Word Games, Riddles and Logic Tests Read online

  g) The letter e. End, timE, spacE, Every placE

  h) The stars.

  i) Tomorrow or the future.

  j) Your voice.

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  Tongue Twisters

  Practise reading the tongue twister aloud. Then see if you can memorize and say it quickly without getting your tongue tied!

  truly rural

  red lorry, yellow lorry

  strange strategic statistics

  the minx mixed a medical mixture

  the city sweep shook his sooty sheet in the city street

  Anagrams

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

  anagram

  definition

  ageism

  pictures

  sexist

  is

  longed

  made of gold

  height

  a measurement of altitude

  iceman

  where you go to watch a movie

  nicest

  a small but very visible form of animal life

  slight

  at night without them you can’t see much

  marine

  not go away

  seldom

  the top ones get paid a lot of money

  neural

  not reflecting reality

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  Proverbs

  Insert the words from the box into these proverbs.

  A bird in hand is ______ two in the bush.

  It’s better to be born ______ than to be born rich.

  The end justifies the ______ .

  Every man is his own worst ______ .

  Forbidden ______ is sweetest.

  A leopard cannot ______ its spots.

  A little learning is a dangerous ______ .

  Sticks and stones may break my ______ , but words will never hurt me.

  There’s no pleasure without ______ .

  Tomorrow is another ______ .

  bones, change, day, enemy, fruit, lucky, means, pain, thing, worth

  Limericks

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

  There was a young lady of Jarrow

  There was a young man from Peru,

  Whose mouth was exceedingly

  Who dreamt he was eating his shoe,

  narrow,

  He woke in the night

  Though times without number

  In a terrible fright

  She chewed a cucumber

  And found it was perfectly true.

  She never could manage a marrow.

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  Mathematical 1

  A man went to the hardware store to buy items for his house.

  1 would cost $.25

  12 would cost $.50

  122 would cost $.75

  When he left the store he had spent $.75, what did he buy?

  Mathematical 2

  Three men are blindfolded and a red or blue cross chalked on the forehead of each.

  As soon as the blindfold is removed, any of the three who sees a red cross on the forehead of one of the others must raise his right hand. From that, it is possible for each man to declare the color of his own cross. How?

  Mathematical 3

  When the Brooklyn Breakdancers do a routine in which they perform in threes, one member has to sit and watch. When they dance in fours, two watch; in fives, three watch; and in sixes, four watch. How many members of the team are there?

  Mathematical 4

  Richard Smith had three sons and each of these three sons had three sons too. How many men were there altogether? How many pairs of grandfathers and grandsons?

  How many pairs of brothers?

  Mathematical 5

  Mark is three times as old as Adrian. But in four years’ time, he’ll only be twice as old. How old is Mark now?

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  Txt mssg

  Match the forms in the first column with their meanings in the second column.

  1. 2nite

  a) angry

  2. im2gud4u

  b) be back soon

  3. bbs

  c) because

  4. fyi

  d) definitely

  5. gf

  e) football

  6. cya

  f) for your information

  7. gonna

  g) girlfriend

  8. wotcha

  h) going to

  9. footie

  i) I’m too good for you,

  10. def

  j) love

  11. luv

  k) please

  12. pls

  l) sad

  13. cuz

  m) see you,

  14. :-ll

  n) tonight

  15. :-(

  o) what are you

  Grammar Challenges

  Underline the correct form.

  1. An archeologist claims he found/to have found/to find some gold coins dated 46

  B.C. Do you believe him?

  2. Divide 30 by/for 1/2 and add 10. What is the answer?

  3. How can you take 1 by/from 19 and leave 20?

  4. An assistant in a butcher’s shop is 1.80 m tall/is tall 1.80 m. What does he weigh?

  5. How much soil is there in a hole in the ground that’s two meters wide/wide two meters, three meters long/long three meters, and four meters deep/deep four meters?

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  Play Your Cards Right ...

