Happy Halloween, Thursday Homework, Some Pictures

How did you like Can's presentation?  She defends her ideas quite well, doesn't she?  It was the source of a lot of discussion and also touched on our main topic.  Great job!

Despite a lot of distractions, we could learn more about gerunds and infinitives.  Tomorrow we'll have to focus and get a lot done, so be prepared to work hard!  Also, Ayaka will do a presentation, which I'm looking forward to seeing!

Our homework is to do Exercise 3, p 335 (for those of you who didn't do it yesterday) and Exercise 7 on page 341.  Circle the direct object gerunds and underline the infinitives.  Easy!

Why the long face?

Wednesday Homework, Essay

There will be a quiz tomorrow on the history of the universe/earth/life etc. tomorrow based on Vasily's presentation.  I hope you were all taking notes!

Just kidding.

Here are a couple of pictures from his information-packed talk.  He certainly crammed a lot of material into a short amount of time!

What an enormous amount of information.  I learned a lot and I'm sure you did, too.  Tomorrow Can will make a presentation, and she always does a splendid job, so be sure to come on time.

Our homework is Exercise 4 on page 336 and Exercise 6 on page 339.  I should have added Exercise 3 on page 335, so if you're reading this, please do that as well.  The people who don't do this will have to do it tomorrow, so it's up to you when you do it!

Our next essay will be due by Tuesday, November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day for you Anglophiles).  You may choose one of two topics:

TOPIC ONE:  

Some believe that athletes should be admitted to universities even if they cannot qualify academically.  Others feel that all students must be judged by the same standards.  Which do you agree with and why?

TOPIC TWO

Genetic research has made it possible for people to custom-design their children, screening out illnesses and undesirable traits and "installing" desirable ones.  Do you think this is a course we should follow or do you believe that this is "playing God" and is therefor dangerous?

As usual, you should write a typical TOEFL-style independent essay of about 350 words in length; it should contain an introduction, body, and conclusion and provide plenty of reasons and examples to support your ideas.

If you're practicing for an actual TOEFL exam, I recommend that you give yourself 30 minutes to do this, turn off spell check, and not use a dictionary or any other reference materials.  If you do this, please attach a note saying that this is what you did and I will grade accordingly.

Tuesday Homework, verbs with gerunds, infinitives, and both

If you didn't check in yesterday, please see yesterday's post to listen to Juan Enriquez's TED Talk as well as the Song of the Volga Boatman for those of you interested in Russian culture or just love beautiful music.

Tomorrow Vasily will make a short presentation about the earth's long history.  On Thursday, Can will present, and then on Friday it will be Ayaka's turn.


Today we began our study of gerunds and infinitives.  We took a quiz which tested your knowledge of which kinds of verbs are used with one or the other.  I handed out a list showing the most common examples as well as a page discussing verbs which can use both but change in meaning.  I noticed that the back of the page didn't print, so I'll reproduce it here and make another copy for you for tomorrow.  You will be responsible for knowing which verbs go with gerunds and infinitives, so look it over carefully and if you are unsure about any, try practicing them as much as possible this week both in and out of class.

For homework, we'll do Exercise 1 on page 333 (wow, lucky number!)  to become more familiar with the different uses of gerunds and infinitives: as subjects, subject, noun, and adjective complements, direct objects and objects of preposition.  We'll check this tomorrow.

Verbs Followed by Gerunds

admit          He admitted stealing the money.

advise         She advises waiting until tomorrow.

anticipate     I anticipate having a good time on vacation.

appreciate     I appreciate hearing from you.

avoid          He avoided answering my questions.

complete       She finally completed writing her term paper.

consider       I will consider going with you.

delay          He delayed leaving for school.

deny           She denied knowing anything about it.

discuss        They discussed opening a new business.

enjoy          We enjoyed visiting them.

finish         She finished studying at about ten.

keep           I keep hoping she will come.

mention        She mentioned going to a movie.

mind           Would you mind helping me?

miss           I miss being with my family.

postpone       Let's postpone leaving until tomorrow.

practice       The athlete practiced throwing the ball.

quit           He quit trying to solve the problem.

recall         I don't recall meeting him before.

recommend      She recommended seeing that play.

regret         I regret telling him my secret.

resist         I could not resist eating dessert.

risk           She risked losing everything.

stop           She stopped going to classes.

suggest        She suggested going to a movie.

tolerate       He won't tolerate cheating during an examination.

worth          That book is not worth reading.

