LEXICOLOGY AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS
Exercise 1. Ascribe the following words to their lexical-grammatical classes
characterizing each in accordance with the working definition for parts of speech.
Already, behavior, being, bring, cry, connotation, dream, draw, eager, fair,
gloomy, go, hand, intensely, husky, quickly, set, synonym, train, useful.
Exercise 2. Following is a list of nouns. Classify them into subgroups,
proceeding from the assumption that this part of the speech can be further subdivided
into the name of an object, the name of the action (momentary single action, action
viewed as a process, etc.), the name of the doer of an action, etc.
Abbey, alternation, ace, back, blame, bureau, circus, confession, cream, cut,
day, division, dive, docker, fortune, gipsy, giggling, hurry, jump, knocker, laughter,
maker, monument, person, process, run, satisfaction, shape, table, writer
Exercise 3. Nouns can also be subdivided into a) concrete nouns and b)
abstract nouns; or a) countable nouns and b) uncountable nouns. Classify the list
given above into such subgroups.
Exercise 4. We can outline groups of words which usually go together in
speech and in this way reflect the objective relations of real life. Which of the
following words contextually combine with “book”, “tree”, “girl”.
Approach, bark, big, boy, branch, cry, culmination, dress, dry, exciting, green,
grow, interesting, laugh, leaves, little, long, mischief, naughty, plot, pretty, run,
smart, soil, style, sulk, tall, thick, write.
Exercise 5. Put the following words into groups according to their contextual
associations.
Air, challenger, championship, classification, dig, flower, garden, green, grow,
juice, jump, language, luxuriant, match, meaning, outrun, overrun, participate,
principles, race, sports, system, water, weed, word.
Exercise 6. Arrange the following units into three lexical sets – feelings, parts
of the body, education.
Academy, affection, arm, back, baccy, body, bone, book, brow, calf, calmness,
cheek, chest, classes, classmate, coaching, college, contempt, content,
correspondence, course, curriculum, day-student, delight, don, drill, ear, education,
elbow, encyclopedia, enthusiasm, envy, erudition, excitement, exercise, exhilaration,
eye, face, faculty, finger, foot, forehead, frustration, grammar, hair, hand, happiness,
hate, head, headmaster, heel, homework, ignorance, impatience, indifference,
indignation, instruction, jealousy, joint, kindness, knee, knowledge, knuckle,
learning, lecturer, leg, lesson, library, limb, love, malice, master, neck, nose, passion,
pedagogy, primer, professor, rapture, reader, relief, restlessness, satisfaction, scholar,
school-boy, schooling, science, scientist, seminar, shock, smattering, student,
sympathy, teacher, teaching, staff, temple, tenderness, textbook, thigh, thrill, thumb,
toe, torso, training, tuition, tutor, undergraduate, university, unrest, waist, wrath.
Exercise 7. Classify the following words and word combinations into lexical
sets and decide which word is the dominant word (the unique beginner). Explain your
choice.
Abhorrence, adoration, affection, attachment, attempt, audacity, boldness,
bravery, build, chivalry, compassion, composition, construction, courage, daring,
detestation, dislike, effort, endeavour, enmity, essay, fearlessness, fondness, frame,
gallantry, guts, make-up, nerve, organization, passion, pluck, spunk, structure, trial,
try, undauntlessness, undertaking, valiance, valour, venture.
THE WORD AS THE BASIC OBJECT OF LEXICOLOGY
Exercise 1.Find the characteristic feature(s) that underlie(s) the following
names:
ant-lion, barrel-organ, blackberry, blacksmith, blue-print, buckwheat, bull'seye, butter-fingered, to buzz, carpetbag, to catnap, cocksure, Dalmatian, drawingroom, evensong, evergreen, fabulous, fly-by-night, guffaw, to hiss, jackknife,
kingfisher, makeshift, pansy, popcorn, rubberneck, rubytail, saddlebag, sleepyhead,
snapshot, snowdrop, to spur on, twilight, watermelon.
Exercise 2. Following is a well-known passage from Shakespeare in which the
relationship word-concept-thing is clearly brought out. Can you explain it?
What's Montague? it is not hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to а man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet:
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title: Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
(William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, I, 2, ii)
Exercise 3. Read the following passages. Discuss the difference in the
approach to the definition of the word as exemplified by Charles F.Hockett and
Ladislav Zgusta.
The everyday use of the English word "word" is not very precise. In general,
the layman looks to writing, and classes as a word whatever he finds written between
successive spaces. So matchbox is one word, match box two, and match-box two or
one depending on whether or not a hyphen is interpreted as a special sort of space.
That these three spellings reflect a single combination of morphemes with a single
pronunciation is ignored.
When we look at language directly rather than via writing we must seek other
criteria for the determination of words. There are several usable criteria, but they do
not yield identical results. The criterion that is easiest to apply yields units most like
the "words" of the layman, and it is for these that we shall reserve the tern…
Determining Words through Pause and Isolability.
As the first step in determining the words in an utterance, we ask speakers to
repeat the utterance slowly and carefully. Suppose someone has just said John treats
his older sisters very nicely in the normal rapid way, as a single macrosegment. If we
ask for a slow repetition, he may break the sentence up into as many, as seven
successive macrosegements, each with its own intonation and with intervening
pauses: John, treats, his, older, sisters, very, nicely. Or he may not pause quite so
often: his older, or very nicely, might be kept as a single macrosegement. Thus we
may have to elicit more than one slow careful delivery before we can be sure we have
obtained the maximum break-up. Only under very artificial conditions, however,
would anyone pause at additional points, say between old and -er .
