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1. Decide if the following sentences about the text are true or false.

According to the article, Savion Glover is the best tapper of our time.             True / False

Savion Glover moves as gracefully as a ballet dancer.                                      True / False

He can tap dance very fast and he is also very precise.                                    True / False

You can see Savion Glover in the film 'Happy Feet'.                                          True / False

Happy Feet is about a penguin who can tap dance.                                          True / False

2. Match the adverbs with their synonyms or definitions.

extremely                                                 very, to a great degree

arguably                                                    barely, to almost no degree

hardly                                                        introducing a fact which some people might not agree with

currently                                                    recently, newly          

fortunately                                                 luckily

freshly                                                       at the moment

3. The word 'hard' is both an adjective and an adverb. If you add a -ly ending to the word the meaning changes: 'hardly' means 'barely', 'almost none', or 'to almost no degree'.

Examples: (note the change in the word order)

It's a hard task. = It is difficult.

I studied hard at university = I studied a lot.

I hardly studied at university = I studied very little. I did other things.

Joe hit his head so ( hard ) that he lost his consciousness.

The exam was very (          ).

Did you work (          ) to finish the house on time?

Although Jack seemed quite busy, in reality he (          ) did any work at all.

I could (          ) see because of the fog.

Robert has become successful because of his talent and his (          ) work.

There was (          ) anyone at the shops at that late hour.

4. Complete the text with the missing words. If you don't remember the text look for the missing words in the previous two exercises but try not to look at the original text until you have finished.

Savion Glover is ( currently ) the most famous and (                  ) the best active tap dancer in the world. He appeared in films in his teens and was considered to be a child prodigy. Many would have become conceited and would have disappeared overnight but Savion have managed to further improve his initial image and reputation through his (                  ) work and devotion to tapping. His movements are far from graceful but his tapping is (                  ) fast, clear and precise. Sometimes critics claim that his tapping lacks the nice little flavours of the old school but at this speed these demands are (                  ) reasonable. In this video extract from Sesame Street, he dances with Snuffy, who complains that "my back half can tap dance but my front half can't". (                  ), Savion shows him how to overcome these difficulties and the happy Snuffy can go home and show mummy his (                  ) learned skill.