1. science
2. social science
3. linguistics
4. translation

Федеральное агентство по образованию
ФГОУ ВПО «Сибирский федеральный университет»
Лесосибирский педагогический институт – филиал
ФГОУ ВПО «Сибирский федеральный университет»
Кафедра иностранных языков
ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
Семинарские занятия
Методические разработки
Специальность 050303 «Иностранный язык»
(квалификация «учитель иностранного языка»)
Составитель:
Ростова М.Л.,
старший преподаватель
Лесосибирск, 2010
Введение
Семинары являются неотъемлемой частью учебного процесса в вузе.
Подготовка к семинарским занятиям обеспечит закрепление и углубление
теоретических знаний, развитие умений применять знания по лексикологии при анализе
лингвистических явлений, а также делать самостоятельные обобщения и выводы из
наблюдений за конкретным языковым материалом и т.д.
Предложенные для выполнения задания и упражнения являются разной степени
сложности, созданы на материале примеров из художественных произведений
современных англоязычных авторов и писателей-классиков, а также разнообразных
словарей английского языка, периодической печати и электронных баз данных.
Подготовка к теоретическим вопросам семинара предполагает знакомство с
рекомендуемой литературой и составление планов – конспектов устного ответа.
Практические задания выполняются в письменной форме в отдельной тетради,
которая сдается на проверку после завершения семинара.
Seminar 1
“Properties of the Linguistic Sign”
Discussion:
1. Semiotics. Semantic, pragmatic, syntactic treatment of the sign.
2. Properties of the linguistic sign:
a) arbitrariness;
b) asymmetric duality of the linguistic sign as the linguistic cause and condition for its dynamics;
c) motivation, iconicity.
3. Types of motivation:
a) phonetic motivation;
b) morphological motivation;
c) semantic motivation.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 11, 12, pp.205-209.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 6-11, 16-21.
2. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.33-36.
3. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.38-41.
Practice:
Task 11
Find the phonetically motivated (onomatopoetic, sound-symbolic) word in the following
sentences. Identify the source of the sound for the onomatopoetic words and point out the
meaning of the phonetically motivated word in each case.
Example:
She stepped in deeper, avoiding the rocks that were all around, and splashed the water over
herself, feeling the rushing river tugging hard at her legs (S. Sheldon).
Here the phonetically motivated (onomatopoetic) word is the verb splash. It imitates the
sounds produced by liquids (in this context – water). The word means “to cause a liquid to fall in
drops”. In the word splash , the clusters sp- and –ash are sound-symbolic: sp- is thought to be
associated with water or other liquids; -ash suggests an association with swift, strong movement.
In the sound-symbolic word rushing (“going with great speed”), -sh conveys the idea of swift
movement.
1. For a moment Penelope felt a strong desire to giggle (L. Kennedy).
2. A University tramcar rumbled past (I. Levin).
3. Bees hummed in the shrubbery that flanked the wrought-iron fence (M. Daheim).
4. There was a crash of falling glass (A. Christie).
5. Outside the city the corn rustles and ripens in the sun (W.P. Kinsella).
6. There were little bells attached to his collar, that tinkled musically when he moved (Longman
Language Activator).
7. …and they packed the pies at the bottom, and put heavy things on top, and smashed the pies in
(J.K. Jerome).
8. I was surprised to hear the clatter of typewriter keys when I reached his door (J. Smith).
9. He had found the corkscrew and was drawing the corks from the bottles, each making a small
plop as it came out (R. Dahl).
10. Crickets chirping all night and crows all day – how was a person supposed to get any sleep?
(J. Smith).
11. He was not surprised at the silence; the wind was rattling a good deal (J.K. Jerome).
12. I could hear the shouts of children at play and the clip-clop of a trotting horse (A. Marshall).
13. Then Harris packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato and squashed it, and they had to
pick out the tomato with a teaspoon (J.K. Jerome).
14. She felt embarrassed at her own loquacity and was angry at herself for becoming so flustered
at seeing him that she babbled to hide her feelings (S. Fraser).
15. The bacon sizzled in the frying pan (Longman Language Activator).
16. She waited for the clap of thunder, the bright flash of lightning that would destroy them all
(S. Sheldon).