A word is thus any segment of a sentence bounded by successive points at
which causing is possible. The example contains seven words. It contains this this
number whether actually delivered as one macrosegment or as several, since words
are defined in terms of potential pauses not the actual pauses in any one delivery.
( Charles F.Носкеtt. A Course in modern Linguistics, pp.166-167)
Words can be conceived as interpersonal units of language as signs of the
system of a language which are used by the speakers of that language above all to
construct sentences. In the sentences, words are used to refer to parts of the
extralinguistic (not necessarily material or physically really existing) world, as
understood by the respective speakers, to indicate the sentence's constructional
patterns, and to perform other similar functions.
(Ladislav Zgusta. Manual of Lexicography, pp.22-23)
WORD MEANING
Exercise 1. Keeping in mind that problems such as meaning equivalence
should be approached on the basis of "gradience" because there are comparatively
few clear-cut cases, find in the following list of words synonymic series and classify
them; into three groups: a) synonyms which display an obvious semantic difference
(ideographic synonyms); b) synonyms which display an obvious stylistic difference
(stylistic synonyms); c) synonyms more or less equally displaying both differences.
ailing, arrogant, battle, begin, behold, bicker, brawl, bright, callous, clever,
commence, conflict, conquest, consume, cruel, defeat, devour, diseased, dispiteous,
dumb, easy, eat, engorge, facile, fatuous, fight, food, grub, hard-boiled, haughty,
high-hat, hoity-toity, horse, ill, inept, ingest, intelligent, light, mandicate, obdurate,
pace, proud, quarrel, sagacious, see, shrewd, snobbish, snooty, squabble, steed,
stride, stroll, stupid, supercilious, tiff, walk
Exercise 2. Read the following passage.
You might speak of the "fragrance" of a certain perfume if you liked it, of its
"reek" if you didn't, or simply of its "odor" if you didn't care. These variants illustrate
the principle that words refer not only to things but to the user's own feelings (and the
feelings he wishes his audience to share).
The common term for a word's objective reference is denotation. The common
term for a word's emotional content is connotation. "Fragrance", "reek", and "odor"
all denote "smell". But "fragrance" connotes the speaker's approval of the smell,
"reek" connotes his revulsion, and "odor" in this context carries no connotation at all.
(Richard M. Eastman. Style, p.123)
Exercise 3. From the words la Brackets choose the correct one to go with
each of the synonyms given below.
1. acute, keep, sharp (knife, Hind, sight); 2. abysmal, deep, profound
(ignorance, river, sleep); 3. unconditional, unqualified (success, surrender); 4.
diminutive, miniature, petite, petty, small, tiny (camera, house, speck, spite, suffix,
woman); 5. brisk, nimble, quick, swift (mind, revenge, train, walk)
Exercise 4. Read the passage given under №2 p. 8 and discuss the following
groups of words from the point of view of their meanings (denotation) and stylistic
connotations.
1. Joke, jest, witticism, gag, wisecrack; 2. fat, stout, plump; 3. friend, crony,
buddy, companion, 4. stubborn, mullah, obstinate; 5. abridge, shorten, epitomize; 6.
lament, mourn, deplore, grieve for
MEANING AND POLYSEMY
Exercise 1. Give all the meanings you know of the following verbs, illustrating
them with examples:
to take, to go, to come, to begin, to feel, to do, to let
Exercise 2. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the different
meanings of the words in bold type. Point out the central and secondary meanings in
each case.
bar
1. I went on eating and, as I did so, organized a scheme of questions in my
mind, just as I used to when, as a young man, I had practised at the Bar. 2. Mr.
Raynor rasped his shoes slightly on the bar of his tall stool...(A. Sillitoe)
class
1. This morning Lilian and I were late for the first class (E.Bowen). 2. Miss
Paullie was vегу particular what class of girl she took. (E.Bowen). 3. Trained birds...
may be divided roughly into three classes. (E. Gurney).
face
1. It was an ugly, amiable, precocious face... (C.P. Snow) 2. Taking up a
planishing hammer, he set to work, smoothing the metal's surface with the hammer's
highly polished face.(J.Lindsay)
ground
1. 1. .the outstanding discovery was the tomb of Bishop Eorpwald in the
grounds of Melpham House, five miles outside the village of Melpham. (A.Wilson)
2. It seemed to be old ground for both of them, but new to me. (C.P.Snow)
solid
1. Crawford sat, solid, image-like, his eyes unblinking as though they had no
lids. (C.P. Snow) 2. These two were the solid core of college, I thought. (C.P. Snow)
3. I'll send the Rolls for you on the Friday afternoon...you can't miss it, it's solid gold
all the way through (E. Gordon)
take
1. I had taken two small rooms at the top of a lodging house is Conway street,
near the Tottenham Court Road. (C.P. Snow) 2. " I expect I can take it that your
father's right", said Philip. (C.P.Snow) 3. Apart from his initial madheadednees, he
took it very well. (C.P. Snow) 4. The horse used to take knights to the battlefield...
