One Word Substitution
🔒 Log in to trackOne word for places and groups
🔒 Log in to trackTwo question shapes are pure matching. 'A place where X is kept or done' needs a place word. 'A group of X' needs a collective noun. Find the key noun in the phrase and recall its partner.
Two simple shapes
- A place where ___ is kept or done. The answer is a place word.
- A group of ___. The answer is a collective noun.
Both are matching. The phrase names the thing, and you name its place or its group.
Places
Match the place to what is kept or done there.
| Place | What happens there |
|---|---|
| apiary | bees are kept |
| aviary | birds are kept |
| aquarium | fish are kept |
| granary | grain is stored |
| stable | horses are kept |
| kennel | dogs are kept |
| armoury | weapons are stored |
| mint | coins are made |
| hangar | aircraft are kept and repaired |
| mortuary | dead bodies are kept |
| cemetery | the dead are buried |
| abattoir | animals are killed for meat |
| monastery | monks live |
| convent | nuns live |
| orphanage | orphans live |
| museum | historical objects are shown |
| observatory | stars are studied through telescopes |
Example: A place where coins are made is a mint. A treasury keeps money but does not make coins.
Look-alike places
- apiary (bees) and aviary (birds). Aviary goes with aviation and flying birds.
- monastery (monks, men) and convent (nuns, women).
- mortuary (bodies kept) and cemetery (bodies buried).
- granary (grain) and granite (a rock). Options often plant such neighbours.
Watch: The hangar for aircraft is different from a hanger for clothes. Check the spelling.
Groups
Collective nouns are memory work, but only a few come up.
| A group of | Word |
|---|---|
| lions | pride |
| wolves, dogs | pack |
| cattle | herd |
| sheep, birds | flock |
| bees | swarm |
| fish | school, shoal |
| ships | fleet |
| islands | archipelago |
| stars in a pattern | constellation |
| worshippers | congregation |
| musicians | orchestra, band |
| experts or judges | panel |
| soldiers | troop |
Rule: Ask which animal or thing the phrase names before you look at the options. The animal decides the word.
Worked examples
- A place where grain is stored. The object is grain, so the word is granary.
- A group of sheep. Sheep move in a flock. Cattle move in a herd.
- A place where aircraft are kept and repaired. The word is hangar.
Each one takes about ten seconds once the pairs are in memory.
How to answer
- Find the key noun: bees, coins, wolves, islands.
- Recall its partner place or group word.
- Check the look-alike before you mark.
Say the pairs aloud: bees and apiary, coins and mint, wolves and pack, islands and archipelago. The exam asks for the partner, never a definition.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Place where something is kept or made
The phrase says 'a place where ___ are kept, stored or made'.
Underline the object kept or made.
Recall the place word tied to it.
Check the one-letter look-alike.
Each place word has a single stored object.
A place where bees are kept: (a) aviary (b) apiary (c) aquarium (d) granary
Show solutionHide solution
The object is bees.
Aviary is for birds and aquarium for fish.
Apiary is for bees.
(b) apiary
Place named by the people in it
The phrase says 'a place where monks live', 'where orphans live' or 'where animals are killed'.
Underline who or what is there.
Match: monks monastery, nuns convent, orphans orphanage.
Reject the partner place.
The people or the activity name the place.
A place where nuns live: (a) monastery (b) convent (c) orphanage (d) mortuary
Show solutionHide solution
The people are nuns.
Monks live in a monastery.
Nuns live in a convent.
(b) convent
Collective noun for animals
The phrase says 'a group of lions, wolves, cattle, bees or sheep'.
Underline the animal.
Recall its group word.
Reject words that belong to other animals.
The animal decides the word.
A group of lions: (a) pack (b) herd (c) pride (d) swarm
Show solutionHide solution
The animal is the lion.
Pack is for wolves, herd for cattle, swarm for bees.
Lions form a pride.
(c) pride
Collective noun for things or people
The phrase says 'a group of islands, stars, ships or worshippers'.
Underline the thing grouped.
Recall its group word.
Check the options for a near word.
Each non-animal group also has one fixed word.
A group of islands: (a) archipelago (b) constellation (c) fleet (d) panel
Show solutionHide solution
The things are islands.
Constellation is for stars and fleet for ships.
Islands form an archipelago.
(a) archipelago
Look-alike place pairs
Two options are nearly the same place: mortuary and cemetery, monastery and convent, apiary and aviary.
Find the pair in the options.
Read the detail word: kept or buried, men or women.
Pick the member that fits.
The look-alike is the planted wrong option.
A place where dead bodies are kept before burial: (a) cemetery (b) mortuary (c) abattoir (d) hangar
Show solutionHide solution
Kept, not buried.
A cemetery is where bodies are buried.
A mortuary is where they are kept.
(b) mortuary
Shortcuts that save time
Name the animal in the phrase first. Then recall its one group word.
A group of wolves: (a) pack (b) pride (c) herd (d) flock
Show solutionHide solution
The animal is the wolf.
Pride is lions, herd is cattle, flock is sheep.
Wolves form a pack.
(a) pack
Link each look-alike to a sound: api sounds like ape-bee, avi is in aviation. Hooks beat plain rote.
About twenty place words and twenty group words cover nearly every paper. Learn them in one sitting and revise once a week.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Mixing apiary and aviary.
Api goes with bees. Avi goes with aviation and birds.
Choosing cemetery for a place where bodies are kept.
Kept is mortuary. Buried is cemetery.
Swapping monastery and convent.
Monks live in a monastery. Nuns live in a convent.
Using the wrong group word (herd for lions).
Name the animal first. Lions form a pride.
Learning places without the object.
Learn each place with what it holds: coins mint, aircraft hangar.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Places: apiary bees, aviary birds, granary grain, mint coins, hangar aircraft, mortuary bodies, abattoir slaughter.
Monastery is for monks. Convent is for nuns.
Groups: pride lions, pack wolves, herd cattle, flock sheep, swarm bees.
Fleet ships, archipelago islands, constellation stars.
Look-alikes: apiary/aviary, mortuary/cemetery, monastery/convent.
Practice: 13 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 13 questions
Suggested time 5 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.