17. Dr. Joseph Pearson’s fingers drummed a nervous tattoo upon his office desk (A. Hailey).
18. The gates creaked at the first blow, cracked at the second, and shivered at the third (C.S.
Lewis).
19. I muttered to myself as I banged down the receiver (J. Smith).
20. And still the computer clicked busily and its lights flashed (I. Asimov).
21. From the other side of the river they heard the beating of gongs and the clatter of firecrackers (W.S .Maugham).
22. … for now the goblins took out whips and whipped them with a swish, smack!, and set them
running as fast as they could in front of them… (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Task 12
What are the following combinations of letters associated with?
1. Gr- at the beginning of words (groan, growl, grumble) may suggest:
a) something pleasant and soft;
b) something unpleasant and miserable.
2. The combination gl- at the beginning of words (gleam, glimmer, glossy, glow) often
suggests:
a) an association with light and brightness;
b) an association with darkness.
3. Sl- at the beginning of words (slander, slime, slop, slosh, slum, slut) may suggest:
a) a generally positive association;
b) a generally negative association.
Seminar 2
“Morphological Structure of English Words”
Discussion:
1. Language and its nominative function. Semantic triangle.
2. Act of nomination, its structure, factors influencing it.
3. Units of nomination. The sentence and the word-combination as units of nomination.
4. Types of nomination.
5. Morphological structure of the English word:
a) the notion of morpheme;
b) types of morphemes (semantic and structural classifications).
Practice:
Practicum – Task 13, pp.211-212.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 27-35.
2. The Issues in Englis Philology (Study Manual). – Irkutsk, 1998.- P.30-33.
3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.77-81, 87-90.
4. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.120-123.
Practice:
Task 13
Determine the number of morphemes in each word:
1. Boxes
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
2. Children
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
3. sheep
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
4. theory
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
5. half-length
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
6. cupboard
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
7. arrogance
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
8. Marvelously
a)2
b) 3
c) 4
9. Indifferent
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
10. Newcomers
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
11. Good- humouredly
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
12. Notwithstanding
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
13. Disinterestedness
a) 4
b) 5
c) 6
14. Retribalization
a) 4
b) 5
c) 6
Seminar 3
“Theories of Meaning”
Discussion:
1. Different approaches to the definition of word meaning:
a) referential theory;
b) conceptual theory;
c) functional theory.
2. Types and aspects of meaning:
a) lexical meaning and grammatical meaning;
b) semantic, pragmatic, syntactic /systemic/ aspects of lexical meaning.
3. Componential analysis:
a) its history;
b) its types;
c) its merits and demerits.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 48,49, pp.277.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 150-162.
2. The Issues in Englis Philology (Study Manual). – Irkutsk, 1998.- P.51-53.
3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.37-42, 47-50, 57-59.
4. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.22-35.
5. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. –
М.: Дрофа, 1999. – С. 115-120.
Practice:
Task 48
What unites the following words?
a) lexical meaning;
b) grammatical meaning;;
c) lexical meaning and grammatical meaning?
1. Deprived, arrived, decayed, described
2. Fast, quick, rapid, swift
3. forget-me-nots, radii, Russians, oxen
4. to buy, to sell, price, money, expensive
Task 49
Carry out the componential analysis of these words by using an appropriate combination
of the semantic features.
1. Man
a) “human”
2. Boy
b) “animal”
3. Woman
c) “male”
4. Girl
d) “female”
5. Bull
e) “adult”
6. Cow
f) “non-adult”
7. Calf
g) “ ovine”
8. Boar
h) “bovine”
9. Sow
i) “porcine”
10. Piglet
11. Ram
12. Ewe
13. lamb
Seminar 4
“Semantic Change”
Discussion:
1. Causes of semantic change:
a) extra linguistic causes (historical, social, psychological);
b) linguistic causes (ellipsis, differentiation of synonyms, fixed context, linguistic analogy).
2. Nature of semantic change. Types of associative relationships. Metaphor and metonymy.
3. Results of semantic change:
a) generalization, specialization;
b) amelioration, pejoration.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 56-60, 62-73, pp.287-327.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 162-174.
2. The Issues in Englis Philology (Study Manual). – Irkutsk, 1998.- P.53-54.
3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.60-76.
4. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.41-48.
5. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. –
М.: Дрофа, 1999. – С. 147-160.