  Match the words in the first column with the explanation in the second column.

  a pack/deck/stack

  a suit which wins over others irrespective of how

  high those other cards are

  a pair

  the highest card of a suit normally wins one of these

  a run

  often the highest card of a suit, the two being the

  lowest

  a trick

  the king, the queen and the jack (also known as the

  knave)

  a trump

  a full one of these has 52 cards

  ace

  two cards of the same number

  court cards

  a numerical series of cards, e.g. eight, nine, ten, jack,

  queen

  dealer

  the person who gives out the cards

  hand

  a wild card which can generally substitute any other

  card

  joker

  to play a card of the same suit as the previous player

  suits

  to mix the cards together before dealing

  to bid

  to split the pack into two stacks before dealing

  to cut

  spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs

  to deal

  to play the first card

  to follow suit

  the cards you hold

  to lead

  to declare how many tricks you think you will win

  to shuffle

  to give the cards to each player at the beginning of

  the game

  Keys to Chapter 9

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  Keys to Chapter 9

  Irregular Verbs

  arise (arose, arisen)

  eat (ate, eaten)

  fall (fell, fallen)

  feel (felt, felt)

  lie (lay, lay)

  rise (rose, risen)

  see (saw, see)

  sell (sold, sold)

  sew (sewed, sewn)

  sit (sat, sat)

  steal (stole, stolen)

  tear (tore, torn)

  wear (wore, worn)

  write (wrote, written)

  Anagrams

  A divorce suit - I advise court (a divorce suit is between a married couple who

  no longer wish to be married, so to become unmarried they need to go to

  court)

  The eyes - they see

  Ignorant - no rating (no rating means no classification because the perso
n knows nothing)

  Lionesses - noiseless (lions make no noise when catching their prey)

  Our destiny - It’s your end ( end in this case means the point/meaning of the course you follow in life; end also means ‘termination’)

  This ear - it hears

  Violet - love it (a violet is a beautiful flower)

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  Keys to Chapter 9

  Unusual Paragraph

  The most common letter in the English language, the letter e, is not found in

  this paragraph.

  Word Ladder

  MINE

  MINT

  MIST (a thin fog with condensation near the ground)

  MOST

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

  COAT

  COAL

  Riddles

  It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the

  evening. What is it? Man

  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? The letter e. End, timE,

  spacE, Every placE

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

  never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats? A river.

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

  or the future.

  At night they come without being fetched. By day they are lost without being

  stolen. What are they? The stars.

  What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years

  or days? The letter ‘n’.

  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? A coffin

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

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

  Why? It wasn’t raining.

  What can you hear but not touch or see? Your voice.

  Keys to Chapter 9

  127

  Anagrams

  images

  exists

  golden

  eighth

  cinema

  insect

  lights

  remain

  models

  unreal

  Proverbs

  A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

  It’s better to be born lucky than to be born rich.

  The end justifies the means.

  Every man is his own worst enemy.

  Forbidden fruit is sweetest.

  A leopard cannot change its spots.

  A little learning is a dangerous thing.

  Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

  There’s no pleasure without pain.

  Tomorrow is another day.

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  Keys to Chapter 9

  Mathematical 1

  House numbers

  Mathematical 2

  A man must raise his hand ONLY if he sees a RED cross chalked on the fore-

  head of ONE of the other two. So, if no hands are raised, a man can tell

  whether he is red or blue by observing the markings of the other two.

  Supposing A and B raise their hands but not C. This means that A and B see

  red on ONE of the others, and as they see that C is blue, A and B know them-

  selves to be red. C doesn’t raise his hand because he can see red on BOTH A

  and B, and as they have raised their hands C know he must be blue. (This

  solution works for any combination of colors).

  Mathematical 3

  58

  Mathematical 4

  13, 9, 12

  Mathematical 5

  2

  Txt mssg

  1) tonight, 2) I’m too good for you, 3) be back soon, 4) for your information

  [also commonly used in a more formal context], 5) girlfriend, 6) see you, 7)

  going to 8) what are you 9) football 10) definitely 11) love 12) please [also

  commonly used in a more formal context],13) because, 14) angry, 15) sad

  [A variation of this exercise appeared in Chapter 13 of English for Interacting

  on Campus, Springer]

  Keys to Chapter 9

  129

  Smileys

  :”)

  Embarrassed

  :-)

  Happy

  :0

  Hungry

  :-*

  Kiss

  :-D

  Laughing

  :-S

  Makes no sense

  8-O

  Oh my god!

