Chicago Style Workout 38: Word Usage, Part 8

Pool table

Rack ’em!

This month’s workout, “Word Usage, Part 8,” returns to our “Glossary of Problematic Words and Phrases” in section 5.250 of CMOS 17. This time we’re focusing on words beginning with the letters r as in “rack” through s as in “straight.”

As you take the quiz, keep in mind that we are looking for usage that would be considered correct even by sticklers (and see our disclaimer below).

Good luck!

Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual (cited in the answers). (For a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online, click here.)

Note: Style guides and dictionaries sometimes disagree. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition.

Chicago Style Workout 38: Word Usage, Part 8

1. rack; wrack. I’ve been _____ my brains trying to come up with the answer.
2. recur; reoccur. The leak _____ during the second big rain.
3. refute. The defendant vehemently refuted the allegations against him, crying, “I didn’t do it!”
4. rein; reign. Their hosts gave them free _____ to plunder the contents of the refrigerator.
5. shear; sheer. We stood at the edge of a ____ cliff.
6. sight; site. The _____, once home to a shopping mall, has been turned into an open-air market.
7. since. Since I’m a golfer, I know what “double bogey” means.
8. sink. The ship ­­­­­_____ in uncharted waters.
9. spit. He has ___ many a curse.
10. strait; straight. We were in dire ____.

 

Photo by Dai Luo, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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