Practical assignments
Exercise 1 .Fill in the blanks choosing the right word. Define whether these are cases of polysemy or homonymy:
None/nun
1. A __________ is a woman who has taken vows committing her life to her religion.
2. That is ________ of your business.
Pair/pare/pear
3. My mother has bought a _________of silk stockings.
4. A ___________is my favorite fruit because it’s sweet and tasty.
5. Can you _________ the ring from the fruit?
Morning/mourning
6. Angela is in ____________now because her husband has recently died.
7. Next ____________the news about the death of Michael Jackson appeared in all newspapers of the world.
Pedal/peddle
8. Don’t ____________cigarettes to children because it is illegal in our country.
9. If you don’t put your foot down on the accelerator ____________, we will miss our train.
Medal/meddle
10. She was proud of her son when he won a gold ___________ at the Olympic Games.
11. You should never ___________ in the way our boss runs his business.
Sundae/Sunday
12. This meeting will take place on ___________.
13. Help yourself to a chocolate ___________.
Keys: 1. nun 8. peddle 2. none 9. pedal
3. pair 10. medal
4. pear 11.meddle
5. pare 12.Sunday
6. mourning 13.sundae
7. morning
All are cases of homonymy
Exercise 2. In the following sentences a polysemantic verb to get is used in different meanings. Match every sentence with the proper meaning of the verb to get:
|
a) to receive |
|
b)to obtain |
3. I began to get an uncomfortable feeling when I understood that he was staring at me. |
c)to bring |
4. What did you get for Christmas? |
d)to buy |
5. Go into the house and get some water. |
e)to receive money for doing work |
6.Most of Africa doesn’t get enough rain. |
f)to have a feeling |
7. The police got the murderer after all. |
g)to have |
8. Shall I get a dinner for us today? |
h)to catch an illness |
9. Martin got upset when he found out the news. |
i)to arrive |
10. John gets £ 5 000 for his work at the office |
j)to reach a point |
11. I got to the party at 10 pm. |
k)to become |
12. I didn’t get new topic. |
l)to understand |
13. The robber threatened to get everyone in the bank if they moved. |
m)to cook |
14. Where have you got up to in the book? |
n)to kill somebody |
15. My friend got measles last week. |
o)to catch somebody |
Keys:
1 – b 6 – g 11 – I 2 – d 7 – o 12 – l 3 – f 8 – m 13 – n 4 – a 9 – k 14 – j 5 – c 10 – e 15 – h
Exercise 3. Define whether the following words are cases of polysemy or homonymy:
1)hand - part of the body
one of the long thin pieces that points to the numbers on a clock or watch
2)miss - to feel sad because someone you love is not with you
a woman who is not married
3)horn - a musical instrument like a long metal tube that is wide at one end, that you play by blowing
the hard pointed thing that grows, usually in pairs, on the heads of animals such as cows and goats
4)stiletto – the heel of a stiletto shoe
a small knife with a thin blade
5)bear - deal with something
a large strong animal with thick fur
6)fair – reasonable and acceptable
a form of outdoor entertainment, at which there are large machines to ride on and games in which you can win prizes.
7)pluck - courage and determination
to pull something quickly in order to remove it
8)position - point of view
location
9)bow - to bend the top part of your body forward in order to show respect for someone important
weapon used for shooting arrows
10)race - competition in which people or animals compete to run, drive etc. fastest and finish first
group of people
11)comic - a magazine for children that tells a story using comic strips
someone whose job is to tell jokes and make people laugh
Keys:
1 – polysemy 4 – polysemy 7 – homonymy 10 - homonymy
2 – homonymy 5 – homonymy 8 – polysemy 11 - polysemy
3 – polysemy 6 – homonymy 9 – homonymy
Extra exercise. What linguistic phenomena are the following jokes based on?
