Vocabulary: deeper not broader
James Thomas
In this workshop we will experiment with various
activities related to extending vocabulary
vertically, rather than horizontally, and to
activating passive vocabulary. A high proportion
of common vocabulary is polysemous and
students need to gradually acquire the less
frequent meanings of these items. Also, when
learners speak and write, the grammatical
context (colligation) and lexical context
(collocation) for individual vocabulary items
must be at their fingertips.
I am a research assistant in the Department of
Information Technology, Faculty of Informatics,
Masaryk University, Brno. At my website,
http://www.fi.muni.cz/~thomas, you can find a
variety of language teaching websites I have
created and am developing, all of them relating
to the use of computers in foreign language
education. I also run occasional language
pedagogy workshops for the Centrum pro další
vzdělávání of Masaryk University. Their
courses are open to all: contact details can be
found at http://www.rect.muni.cz/cdvu/.
Text statistics: As is suggested, one measure of usefulness is word frequency, that is, how often
the word occurs in normal use of the language. Nation and Waring (1998) derived statistics from
the Brown corpus that demonstrate how many lemmas cover how much text.
Vocabulary size
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
15,851
Written Text coverage
72.0%
79.7%
84.0%
86.8%
88.7%
89.9%
97.8%
The Illustrative sentences in these worksheets
come from the British National Corpus which
can be accessed via Just the Word.
Definitions and lexical relationships derive from
Wordnet
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
http://193.133.140.102/JustTheWord/
At the time of writing, these worksheets can be found at http://www.fi.muni.cz/~thomas/vocab_depth.doc
James Thomas
12/02/2016
Four words, nine meanings!
These nine pictures depict four words.
Insert the words and identify which pictures belong with them.
Words
Pictures (e.g. A3)
1
2
3
A
B
C
James Thomas
12/02/2016
One word, two meanings
Each of these words in the left column have two meanings given on the right. Most of these very
common words have even more meanings.
A. will
1. a bit depressed
2. a breakthrough, a discovery
B. fast
3. average
4. brand or label
C. mean
5. wanting something to happen
6. document relating to death
D. well
7. feathers
8. feeling fine
E. down
9. go quickly
10. legal and fair
F. just
11. locate
12. nasty
G. make
13. recently
14. return there
H. back
15. don’t eat
16. similar
I.
like
17. something you find pleasant
18. source of water, and wishes
J. find
19. to create, form
20. to put money on a horse etc
James Thomas
12/02/2016
One word, two meanings – in context
Each pair of sentences has the same word missing from them, though sometimes it might be in a
different form.
A
The players are very __________ and upset and it will be difficult to lift them for
Tranmere.
The __________ is collected from the nests of wild birds after the eggs have hatched.
B
She was __________ and horrible to her mother, snide, self-righteous and unkind.
There you'll see there is an eight year trend, the __________ of which is just under
five thousand.
C
These type-faces encouraged customers to buy a particular __________ of machine.
As for victims , you can't __________ an omelette without cracking eggs.
D
If you know that you feel fit and __________ during the course of the day, then you
are getting sufficient sleep for your own needs.
Before it grew any darker, we followed a little path to the __________, and filled our
kettle with water from the spring.
E
In one sense it's very much __________ good investigative journalism.
I would __________ this to be explained to me as I just don't understand it.
F
It 's taken five years of your life, but at least you 're getting your __________ rewards
now.
Your computer has __________ broken down.
G
By happy chance, I had __________ a private hotel only fifty yards from the Danube.
This exciting __________ dates from the 2nd century.
H
Racegoers will have a chance to __________ a winner at Britain 's next Sunday race
meeting.
But this brings us __________ to the initial problem.
I
Mandela appealed to them to abandon the __________ on June 6.
The boom in __________ food is providing strong competition for restaurants and
school meal services.
J
So he has already made his __________ , yes, leaving everything to his future wife.
But there was one essential ingredient I lacked: Charlie's strong __________
and his massively forceful desire.
James Thomas
12/02/2016
Colligation
The following common verbs exemplify a variety of standard patterns. Beside each verb heading,
indicate which of these patterns the verbs take.
1. verb + obj + inf (without to) 2. verb + inf (without to)
4. verb + as + obj
5. Verb + obj
3. verb + obj + inf (with to)
6. verb + in + ing
7. verb + inf (with to)
MANAGE _______________
 As I say, I’ll get it back to you just as soon as I’ve managed to make a copy of it.
 It must have been an hour and a half at least before we managed to get the thing out of the
water.
 I had so far managed to avoid being kissed by the old bat, but I had the strong feeling that, by
the end of the day, she and I were going to be getting physical.
LET
 That 's the last thing I intend to let happen at this crucial stage.
 My leaving them was similar to their having to let go of their children.
 I happened to let slip how much James gave me for it.
ALLOW _______________
 We had to allow the party to continue through the night.
 But he did allow me to examine it and bring it away with me.
 He allowed her to hold him but it was an effort, he was impatient to act, to get to the phone.
MAKE _______________
 They’re not poor, powerless people, they can make you wait as long as they like.
 My husband made me wait while I was in labour till a game finished!
