Coining a Phrase

C1 Advanced · Open Cloze · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning.

Languages never stand still. New words are constantly being coined, while others gradually fall (0) ___ of use. Many new words begin life (1) ___ slang, invented by young people partly to set themselves apart (2) ___ older generations. Most vanish within a year or two, but a few catch (3) ___ and spread until they are used by people who are completely unaware (4) ___ their origins. Technology is another rich source. (5) ___ only have words for new devices entered everyday speech, but familiar words (6) ___ as 'cloud' and 'stream' have taken on meanings that would once have been hard to imagine. Some people see all this as evidence of decline, complaining that the language is being dumbed (7) ___ . Linguists, however, take a far more relaxed view. Change, they argue, is simply what happens to any language that is actually spoken, and the English we use today would have sounded every bit (8) ___ strange to our great-grandparents as theirs sounds to us.

Coining a Phrase

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