Verbs followed by Infinitives

afford         I can't afford to buy it.

agree          They agreed to help us.

appear         She appears to be tired.

arrange        We arranged to meet at ten.

ask            He asked to come with us.

beg            He begged to come.

bound          That student is bound to fail if he doesn’t study more.

care           I don't care to see that show.

claim          She claims to be a descendant of Karl Marx.

consent        She finally consented to marry him.

decide         I have decided to leave on Monday.

demand         I demand to know who is responsible.

deserve        She deserves to win the prize.

expect         I expect to enter graduate school in the fall.

fail           She failed to return the book to the library.

forget         I forgot to mail the letter.

hesitate       Don't hesitate to ask for my help.

hope           Jack hopes to arrive next week.

learn          He learned to play the piano.

manage         She managed to finish her work early.

mean           I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

need           I need to have your opinion.

object         She objected to working on Sundays.

offer          They offered to help us.

plan           I am planning to have a party.

prepare        We prepared to welcome them.

pretend        He pretends not to understand.

promise        I promise not to be late.

refuse         I refuse to believe his story.

regret         I regret to tell you that you failed.

seem           That cat seems to be friendly.

struggle       I struggled to stay awake.

swear          She swore to tell the truth.

threaten       She threatened to tell my parents.

volunteer      He volunteered to help us.

wait           I will wait to hear from you.

want           I want to tell you something.

wish           She wishes to come with us.

Verbs followed by Infinitives or Gerunds

begin          He begins to work as soon as he arrives.

               He begins working at ten a.m.

continue       He continues to study.

               He continues studying.

hate           I hate to argue with you.

               I hate arguing about politics.

help           It helps to know your limits.

               I cannot help worrying about him.

like           They like to ski.

               They like skiing.

love           Children love to play.

               Children love playing with their friends.

neglect        She neglected to tell her the whole story.

               She neglected telling her about the fire.

prefer         She prefers to eat a light dinner. (potential case)

               She prefers eating a light dinner. (actual case)

remember       I remembered to lock the door.

               I can remember meeting him when I was young.

start          He started to run.

               He started running.

A couple of links

Congratulations--you've made it through one of the most difficult units in our book!  Articles are tough, but I think everyone learned how to use them a little better.

We'll discuss the test in more detail tomorrow and start on unit 18, gerunds and infinitives.

And, as I promised, here are the links.  Today we watched Juan Enriquez talk about an amazing new future for humans.  But will it be will it solve all our problems or just open the door to new ones.  We've solved a lot of big problems over the past 200 years, but we still don't like in a utopia!  I can post the Youtube version but it doesn't have the subtitles.  You can listen to the TED version if you follow this link:

Also, for those of  you who enjoy dirges, I've also included The Song of the Volga Boatman, which we heard briefly in class today.

See you tomorrow!

Friday Study Sheet

It's Friday, and we can all sleep in another hour or so for a couple of days.  Don't forget that on the Sunday after next, November 3rd, we set the clocks back.  Then you'll get an extra hour in your weekend, the sky will be more bright when you wake up, but darker in the evening.

Today we checked the homework exercises and talked a lot about how we can use the, a/an and plurals for general cases.  Pay close attention to the grammar in Focus points 6 and 7.  We also did Exercise 5 from the handout in class, so study that as well.  I hope you take heed of this advice!

I assigned no homework, moreover, I did not assign an essay, but I certainly will next week!

Usually we alternate listening and reading exercises, but as there was so much grammar (which included a lot of reading) we'll have a listening section on the test like last week.  As I promised today in class, here's some hints about what to expect!  Of course, look at the vocabulary in the study sheet below for "listening" and "Raise the Issues."  Also, consider these possibilities: is it possible to find out how long a person will live if we can understand their genetic code?  What might be some possible exceptions to this?  What are the potential advantages and disadvantages?   What is the Human Genome Project?  Would you like to know this information?  Would you support such testing or try to limit, even prevent it?

And, as usual, here's the vocabulary.  I took out some of the Grammar Dimensions vocabulary from pages we didn't have time to study today, namely everything after page 98.  Be ready with questions on Monday if there's anything that's unclear about either the vocabulary or the grammar.

