s no time like the present Now is the best time to do something

  There’s no use crying over spilled/spilt milk There is no point in worrying or complaining about something that you cannot change

  Third time lucky The third time that you try something you will be

  successful

  (This is) just what the doctor ordered Something that is good for someone to have or to do

  Time is a great healer Pain or sorrow will be less strongly felt as time passes Time is money Time is valuable and wasting time is like wasting money

  To kill two birds with one stone To accomplish two goals with one action

  Keys to Chapter 8

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  Anagrams

  adverts/starved

  close-up/couples

  declared/cleared

  stained/instead

  hardest/trashed

  pleased/elapsed

  praised/despair

  dignity/tidying

  nearest/eastern

  empires/premise

  Word Ladder

  LIVE

  LINE

  LIND (not a recognized word, but used by Carroll in any case)

  LEND

  LEAD

  DEAD

  Chapter 9

  Life is more fun if you play games

  Irregular Verbs

  How many irregular verbs can you get out of these letters?

  R F T

  A W S

  E I L

  Each letter can be used more than once in the same verb.

  Score 14: genius

  10-13: Excellent

  6-9: Intermediate

  1-5: low

  © Springer International Publishing AG 2018

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  A. Wallwork, Word Games, Riddles and
Logic Tests, Easy English!,

  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67241-0_9

  118

  Anagrams 1

  Can you work out the connection between the first phrase/word and the second

  phrase/word?

  A divorce suit - I advise court

  The eyes - they see

  Ignorant - no rating

  Lionesses - noiseless

  Our destiny - It’s your end

  This ear - it hears

  Violet - love it

  Unusual Paragraph

  This is a most unusual paragraph. How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so ordinary you’d think nothing was wrong with it – and in fact, nothing is wrong with it. It is unusual though. Why? Study it, think about it, and you may find out. Try to do it without coaching. If you work at it for a bit it will dawn on you. So jump to it and try your skill at figuring it out. Good luck – don’t blow your cool!

  Word Ladder

  Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, enjoyed converting one word into another by changing one letter at a time.

  For example: H A T E > h a v e > h o v e > L O V E

  See if you can convert MINE into COAL. You can use the clues in brackets to help you.

  MINE

  _____

  MIST (a thin fog with condensation near the ground)

  _____

  MOAT (ditch dug as a fortification and usually filled with water)

  _____

  COAL

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  Riddles

  Match the questions (1-10) with the answers (a-j).

  1. It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it?

  2. I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?

  3. What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but

  never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?

  4. I never was. I am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. What am I?

  5. At night they come without being fetched. By day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?

  6. What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?

  7. The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never uses it. The one that uses it never knows that he’s using it. What is it?

  8. The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?

  9. Three women went walking under one umbrella, but none of them got wet.

  Why?

  10. What can you hear but not touch or see?

  a) A coffin

  b) A river.

  c) Darkness

  d) It wasn’t raining.

  e) Man

  f) The letter ‘n’.