(E.Gurney)
Exercise 3. Translate the following sentences; consider the words in hold type;
comment on the semantic links between their meanings.
course
1. The five-mile course was marked by splashes of whitewash gleaming on
gateposts and trunks and stiles and stones... (A. Sillitoe) 2. I waited until the next
course was in front of us, and then spoke to Laura again...(C.P. Snow)
difference
1. Oh, no, I'm not the one to take part in little differences within the college.
(C.P. Snow) 2. But, Brown said, it was pointless their doing this without some
difference in procedure. (C.P.Snow)
smart
1. Whenever we spent a day in any smart place, he always used to notice the
ladies' clothes (E.Bowen) 2. Juke's act is pretty smart. He's got them all taped. (P.
Stanley) 3. Mike Kelly made what he thought at the time to be the smartest remark of
his life. (B. Gordon)
play
1. "I'm sorry to hear you say that", Brown said, playing for time. (C.P. Snow)
2. ...towering over the table, he appeared sо theatrically handsome that he looked
more like an actor playing a naval officer...(C.P. Snow) 3. The most common method
is by playing a record over and over again until they learn a few pithy phrases. (E.
Gurney)
POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY
Exercise 1. Give words homophonous with the following.
bow, fare, flour, hair, knead, lyre, muse, pain, pear, plain, rite, soul, weak
Exercise 2. The following words are homographs. How are they pronounced
and what do they mean?
bow, bow; desert, desert; lead, lead; minute, minute; row, row
Exercise 3. Give the main nominative meanings of the following homonyms.
lap, lap; lark, lark; league, league; light, light; means, means; mint, mint; quid,
quid; racket, racket; roe, roe; ward, ward
Exercise 4. a) Translate the following perfect homonyms into Ukrainian; b)
Use them in sentences of your own.
re-call, recall; re-cede, re-claim, reclaim; re-collect, recollect; re-count,
recount; re-cover, recover; re-create, recreate; re-fill, refill; re-form, reform; re-fund,
refund; re-lease, release; re-mark, remark; re-pair, repair; re-print, reprint
Exercise 5. a) Find perfect homonyms in the following sentences and translate
them into Ukrainian. b) State whether they are complete or partial, lexical or lexicogrammatical homonyms.
1) Colin managed to slighter on the bank. (Ibid.). He was worried by the
perfect storm of wildcat money which was floating about and which was constantly
coming to his bank (Th. Dr.). 2. They will sack yea as soon as things slaken (Lind.)
We’re going to take a sack of coal (Lind. ). 3. His heart thudded so fast (Lind.). He
who feasts till he is sick, must fast till he is well.
Exercise 6. a) In the following sentences, find homophones and translate them
into Ukrainian; b) Transcribe them.
1. Wait till I've finished this bit (Lind). The weight began to lift from his brain
(id). 2. Lockhard now entered with wine and refreshments, which it was the fashion
to offer as a whet before dinner (W. Sc.). The evening was cool after the thunderstorm, the woods wet and dirty (id.). 3. Old Sessy had his way in due course (Lind.).
Gilchrist gave one of his coarse laughts (id.).
Exercise 7. a) Spell out the transcribed words; b) Give their homophones.
1. Honey is [swi: t],[ bʌt] stings. 2. [tu:] heads are better than [wʌn] . 3. Don't
sel the[bƐǝz] skin before [ju:] have[kͻ:t) him. 4. After [rein] comes fine weather. 5.
[nou] living man all things [kᴂn] . 6. If the capfits [wƐǝ(r)] it. 7. Make hay while the
[sʌn] shines 8. Neither [raim] nor reason. 9. Men should be what they [si:m] (B. Sh).
10. In the morning you are all three speechless, owing to having [kͻ:t] colds in the
[nait]; you also feel very quarrelsome, and you swear at each other in[hͻ:s] whispers
during the [houl] of breakfast time (J.K.J.). 11. Pen never [roud] over to Chatteris
upon a certain errand but the Major found but on what errand the boy had [bi:n].
Exercise 8. Define the type of homonymy the words present.
Scene – seen, drafts – draughts, heir – air, even (adj) – even (adv), flat (noun) –
flat (adj) – flat (adv), whole-hole, spare (adj) – spare (verb).
SYNONYMIC RELATIONS IN MODERN ENGLISH
Exercise 1. a) In the following groups of synonyms, find the synonymic
dominant, b) Give reasons for your choice.
1. exact, precise, accurate; 2. savage, uncivilized, barbarous; 3. hide, conceal,
disguise; 4. agree, approve, consent; recall, recollect; 6. cry, weep, screen, shriek; 7.
lazy, indolent, idle, rain; 8. clever, able, intelligent, keen, sharp; 9. ignorant,
illiterate, uneducated, misinformed; 10. agile, nimble, alert, quick, brisk, active.
Exercise 2. In the following sentences, point out the general term. Model:
animal-dog; cat, horse, cow, sheep, pig, donkey. Animal is the general term; dog, cat,
horse, etc. are specific nouns.
1. The business part of the room had the usual furniture: an open cupboard with
pigeon-boles, a folding washstand, some hard chairs, a standing desk of large
dimensions covered with drawings and designs (Galsw.). 2. Bridals? To be sure, they
should be celebrated with all the manner of good cheer, and meeting of friends, and
musical instruments, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, or good fiddle and pipe (W. Sc.). 3.
