Seminar № 4 Word-building in English

1. Composition in English and its specific features.

1. the problem of distinguishing compounds from word-combinations in English. The formation of the “bring up”, “make out” type.

2. different types of compounds in Modern English.

3. specific features of compounds belonging to different parts of speech.

4. The semantic aspect of compound words. The criteria of compounds Pseudo-compounds.

2. Shortening of word-combinations and words in English. Various types of abbreviated words.

3. Other ways of word-building.

Literature: [3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 28-30, 34, 36, 37, 46, 47, 52]

Exercises

Ex.1 Discriminate between compounds and free word-groups:

blue dress, blue-black, blue-bell, blue scarf, blue cap, blue-berry, blue-book, blue skirt, blue-coat, blue-disease, blue-eyed, blue blouse, blue-fish, blue-fox, blue-green, blue stockings, blue pencil, blue print, blue sky

Ex.2 Arrange the compounds into three groups: a) juxtapositional, b) morphological, c) syntactic:

red-hot, blackbird, landlady, good-for-nothing, snowfall, medium-sized, old-fashioned, bread-and-butter, looking-glass, stay-at-home, speedometer, bird’s-eye, window-sill, mother-in-law, bluebell, high-heeled, sunlight, cinema-goer, man-of-war, Afro-Asian, toothpaste, hide-and-seek, barometer, V-day, world-famous, electromagnetic, stone-cold, home-made, salesgirl

Ex.3 Expand the following compounds by showing how the two parts are connected. (e.g. an applepie can be extended into a pie made from apples):

farmyard, fieldmouse, girlfriend, hothouse, playhouse, postman, raincoat, silkworm, steamboat, treehouse, football, greenhouse, handsaw, highlife, takeaway.

Ex.4 Arrange the following words according to the type of clipping:

ad, amp, bus, cab, chute, combi, deli, disco, divi, dub, exam, fan, fancy, fence, fladge, flu, fridge, gas, hols, lab, limo, mike, math, mayo, mob, nuke, para, perm, phone, plane, pop, prefab, props, retro, specs, tec, tech, teeny, frank, trannie, vac, vamp, veggies, Becky, Bella, Bess, Kate, Tony

Ex.5 Discriminate between lexical and graphical shortenings. Give their English equivalents:

cab, Ltd, Gen., flu, Mr., Mrs., Col., doc, Prof, Inc, lb, jap, pants, Co.,e.g., i.e., mag, Press, m, ft.

Ex.6 Write the following abbreviations in full:

AD, BBC, BC, CIA, FBI, NATO, NB, OK, PS, RAF, SAT, SOS, TV, UK, UNO, UNESCO, BA, CID, FO, MP, PM, VP

Ex.7 Comment on the formation of the following blends, translate them into Ukrainian:

airtel, animule, brunch, cashomat, glaze, laundromat, mobus, seadrome, swellegant, slash, tigon, twirl, Oxbridge, edutainment, medicare, fruice, dictabelt, jetomic, smaze, bascart

Ex.8 Rewrite the following words or word groups using shortening or blending:

christmas, compact disc, direct current, fraternity, gladiolus, hi-fidelity, laboratory, limousine, linotype, margarine, mathematics, parachute, preparatory, public house, telecommunication, trigonometry, veterinary, teleprinter + exchange, cybernetic + organism, formula + translation, middlebrow + culture, mimicry + memoralization, animal liberation, Nixon + economics, big momentum, neo-conservative, hi-fidelity, science fiction, atomic bomb, learner-driver, victory day, teenage person;

Ex.9 Determine the source words of the following verbs formed through back-formation:

audit, awn, benefact, burgle, catalyse, edit, emplace, free-boot, frivol, hihack, kittle, locomote, orate, pettifog, propink, spring-clean, televise, ush, waft

Ex.10 Give English/Ukranian equivalents to the following words:

ахкати, дзвеніти, іржати, люляти, мекати, мурмотіти, скиглити, торохкотіти, ухкати; виття, рев, рокіт, щебет; ачхи, бах, лусь, няв

a-tishoo, bow-wow, chuck, moo, oink-oink, pit-pat, rat-a-tat, splosh, wah, weet-weet, zonk

Ex.11 Give verbs corresponding to the following nouns:

Accent, annex, asphalt, compress, conduct, conflict, contrast, export, extract, import, increase, forecast, object, permit, present, progress, record, transport