Silence, Silent, Silently
(and other _____ence / ____ent) words

    @
    Some word families have the following pattern:

    NOUN ends with ___ence or ____ance.
    ADJECTIVE ends with ___ent or ____ ant.
    ADVERB ends with ___ently or ___antly.

     Some examples:

    • People admire him for his intelligence.
    • He's a very intelligent man.
    • He can speak very intelligently about most subjects.

    Now, use the system explained above and try the exercise below.

    Exercise
    Fill in the blanks with SILENCE, SILENT or SILENTLY.

    1. It was dark and ______ in the old church. I felt quite scared.

    2. Trappist monks have to take a vow of ______. They aren't allowed to speak to anyone.

    3. The police officers bowed their heads and observed a moment's ______ for the crash victims.

    4. The hungry lion spotted the deer drinking from the stream and ______ stalked towards it.

    5. They offered a ______ prayer for the victims of the crash.

    6. Charlie Chaplin was the most popular actor during the great days of the ______ movies.

    7. The striking miners greeted the government's latest pay offer with a stony ______.

    Click here for the answers

    Click here to try some other one-point lessons.

    © Robert E. Jones, 2003