Practice:
Task 56
Find the synonymous terms in the list:
1. amelioration
10. generalization
2. differentiation of synonyms
11. discrimination of synonyms
3. degradation
12. broadening
4. extension
13. deterioration
5. elevation
14. widening
6. worsening
15. specialization
7. restriction
16. degeneration
8. melioration
17. narrowing
9. pejoration
18. Bettering
Task 57
Determine the extralinguistic causes of semantic development of the words:
a) historical;
b) social;
c) psychological.
1. Primarily pen comes back to the Latin word penna ("a feather of a bird"). As people wrote
with goose pens, the name was transferred to steel pens, which were later on used for writing.
Still later any instrument for writing was called a pen.
2. The word case along with its general meaning of "circumstances in which a person or a thing
is", possesses a number of special meanings: in law ("a question to be decided in a court of
law"), in grammar ("changes in the form of a word showing its relationship with other words in a
sentence"), in medicine ("a person having medical treatment", "an illness").
3. Engine was formerly used in the general meaning of "a mechanical contrivance" (especially
of war and torture), but since the Industrial Revolution it has come to mean "a mechanical source
of power".
4. Today the word client is viewed euphemistically as "a person who is a subject of regulation
by a government agency or public authority".
5. The word supper was borrowed from French. There is a supposition that supper comes from
sup, which originates from an Indo-European base relating to drinking. Supper is the name of a
meal taken at the end of the day. In old times when people had little heat in their houses, they
used to have a hot drink before going to bed. That was supper, so first supper meant "drinking at
bed-time", later it began to refer to the last meal of the day.
6. In everyday communication, the noun noise means "sound, especially a sound that is loud,
unpleasant, unexpected, or undesired". It also has other, more specialized meanings: for instance,
in physics it means Ha disturbance, especially a random or persistent disturbance, that obscures
or reduces the clarity of a signal", in computer science - "irrelevant or meaningless data".
7. The noun don means "a (university) teacher, a leader, a master". However, to divert people's
attention from some negative phenomena, in the criminal circles this word has come to be used
in the meaning "the head of Mafia family or other group involved in organized crime".
8. The adjective plastic, meaning "capable of being moulded", arrived in English in the early
1600s. Now it is used to refer to synthetic materials.
9. Besides the meaning "a simple garment worn over the front part of one's clothes to keep them
clean while one is cooking, doing something dirty, etc.", the word apron developed a number of
technical senses. In the theatre, it refers to the part of the stage that extends into the auditorium in
front of the curtain, whereas in an airport it would name the hard surface on which planes are
turned round, loaded, unloaded, etc. Alternatively, for example, in sport it denotes the part of the
floor of a boxing ring that extends outside the ropes. In geology apron stands for a deposit of
gravel and sand at the base of a mountain or extending from the edges of a glacier.
Task 58
Establish the linguistic cause or causes of semantic development of the words:
a) ellipsis;
b) differentiation of synonyms;
c) fixed context;
d) linguistic analogy.
1. The noun knave suffered a striking change of meaning as a result of collision with its
synonym boy. Now it has a pronounced negative evaluative connotation and means "a swindler,
scoundrel".
2. Minerals came to be used for mineral waters.
3. In early New English the verb overlook was employed in the meaning "to look with an evil
eye upon, to cast a spell over" from which there developed the meaning "to deceive" first
recorded in 1596. Exactly half a century later we find the verb oversee - a synonym of overlook used in the meaning "to deceive".
4. The verb propose came to be used for propose marriage.
5. An interesting case concerns autumn and harvest. Harvest is the native Germanic word,
cognate with the German Herbst "autumn". However, after the Norman Conquest, the upper
classes adopted a great many French words, including autumn. This borrowing promoted a
semantic shift: autumn became the normal word for the season, while harvest was reserved for
the agricultural labour the peasantry performed at that time.
6. Snack came from the Middle Dutch snacken, which meant "to snap, to bite (especially of a
dog)". In Old English bite (OE bītan) meant "to use one's teeth to cut a piece of something, to
snap". Actually both words meant the same. Later they developed the meaning "to bite
something to eat". Nowadays the nouns snack and bite mean "a light, quick meal".
