Question

Drag each tile to the correct location. Not all words will be used.

Match each bolded word in this excerpt from Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Contest" with a word that is closest in meaning.


In the year of our Lord 66, the Emperor Nero, being at that time in the twenty-ninth year of his life and the thirteenth of his reign, set sail for Greece with the strangest company and the most singular design that any monarch has ever entertained. With ten galleys he went forth from Puteoli, carrying with him great stores of painted scenery and theatrical properties, together with a number of knights and senators, whom he feared to leave behind him at Rome, and who were all marked for death in the course of his wanderings. In his train he took Natus, his singing coach; Cluvius, a man with a monstrous voice, who should bawl out his titles; and a thousand trained youths who had learned to applaud in unison whenever their master sang or played in public. So deftly had they been taught that each had his own rôle to play. Some did no more than give forth a low deep hum of speechless appreciation. Some clapped with enthusiasm. Some, rising from approbation into absolute frenzy, shrieked, stamped, and beat sticks upon the benches. Some—and they were the most effective—had learned from an Alexandrian a long droning musical note which they all uttered together, so that it boomed over the assembly. With the aid of these mercenary admirers, Nero had every hope, in spite of his indifferent voice and clumsy execution, to return to Rome, bearing with him the chaplets for song offered for free competition by the Greek cities.












strange


beautiful


shouting


praise


faithful


flattering


punishment

Answer 1

Singular = strange
Approbation = praise
Mercenary = flattering

Answer 2

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 and died on 7 July 1930. He was a Scottish physician and writer famous for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of Professor Challenger, and for popularizing the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a very productive writer whose works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.

The Contest tells the story of the Emperor Nero and his adventures. The passage is the beginning of the book where Doyle narrates the start of the emperor journey by ship to Greece.

These are the words in Bold:

Singular, Approbation, Mercenary

These are the matching closest in meaning

Singular = strange

Approbation = praise

Mercenary = flattering