Word Games, Riddles and Logic Tests
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d) do one thing and solve another at the same time
e) hypocritical
f) the most important or popular
g) uncertain, undecided
h) understand, realise
i) very ill, nearly dead
j) very stupid
Funny book titles
Match the titles with the authors.
titles
authors
Daddy Are We There Yet?
Dusty Rhodes
Get Out There!
Miles Away
Highway Travel
M.T. Tank
Why Cars Stop
Archie Pelago
Where to Find Islands
Sally Forth
Lewis Carroll Logic Games 1
"Here's another," said the Red Queen. "A little girl named Alice had a brother named Tony."
Alice interrupted: "I don't have a brother named Tony."
"I wasn't talking about you," the Red Queen retorted sharply. "I was talking about another Alice!"
"Oh." replied Alice.
"Now," continued the Red Queen, "Tony has as many brothers as sisters. How many boys and how many girls are in the family?"
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Lewis Carroll Logic Games 2
If a grandfather clock takes thirty seconds to strike six, how long does it take to strike twelve? asked the Red Queen.
"Why, sixty seconds of course!" exclaimed Alice. "Oh, no," she suddenly realised,
"that was wrong!"
What is the correct answer?
Lewis Carroll Logic Games 3
Alice practically stumbled on Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who were grinning
under a tree. "I'm afraid I can't very well tell you apart without your embroidered collars," remarked Alice.
"You'll have to used logic," said one of the brothers. At this point he pulled out a playing card from his pocket - it was the queen of diamonds - and showed it to Alice.
"As you see, this is a red card. Now a red card signifies that the one carrying it is telling the truth, whereas a black card signifies that the speaker is telling a lie.
"Now, my brother there is also carrying either a red or a black card in his pocket. He is about to make a statement. If his card is red, he will make a true statement, but if his card is black, he will make a false statement. Then your job is to work out
whether he is Tweedledee or Tweedledum."
At this point, the other brother said: "I am Tweedledum, and I am carrying a black card."
Anagrams
Create an anagram from the letters of the words in the first column. The anagram should correspond to the definition.
anagram
definition
creams
the cry you make during a horror film
drawer
prize for doing something
dynamo
first day of the week
please
not awake
elects
chooses
stripe
someone who works for the Catholic church
purest
what a volcano does
softer
bigger than a wood
lifter
coffee goes through this
finder
someone you would find on Facebook
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Limericks
Practise reading the limericks aloud and hear/find the rhythm.
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
There was a long lady of Malta
His beak hold more than his belly can;
Who strangled her aunt with a
He takes in this beak
halter.
Enough food for a week,
She said, "I won't bury her,
But nobody knows how the hell he can.
She'll do for my terrier:
She'll keep for a month if I salt
her.
Proverbs
Match the proverbs (1-10) with their explanations (a-j).
1. Too many cooks spoil the broth
2. Truth is stranger than fiction
3. Two wrongs don't make a right
4. Two's company, three's a crowd
5. Variety is the spice of life
6. When in Rome, do as the Romans do
7. Where there's a will, there's a way
8. You can cross that bridge when you come to it
9. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink
10. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover
a) If too many people try to do something then often the job will not be done well b) Real life is sometimes stranger than fiction
c) You cannot justify doing something wrong or bad just because somebody else
has done the same thing to you
d) Two people (often two people on a date) are happier when nobody else is
around
e) Life is made more interesting by doing new or different things
f) You should adjust your habits to match the customs of the people or place
where you live
g) If you are sufficiently determined you can overcome difficulties and do what you want to do
h) Face a problem or challenge when you come to it or when it arises
i) You can give someone the opportunity to do something but you can't get him or her to do it if they do not want to
j) You cannot judge something by how it looks on the outside
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Grammar Challenge 1
An explorer was trekking through a remote jungle when he was captured by
logic- loving cannibals. He was brought before the chief and told, "You may now speak your last words. If your statement is/will be true, then we burn/will burn you at the stake. If your statement is/will be false, we boil/will boil you in oil."
The man thought for a moment, then made his statement. Perplexed, the clever
cannibals realized they could do nothing but let him go. What did the explorer
tell them?
Grammar Challenge 2
You have two slow-burning fuses, each of which will burn up in exactly one hour.