And farewell Abdulazziz!  I will miss you, my sparring partner.  Certainly, our classes will be a lot less dramatic.  I wish I had the presence of mind to have some pictures taken!  D'oh!

AM Proficiency Week Four Study Sheet

Grammar Dimensions Unit 5

Grammar Dimensions p83

implant

to bribe/a bribe

an embryo/embryonic

to bear (children) (bore/borne)

to conceive (children)    conception

Grammar Dimensions p86

a ditch   to ditch (informal—to abandon, throw away)

persistent/ to persist/persistence

irreversible

to euthanize/euthanasia

Grammar Dimensions p87

a precursor to/of

a freckle

a mole

the makings of

outstanding

Grammar Dimensions p88-9

the sole…

the chief

precursor to/of

a component

spontaneous/ spontaneity

Grammar Dimensions p91

dusk

arm in arm

neck and neck

to wound/be wounded

handicapped

Grammar Dimensions p92

to sear/searing

an idol

Grammar Dimensions p93

to propagate

Grammar Dimensions p95-6

a wart

a beam

an incision

an eclipse/to eclipse

an alley

wrenched/to wrench/a wrench

odor

Grammar Dimensions p98

an excavation/to excavate

to roam

straw

Workbook Handout

p38

to deprive s.o. of s.t./deprived of

to cram/be crammed with

stout                                                                                                          

p39

to ring out

algae

picturesque

p40

to bid on s.t. / a bid

an auction

stirring/to stir/a stir

apparent/apparently

bliss

drab

p41

heart-to-heart

dead on arrival

to take heed of/heedless

Raise the Issues

to manipulate

a ramification

a predisposition/  to be disposed to

     a disposition

screenings/to screen

to gauge/a gauge

(strike/struck) stricken by/with

a specter/”the specter of”

an intervention/to intervene

stellar

staggering/to stagger

to discriminate/discriminating

a makeup

consent/to consent

Listening

to take into account

a dilemma

shiver/to shiver

odds

a crystal ball

to peer

“clear cut”  (obvious, easily defined)

Thursday Homework

Today we had a slightly boring but very important class in which we learned more about the use of articles.

One important point:  there are three ways to generalize for complex units such as devices, animals, bodily organs, etc.

THE            The lion is the deadliest predator in Africa.

A/AN           A lion is the deadliest predator in Africa.  (point--using an indefinite article has to make sense.  For example, in class, we saw that we could not say "A whale is the largest mammal in the world" because this is not true of ALL whales, or may not be true of any that we choose at random.  For example, baby whales, killer whales, etc.  might be smaller than elephants or giraffes. )  Be careful in using this technique--it requires knowledge and good judgement!

(plural)          Lions are the deadliest predators in Africa.

For homework, please do Exercise 7 of Focus 4 (p92-3).

Also, please do exercises 1-4 in the handout that I gave you today.  Sorry, I can't reproduce it here, but as everyone was in class today, it should not be a problem.  

Exercise 4 is a bit tricky and will be time consuming, but do your best and we''ll go over it in detail tomorrow.  I'll give you a copy of the answers, as well as your usual study sheet.

As always, thanks for your great questions and comments!

Wednesday Homework, Presentation Schedule

Just a quick post today, no pictures, no videos.

Our homework is based on Focus 2 and 3 of Grammar Dimensions: Exercise 5 on page 89 and Exercise 6 on page 91.  No need to hand it in--we'll check it together in class. 

We began a new presentation schedule--sorry, with so few students, it means you have to do them more often!  The ones who came early yesterday were the ones who could sign up first, with the exception of Vasily, who volunteered to do one this Friday!

Fri, Oct 25   Vasily

Tuesday, Oct 29             still open!
Wednesday, Oct 30        still open!
Thursday, Oct 31             Can
Friday, Nov 1                  Ayaka

Tuesday, Nov 5               Nicolas
Wednesday, Nov 6          Janet

Tuesday Homework, Janet Presentation

Another day, another great presentation!  I think the "project" idea worked out well--we have both complex, well-delivered presentations and well=researched, well-written essays!  Shall we do some more?

Also, thanks to Vasily for sharing his video on the Flash Festival in Moscow.

Today we began Unit 5 and our study of articles.  Our homework is exercises 3 (page 86) and Exercise 4 (page 87).  You can do them in your book (in pencil, lightly!) or in your notebook.  We'll check them together in class tomorrow.