7. The word beast was borrowed from French into Middle English. Before it appeared, the
general word for animal was deer, which after the word beast was introduced, became narrowed
to its present meaning "a hoofed animal of which the males have antlers". Somewhat later, the
Latin word animal was also borrowed, then the word beast was restricted, and its meaning
served to separate the four-footed kind from all the other members of the animal kingdom. Thus,
beast displaced deer and was in its turn itself displaced by the generic animal.
8. The word-group a train of carriages had the meaning of "a row of carriages", later on of
carriages was dropped and the noun train changed its meaning. It is used now in the function
and with the meaning of the whole word-group.
9. The noun token originally had the broad meaning of "a sign". When brought into competition
with the loan word sign, it became restricted in use to a number of set expressions as love token,
token of respect and so became specialized in meaning.
10. The verb starve in Old English had the meaning "to die" and was used in combination with
the word hunger (ME sterven of hunger). When the verb die was borrowed from Scandinavian,
these two words, which were very close in their meanings, collided and as a result starve
gradually changed into its present meaning "to die (or suffer) from hunger".
Task 59
Study these schemes representing the results of semantic change and discuss them with your
teacher.
GENERALIZATION
woman
"a wife" > "a fully grown human female"
fellow
“a partner or shareholder of any kind" > "a man or boy"
bird
"a young bird (a chicken, eaglet, etc.), a nestling" > "any bird"
ready
"prepared for a ride" > "prepared for anything"
rich
"powerful" > "wealthy"
arrive
"to come to shore, to land" > "to come"
tell
"to count" > "to make something known in words; to express in words"
regret
"lament over the dead" > "a feeling of sorrow or unhappiness, often mixed with
disappointment (at the loss of something, at a sad event, etc.)"
occasion
"an accident or a grave event" > "a time when something happens"
SPECIALIZATION
lord
"the master of the house, the head of the family" > "a man of noble rank"
queen
"a woman" > "the wife or widow of a king; a woman who is a monarch"
wife
"a woman" > "the woman to whom a man is married"
fowl
"any bird" > "a domestic hen or cock"
room
"space" > "part of a building enclosed by walls and with a floor and ceiling"
stool
"a chair" > "a chair without a back"
sell
"to give" > "to deliver for money"
affection
"an emotion, a disposition or state of mind or body" > "gentle lasting love, fondness"
disease
"any inconvenience" > "an illness"
AMELIORATION
knight
"a boy, youth" > "a noble, courageous man"
Tory
"a brigand, highwayman" > "a member of the Tories"
fond
"foolish, silly" > "loving, affectionate"
pretty
tricky, sly, wily" > "pleasing to look at, charming and attractive"
PEJORATION
demon
"an angel" > "an evil spirit"
knave
“a boy, a male servant" > "a swindler, scoundrel, rogue, a tricky deceitful person"
villain
"a farm servant" > "a scoundrel, a base, vile person"
churl
"a freeborn peasant, freeholder" > "a rude, boorish person"
notorious
"famous" > "famous for something bad"
Task 60
Read the words' stories and identify the results of their mantic development. The results are:
a) generalization;
b) specialization;
c) amelioration;
d) pejoration.
1. The noun picture used to refer only to a representation made with paint. Today it can be a
photograph or a representation made with charcoal, pencil or any other means.
2. The adjective nice - from the Latin nescius for "ignorant" - at various times before the current
definition became established meant "foolish", then "foolishly precise", then "pedantically
precise", then "precise in a good way" and then its current definition.
3. Worm was a term for any crawling creature, including snakes.
4. From 1550 to 1675 silly was very extensively used in the sense "deserving pity and
compassion, helpless". It is a derivative of the Middle English seely, from the German selig,
meaning "happy, blissful, blessed, holy" as well as "punctual, observant of season".
5. The earliest recorded meaning of the word pipe was "a musical wind instrument". Nowadays
it can denote any hollow oblong cylindrical body.
6. Radiator was used for anything that radiated heat or light before it was applied specifically to
steam heat or a vehicle and an aircraft.
7. Consider blackguard. In the lord's retinue of the Middle Ages served among others the guard
of iron pots and other kitchen utensils, black with soot. From the immoral features attributed to
these servants by their masters comes the present scornful meaning of the word blackguard - "a
scoundrel".
8. Revolutionary, once associated in the capitalist mind with an undesirable overthrowing of
the status quo, is now widely used by advertisers as a signal of desirable novelty.
