English Language Arts: Dictionary Skills (TEKS.ELA.9-12.2.A) Practice Test

In our environmental chemistry unit, students compared turbidity readings before and after adding calcium chloride to river samples from a Central Texas watershed. When calcium ions bonded with dissolved phosphate, they precipitated a visible solid, allowing us to quantify nutrient loads without expensive instrumentation. To avoid conflating causal and temporal relationships, we emphasized that the reagent did not precipitate the flooding that carried the sediments; rather, it precipitated the phosphate from solution.

Dictionary entry — precipitate Syllabication: pre·cip·i·tate Pronunciation: prih-SIP-ih-tayt Part of speech: v.; n.; adj. Etymology: Latin praecipitare "to cast headlong," from prae "before" + caput "head" Definitions:

1. v. Chemistry: to cause (a dissolved substance) to separate as a solid
2. v. to cause to happen suddenly or prematurely
3. n. a solid deposit formed in a solution by a chemical reaction
4. adj. hasty; rash

A policy brief on pipeline safety summarized recent enforcement actions by a Texas regulatory body: following repeated violations, the agency levied sanctions against the operator; the sanctions included fines and a temporary suspension of certain permits. Analysts noted that while prompt corrective action received official approval, persistent noncompliance triggered escalating sanctions aimed at deterrence.

Dictionary entry — sanction Syllabication: sanc·tion Pronunciation: SANK-shuhn Part of speech: n.; v. Etymology: Latin sanctio "decree establishing a penalty," from sancire "to make sacred, ratify" Definitions:

1. n. official permission or approval
2. n. a penalty imposed to enforce compliance
3. v. to give official approval to
4. v. to penalize or punish for noncompliance