See you on Wednesday.

Monday, Test, Vasily Presentation

I just got through grading the tests, and they range from very good to excellent!  Good job, everybody!

Now that I have a fancy phone camera with 10 megapixels, I can take more pictures of presentations.  Here are a couple from Vasily's presentation, which was well organized, well-delivered, and full of information!  We couldn't watch the video, but maybe we can do that tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll start studying articles (Unit 5) and have Janet's presentation.  Also, we'll talk about our net presentation schedule.

See you then!

Friday Homework, Study Sheet UPDATE!

First of all, I want to apologize to Vasily for forgetting about his presentation.  This is the third time he was unable to present, so it really was a shame.  On Monday, I will certainly say to him, "Please DO do your presentation," and if I stupidly forget again, please do remind me!

There's not so much homework for this weekend: just Exercise 6 on pages 413-414.  I'll prepare an answer sheet for you on Monday so that you can check your answers.

Please look over the vocabulary sheet (which I've posted below) and be sure you understand all the words and expressions.  Bring your questions!

NEW! For those of you who check this blog often!  Please focus on the following homework exercises to prepare for the test:  Exercise 4 (p410), Exercise 6 (p413-414)  Also, I will include sentences in which you have to underline the words which are emphasized in speech. 

e.g., He is a native speaker, you know.)

Also, I will ask you to rewrite some correct sentences based on the grammar in Focus 3.

e.g., He didn't have any training >  He had no training.

Pretty easy stuff!  

There will also be a listening section from the text, which I will play twice.  Also, I'll write on the board some of the proper nouns (names and places) that you'll hear.  It will be the first time you've heard this recording, so listen carefully, take good notes, and you'll do fine.  The questions will be fairly basic.  After the test, we'll listen again and read the tapescript.

And hear Vasily's presentation!

Proficiency Week 3 Study Sheet

Grammar Dimensions Unit 23

Grammar Dimensions p407

a striver/to strive

fulfill

a doer

to resent/resentment/resentful

intrusion/ to intrude/ an intruder

trendy/ a trend

conventional/ a convention

impulsive/ an impulse

avid

commitment/ to commit

stability/ stable/ to stabilize

image

prestige/ prestigious

a peer/ peerless

mature

sophisticated

Grammar Dimensions p408

world-class

Grammar Dimensions p411

to look after s.t./s.o.

to lock s.o. out

I bet…

Grammar Dimensions 413-414

a principle

consequences

to be entitled to

to take for granted

humble

Raise the Issues

indigenous

to take to

to dodge

to weep (wept/wept)/ a weeping

to give up s.t.

to encounter/an encounter

to figure out

to strut

to field (questions)

inevitable

to bring s.t. full circle/to come full circle

a gaping hole

an orphan/an orphanage

to be reluctant to

criterion (sing.)/criteria (plural)

to gape

to halt

a broker

to adopt s.t./adoptive/adoption

to adapt to

celebrity

Listening

to drop s.o. off

a weaving/to weave (wove/woven)

to toss

a warehouse

to don (clothes)

decked-out in (wearing)

   He was decked out in a tuxedo

to flap

to flop

NPR Article Putin Signs Controversial Adoption Bill

overwhelming/to overwhelm

to impose

sanctions

a petition

drastic

to mock

to fathom

on a par with

rhetoric/rhetorical

humiliating

drastic

to resort to

to erupt

a tenure

abuse (N)

retaliation/in retaliation for/to retaliate

to preach

to bar

whistle-blowing/to blow the whistle on

maltreatment

a hierarchy

to call for

               s.t. applies to   (e.g., The suggestions on this blog apply only to Proficiency students)

Thursday homework, Why is university education so important, Vladimir Putin!

Before I post some excellent links, I'll give you the homework: Unit 23 of Grammar Dimensions, Exercise 3 (p410) and Exercise 4 (page 410-11).  Please write exercise 3 on a piece of paper  to hand in to me.

Now, on to the fun stuff.

What a great class today, thanks to Can's wonderful presentation.  She was reacting to a pair of videos which I showed in my Current Events class on the topic of why university education is becoming so expensive in the U.S.  I'll post them here so you can watch them if you like.  It's great listening practice--they even have subtitles! 

Can disagrees with Professor Lin's hypothesis and gave some good reasons why she feels this way.   After listening to the videos, what do you think?

