ugh.. vocab

<p>i’ve been workin’ on this vocab stuffs for while but i always have problems on “derivative” part. That is, the changing few words to make nouns or adjective. I have two questions that I don’t know.</p>

<li>The club held an elaborate ______ ceremony for its new members. (initiate)</li>
</ol>

<p>Should this be “initiating” or “initiate”? I like the first one better but I’m not sure if elaborate is an adjective or adverb (can be both I think).</p>

<li>The adviser urged the candidate to avoid ______ and focus on his message. (tangential)</li>
</ol>

<p>This one is bit easy but I’m not sure if it’s “tangents” or “tangent.” Any good idea?</p>

<p>P.S. These problems are usually straightforward but in SAT, I get so many problems that I know one word but cannot figure about other word with same base. Example:</p>

<p>concilliatory</p>

<p>If I know that meaning, I sometimes can’t figure out “reconcile” or other verbs that have same base. Is it just me or are other people having same trouble? If you had it and got over this problem, help!</p>

<p>I'm not sure on those...
I've never bothered studying vocab, becuase I'm usually fine on the SC, but I really regreted it this time. the SC seemed so much harder!</p>

<p>I think #1 is initiating, and I am quite sure #2 is tangents, otherwise it would have to say, "The adviser urged the candidate to avoid going off on a tangent and focus on his message."</p>

<p>Wouldn't #1 be "initiation"? Elaborate is an adjective, and "initiation ceremony" seems more correct to me.</p>