I have big and interesting exercises about symnonyms. I’d like to post them here for everyone to discuss. Each day I will post 5 groups of symnonyms and the exerccises for each group. 
Choose the most appropriate words in the given groups of synonyms to fill the blanks. Explain your choice (give the denotative components and connotative components for each word in each group of symnonym)
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Affair, business, matter (n)
a. My father has been in the graphite…for over 10 years.
b. Phnom Penh, once forcefully depopulated by Pol Pot, is again alive with …
c. He is not in the bad habit of poking his nose into other people’s …
d. You had better try to forget this sad …and pay heed to your studies.
e. Look here, giving your hand to a girl, that is no laughing …
f. The applicant spoke directly to the interviewer in the … of his salary. -
Answer, reply, respond(v)
a. Were you involved in the affair? Pull yourself together and …me honestly.
b. Instead of … the barrister’s questions about his crimes, he beat about the bush and told him all about his reduced circumstances.
c. In …to the questions, the speaker said that it would make a few years before any assessment of the project could be made.
d. He asked his wife where she was going, but she did not …
e. …to the Vietnamese Communist Party’s call, the whole Vietnamese people are determined to accelerate the country’s progress towards industrialization and modernization.
f. Some countries promised to commit the troops to … to the crisis. -
Ask, beg, request (v)
a. An old and piteous man … me to give him a lift to the intersection of Trang Tien Street and I did not have the heart to turn him down.
b. If a poor overseas Vietnamese …you to marry him, will you accept his proposal?
c. The young slave John Kilqour …the canton chief to set his wife free.
d. Spare that poor and wretched old man, I …you!
e. We are very sorry not to be able to give you the information that you …
f. He was … to sing a song. -
Ask, enquire, question, demand (v)
a. I … my teacher what methods I should adopt to learn English lexicology well.
b. We … our teacher of English lexicology about the semantic difference between “Shiver” and “Tremble”.
c. He wants to … about trains to Hai Phong city.
d. The beautiful dancing girl … of me most politely whether I wished to dance with her.
e. He also … whether it was solely the lorry driver’s fault.
f. The police … the suspect for 3 hours before letting him go.
g. The workers of this canning factory are … better pay.
h. The North Korean President want to improve relation with Japan but firstly he … the apology from Japan for its previous brutal massacre of innocent North Korean civilians. -
Beautiful, handsome, fair, lovely, pretty (adj.)
a. Young men often fail to take their eyes off … girls.
b. Oh, honey, the soup is really …
c. Young women of modern time seem to be attracted by talented men rather than … men.
d. The female bar-owner’s gay character and … appearance made an impression on her customers.
e. My grandmother used to be a … maiden when she was young.
f. You have really … complexion.
g. Peter felt a miraculous attraction to that … woman right the first he saw her.
h. Our young chair woman has really … voice.
i. Your dress is … How much did it cost?
j. She looks very …in that claw-hammer.