Twice a week they had to pat through hotel linen - the sheets, the pillow-slips,
spreads, table-cloths, end napkins (J. L.). 4. The breakfast-service on the table was
equally costly and. equally plain. The urn was of thick and solid silver, as were also
the tea-pot, coffee-pot, cream-ewer, and sugar-bowl; the cups were old, dim dragon
china (A.T.). 5. The stock-in-trade of this old gentleman comprised chronometers,
barometers, telescopes, compasses, charts, maps, sextants, quadrants, and
specimens of every kind of instrument seed in the working of a snip's course (Sick.).
Exercise 3. State whether the word given in bold type is synonymic dominant
or the general term.
1. victory, triumph, conquest; 2. complain, grumble, mutter; 3. sound, clatter,
patter, creak, bang; clang, cluck.
Exercise 4. Find in the following list of words synonymic series and classify
them into three groups: a) synonyms which display an obvious semantic difference
(ideographic synonyms); b) synonyms which display an obvious stylistic difference
(stylistic synonyms); c) synonyms more or less equally displaying both differences.
ailing, arrogant, battle, begin, behold, bicker, brawl, bright, callous, clever,
commence, conflict, conquest, consume, cruel, defeat, devour, diseased, dispiteous,
dumb, easy, eat, engorge, facile, fatuous, fight, food, grub, hard-boiled, haughty,
high-hat, hoity-toity, horse, ill, inept, ingest, intelligent, light, mandicate, obdurate,
pace, proud, quarrel, sagacious, see, shrewd, snobbish, snooty, squabble, steed, stride,
stroll, stupid, supercilious, tiff, walk
Exercise 5. Find synonyms for the following words, arrange your material into
synonymic series and pick out the dominant word. Explain your choice.
believe, firm, precipice, single, soon
ANTONYMIC RELATIONS IN MODERN ENGLISH
Exercise 1. a) Give antonyms to the following words; b) Arrange them in three
columns: derivational autonyms (model: careful – careless); absolute autonyms
(model: slow – fast), mixed antonyms (model, correct – incorrect, wrong).
alert, discord, amity, alive, active, post-meridian, ugly, artless, appearance,
assist, arrange, courage, attentive, descend, safety, consistent, aware, benefactor,
timidity, convenient, competent, continue, conductor, preceding, correct, sufficient,
frequent, distinct, faulty, expensive, afterthought,
hostile, faithful, wet, enemy, employed, legal, lower, kind, misanthropy, final,
improper, temporary, order, polite, uniformity, slow, sane, exhale, rational, post-war,
distrust, progressive, ignoble, normal, underestimate, painful, revolutionary, thesis.
Exercise 2. Give derivational antonyms to the following:
just, justice, use (v), use (n), fortunate, fortune, grateful, grartitude, like (v),
like (adv.), life, lively, movable, moved, related, relative.
Exercise 3. Fill in the blanks with words antonymous to those given іn bold
type.
1. Why did you reject my offer and... his. 2. He may be dexterous at football,
but he is very...on the dance floor. 3. Although the temporary effect of the drugs
seems beneficial the ultimate effect is... . 4. I enjoy a climate that is rigorous in
winter and... in summer. 5. Don't be antagonistic to my suggestions. I am making
them in a... way. 6. The basket was disposed on a low settee beside the ... cupboard.
7. Some of the books were excluded from the list, but those that were… were
obligatory?. 8. I'm afraid the sweet cream will get ... if you keep it in the warm. 9.
Most of the exercises she did were correct, several were... .10. Near the very bank the
river was shallow and we had to wade out to the middle where it was... enough to
swim.
Exercise 4. a) Point out antonyms in the following sentences, b) Classify them
according to their meaning (contradictory s agree – disagree, true – false; contrary:
high –low, long – abort).
1. I cannot proceed without some investigation into what has been asserted, an
evidence of its truth or falsehood (C.B). 2. He was always eager to welcome and
unwilling to lose his friends (Shack.). 3. The poor widowed mother of orphans was
happy until the world came into it – the wicked godless world that takes the blood of
the innocent, and lets the guilty go free (id.). 4. 'Twas a point of honor with fine
gentlemen of those days to lose or win magnificently at their horse-matches (id.). 5.
To pursue him or to turn upon herself. If she is weak, she will try the first expedient,
– will lose his esteem and win his aversion (id.). 6. I was miserable when I thought
you would not come: 1 am almost too happy now! (id.). 7. Mr. Moore – stern in
public – was on the whole very kind in private (id.). 8. The mines closed down and
almost everybody who could, left the field. A few miners hung on hoping the mines
would re-open (K. P.). 9. The scoundrels took the bread out of the mouths of the
poor, browbeat the humble and truckled meanly to the rich and proud (Ch.B.). 10.
"She looks clean and industrious", Mr. Moore remarked, "Looks! I don't know how
she looks; and I do not say that she is altogether dirty or idle" (id.). 11. It is vulgar
and puerile to confound generals with particulars; in every case there is the rule, and
there are the exceptions (id.). 12. He struggled in the dark, without advice, without
encouragement; and in the teeth of discouragement (J. L.). 13. All the public
Inscriptions in the town were painted alike in severe characters of black and white
(Dick.). 14. Everything was fact and what you couldn't state in figures, or show to be
purchasable in the cheapest market and saleable in the dearest, was not (id.).
Exercise 5. From the following extracts, pick out the synonyms and antonyms
and comment on them.
1. She was grateful or ungrateful, or unkind, or illhumoured. She was only
stupid; and Pen was madly in love with her. (Shack.).
2. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had
nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the
other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its
noisiest authorities insisted on its being received for good or for evil, in the
superlative degree of comparison only. (Dick.)
3. He cursed himself as he hurried to and fro in the pale moonlight, and the
more ruddy gleam of the expiring wood fire. He threw open and shut the latticed
windows with violence, as if alike impatient of the admission and exclusion of free
air (W. Sc.)
4. Rise, like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew,
Which in sleep had fall's on you,
Те are many, they are few. (Shel.)
5. Crabbed Age and Youth cannot live together;
Youth is foil of pleasure. Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn, Age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave. Age like winter bare;
Youth is full of sport, Age's breath is short;
Youth is nimble, Age is lame;
Youth is hot, and bold, Age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild, and Age is tame;
Age, I do abhor thee; Youth, I do adore thee;
O! my love, my love is young. (Shak.)
CHANGE OF MEANING
I. Narrowing of Meaning
Exercise 1. In the following sentences, trace the process of narrowing of
meaning in the words given in bold type.
1. There was enough food there to keep a starving family for a week (D.M.). 2.
He (Mr. Brocklehurst) starved us when he had the sole superintendence of the
provision department, before the committee was appointed (Ch. B). 3. There was a
bunch of violets on the hearse, and the undertaker mentioned the incident to avoid
mistake (О. H.). 4. I know the name of every owner of every British moor, yes – and
their tenants, too. I know how many grouse are killed, now many partridge, bow
many bead of deer (D.M.). 5. I put the bacon in the bilin' pot to keep the hounds from
gittin' it (O.H.).
6. A deed of blood, or fire, or flames
Was meat and drink to simple James.
7. O beware, my lord, of jealousy.
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. (Shak.)
II. Extension. Generalization. Widening of Meaning
Exercise 2. In the following sentences, analyse the meaning of the words given
in hold type:
1. A few weeks after that the purchase was completed, and at the close of the
season, the Minister and his family went down to Canterwille Chase (O.W.). 2. The
avenue bent a little, and aha came suddenly upon a young man learning over the
paling smoking his pipe (Yh.Moore). 3. You cannot have good matter with bad. style.
Examine the point more closely. A man wishes to convey a fine idea to you. He
employs a font of words. That form of words is his style (A.B.). 4. Weariness of soul
lies before her, as it lies behind... but the imperfect remedy is always to fly, from the
last place where it had been experiences (id,).
III. Various Shifts of Meaning
Exercise 3. In. the following sentences, comment on the change of meaning in
the words given in bold type.
1. She Doctor's walk was stately and calculated to impress the juvenile mind
with solemn feeling (Dick.). 2. Joyce. It's no good, Jack, I'm leaving you. You'll
never get out of this, it’s Bedlam. You're in for life. Good-bye, Jack, goodbye (T.R.).
3. Sever for a moment did he interrupt or glance at his watch, it was as though he had
set himself a standard of behaviour…and clung to it grimly rather than offend again
(D.M.). 4. And as 7 sat there brooding, my chin in my hands, fending the soft ears of
one of the spaniels it came to me that I was not the first to lounge there...(id.). 3.
People talk of natural sympathies, I have heard of good genii: there are grains of
truth, in the wildest fable (Ch.B). 6. As I was meditating... a little girl, followed by
her attendant, came running up the lawn. 7. He fixed his eyes on Bosinney: "It's
dangerous to let anything carry you away – a house, a picture, a woman!" (Galsw.).
IV. Development of Meaning Partly Due to Social Causes
1. Degradation of meaning
Exercise 4. In the following sentences, analyze the development of meaning of
the words given in hold type.
1. An artful designing woman? Yes, so she is... (Thack.). 2. Surface. Charles
has been impudent, sir, to be sure; but I do hope no busy people have already
prejudiced Sir Olive against him (Sher.). 3. Lady Sneerwell. I have found him out a
long time since. I know him to be artful, selfish, and malicious – in short, a
sentimental knave; while with Sir Peter, and indeed, with all his acquaintance, he
passes for a youthful miracle of prudence, good sense, and benevolence (id.). 4. And
is this the wretched caitiff? (Th.H.). 5. The day after he left the barracks the rascal
met a respectable farmer (id.). 6, "D'ye hear the villain?" groans the tall young man
(id.). 7. Uncle Hick was a clever fellow – "cleverest man in London", someone had
called him – but none had ever impugned his honesty (Galsw,). 8. The only excuse I
can make is that I've become boorish through living alone (D.M.).
2. Elevation of meaning
Exercise 5. Comment on the following words:
lord, marshal, knight, queen, duke, Tory.
Exercise 6. In the following extracts, trace the process of elevation in the
meaning of the words given in bold type.
1. "It is well," said Prince John haughtily; "although unused to such refusals,
we will endeavour to digest our banquet as we may, though ungraced by the most
successful… in arms, and his elected Queen of Beauty. " (W. Sc.) 2. To do Crump
justice, he does not cringe now to great people. He rather patronizes them than
otherwise and in London speaks quite affably to a Duke who has been brought up at
his college or holds out a finger to a Marquis (Thack.).3. This knight had left the field
abruptly when the victory was achieved; and when he was called upon to receive tits
reward of his valour, he was nowhere to be found. (W. Sc.) 4. We'll have to do
something about it. We must write to the Ministry of Health. (Cronin)
3. Transfer of meaning
A. Transfer based on similarity of function
Exercise 7. State the cause of the changes in meaning of the words given in
bold type.