Unfortunately, we were unable to have Vasily's presentation (due to technical difficulties).  Perhaps if he emails his pictures to my Kaplan email account he'll be able to access them!  I'm looking forward to a great presentation from him and from Ayaka as well.

On Tuesday, we spoke briefly about Russian President Vladimir Putin banning adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens.  Here's some information about that, which we'll listen to tomorrow.  If you'd like to preview the listening, follow this link:

Russia's Putin Signs Controversial Adoption Bill.

You can check your understanding of the listening by reading the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT:

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

When Russia's parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, it was greeted with outrage, both in the U.S. and Russia. The ban is seen as a retaliation far a new U.S. law that imposes sanctions against Russian officials accused of violating human rights. An online petition against the measure rapidly collected more than 100,000 signatures in Russia. But today, President Vladimir Putin signed the bill into law. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports from Moscow.

COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: Putin signaled, this week, that he planned to approve the measure, which he has called a tough but fair response to the United States.

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Foreign language spoken)

FLINTOFF: In a meeting with top government officials, the Russian leader mocked the idea that Russian orphans might have a better life in other countries. He said that living standards in many countries might be better than Russia, but does that mean we should send our children there? It may be hard for Americans to fathom why Russia's leaders would be willing to take such a drastic and potentially unpopular step.

Masha Lipman, of the Moscow Carnegie Center, says the answer has its roots in resentment of the fact that Russia, once on a par with America in terms of power, has now been relegated to second-class status. Lipman says that makes it easy for the government to resort to anti-American rhetoric when it feels threatened, especially by the wave of anti-government protests that erupted in major cities last winter. In that atmosphere, she says, the U.S. legislation, known as the Magnitsky Act, was seen as a humiliating interference in Russia's domestic affairs.

MASHA LIPMAN: Throughout his tenure, Putin has repeatedly sent the signal nobody has the right to teach us or preach to us. And here it comes, an ultimate insult, because it teaches and tell us which Russians will be barred from America, because they are implicated in human rights abuse, and the desire to respond is almost irrational.

FLINTOFF: The Magnitsky Act is named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who exposed what he said was a massive tax fraud on the part of Russian officials. Human rights groups say Magnitsky was sent to jail in retaliation for his whistle-blowing, and that he died there in 2009 as a result of maltreatment and denial of medical attention.

The U.S. act sanctions Russian officials who are believed to have been involved in Magnitsky's death. Lipman says many of the American lawmakers who voted for the Magnitsky legislation may have done so without much thought to the response it would stir in Russia. But Russian lawmakers seem not to have considered, either the international or domestic reaction to their legislation. She says outrage against the bill is no longer confined to people who would normally be thought of as opposition members.

LIPMAN: We have a divide inside the Russian Orthodox Church, with some people in the top church hierarchy being against the law and others being for it. We have a split in the Russian cabinet, several ministers have spoken - cautiously so, but spoken against it - pointing out that this amendment would be in conflict with the Russian constitution.

FLINTOFF: Despite the opposition, Putin has now signed the law, and he followed it with a presidential degree calling for changes in Russia's orphanages. Russia's ombudsman for children's rights, a Putin ally, has said the ban will apply to 46 American families that have nearly completed the adoption process and were waiting for their Russian children.

Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Moscow.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MONTAGNE: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Wednesday Homework

Thank you, Nicolas, for a presentation that was not only informative but also connected to topics that we studied recently!  We couldn't have our double-header today but will enjoy one tomorrow: Vasily will go first, followed by Can.  It should be fascinating.

We began Unit 23 of Grammar Dimensions and tackled some of the tough vocabulary on page 407.  You might see a lot of these words on our test, so strive to master them all!

The homework for today is to do Exercise 1 on page 408.  Please write these on a piece of paper to hand in tomorrow.  As the directions say, pretend that you are talking to the different kind of consumers and make sentences like the example.  Another example for the "survivor" could be "It is true that meeting your needs is more important than fulfilling your desires; however, many things which were luxuries in the past are essential now: computers, smart phones, even air conditioners!"

Have fun with it.  If you hate consumer-oriented activities, why don't you write a satire of what a transgressive salesperson might say to such customers?  Your only limit is your imagination (and some basic rules of common  decency)!

Also, I'm still looking for your essays!  (Except for one--you know who you are, and thank you!)