They are not necessarily of the same length and width as each other, nor even necessarily of uniform width. Consequently, you can't measure a half hour by/thus/when/
while noting when one fuse is half burned. Find a way to use these two fuses, by/
thus/when/while enabling you to measure 45 minutes?
Grammar Challenge 3
You must cut a birthday cake into exactly eight pieces, but the rules only a llow to make/allow you to make three straight cuts, and pieces of the cake are not allowed to move/to be moved as you cut them. What method will enable to do/you to do it?
Grammar Challenge 4
Bill is in the middle of a/an/one desert, dying of thirst. He comes across two men who know where there is water. Bill knows that a/an/one man always tells the truth, the other always lies. What a/an/one question should Bill ask to find out which is the road to water?
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Keys to Chapter 11
Grammar Challenge 1
A man who was the owner of a winery died. In his will, he chose to leave 21
barrels ( shown i n the figure below) between his three sons. Seven of barrels are filled with wine, seven are half full, and seven are empty. However he set a series of rules: the wine and barrels must be split so that each son has the same number of full barrels, the same number of half-full barrels, and the
same number of empty barrels. Note that there are no measuring devices.
How can the barrels and wine be evenly divided?
# Two half-full barrels are dumped into one of the empty barrels. Two more
half-full barrels are dumped into another one of the empty barrels. This results in nine full barrels, three half-full barrels, and nine empty barrels. Each son
gets three full barrels, one half-full barrel, and three empty bar
rels.
Grammar Challenge 2
You have three boxes of fruit. One contains just apples, another just oranges, and the other both oranges and apples. Each box is labeled -- one says
"apples," one says "oranges," and one says "apples and oranges." However, it is known that none of the boxes are labeled correctly. How can you label the boxes correctly/can the boxes be labeled correctly if you are only allowed to take and look at just one piece of fruit from just one of the boxes?
# Take a piece of fruit from the box marked "apples and oranges." Suppose the fruit you take is an apple. Then that box must be the box containing just
apples. Therefore, the box marked "oranges" can't be the box containing just apples, and it can't be the box containing just oranges either -- so it must be
the box containing apples and oranges. The remaining box is therefore the
box containing just oranges. If the fruit you take out is an orange, the solution is derived in a similar fashion: the box marked "apples and oranges" is the box containing just oranges; the box marked "apples" is the box containing both apples and oranges; and the box marked "oranges" is the one containing just apples.
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Keys to Chapter 11
Similes
as black as coal
as blind as a bat
as busy as a bee
as fat as a pig
as flat as a pancake
as free as a bird
as good as gold
as heavy as lead
as light as a feather
as old as the hills
Word Ladder
REST
LEST (in case)
LOST
LOFT (floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof)
SOFT
SOFA
Riddles
The more there is of it, the less you see. What is it? Darkness.
What has four fingers and a thumb, but neither flesh nor bone. A glove.
What would you call something with two mouths, three noses and four eyes?
Very very ugly.
Where is everyone equally beautiful? In the dark.
What question can never be answered 'yes'? Are you asleep?
What would you do if you saw an elephant sleeping in your bed? Sleep some-
where else.
How many planets are there out in space? All of them.
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If you had five cakes and the boy next to you took three, what would you
have? A big fight.
If I’m holding five apples in my right hand, and six apples in my left hand,
what do I have? Very big hands.
What most resembles half a cheese? The other half.
Add an -e.
art
big
bit, bite
bar, bare
fat, fate
fir, fire
her, here
hug, huge
low
mad, made
Idioms
a one off
the most important or popular
the number one
a final drink before leaving for home
one foot in the grave
a single occurrence or example of
something
one for the road
a casual sexual relationship
one night stand
very ill, nearly dead
in two minds
hypocritical
kill two birds with one stone
very stupid
put two and two together
uncertain, undecided
thick as two short planks
do one thing and solve another at the same
time
two-faced
understand, realise
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Keys to Chapter 11
Funny Book Titles
Daddy Are We There Yet? by Miles Away (i.e. we still have a long way to go)
Get Out There! by Sally Forth ( to sally forth means to depart)
Highway Travel by Dusty Rhodes (dusty roads)
Why Cars Stop by M.T. Tank (empty gas tank)
Where to Find Islands by Archie Pelago (archipelago = a group of islands)
Lewis Carroll Logic Games 1
4 boys, 3 girls. Tony has 3 brothers and 3 sisters, Alice has 4 brothers and 2
sisters.
