sum
The house was sold for an undisclosed sum of money.
total
Our little sideshow raised quite a total at our school fête.
volume
A huge volume of water cascades over the waterfall every minute.
amphibian NOUN
An amphibian is one of a group of animals that live both on land and in water.
Some amphibians:
frog
newt
salamander
toad
anger NOUN
Anger is the strong feeling you get about something unfair or cruel.
annoyance
You could see the annoyance on the little boy’s face when he couldn’t have any sweets.
fury
Her face purple with fury, the duchess stormed from the room.
indignation
Our dog, Jim, stared in indignation as I ate the last biscuit.
irritation
Sissy stormed out in irritation.
rage
The wizard flew into a rage and instantly turned the king and queen into toads.
temper
In a fit of temper, I flung my sister’s hairbrush into the garden.
wrath Said “roth”
The player incurred the wrath of the referee for committing a foul.
angry ADJECTIVE
Someone who is angry is very annoyed.
annoyed
Mr Danesh was annoyed that Anna hadn’t handed in her homework.
apoplectic
The team manager was apoplectic, dancing with rage when the referee disallowed the goal.
beside yourself with anger
The head teacher was beside herself with anger when the money was stolen.
cross
You could tell Mum was cross. Her forehead had turned red and wrinkly.
displeased
“Smithers, I’m displeased with the poor spelling in this report,” Sir Hector boomed.
enraged
The bull, enraged, came charging, head down, towards the matador.
fuming
Mrs Stevenson was fuming when she realized Peter was absent yet again.
furious
Furious at such a messy piece of work, Mr Ross flung my book back on my desk.
hot under the collar INFORMAL
Many motorists were getting hot under the collar as the traffic jam built up.
indignant
You could see by her face that our terrier, Tess, was indignant that we had left her behind.
infuriated
The stressed commuter was infuriated to find that the train had left seconds earlier.
irate
It made Mrs Mawdsley irate to find the staffroom key missing.
irritated
I was irritated to find that Alex had borrowed my pencil.
livid
Father was livid that I had broken his favourite fishing rod.
outraged
Many townsfolk were outraged that the lovely old cinema was to be torn down.
seething
I knew from his gritted teeth that the boss was seething.
animal NOUN
An animal is any living being that is not a plant.
beast
The thoroughbred horse was a beautiful but temperamental beast.
creature
The platypus is a strange-looking creature.
Types of animal:
amphibian
bird
fish
insect
mammal
reptile
annoy VERB
If someone or something annoys you, they make you angry or impatient.
aggravate
My gran is often aggravated by noisy motorbikes late at night.
bother
“Please don’t bother me now. I’m really very busy,” said Dad.
drive someone up the wall INFORMAL
“Some of these stupid TV adverts drive me up the wall!” said Grandad.
get on someone’s nerves INFORMAL
Mitchi’s whiny voice really gets on my nerves.
harass
Many famous people are harassed by reporters and photographers.
irritate
My mum was irritated by the constant dripping of the tap in the night.
needle INFORMAL
The soccer player tried to needle his opponent by muttering insults.
provoke
My sister provoked me into an argument by saying I was no good at singing.
answer (1) VERB
If you answer someone, you reply to them in speech or writing.
answer back
When spoken to by the judge, the defendant was foolish enough to answer back rudely.
reply
If you receive an invitation, it’s polite to reply promptly.
respond
The captain asked for volunteers, and two crewmen responded.
retort
“I’d love to go to the ball,” said Cinderella. “No chance!” retorted her ugly sister.
return
“Yes, I’d love to come to the theatre,” Genevieve returned.
answer (2) NOUN
An answer is the reply you give when you answer someone.
acknowledgment
The palace sent a brief letter as an acknowledgment to my request.
reaction
The mayor received an angry reaction to his scheme to sell off the sports field.
reply
The salesman rang the door bell, but there was no reply.
response
There was a terrific response to the famine appeal.
retort