1. Early
   Latest
2. Oldest
   Very

This one is famous. The song itself is "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" from "The Pirates of Penzance." Fun fact: In the pilot episode of Aaron Sorkin's short-lived "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the cast of a struggling "SNL"-type show adapt this to a musical number they call "We'll Be the Very Model of a Modern Major Network Show."

1. Belied
   Mortified
2. Set aside
   So I sighed

If you picked "mortified," you weren't far off. This verse from "The Mikado" ends with "And mortified, and mortified." But "set aside" comes first.

1. Coy arranging
   Piano dear
2. Supple song
   Faithful lute

This one comes from "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" in "The Mikado." The singer promises to have songs for every mood and occasion.

1. In sight
   Unclear
2. To hide
   To fight

This is the sergeant's response to the pirates' approach in "A Rollicking Band of Pirates We," from "The Pirates of Penzance." Not very brave, Sergeant!

1. How
   When
2. Where
   Wherefore

This line is the title of the song from "H.M.S. Pinafore." It's redundant, too, as "wherefore" simply means "why." Remember Juliet's famous line, "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" meaning "Why do you have to be Romeo (my enemy)."

1. Buttercup
   Joe
2. Nell
   Timmy

"Buttercup" is the nickname of Mrs. Cripps in "H.M.S. Pinafore." She's a dockside vendor who sells small conveniences and treats to the sailors.

1. Dim of wit
   Hard of hearing
2. Quite distracted
   Up too late at night

Ruth sings this line in "When Frederic Was a Little Lad" from "The Pirates of Penzance." This couplet gets at the comic misunderstanding underlying the whole play: Ruth, his slightly deaf nursemaid, accidentally apprenticed Frederic to a "pirate," not a ship's "pilot." We have many questions, chief among them being, how did Ruth manage to find a pirate to apprentice the boy to? Do pirates hang out at career fairs like HR reps?

1. Away
   Below
2. In stow
   To shore

This is Sir Joseph's line, in "I Am the Monarch of the Seas" in "H.M.S. Pinafore." He is the "ruler of the British Navee," despite getting his position due to breeding, not service. So his line points out that when things get rough, he goes below decks.

1. Buildings
   Cities
2. Fields
   Ranks

This is Josephine, the "gallant captain's daughter," singing in "H.M.S. Pinafore." The captain also has a version of this line in "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore."

1. Christian
   Gallant
2. Navy
   Sober

This line is from "We Sail the Ocean Blue" in "H.M.S. Pinafore." We certainly hope these Navy men were "sober" in the sense of abstaining from alcohol on duty - though what we know about sailors in the 19th century suggests that if they were, it was dramatic license on the part of Gilbert and Sullivan.

1. Time
   Splash
2. Mark
   Work

This makes more sense if you know that in British English, "clerk" is pronounced "clark," so the ending words rhyme. Though "splash" would make some sense, as this line is from "H.M.S. Pinafore."

1. Fails
   Fears
2. Sighs
   Vainly

This is Josephine's line from "Sorry Her Lot Who Loves Too Well," in "H.M.S. Pinafore." Though you might expect a verb to follow "hopes but _____", instead it's an adverb, an old-fashioned construction that works well here.

1. Chardonnay
   Porter
2. Sherry
   Stout

"Pour, O Pour the Pirate Sherry" is the first song of "The Pirates of Penzance." This light opera was extremely successful, and was remade in the '80s as a movie, "The Pirate Movie," with Kristy McNichol.

1. Aught
   Most
2. Much
   That

"Aught" means "nothing" or "zero." You might have know this one from people sometimes calling the 2000s "the 20-aughts." Here, Ralph Rackstraw is describing himself.

1. Memorandum
   Love note
2. Light opera
   Washing-bill

We admit to not being exactly sure what a washing-bill is ... a bill for laundry service? At any rate, this and most other lyrics in "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" mocks the English obsession with higher education, especially the aspects that require people to learn things they'll never use. (Babylonian cuneiform might be an exaggeration.)

1. Beauty
   Hope
2. Champagne
   Youth

This is a line from "Twenty Love-Sick Maidens We." It's part of the light opera "Patience."

1. Free
   King
2. Lad
   Lass

Unsurprising, this is from "The Pirates of Penzance." Though Frederic is the lead, the role of the Pirate King seems a lot more fun - he's the one who's singing in "O, Far Better to Live and Die."

