- •Guessing and explaining meaning of words.
- •Inferring meaning from context
- •Structure
- •Explaining unknown words
- •Exercises
- •1) Look at the following text. Before you read it, see if you know what the underlined words
- •Borrowings and international words
- •Exercises
- •Which of the words listed above are also used in your language?
- •3) Match the adjectives on the left with the noun they arc most likely to be associated with, on the right.
- •8) Read the following text. Copy out the international words. State to what sphere of human activity they belong.
- •Affixation. Prefixes.
- •Exercises
- •3. Use the word in brackets to complete the sentences. Add the necessary prefix and put the word in the correct form.
- •4. Using the table at the previous page construct words or phrases to replace the underlined words.
- •IV) Affixation. Suffixes.
- •Exercises
- •Each picture is of an object ending in -er. Can you name them?
- •List six jobs you would like to have in order of preference. How many different suffixes are there in your list? Do any of the job names not have a suffix? (e.G. Pilot, film star)
- •Which word is the odd one out in each group and why?
- •V) Conversion
- •VI) Compounding
- •Exercises
- •4. List as many compound adjectives beginning with self, as you can. Mark them p or n for positive or negative characteristics, or write neutral.
- •7. Which of the adjectives from this unit could you use to describe yourself or your friends members of your family?
- •1. The sentences given below contain synonyms. Write them out in groups and explain the difference where the words are familiar.
- •2. Give as many synonyms for the italicized words in the following jokes as you can. If you do not know any of them consult the dictionaries.
- •X) Homonymy
- •1. Each underlined word rhymes with, or sounds similar to, one of the words in brackets; choose the matching word.
- •4. Find the homonyms in the following extracts. Classify them into homonyms proper, homographs and homophones.
- •XI) Types of idioms. Proverbs.
- •2. Complete these idioms using the following prepositions: in, under, on, out, in, from, at. Use a dictionary if necessary.
- •3. Rewrite each of these sentences using one of the idioms from exercise 2.
- •4. Read the following text. Compile a list of the phraseological units used in it. Classify them according to Academician Vinogradov's classification system for phraseological units.
- •1. Point out two-member sentences (say whether they are complete or elliptical) and one member sentences.
- •1. Point out the subject and say by what it is expressed. Translate into Russian.
- •State the nature of it. Translate into Russian.
- •1. Point out the kind of object and say by what it is expressed. Translate into Russian.
- •2. Point out the Complex Object and say by what it is expressed. Translate into Russian.
- •1. Point out the kind of adverbial modifier, and state by what it is expressed. Translate into Russian
- •2. Define the kinds of subordinate clauses (subject, object and predicative clauses). Translate into Russian.
- •3. Define the function of the following individual neologisms.
- •3. Differentiate professional and social jargonisms; classify them according to the narrow sphere of usage, suggest a terminological equivalent where possible.
- •1. State the type of relations existing between the object named and the object implied in the following examples of metonymy.
- •Repetition
- •1. Classify the following cases of repetition according to the position occupied by the repeated unit. State their functions.
- •1. Indicate the causes and effects of the following cases of alliteration.
- •2. State the part of speech, through which onomatopoeia is expressed, and its function.
8) Read the following text. Copy out the international words. State to what sphere of human activity they belong.
British Dramatists
In the past 20 years there has been a considerable increase in the number of new playwrights in Britain and this has been encouraged by the growth of new theatre companies. In 1956 the English Stage Company began productions with the object of bringing new writers into the theatre and providing training facilities for young actors, directors and designers; a large number of new dramatists emerged as a result of the company productions. Regional repertory theatres, too have helped contemporary dramatists by including new plays in their programmes. Among the dramatists whose work was first produced by the English Stage Company are John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Edward Bonds, John Arden and David Storey. Television has been an important factor in the emergence of other dramatists who write primarily for it; both the BBC and IBA transmit a large number of single plays each year as well as drama series and serials.
(From The Promotion of the Arts in Britain)
Affixation. Prefixes.
Additional material
Prefixes are often used to give adjectives a negative or an opposite meaning. For example, comfortable/uncomfortable, convenient/inconvenient and similar/dissimilar are opposites. Other examples are 'unjust', 'inedible', 'disloyal'. Unfortunately, there is no easy way of knowing which prefix any adjective will use to form its opposite.
in- becomes im- before a root beginning with 'm' or 'p', e.g. immature, impatient,impartial, improbable. Similarly in- becomes ir- before a word beginning with ‘r’, and il- before a word beginning with ‘l’, e.g. irreplaceable, irreversible, illegal, illegible, illiterate.
The prefix in- (and its variations) does not always have a negative meaning - often it gives the idea of inside or into, e.g. internal, import, insert, income.
The prefixes un- and dis- can also form the opposites of verbs, e.g. tie/untie, appear/disappear. These prefixes are used to reverse the action of the verb. Here are some more examples: disagree, disapprove, disbelieve, disconnect, discredit, dislike, dismount, disprove, disqualify, unbend, undo, undress, unfold, unload, unlock, unveil, unwrap, unzip.
Here are examples of other prefixes in English. Some of these words are used with a hyphen. Check in a dictionary if you're not sure.
prefix |
meaning |
examples |
anti auto bi ex ex micro mis mono multi over post pre pro pseudo re semi sub under |
against of or by oneself two, twice former out of small badly/wrongly one/single many too much after before in favour of false again or back half under not enough |
anti-war, antisocial, antibiotic autograph, auto-pilot, autobiography bicycle, bilateral, biannual, bilingual ex-wife, ex-smoker, ex-boss extract, exhale, excommunicate micro-cassette, microwave, microscopic misunderstand, mistranslate, misinform monotonous, monologue, monogamous multi-national, multi-purpose, multi-media overdo, overtired, oversleep, overeat postwar, postgraduate, post-impressionist preconceived, pre-war, pre-judge pro-government, pro-revolutionary pseudo-scientific, pseudo-intellectual retype, reread, replace, rewind semicircular, semi-final, semi-detached subway, submarine, subdivision underworked, underused, undercooked |