1. Here's your signed leader, sir (Galsw.). 2. She bent her head so slightly that
it would have been a greater compliment to the major to have made no sign at all, and
to have left him to infer that he had not been heard or thought of (Dick.). 3. All his
important manuscripts had come back and been started out again sad his hack-work
fared no better (J.L.). 4. John was painting in the class of the great Magister – y ou
know his fame. His fees are high, his lessons are light - his highlights have brought
him renown (O.H.) 5. She (Mrs. Fairfax) hastened to ring the bell, and, when the tray
came, she proceeded to arrange the cups, spoons, etc. with assiduous celerity (id.). 6.
She's a good healthy girl, for I've never spent a pound on a doctor for her, and very
quiet she is, and very sensible, but she's got a strong will of her own, though you
might not think it or believe it (A.C.)
B. Transfer on resemblance
Exercise 8. Pick out the dead metaphors from the following word
combinations.
1. A green bush; a green man; a green apple, green with envy. 2. Seeds of a
plant; seeds of evil. 3. A fruitful tree; fruitful work. 4. A fruitless tree; a fruitless
effort. 5. The root of a tree; the root of a word. 6. A blooming rose; blooming health.
7. A fading or faded flower; fading or faded beauty.
Exercise 9. Explain the logic of the transfer of meaning.
1. The wings of a bird, of an aeroplane, of a mill; on wings of joy. 2. The foot
of a man, of a hill, of a bed. 3. Тhе neck of a girl, of a bottle. 4. Tongues of flame; the
child's tongue is coated. 5. The legs of a dog, of a table. 6. Moscow is the heart of our
country; my heart is beating with excitement. 7. The mouth of a pot, of a river, of a
cave.
Exercise 10. Comment on the metaphors given in bold type.
1. I quite forgot to consider at all 'that great rock of disaster in the working
class world - sickness (J.L.). 2. I have been green too, Miss Eyre, – ay, grass green;
not a more vernal tint freshens you now than once freshened не (Ch. B). 3. "I took
him for a man of other metal." said Sir Geoffrey; – "nay, I would have sworn it, had
any one asked my testimony"(W. Sc.). 4. I had a new pride in my rooms after his
approval of them, and burned with a desire to develop their utmost resources(Dick).
5. His changes of mood did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do
with their alteration; the ebb and flow depended on causes quite disconnected with
me (Ch.B.). 6. Miss Harden, be it observed, was the house-keeper, a woman after Mr.
Brocklehursts's own heart, made of equal parts whalebone and iron(Ch.B.)
C. Transfer based on association
a) the metonymy
Exercise 11. Comment on the etymology and meaning of the following cases of
metonymy:
1. Colt, Ford, sandwich, mackintosh, silhouette, boycott, hooligan, gladstone,
bag, dunce, quisling. 2. elecricity, magnetism, boston, cheviot, madeira, champagne,
bordeaux, Mocco, malaga.
Exercise 12. Discuss the following cases of metonymy:
1.I have never read Balsac in the original. 2. My sister is fond of old china. 3.
The coffee-pot is boiling. 4. The pit loudly applauded. 5. He succeeded to the crown.
Exercise 13. In the following extracts, state what the metonymy stands for.
Analyze the logical association of the metonymy and the idea it expresses.
Model: Give every man thine ear and few thy voice (Shak.)
In this case the word "ear" stands for "the sense of hearing", and "voice", for
"speaking". In other words, here the organ performing a function (action) is named
instead of the function (action). A paraphrase of the sentence might be expressed
thus: "Listen to everybody but speak to few".
1. In their hearts they would even feel it an intervention of Providence, a
retribution – had not Bosinney endangered their two most priceless possessions, the
pocket and the hearth (Galsw.). 2. She looked out of her window one day and gave
her heart to the grocer’s young man (O.H.). 3. Silence on both sides "Have you lost
your tongue, Jack? " "Have you found yours, Ned?" (Dick.). 4. Away they went
bravely on their hunt in the gray dawn of a summer morning, and soon the great dogs
gave joyous tongue to say that they were already on the track of their quarry (S. TH.).
5. Sо I resolved to sell no more muscle and to become a vendor of brains (J. L.). 6.
"Do you sell anything to eat here" one questions the grizzled old carpet slippers who
opens the door. (Th. Dr.). 7. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...
(Shak.).
b) the synecdoche
Exercise 14. State whether the words given bold type are cases of metonymy
or synecdoche.
1. Show you the land
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit.
And the voice of the nightingale newer is mute (Byr.).
2. There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave
men... . (Byr.).
D. Transfer based on exaggeration
The hyperbole
Exercise 15.Comment on the following phrases:
1. I beg a thousand pardons, soared to death, I'd give the world to see him,
good-for-nothing, a magnificent idea, what a foul tiling to do.
WORD FORMATION
Exercise 1.Analyze the following words morphologically.
ailment, air, beggarly, calculable, disturbance, drawback, elephantine, eternity,
expressionless, eyelet, fairminded, fruitfulness, gossip, governmental, indomitable,
inflammability, intake, judicious, knowledge, memorize, nourishment, overpowering,
priggish, reconciliation, renowned, runner, speechless, trangressor, unsystematic,
workmanship
Exercise 2. Classify the following words according to what part of speech they
belong to and to their morphological structure.
writer, disappointment, break, wonderful, tree, book, unknown, notebook, egg,
go, handbook, re-write, high, cry, well-dressed, railroad, highly, black, effect,
morphologically, superman, lackness, chocolate, good, readable, student, root-word,
effective, classification, compare, theatre-goer, strange, accordingly, unpleasant,
bookworm, classroom, highlight, blackboard, high-priced
Exercise 3. Find in the text that follower words in which the root and stem
formally coincide.
