- •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.
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.
"I hear there's a new baby over at your house, William," said the teacher. "I don't think he's new," replied William. "The way he cries shows he's had lots of experience."
A little boy who had been used to receiving his old brother's old toys and clothes remarked: "Ma, will I have to marry his widow when he dies?
Sma11 boy (to governess): Miss Smith, please excuse my speaking to you with my mouth full, but my little sister has just fallen into the pond.
A celebrated lawyer once said that the three most troublesome clients he ever had were a young lady who wanted to be married, a married woman who wanted a divorce, and an old maid who didn't know what she wanted.
В о s s: You are twenty minutes late again. Don't you know what time we start to work at this office? New Employee: No, sir, they are always at it when I get here.
He (as they drove along a lonely road): You look lovelier to me every minute. Do you know what that's asign of?
She: Sure. You are about to run out of gas.
Husband (shouting upstairs to his wife): For last time, Mary, are you coming?
W i f e: Haven't I been telling you for the last hour that I'll be down in a minute.
IX) Antonymy
Exercises
1.Find antonyms for the words given below.
Good, adj.; deep, adj.; narrow, adj.; clever, adj.; young, adj.; to love» v.; to reject, v.; to give, v.; strong, adj.; to laugh, v.; joy, n.; evil, п.; up, adv., slowly, adj.; black, adj.; sad, adj.; to die,v.; to open, v.; clean, adj.; darkness, n.; big, adj.
2. Find antonyms in the following joke and extracts and describe the resultant stylistic effect.
Policeman (holding up his hand): Stop!
Visitor: What's the matter?
P.: Why are you driving on the right side of the road?
V.: Do you want me to ride on the wrong side?
P.: You are driving on the wrong side.
V.: But you said that I was driving on the right side.
P.: That is right. You are on the right, and that's wrong.
V.: A strange country! If right is wrong, I'm right when I'm on the wrong side. So why did you stop me?
P.: My dear sir, you must keep to the left. The right side is the left.
V.: It's like a looking-glass! I'll try to remember. Well, I want to go to Bellwood. Will you kindly tell me the way?
P.: Certainly. At the end of this road, turn left.
V.: Now let me think. Turn left! In England left is right, and right is wrong. Am I right?
P.: You'll be right if you turn left. But if you turn right, you'll be wrong.
V.: Thank you. It's as clear as daylight.
X) Homonymy
Additional material
Homonyms can be subdivided into homographs and homophones. Homographs are words which are written in the same way but have different meanings and may be pronounced differently. Compare bow in 'he took a bow /bau/ at the end of the concert' and 'he was wearing a bow /bou/ tie'. Homophones are words with different meanings which are pronounced in the same way but are spelt differently, e.g. bow as in 'he took a bow' and bough, 'the bough of a tree'.
Here are some more examples of homographs with differing pronunciations.
I live in the north of England, /liv/
Your favourite rock group is singing live on TV tonight, /laiv/
I read in bed each night. /ri:d/
I read War and Peace last year, /red/
The lead singer in the group is great. /li:d/
Lead pipes are dangerous, /led/
The wind blew the tree down, /wind/
Wind the rope round this tree, /waind/
I wound my watch last night, /waund/
He suffered a terrible wound in the war. /wu:nd/
Some students at Oxford spend more time learning to row well than studying, /гou/
They shared a flat for ages until they had a row over money and split up. /rau/
They stood in a row and had their photo taken, /rou/
This book is called English Vocabulary in Use. /ju:s/
You must know how to use words as well as their meaning. /ju:z/
They lived in a large old house, /haus/
The buildings house a library and two concert halls as well as a theatre, /hauz/
The sow has five piglets, /sau/
The farmers sow the seeds in the spring, /sou/
Bathing the baby at night may help it to fall asleep. /ba:i/
(On a sign at a beach) No bathing /beii/
Here are some other many examples of homophones in English.
air/heir aloud/allowed break/brake fare/fair
faze/phase flu/flew grate/great groan/grown
hoarse/horse its/it's lays/laze mail/male
meat/meet mown/moan our/hour pale/pail
pane/pain pair/pear/pare peal/peel place/plaice
practise/practice pray/prey raise/rays read/reed
rein/rain right/rite/write sale/sail scene/seen
sight/site so/sew sole/soul some/sum
steak/stake tea/tee there/their/they're through/threw
tire/tyre toe/tow waist/waste wait/weight
weak/week weather/whether whine/wine would/wood
Exercises