Lewis Carroll Logic Games 2
Between the first and sixth stroke there are five intervals of time, and it takes 30 seconds to cover those five intervals; so the interval between any two con-secutive strokes is six seconds. Between the first stroke and the twelfth, there are 11 time intervals; therefore it takes the clock 66 seconds.
Lewis Carroll Logic Games 3
The speaker cannot be telling the truth and also carry a black card. Therefore,
he must be lying. So his card really is black, and since his statement was false, he is not really Tweedledum, but Tweedledee.
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Anagrams
scream
reward
Monday
asleep
select
priest
erupts
forest
filter
friend
Proverbs
Too many cooks spoil the broth If too many people try to do something then
often the job will not be done well
Truth is stranger than fiction Real life is sometimes stranger than fiction
Two wrongs don't make a right You cannot justify doing something wrong or
bad just because somebody else has done the same thing to you
Two's company, three's a crowd Two people (often two people on a date) are
happier when nobody else is around
Variety is the spice of life Life is made more interesting by doing new or different things
When in Rome do as the Romans do You should adjust your habits to match
the customs of the people or place where you live
Where there's a will there's a way If you are sufficiently determined you can overcome difficulties and do what you want to do
You can cross a bridge when you come to it Face a problem or challenge
when you come to it or when it arises
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Keys to Chapter 11
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink You can give
someone the opportunity to do something but you can't get him or her to do it if they do not want to
You shouldn't judge a book by its cover You cannot judge something by how
it looks on the outside
Grammar Challenge 1
An explorer was trekking through a remote jungle when he was captured by
logic-loving cannibals. He was brought before the chief and told, "You may
now speak your last words. If your statement is true, then we will burn you at the stake. If your statement is false, we boil you in oil." The man thought for a moment, then made his statement. Perplexed, the clever cannibals realized
they could do nothing but let him go. What did the explorer tell them?
# "You will boil me in oil."
Grammar Challenge 2
You have two slow-burning fuses, each of which will burn up in exactly one
hour. They are not necessarily of the same length and width as each other, nor
even necessarily of uniform width, so you can't measure a half hour by noting when one fuse is half burned. Find a way to use these two fuses, thus enabling you to measure 45 minutes?
# Light one fuse at both ends and, at the same time, light the second fuse at one end. When the first fuse has completely burned, you know that a half hour has
elapsed, and, more relevantly, that the second fuse has a half hour left to go. At this time, light the second fuse from the other end. This will cause it to burn
out in 15 more minutes. At that point, exactly 45 minutes will have elapsed.
Grammar Challenge 3
You must cut a birthday cake into exactly eight pieces, but the rules only allow you to make three straight cuts, and pieces of the cake are not allowed to move as you cut them. What method will enable you to do it?
# Use the first two cuts to cut an 'X' in the top of the cake. Now you have four pieces. Make the third cut horizontal, which will divide the four pieces into
eight.
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Grammar Challenge 4
Bill is in the middle of a desert, dying of thirst. He comes across two men who know where there is water. Bill knows that one man always tells the truth, the other always lies. What one question should Bill ask to find out which is the road to water?
# Bill can ask either of them: "If you were him, what would you say?" He should then do the opposite of what they say.
Document Outline
Introduction to the Student What Is Easy English?
Who Is the Book for?
Which Is the Best Format to Buy this Book in?
What Level of English Do I Need In Order to Benefit from this Book?
What Kind of Exercises this Book Contain?
Where Are the Keys to the Exercises?
How Do the Exercises Work? Ambiguous Headlines
Anagrams
Funny Book Titles
Limericks
Logic/Mathematical
Riddles
Tongue Twisters
Word Combinations
Introduction to the Teacher How Can I Use this Book?
What Are the Other Books in this Series? Which One Should I Read Next?
What Other Similar Books Might I Find Useful?
Ideas for Other Books for this Series
The Author
Acknowledgements and Sources
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to the games, riddles and verses used in this book Acronyms
Ambiguous Headlines
Anagrams
Funny Book Titles
Lewis Carroll
Limericks
Palindromes
Proverbs and Idioms
Riddles
Rhyming Forms
Similes
Tongue Twisters
Chapter 2: We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing! Riddles 1
Anagrams
Funny Book Titles
Limericks
Proverbs
Logic 1
Logic 2
Word Combinations 1
Word Combinations 2
Tense Challenge 1