For the moment – but only for the moment – it will be safe to assume that we
all know what is meant by the word 'word'. I may even consider that my typing
fingers know it, defining a word (in a whimsical conceit) as what comes between two
spaces. The Greeks saw the word as the minimal unit of speech; to them, too, the
atom was minimal unit of matter. Our own age has learnt to split the atom and also
the word. If atoms are divisible into protons, electrons end neutrons, what are words
divisible into? (Anthony Burgess. Words)
Exercise 4. Read the following passage and give your own examples of free
and bound morphemes.
We may perhaps start with an attempt to define components of our words,
separating them into '.free forms, which may occur in isolation, and bound forms,
which never occur alone. For example, blackberry consists of two free forms
compounded, as both black and berry are found in isolation. If we examine raspberry
we may at first think it is the same type for we undoubtedly do have a word rasp, but
although the forms are identical phonetically they are not identical in meaning, and
rasp, in the sense in which it is used in raspberry, is not found in isolation, except in
the shortened form of raspberry, for rasp is often used colloquially for both the bush
and the fruit. In the case of bilberry we are on even safer ground, for the element bil –
is not found in isolation in English, and is therefore quite definitely a bound form.
(J.A. Sheard. The Words We Use, p.35)
1. Affixation
Exercise 5. a) Give examples of nouns with the following suffixes. b) State
which of the suffixes are productive.
-tion, -dom, -ness, -ism, -ship, -er, -or, -ist, -ite, -ess, -ing, -th, -age, -red
Exercise 6. State the origin and explain meaning of the suffixes in the following
words:
childhood, friendship, hardship, freedom, toward, backward, manhood,
brotherly, boredom, rider, granny, teacher, aunty, hatred, hireling, village, hindrance,
drunkard, notation, reinforcement
Exercise 7. Add the negative prefix and translate each word.
A. an-: 1) happy, 2) natural. 3) paralleled, 4) rivalled;
В. in- (ir-, il-, im-): 1) measurable, 2) accessible, 3) comparable, 4) probable, 5)
credible, 6) capable, 7) movable, 8) legal, 9) literate, 10) logical, 11) reconcilable, 12)
reparable;
C. un- or in- (in-, il-, im-): 1) fortunate, 2) significant, 3) justice, 4) certain, 5)
visible, 6) relevant, 7) aware, 8) assuming, 9) decent, 10) efficient, 11) mentionable,
12) conscious.
Exercise 8. Classify the following words according to what part of speech they
belong to and to their morphological structure.
writer, disappointment, break, wonderful, tree, book, unknown, notebook, egg,
go, handbook, rewrite, high, cry, well-dressed, railroad, highly, black, effect,
morphologic ally, superman, blackness, chocolate, good, readable, student, rootword, effective, classification, compare, theatre-goer, strange, accordingly,
unpleasant, bookworm, classroom, highlight, blackboard, high-priced
Exercise 9. Discuss the difference in meaning la the following pairs.
discover – uncover; disarmed – unarmed; disarticulate – unarticulate; disbelief.
– unbelief; disburden – unburden; disqualified – unqualified; disarranged –
unarranged; disband – unband; disclaim – unclaim; disgraceful – ungraceful
2. Conversion
Exercise 10. Explain the term "conversion". Find examples of conversion in the
sentences below to illustrate your explanation.
1. The colonel carelessly handed him a paper headed "Protocol" and signed
"Giovanni Bolla". 2."You made me better than anyone, Danny", she used to say. 3. In
football, the heroes of today are the has-been of tomorrow. 4. He had, for instance,
strongly objected to Annette, so attractive, and in 1914 only thirty-four, going to her
native France, her "chere partie" as, under the stimulus of war, she had begun to call
it, to nurse "braves poilus" for sooth! Running her health and her looks! If she were
really a nurse.
Exercise 11. To the underlined words find corresponding words formed by
conversion.
1. In the outer hall shadows were slanting from the pillars. He slid down at that,
and rushed into the hall, gragging her the hand.3. Soames paused a moment in his
march to lean over the railings of the Row. 4. We heard that Mrs. St.Leonard, though
one of the ornaments of the gay world, has a kind heart, a beneficient spirit and a
liberal hand. 5. They met at the pump quite accidentally, after they had made half a
dozen trips for a drink. 6. Every breath of the old scandal had been carefully kept
from het at borne... he wouldn't have a whisper of it reach her for the world. 7. Mr.
Tapley opened his eyes wide in the dark; but did not interrupt. 8. The earth, the air,
the vegetation, and the water that they drank, all teemed with deadly properties.
Exercise 12. Translate the sentences below; pick out concerted and
substantivized words; see whether you can set them off.
1. That's Gloucester Road. Plenty of time to get there if we tube. 2. Be carried a
whip with which he whipped the truck. 3. There Lousia also kept the sealed bottles
and cans of food, neatly labelled, which she canned and bottled herself from season
to season. 4. Mr .Twekesbury winked at Stanmore, endeavouring to indicate in one
wink that it was a brilliant idea to preserve his dignity in this manner.
