Page 120 - English Vocabulary In Use upper intermediet and advance

Exercises

Comment on the following numbers and quantities using adjective-noun combinations from
A opposite.
Example: The Government will only give us a grant of £20.
But that's a tiny sum of money. How mean!
1 L5 billion was wasted on developing the new rocket.
2 Over 50 people came to Sally's lecture yesterday. We were pleasantly surprised.
3 We have 120 students most years, and we'll probably have about that this year, too.
4 There was only five pounds in my purse when it was stolen.
5 We've wasted over 100 hours in meetings and got nowhere.

Here are some more adjectives which can combine with amount. Divide them into two
groups, small and large and fill in the bubbles. Use a dictionary if necessary.
miniscule gigantic overwhelming minute /ma~'nju:t/ meagre
excessive insignificant sizeable

Now try using them to fill in the gaps below. More than one answer may be possible.
1 Even a ................................. amount of sand can jam a camera.
2 I've had an absolutely ................................. amount of work lately.
3 Oh, you've given me a ................................. amount of food here!
4 It takes a ................................. amount of money to start a business.
5 An ................................. amount of fat in your diet is dangerous.

Fill in the gaps with much/many, a lot/lots of, plenty of, a good/great deal of.
1 There's ................................. dust on these books. Fetch me a duster.
2 Please eat up; there's ................................. food.
3 There wasn't ................................. we could do, so we went home.
4 We've put ................................. energy into this plan. I hope it works.
5 ................................. people seem unable to cope with computers.

Using intensifiers from C opposite, say how you might feel if the following happened.
1 You heard that a friend was in trouble with the police.
2 A close friend coming to stay did not turn up and sent no message to say why.
3 Three people gave you different directions to get to the same place.
4 You passed an exam you expected to fail.
5 Your best friend was going abroad for two years.
6 You had been working non-stop for 18 hours.

Make four sentences of your own using the informal words from B opposite. Write about
yourself / where you live, etc.

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