9. The word saloon originally referred to any large hall in a public place. The sense "a public
bar" developed by 1841.
10. Lewd started out denoting those who were lay people as opposed to clergy. Since the clergy
were educated and the lay people, by and by, were not, it then came to denote those who were
ignorant, and from there -to obscene, clearly with worse connotations.
11. The verb kidnap has come into wide use in the meaning "to take a child away illegally and
usually by force, in order to demand especially money for their safe return". Now it implies any
person, not only a child.
12. Crafty, now a disparaging term, originally was a word of praise.
13. Target originally meant "a small round shield" but now it means "anything that is fired at"
and figuratively "any result aimed at".
14. The word lean no longer brings to mind emaciation but athleticism and good looks.
15. Voyage in earlier English meant "a journey", as does the French voyage, but is now
restricted mostly to journeys by sea.
16. The word hussy means today "an ill-behaved woman, a jade, a flirt". Yet in Middle English,
it denoted a perfectly reputable woman (a housewife).
17. Butcher dates from the 13th century as a term denoting the person who prepared and cut up
any kind of meat. Previously it referred to a specialist in goat's meat, often salted because it was
tough - this fact indicates how low the consumption of beef had been in the Middle Ages.
18. The adjective shrewd formerly meant "malicious, wicked; cunning, deceitful". Then it came
to mean "sharp-witted; having practical common sense".
Task 62
Compare the original and the resultant meanings of these words and say whether they can be
considered as examples of amelioration or not.
earl
"a brave man, a warrior, a leader" > "a British nobleman of high rank"
lady
"the mistress of the house, a married woman" > "the wife or daughter of a nobleman"
lord
"the master of the house, the head of the family" > "a man of noble rank"
marshal
"a manservant attending horses" > "the highest military rank"
Task 63
The simplified descriptions of the words in the above tasks, whose aim is to bring out the salient
points in the words' development, may create a false impression that the lines of semantic
development are always straight and clear. As often as not words undergo complicated semantic
changes, for example the word's meaning may come to generalization through specialization or
vice versa, or the processes in the connotative component of the lexical meaning may be
accompanied by the alterations of the denotative component. Read the longer stories and identify
the changes in each case:
a) specialization; generalization;
b) generalization; specialization;
с) generalization + pejoration;
d) specialization + pejoration;
e) generalization + amelioration;
f) specialization + amelioration;
g) specialization + amelioration; generalization;
h) specialization; generalization + pejoration;
i) generalization + amelioration and generalization + pejoration.
These descriptions are based on the data of the electronic dictionaries (see: Bibliography).
1. The word flunky has come into Standard English from Scots, in which the word meant "a
liveried manservant, a footman", coming at least by the 19th century to be a term of contempt.
The word is first recorded and defined in a work about Scots published in 1782. The definition
states that flunky is "literally a sidesman or attendant at your flank", which gives support to the
suggestion that flunky is a derivative and alteration of flanker "one who stands at a person's
flank". The current meanings of flunky are labelled as derog ("a person of slavish or
unquestioning obedience", "one who does menial or trivial work", "a male servant in ceremonial
dress").
2. In Old English the word lady (OE hlæfdīge) denoted the mistress of the house, i.e. any
married woman. Later, a new meaning developed - "the wife or daughter of a baronet"
(aristocratic title). In Modem English the word lady can be applied to any woman.
3. First recorded in English in 1784 with the sense "a lover, an admirer", amateur is found in
1786 with a meaning more familiar to us - "a person who engages in an art, for example, as a
pastime rather than as a profession" - a sense that had already developed in French. Given the
limitations of doing something as an amateur, it is not surprising that the word is soon after
recorded in the disparaging sense used to refer to someone who lacks professional skill or ease in
performance.
4. The word ketchup exemplifies the types of modifications that can take place in borrowing both of words' and substances. The source of the word ketchup may be the Malay word kēcbap,
possibly taken into Malay from the Cantonese dialect of Chinese. Kechap, like ketchup, was a
sauce, but one without tomatoes; rather, it contained fish brine, herbs, and spices. Sailors seem to
have brought the sauce to Europe, where it was made with locally available ingredients such as
the juice of mushrooms or walnuts. At some unknown point, when the juice of tomatoes was first
used, ketchup as we know it was born. But it is important to realize that in the 18th and 19th
centuries ketchup was a generic term for sauces whose only common ingredient was vinegar.