Exercise 13. Translate the sentences. Analyze semantic relations between the
converted verbs and the adjectives.
1. Caroline put the palms of her hands out to the sun to get them browned.2.
Caroline freed herself and gripped the side of the boat. 3. Before he could finish this
big lie, everyone but Bob and Jeff had eased out the door. 4. By day, she exacted an
equal privacy. 5. This ought to steady him.
Exercise 14. Compare the semantic structure of the pairs.
air – to air, eye – to eye, face – to face, hand – to hand, jerk – to jerk, mine – to
mine, note – to note, prey – to prey, run – to run, water – to water.
Exercise 15. Find cases of conversion in the following sentences.
1. The Army would radio the location to the nearest airstrip. 2. Be said they
should wireless to the capital for military reinforcements. 3. Have you wintered in
Borne? 4. It's quite a long walk from the station and I think I've blistered my heel. 5.
Father Bank came by and told me you were sheltering in the old station.
3. Word-composition
Exercise 16. Discriminate between compound words and free word-groups:
railway station, bluebell, dragon-fly, wolf-dog, pearl necklace, school-building,
oak-tree, mellow- voice, give-and- take policy, passer-by, downfall, velvet mask,
stone wall, brown bear, armchair.
Exercise 17. a) Find compound, words ід the sentences given below. b) State to
what part of speech each of them belongs.
1. The auctioneer watched his be went out. In half an hour he was back with a
drayman – an idle levee-wharf hanger-on who was waiting for a job. 2. But from him,
thus slumbering his jealous Forsyte spirit travelled far, into God-knows-what jungle
of fancies. 3. The speed of brothers-in-law brought them so nearly behind her back
that she could hear every word of their conversation. 4. She was young and ordinary
and sturdily attractive with high cheekbones and loose corn-coloured hair combed
back.
Exercise 18. a) Classify the compounds according to the meaning of the first
word; state whether it denotes time, purpose, cause, place, property, etc. b)
Translate them into Ukrainian.
sunfish, snowball, writing-table, sick-leave, wristwatch, dining-room,
pickpocket, cut-throat, earring, wash-house, horse-marines, die-hards.
Exercise 19. a) Translate the compound words into Ukrainian. b) Compare the
meaning of the compound word with that of its components.
lady-bird, nobleman, grandfather, bluebell, butterfingers, bluestocking, ladykiller, -eye, mother-of-pearl, mother-of-thousands, mother’s mother, mother country.
Exercise 20 . Form as many compounds as possible, using the following stems
as their first component:
lady-, grass-, hand-, ink, horse-, mother-, pack-.
4. Shortened Words and Minor Types of Lexical Opposition
Exercise 21. Give nouns corresponding to the following verbs and adjectives.
to excuse, to use, to advise, to breathe, to clothe, worthy, to house, broad, wide,
deep, long, to grieve, to live
Exercise 22. Give the corresponding verb with gradations:
food, brood, blood, full, gold
Exercise 23. Form a causative verb from:
to sit, to lie, to rise, to fall.
Exercise 24. a) Read the words with the accent: (1) on the first syllable: (2) on
the second syllable. b) Translate both variants into Ukrainian.
accent, annex, conduct, permit, present; compound, concrete, conflict,
decrease, object, frequent, forecast, contrast.
Exercise 25.Comment on the formation of the words given below.
to pettifog, to spring-clean, to burgle, to strap-hang, to typewrite, to sight-read,
to mote, to darkle, to beg.
Exercise 26. Write out in full the following shortened words and analyze the
type of shortening.
А.T., B-girl, UNO, UNESCO, V-day, mike, ike, ad, sub, USA, tec, mob, lab,
comfy.
Exercise 27. Give the words denoting sounds produced by the animals
enumerated below:
the oat... the dog... the cow... the ox... the cock…the frog... the sheep... the
crow... the hen... the sparrow...the cricket... the pig... the bee... the duck... the
snake...the goose... the horse...
THE ENGLISH WORD-STOCK
Exercise 1. State the origin of the following words:
to represent, shawl, a juvenile, orthography, piano, monsieur, album,
autobiography, tranquilly, to quit, to ponder, situation, to germinate.
Exercise 2. Group the following words according to their origin:
caftan, lilac, canoe, operetta, machine, vanilla, waits, skipper, guerilla, verst,
algebra, caravan, jungle, law, mule, chocolate, telephone, dollar, khaki, artel,
wigwam, mazurka.
Exercise 3. Give adjectives of Latin origin corresponding to the following
nouns.
Model: lip – labial.
1. mouth, eye, tongue, kidney, tooth, head, ear;
2. horse, ox, sheep, cow;
3. house, town, sight, mind, egg. sea, island, spring.
Exercise 4. Form adjectives from the following nouns. To each adjective give a
corresponding adjective of Latin origin.
Model: heart – hearty – cordial.
blood, brother, earth, father, friend, heaven, home, milk, mother, night, water,
woman, man, truth, time, day, body, cloud, hand, life, room, war, son, moon, nose.
Exercise 5. a) State the origin of the following doublets. b) Comment on the
different formation of the doublets and on the difference in meaning, if any.
abbreviate – abridge
cavalry – chivalry
captain – chieftain
cart – chart
fragile – frail
balm – balsam
emerald – smaragdus
hospital – hostel, hotel
gaol – jail
major – mayor