  :-(

  Sad

  :-D

  Side splitting

  laughter

  :-O

  Surprised/shocked

  :-

  Undecided

  ;-)

  Winking

  Grammar Challenges

  1. An archeologist claims he found/to have found some gold coins dated 46

  B.C. Do you believe him?

  # In 46 B.C., they wouldn’t have known how many years before Christ it was.

  2. Divide 30 by 1/2 and add 10. What is the answer?

  # 70. (30 divided by 2 is 15, but 30 divided by 1/2 is 60.)

  3. How can you take 1 from 19 and leave 20?

  # When the numbers are expressed in Roman numerals, this works out: If

  you take I from XIX, you are left with XX.

  4. An assistant in a butcher’s shop is 1.80 m tall. What does he weigh?

  # Meat.

  5. How much soil is there in a hole in the ground that’s two meters widethree meters long/long three meters, and four meters deep?

  # None.

  130

  Keys to Chapter 9

  Play your cards right ...

  a pack/deck/stack

  a full one of these has 52 cards

  a pair

  two cards of the same number

  a run

  a numerical series of cards, e.g. eight, nine, ten,

  jack, queen

  a trick

  the highest card of a suit normally wins one of

  these

  a trump

  a suit which wins over others irrespective of how

  high those other cards are

  ace

  often the highest card of a suit, the two being the

  lowest

  court cards

  the king, the queen and the jack (also known as the

  knave)

  dealer

  the person who gives out the cards

  hand

  the cards you hold

  joker

  a wild card which can generally substitute any

  other card

  suits

  spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs

  to bid

  to declare how many tricks you think you will win

  to cut

  to split the pack into two stacks before dealing

  to deal

  to give the cards to each player at the beginning of

  the game

  to follow suit

  to play a card of the same suit as the previous

  player

  to lead

  to play the first card

  to shuffle

  to mix the cards together before dealing

  Chapter 10

  Words outlive people, institutions, civilizations

  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 FOUR into FIVE. You can use the clues in brackets to help you.

  FOUR

  _____ (an act that violates of the rules of a sport)

  _____ (an
idiot)

  _____

  _____ (a fortified defensive structure)

  FORE (in a forward position)

  _____

  FIVE

  © Springer International Publishing AG 2018

  131

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

  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67241-0_10

  132

  Smileys

  Match the smileys (i.e. a group of keyboard characters that taken on a facial expression) with their meanings.

  :”)

  Sad

  :-)

  Hungry

  :0

  Embarrassed

  :-*

  Happy

  :-D

  Side splitting

  laughter

  :-S

  Kiss

  :-(

  Laughing

  :-D

  Makes no sense

  :-O

  Winking

  :-

  Surprised/shocked

  ;-)

  Undecided

  Limericks

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

  There was a young man from Bagdad

  There was an old man of

  An inquisitive sort of a lad

  Blackheath,

  Who said “I will see

  Who sat on his set of false teeth,

  If a sting has a bee”

  Said he with a start

  And very soon found that it had.

  “Oh Lord bless my heart,

  I’ve bitten myself underneath”.

  133

  Grammar Challenge

  Underline the correct form in these riddles.

  1. What stays/does stay at the bottom of the sea and shakes? A nervous wreck.

  2. Who owns/does own all the dairy cows in the Middle East? The Milk Sheik.

  3. Why elephants have/ do elephants have grey trunks? They all belong to the same swimming club.

  4. How an Inuit builds/ does an Inuit build his house? Igloos it together.

  5. What goes/does go round the house and in the house but never touches the house? The sun.

  6. What it is/is it that you can keep after giving it to someone else? Your word 7. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What they are/are they?

  Footsteps.

  8. Who spends/does spend the day at the window, goes to the table for meals and hides at night? A fly.

  9. It’s been around for millions of years, but it’s no more than a month old. What it is/is it? The moon.

  10. What belongs/does belong to you but others use it more than you do? Your name.

  Word Combinations

  Combine a word from the first column with a word from the second column.

  air

  ball

  country

  bow

  earth

  fall

  light

  house

  rain

  port

  sea

  quake

  sky

  rise

  snow

  scraper