Essays!

Don't forget that your essays are due today!  I'm sure that most of you can do it without batting an eye!

Just email them to my Kaplan email address at jfzkaplan13@yahoo.com.  I probably won't be able to grade all of them tonight (I teach a volunteer class in the evening) but will do my best.

Tomorrow we're going to have a double-header, with two presentations from Nicolas and Vasily.  Make sure you're on time tomorrow so you don't miss anything!  Of course, I'll return your tests and we'll start Unit 23.  We have no time to waste!

See you tomorrow.

Correction and presentation schedule

Wow, it feels strange not to be teaching on Monday! I'm sure you feel just as strange not to be in class.  Don't worry, soon it will be Tuesday morning!

For those of you diligent enough to check this blog, I'd like to point out a typo (typographical mistake) in the study sheet:  I had written one of the expressions from the "Larry Summers" article as "to (not) bad an eye."  I should have written: "to (not) bat an eye."

In this case, "to bat an eye" literally means "to blink," which often signals that someone finds something difficult or unusual.  We usually use this expression with a negative:

    "She can write a five-page essay in one night and not bat an eye."

This means that it is extremely easy or ordinary for her to write five pages in one night.  It doesn't even make her blink.

    Another example:

      "In Los Angeles, people walk around dressed like Batman or Spiderman, but nobody bats an eye!"

By this, we can understand that this type of behavior is common in Los Angeles and surprises no one.


You may be wondering about the presentation schedule for next week.  Vasily, if you're reading this, yes, please prepare your presentation for tomorrow, which we'll do after the test.  If this is difficult or impossible, we'll try to squeeze two presentations in on Wednesday.  And Janet will do a presentation the following Tuesday.  As for the test of this week:

Tuesday: Vasily
Wednesday: Nicolas
Thursday: Can
Friday: Ayaka

Tuesday: Janet.

And we'll make a new schedule this week.  Good luck studying for the test and see you all tomorrow!

Friday Study Sheet

Oops, it's a little late today, but we have a long weekend.  I'll bet you won't start thinking about the test until Monday!  But remember, the best strategy for taking a test is not to wait until the last minute, but study a little bit every day!

We did all the homework in class--study the answer sheet.  Yesterday's post contained a lot of useful information about what will be on the test, so go back and have another look.

And go over the article about Larry Summers (also in yesterday's post if you don't have it).  Bring your questions for Tuesday and I'll answer them before the test.

AM Proficiency Week 2 Study Sheet

Grammar Dimension Unit 11, Correlative Conjunction and Appositives handouts

Grammar Dimensions, page 196

astronomy (compare with astrology)

astronomical

hazard/hazardous

anthropology [ANTHRO-man]

geography

geology

Grammar Dimensions, page 199

prominent

Grammar Dimensions, page 200-1

pedestrian  [PED – foot]

jubilant/jubilation

Grammar Dimensions, page 203

parallel,/to parallel

concise/concision

disqualified/to disqualify (qualify/disqualify)

Grammar Dimensions, page 205

binding/to bind (bind-bound-bound)

to adhere to/adherence

to opt to

The Correlative Conjunction handout

ivy/the ivy league

an owl

to squabble/squabbling

racket (uncountable, “noise”)

to set  (to put) (She set the cup on the table)

Raise the Issues Unit 2

co-ed (co-educational)

alma mater

to elect to

to blossom/a blossom

parochial (schools/local or small-scale)

out of reach

to shortchange

exuberant/exuberance

fragile, fragility [FRAG-C  break, part]

self-esteem   to esteem

to foster

an endorsement/to endorse

to warrant/a warrant

to discriminate

an obsession/obsessed with

detrimental to/a detriment

validity/valid/validate/invalid

inaccessible

a controversy/controversial

Listening

consistently/consistent/consistency

to miss the point

a value system

to carry s.o/s.t. through

to speak out (against)

a boarding school

to forgo

“The pseudo-feminist show trial of Larry Summers”

innate

to denounce/denouncement

impolitic

elite

a decisive factor

a pool of

eligible/eligibility

to set off

furor

outrage/outrageous

to refute/refutation

“to call into question”

to have s.t. in mind

to call for

to skew/skewed

a genome

a mantra

symmetrical/symmetry

a concession/to concede

a handicap

to entail

to (not) bat at eye

to prod

tenured/tenure