 You must make him understand the need for secrecy.
SUCCEED (A) _______________
 If we understand a horse’s emotions we are more likely to succeed in getting it to do what we
want.
 One of the major achievements of the journeymen in the nineteenth century had been to
succeed in having both kinds of work paid at the same rate.
 If children are to be helped in the U K and throughout the world then we all have to succeed in
persuading people to donate.
SUCCEED (B) _______________
 He’ll have a go but he won't succeed Mark.
 I felt he was the right man for the job in 1990 when he was appointed to succeed Bobby
Robson.
 And on the right, the even more pressing problem of who was to succeed Alexander.
SUCCEED (C) _______________
 Their hope is to succeed as the consolidator of post-Thatcherism after the fourth election win.
 If we are to succeed as teachers (or parents) we must accept that children may well be brighter
than us and blessed with a potential far beyond our own.
 To survive and succeed as a student, you’ll need to develop your own pattern of regular
activity, within which you can feel secure and become an effective student, leaving yourself
sufficient freedom to be spontaneous, to be yourself.
James Thomas
12/02/2016
Advanced Vocabulary, Advance Activity
Read the following extract from the Encyclopaedia Britannica about Art Nouveau.
Although known as Jugendstil in Germany, Sezessionstil in Austria, Modernista in Spain, and Stile
Liberty or Stile Floreale in Italy, Art Nouveau has become the general term applied to a highly
varied movement that was European-centred but internationally current at the end of the century.
Art Nouveau architects gave idiosyncratic expression to many of the themes that had preoccupied
the 19th century, ranging from Viollet-le-Duc's call for structural honesty to Sullivan's call for an
organic architecture. The extensive use of iron and glass in Art Nouveau buildings was also rooted
in 19th-century practice. In France bizarre forms appeared in iron, masonry, and concrete, such as
the structures of Hector Guimard for the Paris Métro (c. 1900). The Art Nouveau architect's
preference for the curvilinear is especially evident in the Brussels buildings of the Belgian Victor
Horta. In the Hôtel Van Eetvelde (1895) he used floral, tendrilous ornaments, while his Maison du
Peuple (1896-99) exhibits undulating enclosures of space. Decorative exploitation of the
architectural surface with flexible, S-shaped linear ornament, commonly called whiplash or eel
styles, was indulged in by the Jugendstil and, Sezessionstil architects.
Choose the best synonym for each of the underlined words in the text. Many of the synonyms are
actual synonyms for the head words, but you must consider how the head word is used in this text.
A
B
C
D
movement
motion
transportation
change
trend
idiosyncratic
strange
stupid
personal
powerful
preoccupied
in training
absorbed
employed
busy
honesty
integrity
openness
truthfulness
strength
extensive
severe
vast
inevitable
innovative
rooted in
opposed to
considered
based on
rejected
market
ornate
busy
weird
sect
bronze
cement
marble
decorative
flowerlike
pretty
margarine
use
misuse
overuse
underuse
flexible
supple
open-minded
adaptable
available
eel
sickly
hilly
footlike
snake-like
enjoyed
drink alcohol
pamper
allow oneself
bizarre
masonry
floral
exploitation
indulge
James Thomas
12/02/2016
Collocations of RESULT
1
be the result of
2
achieve, gain results
3
arrive at a/the result(s)
4
assess, evaluate, measure the results
5
be satisfied with, content with the result
6
challenge the results
7
confirm the results
8
distort the results
9 follow, watch, monitor, observe the results
10
have no result
11
hope for good results
12
indicate, suggest
13
inform of, tell, convey the results
14
lead to the results
15
make the results available
16
misinterpret the results
17
negate, nullify, undo the results
18
present, put forward, submit the results
19
the results are disappointing
20
the results confirm that …
21
the results depends on
22
the results indicate, point to, suggest
23
the results prove
24
the results show, reveal
25
threaten, jeopardize the results
26
verify the results
27
wait for the result
1
2
3
4
5
6
James Thomas
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
být (7) čeho
A
být bez (2)
B
být spokojen s (7)
C
čekat na
D
dosáhnout (2)
E
dospět k (3)
F
hodnotit
G
doufat v dobrý …
H
naznačit
I
ověřit
J
ohrozit
K
postavit se proti (3), neuznat
L
potvrdit
M
předložit
N
sdělit
O
sledovat
P
vést k
Q
vykládat si špatně
R
zkreslit
S
zpřístupnit
T
zrušit
U
dokazuje
V
naznačuje, nasvědčuje
W
potvrzuje
X
ukazuje
Y
záleží na
Z
zklame
16
17
18
AA
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
12/02/2016
Collocations of RESULT
být (7) čeho
být bez (2)
být spokojen s (7)
čekat na
dosáhnout (2)
dospět k (3)
hodnotit
doufat v dobrý …
naznačit
ověřit
ohrozit
postavit se proti (3), neuznat
potvrdit
předložit
sdělit
sledovat
vést k
vykládat si špatně
zkreslit
zpřístupnit
zrušit
dokazuje
naznačuje, nasvědčuje
potvrzuje
ukazuje
záleží na
zklame
James Thomas
12/02/2016