Language Test: Answer Key
From this test.
36. Sometimes foreign words make their way into English and make spelling difficult. Which of the following sentences contains an INCORRECTLY WRITTEN once-foreign word or phrase?
- A. I have a rapport with my clients.
- B. Let's segue into the next part of the presentation.
- C. That little pre-madonna Veruca Salt thinks she can have anything she wants.
- D. The workers quit en masse when they found out the new policy.
C is the only right answer. People who mishear the term "prima donna" assume it's "pre-madonna" and think of it as if this is a person who will grow up to . . . act like Madonna? Perhaps THE Madonna? I don't know. I guess you could use it if you're talking about before the singer was famous or before the Madonna was around. . . . In any case, "prima donna" was originally a term they reserved for the star of an opera (the lead soprano), and since such women were often quite stuck-up, applying it to other people insinuates that they're bratty.
The others:
- A: Some people don't know what "rapport" means and have heard it spoken, ending up spelling it "rapore" or something. It's used correctly in the example.
- B: To segue is to shift or slide. Unfortunately it often gets written as "segway."
- D: En masse refers to "all at once." Since the "en" is pronounced as "on," sometimes I see it as "on mass" or "enmasse." Don't!
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