5. When, in the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, decided to renounce her
husband and her royal position for the veil of a nun, she was almost straightway appointed
abbess of a monastery in the Isle of Ely. She was renowned for her saintliness and is traditionally
said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a judgment upon her fondness for
wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine became one of the principal sites of pilgrimage in
England. An annual fair was held in her honour on 17 October, and her name became simplified
to St. Audrey. At these fairs various kinds of cheap knickknacks, toys, and jewelry were sold
along with a type of necklace called St. Audrey's lace, which by the 17th century had become
altered to tawdry lace. Eventually tawdry came to be applied to the various other cheap articles
sold at these fairs and so developed its present sense of "cheap showy finery", as well as the
adjectival use to mean "cheap and gaudy in appearance and quality".
6. "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm," said Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also
said, "Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm." These two uses of
the word enthusiasm -one positive and one negative - both derive from its source in Greek.
Enthusiasm first appeared in English in 1603 with the meaning "possession by a god". The
source of the word is the Greek enthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjective
entheos "having the god within", formed from en "in, within" and theos "god". Over time the
meaning of enthusiasm became expanded to "rapturous inspiration like that caused by a god" to
"an overly confident or delusory belief that one is inspired by God", to "ill-regulated religious
fervour, religious extremism" and eventually to the familiar sense "craze, excitement, strong
liking for something". Now one can have an enthusiasm for almost anything, from water skiing
to fast food, without religion entering into it at all. The current negative meaning of this word is
"any of various forms of extreme religious devotion, usually associated with intense emotionalism and a break with orthodoxy".
Task 64
This task supposes a complex approach to semantic changes: to their causes, nature and results.
Set I
1. Identify the linguistic cause(s) of semantic change: a) ellipsis,
b) differentiation of synonyms, c) fixed context, d) linguistic analogy.
2. Determine the results of semantic change for the words place, stead:
e) generalization, f) specialization, g) amelioration, h) pejoration.
Place derives from the Latin platea "a broad street", but its meaning grew beyond the street, to
include "a particular city", "a business office", "an area dedicated to a specific purpose" before
expanding even more to mean "an area". In the process, the word place displaced the Old
English word stow and became used instead of the Old English word stede (which survives in
farmstead, homestead, steadfast, in his stead and - of course - instead of).
Set П
1. Establish the linguistic cause of semantic change:
a) ellipsis, b) differentiation of synonyms, c) fixed context, d) linguistic analogy.
2. Determine the results of semantic change for the words cake, bread, loaf:
e) generalization, f) specialization, g) amelioration, h) pejoration.
In Old English there was a different word with which the English called bread, it was
f. But
then as a result of the Vikings invasion and Scandinavian influence on the English language a
new word of the same meaning entered the English vocabulary from Scandinavian - cake. Since
the English had already their own word
f, they started to use the word cake for a special
type of bread. First it referred to a small loaf of bread of flat and round shape. From the 15th
century it began to mean "sweet food", as it does now. The Scandinavians, living in Britain,
called their bread by the word brauth. The English had a similar word - bread, meaning "a
lump, a piece of bread". Under the influence of the Scandinavian language the word bread
changed its meaning and began to mean bread in general, while the word loaf (from the Old English
f) developed its meaning into a large lump of bread which we slice before eating.
Set III
1. Identify the extralinguistic cause(s) of semantic change: a) historical, b) social, c)
psychological.
2. Determine the nature of semantic change: d) metaphor, e) metonymy.
The original sense of the term cockpit was "a pit for fighting cocks". This sense appeared around
1587. In 1599 Shakespeare used the term in Henry V to refer to the theatre and specifically the
area around the stage. The theatrical reference was his invention, obviously playing on the idea
of a cockfight being a performance. The nautical sense arose about 1700. It was not an open area,
but rather a compartment below decks. Normally, it would be the sleeping quarters for junior
officers, but in battle would be the hospital. This sense appears unrelated to the theatrical sense,
and may have been chosen because junior officers lorded over the sailors like roosters or because
of a physical resemblance to the space where chickens were kept. The nautical sense transferred
to aeroplanes around 1914 and to cars in the mid-1930s.