1. Are we
   At play
2. From school
   Go by

This line is, in fact, the title of the song, "Three Little Maids From School" in "The Mikado." The singers are Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing, raising the question of whether W.S. Gilbert had ever heard a Japanese woman's name in his life.

1. Irritation
   Passing fancy
2. Mood
   Veneer

In this recitative (dialogue-like song) from "Patience," Bunthorne is confessing that his "air" of being an aesthete and poet is just a sham. Or, as he puts it here, a "veneer."

1. Only you
   Me and you
2. Kalamazoo
   Titipu

"The Mikado" was set in the fictitious town of Titipu in Japan. It's there that Ko-Ko is singing about in "I Am So Proud."

1. Fairies
   Lasses
2. Roses
   Shepherds

This is the second line of "List and Learn." The song opens "The Gondoliers," one of Gilbert and Sullivan's less-famous works.

1. Nineteen-forty
   Doomsday
2. I am aged
   I am 84

When Ruth makes a mistake, she doesn't go halfway! Not only did she apprentice Frederic to a pirate, she did so until his 21st birthday, not his 21st year. So poor Fred, born on Leap Day, is committed until age 84.

1. Low
   Sober
2. Sorry
   Troubled

This is the Captain's line in "Sir, You Are Sad" from "H.M.S. Pinafore." It's a duet with Buttercup, whom he helpfully mentions by name, above.

1. Feared
   Loud
2. Great
   Sweet

Nine-pounders, we're guessing, are rifles? (Too light to be cannons!) At any rate, Sir Joseph's female relatives sing this in "H.M.S. Pinafore."

1. Fight off
   Resist
2. Salute
   Strike

This line from "A British Tar" in "H.M.S. Pinafore" is an example of internal rhyme. That is, "resist" rhymes with an earlier word in the same line, "fist," instead of "word," which ends the following line.

1. Future
   Headache
2. Toothache
   Worry

This line is from "Iolanthe," one of G&S's lesser-known musicals. It was about fairies and the British legal system - two things that you don't usually think of together.

1. Around him
   Effulgent
2. Resplendent
   Serene

This line from "The Mikado" will especially tickle "Buffy" fans, who will remember that in his mortal days, Spike wrote awful poetry about the unattainable Cecily, and especially egregious was his use of the phrase "her beauty effulgent."

1. Each other
   Lions
2. Soldiers
   Warriors

This is lovelorn Ralph Rackstraw's complaint in "A Maiden Fair to See." He's describing his beloved, unattainable Josephine in "H.M.S. Pinafore."

1. Inexpensive
   Frolicsome
2. Open
   Tender

This is one of Patience's lines in "Prithee, Pretty Maiden" in "Patience." She's about to be proposed to by a man she barely knows, and whom she'll wisely turn down.

1. Fine
   Failed
2. Sham
   Spam

In "Princess Ida," the king is singing a song of praise to himself (which inadvertently reveals his flaws). Sidenote: In the 1880s, SPAM had yet to be invented, though we'd love to see the light opera Gilbert and Sullivan would have written about it!

1. Life
   Sights
2. Station
   World

"Above one's station" is a term meaning above one's social class or demographic group. Ralph sings this line, woefully, in "The Nightingale" in "H.M.S. Pinafore." Bonus points to G&S for having Buttercup change "alas" to "a lass" in the next line: "He loves a lass above his station."

1. Jospehine
   Lilies
2. Learning
   Wealth

A "languid love of lilies" would be typical for an aesthetic poet type. But that's is exactly what Bunthorne is admitting (though just to the audience) to *not* be, in the patter song "Am I Alone and Unobserved?"

1. Cuirass
   Hat
2. Dress
   Cloak

"Cuirass" is an old-fashioned term for a piece of armor. In this line from "Princess Ida," it's specifically a helmet.

1. Claw
   Dish
2. Fork
   Shell

This is the king's son Arac, lamenting the way his armor fits in "Princess Ida." Yes, he's really going to remove it before an important battle. No one said G&S characters were smart!

1. Liar
   Crook
2. Rogue
   Scoundrel

This is a lyric from "When I Went to the Bar as a Very Young Man" in "Iolanthe." This the lawyerly kind of bar, not the drinking kind. Did we mention that there's a lot about English law in this musical supposedly all about fairies?