Vocabulary Worksheets

Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition

Chapter 7: Nouns

Worksheet 1. Reading 1: Laughing is Good for You and Your Child

Read the article about laughter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. Then review the glossary and complete the exercises that follow it.

1 Laughter is good for you and your child’s mental and physical well-being. Some
2 mental health professionals say humor is one of the best ways to relieve stress, and
3 research proves that laughter plays a key role in human life.

4 A good laugh loosens muscles, lowers blood pressure, and may lower levels of
5 hormones that create stress and weaken immunity. When you laugh, your body
6 moves blood to your heart and lungs, boosting your energy level and making you feel
7 better instantly. It also aids communication and creates a sense of closeness between
8 you and the people you’re laughing with.

9 Until recently, researchers knew that laughing was good for us, but they didn’t really
10 understand how. New evidence points to changes in the brain—not the imaginary
11 funny bone—as the source for laughter. Researchers found that when people laugh, a
12 part of the brain’s reward system is triggered. In this reward system, a person feels
13 pleasure and wants to have the same pleasant feelings over and over again. Laughing
14 and fun go hand-in-hand. Laughing together as a family will bring you closer together,
15 and improve your mental and physical health. Look for laughs to stay healthy.
Glossary
Line 5 hormone — a chemical substance produced by your body that influences its
growth, development, and condition
Line 11 funny bone — an expression that refers to a person’s sense of humor
Line 12 reward system — a consistent way of giving positive feedback
Line 14 hand-in-hand — in close partnership; together

Comprehension practice
Circle the numbers of the statements that are true, according to the reading.
1. Laughter is good for your physical and mental health.
2. When you laugh, your blood pressure goes up.
3. When you laugh, your heart and lungs receive more oxygen.
4. Laughter causes physical changes in the brain.
5. Laughter helps in socializing with people.

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 Vocabulary Worksheets
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition
Chapter 7: Nouns

Worksheet 2. Reading 1: Definition practice

Write the letters of the correct completions in the blanks.
1. In Line 1, well being means that you are ____.
a. tired b. rich c. healthy in mind and body

2. In Line 2, an example of a mental health professional is a ____.

a. sick person b. heart doctor c. psychologist

3. In Line 2, humor is something a person has when s/he ____.

a. reads a lot b. laughs at things c. is always tired

4. In Line 3, a key role refers to something that is ____.

a. very important b. very strange c. unknown

5. In Line 4, loosen means ____.

a. relax b. make tighter c. strengthen

6. In Line 5, weaken means to make less ____.

a. easy b. pretty c. healthy

7. In Line 5, immunity means that you have ____.

a. weak health b. protection from police c. protection from disease

8. In Line 6, boosting means ____.

a. lowering b. losing c. raising

9. In Line 10, evidence means ____.

a. proof b. a guess c. a story

10. In Line 10, imaginary means ____.

a. not real b. true c. difficult

11. In Line 11, source means ____.

a. the beginning b. the middle c. the end

12. In Line 12, reward refers to something you get that is like a ____.
a. punishment b. prize c. bill

13. In Line 12, triggered means ____.

a. started b. killed c. ended

14. In Line 13, the opposite of pleasure is ____.

a. health b. pain c. strength

15. In Line 13, if you do something over and over again, you do it ____.
a. every day b. rarely c. repeatedly

16. In Line 14, the opposite of hand-in-hand is ____.

a. separately b. together c. physically

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 Vocabulary Worksheets
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition
Chapter 7: Nouns

Worksheet 3. Reading 2: Laughter Linked to Health, Happiness

Read the article about laughter from the Voice of America. Then review the glossary,
and complete the exercise that follows it.

1 What’s so funny? Nothing, really, except the laughter itself. There’s an old saying that
2 laughter is the best medicine. No matter whether it’s triggered by a good joke, a cute
3 child or pet, or a pie in the face of a comedian, the simple act of laughing offers
4 therapeutic benefits. Laughter has been shown to reduce stress and help people lose
5 weight. It’s a special tonic for older people, who are prone to loneliness and sad
6 thoughts.

7 In fact, in more than 1,000 American communities, and a few thousand more around
8 the world, entire clubs have been formed so that people can get together and laugh
9 out loud! Clubs in the U.S. have names like Laugh-a-holics, the Ha-Ha Spa, and Judy’s
10 Joyful Laughter Club. The idea started in India, where laughing—a good belly laugh—
11 is added to yoga exercises along with discipline and mind power.

