7.1 Complete the sentences using the correct forms of the words in italics.

1 In a______ number of cases, there was no reaction at all to the drug. surprise

2 The analysis demanded an__________amount of computer time. exceed

3__________ numbers of birds inhabit the lake during the winter. consider

4 The course requires a___________ amount of prior knowledge of computers. reason

5. The survey took a__________ amount of research time and costs were high. substance

6 The two dams can hold in______ of two cubic kilometres of water. exceed

7 In________ , 12 areas of the Southern Indian Ocean are now closed to deep-sea

fishing. totality

8 Groups______ four people were considered too large for the experiment. exceed

9 No________ than 2,000 new computer viruses are created every year. few

10 In a________number of cases, surface damage was noticed. signify

7.2 The sentences below are typical of spoken English. Replace the underlined words to make

them sound more appropriate for a written assignment.

1 The bulk of our work is concerned with carbon emissions.

2 We have noticed that fewer and fewer students are joining the course.

3 Our team spent a fair amount of time getting funding for the research.

4 In a couple of cases, we could not find any reason for the outbreak.

5 We spent a great deal of time on the project.

6 As you repeat the experiment, use less and less water each time.

7.3 Read the text and answer the questions.

For some years now, scientists have been using a powerful new machine to recreate the

conditions that existed at the birth of the universe. The machine generates a massive number

of hot, dense, bursts of matter and energy, simulating what happened in the first few

microseconds of the beginning of the universe. After no more than ten microseconds, the

particles of matter joined together, like water freezing into ice, forming the origin of more or

less everything we see in the universe today.

1 Which expression explains how long scientists have been using this machine?

2 Which expression tells us how many bursts of matter and energy the machine generates?

3 Which time period does the machine simulate?

4 Which expression states how long it was before the particles of matter joined together?

5 Which expression in the last sentence means approximately?

7.4 Rewrite the paragraph using the opposites of the underlined words or expressions.

There have been a small number of studies investigating the impact of email on interpersonal

communications. None of the studies has been large-scale but they suggest some interesting

trends in patterns of email use. From one of the older studies it seems that more and more

people send in excess of 50 emails daily. Moreover, it appears that a substantial number of senior

citizens use email a lot more frequently than younger people do.