Task 65
Analyse the dictionary definitions of these polysemantic words from the thematic group
"Animals" and say in each case whether the secondary meaning is a) metaphorical or b)
metonymical.
Set I
1. turkey (a large bird, rather like a large chicken, kept on farms for its meat which is eaten,
especially at Christmas and (in the US) at Thanksgiving) - turkey (the flesh of this bird as food)
2. chicken (a common farmyard bird) - chicken (a person who lacks courage, a coward)
3. ermine (a small animal of the weasel family whose fur is brown in summer and white in
winter) - ermine (the white winter fur of this animal, especially as used to trim the robes of
judges)
4. mouse (a small rodent with a long thin tail) - mouse (a small hand-held device that is moved
across a desktop, etc. to produce a corresponding movement of the cursor, with a button for
entering commands)
5. butterfly (an insect with a long thin body and four (usually brightly coloured) wings) butterfly (a way of swimming on one's front, moving the arms together over one's head while
kicking the feet up and down together)
6. shark (any of various types of sea-fish with a triangular fin on its back, some of which are
large and dangerous to bathers) - shark (a person who has unusual ability in a particular field)
7. horse (a large strong four-legged animal with hard feet, which people ride on and use for
pulling heavy things) - horse (soldiers riding on horses, cavalry)
Set II
1. turkey (a large bird, rather like a large chicken, kept on farms for its meat which is eaten,
especially at Christmas and (in the US) at Thanksgiving) - turkey (a useless and silly person)
2. chicken (a common farmyard bird) - chicken (the meat of this bird eaten as food)
3. ermine (a small animal of the weasel family whose fur is brown in summer and white in
winter) - ermine (the rank, position, or status of a king, peer, or judge, especially one in certain
European countries who wears, or formerly wore, a robe trimmed with ermine, as on official or
state occasions)
4. mouse (a small rodent with a long thin tail) - mouse (a shy, timid person)
5. butterfly (an insect with a long thin body and four (usually brightly coloured) wings) butterfly (a person who never settles down to one job or activity for long)
6. shark (any of various types of sea-fish with a triangular fin on its back, some of which are
large and dangerous to bathers) - shark (a person who extorts money from others or lends money
at very high interest rates, a swindler)
7. horse (a large strong four-legged animal with hard feet, which people ride on and use for
pulling heavy things) - horse (an exercise apparatus for jumping over)
Task 66
The same word can develop both metaphorical and metonymical meanings. Analyse these
phrases with the words from the thematic group "Parts of the Body" and in each case determine
the type of meaning which the word realizes in the second phrase: a) metaphorical, b)
metonymical.
head
1. the head of a girl - the head of a cabbage
2. the head of a girl - to count heads
3. the head of a girl - the head of a household
eye
4. the eye of a man - the eye of a potato
5. the eye of a man - to have an eye for fashion
mouth
6. the mouth of a boy - the mouth of a cave
7. the mouth of a boy - another mouth to feed
tongue
8. the child's tongue - his native tongue (Spanish) .
9. the child's tongue - the tongue of a bell
10. the child's tongue - No tongue must ever tell the secret
heart
11. the heart of a person - the heart of the matter
12. the heart of a person - brave hearts
hand
13. hands of a man - factory hands
14. the hand of a man - the hand of a clock
foot
15. the foot of a soldier - the foot of a mountain
16. the foot of a soldier - foot ("infantry")
Task 67
How are the underlined words used in these contexts: a) metaphorically or b) metonymically?
Explain the reasons for your decisions.
1. "Scruffy", "ornery", and "mean" were the adjectives that danced in Judith's brain (M. Daheim).
2. At first the room was too loud for anyone to hear and pay attention (C. McCullers).
3. He was snowed under by too many responsibilities (Internet).
4. She was thrilled to work for the brilliant and handsome doctor and to accompany him on a
business trip to Norway (B. Neels).
5. The farm hands don't work on Saturday afternoon anyway, so it was a good day for the
funeral (N. Gordimer).
6. She turned to her typewriter and her fingers began to fly. (R. Chandler).
7. Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing all view the nuclear standoff not as a crisis but rather as a
negotiation (Newsweek).
8. When she snatched up the receiver and barked "Yes, who is it?" the caller's response was to
chuckle softly (L. Turner).