12 Laughter is certainly contagious. Only a determined grouch could avoid at least

13 smiling when others around him are laughing till it hurts. That’s why members of
14 laughing clubs don’t just get together to howl with laughter themselves. They meet on
15 street corners, in train stations, and in other public places. They laugh their heads off,
16 and invite everyone around them to join in.
Glossary
Line 2 no matter whether — whether or not
Line 3 pie in the face — a reference to old comedy acts, in which one comedian
throws a pie in the face of another comedian
Line 15 laugh their heads off — laugh extremely loud and for a long time

Comprehension practice
Circle the numbers of the statements that are true, according to the reading.
1. There is an old saying that laughter is the best medicine.
2. Only a few funny things can give you therapeutic benefits from
laughter.
3. Laughter is especially beneficial to older people.
4. Laughing clubs started in China.
5. When one person laughs, it encourages others to laugh.

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt for classroom use.
 Vocabulary Worksheets
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition
Chapter 7: Nouns

Worksheet 4. Reading 2: Definition practice

Write the letters of the correct completions in the blanks.
1. In Line 2, cute means ____.
a. small and pleasing b. smart c. energetic

2. In Line 3, a comedian is someone on a stage who ____.

a. makes jokes b. sings songs c. is a serious actor

3. In Line 4, therapeutic means ____.

a. large b. beneficial c. expensive

4. In Line 4, reduce means ____.

a. increase b. lower c. multiply

5. In Line 5, a tonic is something that ____ .

a. adds weight b. causes sleepiness c. gives quick energy

6. In Line 5, prone means ____.

a. immune from b. likely to c. close to

7. In Line 7, communities are similar to ____.

a. schools b. hospitals c. neighborhoods

8. In Lines 8 and 9, laugh out loud means to laugh ____.

a. silently b. in private c. making noise

9. In Line 11, yoga is a kind of ____.

a. exercise b. government c. religion

10. In Line 11, discipline is ____.

a. self-control b. control over others c. physical exercise

11. In Line 11, mind power is the power of your ____.

a. neck muscles b. chest muscles c. brain

12. In Line 12, contagious is something that easily ____.

a. spreads among people b. can be stopped c. is killed

13, In Line 12, determined means that you have ____.

a. intelligence b. a very strong desire c. weakness

14. In Line 12, a grouch is a person who is ____.

a. pleasant b. unpleasant c. sick

15. In Line 14, get together means ____.

a. meet b. telephone c. separate

16. In Line 14, howl means to ____.

a. make a soft sound b. speak c. make a loud sound

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 Vocabulary Worksheets
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition
Chapter 7: Nouns

Worksheet 5. Reading 1 and Reading 2. Vocabulary practice:

Count/noncount nouns

These nouns appear in the two readings about laughter. Check the column to indicate
whether the noun is count or noncount.

Noun Count noun Noncount noun

1. laughter √

2. humor

3. stress

4. role

5. laugh

6. muscle

7. immunity

8. blood

9. heart

10. lung

11. evidence

12. pleasure

13. feeling

14. health

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 Vocabulary Worksheets
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition
Chapter 7: Nouns

Answer Key
Worksheet 1
True statements are 1, 3, 4 5.

Worksheet 2
1. c. healthy in mind and body 9. a. proof
2. c. a psychologist 10. a. not real
3. b. laugh at things 11. a. the beginning
4. a. very important 12. b. prize
5. a. relax 13. a. started
6. c. healthy 14. b. pain
7. c. protection from disease 15. a. separately
8. c. raising 16. c. repeatedly

Worksheet 3
True statements are 1, 3, 5.

Worksheet 4
1. a. small and pleasing 9. a. exercise
2. a. makes jokes 10. a. self control
3. b. beneficial 11. c. brain
4. b. lower 12. a. spreads among people
5. c. gives quick energy 13. b. a very strong desire
6. b. likely to 14. b. unpleasant
7. c. neighborhoods 15. a. meet
8. c. making noise 16. c. make a loud sound

Worksheet 5
Count nouns Noncount nouns
4. role 1. laughter
5. laugh 2. humor
6. muscle 3. stress
9. heart 7. immunity
10. lung 8. blood
12. pleasure 11. evidence
13. feeling 14. health

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 Vocabulary Worksheets
Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition
Chapter 7: Nouns

Word List
beneficial lung
bill mental health professional
blood mind power
boost multiply
comedian muscle
community no matter
contagious out loud
cute over and over
determined pain
discipline pleasure
disease prize
energy prone
evidence proof
exercise psychologist
feeling punishment
get together reduce
grouch relax
guess repeatedly
hand-in-hand reward
health role
heart self-control
howl source
humor strange
imaginary strength
immunity stress
increase therapeutic
key tight
laugh tonic
laughter trigger
likely weaken
loosen weight
lower well-being
yoga

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt for classroom use.