9. I slowed down at every fork and crossroad and every house we passed... (I. Shaw).
10. Even if the concept of separate but equal were considered possible and everyone wanted it,
the inevitable offsprings of white Romeos and black Juliets (and vice versa) would lead to
endless and hopeless controversies and third, fourth, and fifth color categories (T.J. Cooney).
11. "Oh, wait. Don't tell me. ...I hope the insurance company doesn't think I'm going to give the
money back" [she said] (S. Grafton).
12. The townspeople tried to flee from the rain of death pouring down from the skies, but there
was no escape (S. Sheldon).
13. Extract as much information from as many sources as possible (Notes on Attendance for
Interview/leaflet/).
14. I wonder if you'd be kind enough to bring us three large whiskies and keep repeating the
order whenever you see our glasses are empty (J. Herriot).
15. But he didn’t push the idea... (Newsweek).
16. Fast boys in stripped-down Fords shot in and out of the traffic streams, missing fenders by a
sixteenth of an inch, but somehow always missing them (R. Chandler),
17. She suspected he was_swallowing his pride (L. Turner).
18. I don't work with a company; I work at a gulag where you lose all your rights the moment
you step through the door (Internet).
19. Most mornings he would have gone for a stroll round London's Square Mile, his own
particular beat - the one he'd walked for years before being planted on the desk... (J.J. Marric).
20. Or maybe the wind didn't stop; it was just that all her senses froze in that second. She
couldn't see, hear or feel (P. Davis).
21. Because these values are in flux, schools seem uncertain of what stand to take and the
vacuum invites contradictory cries of censorship from left, right, and middle (Parents).
22. [The telephone] becomes a lifeline. People with a stomach full of sleeping pills and doubts
tiptoeing in reach for it before they die(P. Davis).
23. ...for now things are about to happen, and the great city will close over them again as over a
scrap of ticker tape floating down from the den of a Broad Street bear (O. Henry).
24. ...and laugh deep fruity laughs... (J.R.R. Tolkien).
25. Sure enough, the gossip columnist's voice dropped once more (M. Daheim).
26....Washington wants to retain the U.N. arms embargo indefinitely (Newsweek).
27. Fuel up with a good breakfast (Internet).
28. Henri sensed that in this way his mentor was preparing him for his debut in the student
world (P. La Mure).
29. You see, I tracked down a couple of pictures but he didn't like them. He said they weren't
"pretty" enough. I remember one was a gorgeous Van Gogh. But then I found this marvelous
Monet, in Venice, of all places, and he told me to send it to the Waldorf-Astoria (L. Fosburgh).
30. Inspector Ghote interrupted him before his wrath fully exploded (H.R.F, Keating).
Task 68
Metaphors are based upon various types of similarity. Identify the feature or features of
similarity in each case:
a) shape;
b) function;
c) age;
d) colour;
e) position.
1. the drop of milk - diamond drops
2. the heart of a man - the heart of a city
3. black shoes - black despair
4. the neck of a man - the neck of a bottle
5. green grass - a green man
6. the teeth of a boy - the teeth of a comb
7. the key to a door - the key to a mystery
8. the tail of an animal - the tail of a coat
Task 69
The metonymical change may be conditioned by various connections, such as spatial, temporal,
causal, symbolic, instrumental, functional, etc. Establish the model of transfer in each case:
a) material → article made from it;
b) part → whole;
c) instrument→ product;
d) symbol→ thing symbolized;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
e) receptacle → content;
f) place → people occupying it.
an excellent horse - a detachment of horse
a new kettle - The kettle is boiling
nickel (a metal) - nickel (a coin)
a beautiful crown - She refused the crown
to lead him by the hand - He has a legible hand
a large industrial town - The whole town is furious about the council's education policy
Task 70
Find the suitable description for each, metaphor:
Set I
a) A PROBLEM IS A TARGET
b) A PROBLEM IS A BODY OF WATER
c) A PROBLEM IS A LOCKED CONTAINER FOR ITS SOLUTION
d) A PROBLEM IS A REGION IN A LANDSCAPE
1. He dived right into the problem.
2. He took aim at the problem.
3. Let's map out the problem before we do anything else.
4. He finally found the key to the problem.
5. The mayor targeted the problem of homelessness.
Set II
a) BELIEFS ARE BEINGS WITH A LIFE CYCLE
b) BELIEFS ARE GUIDES
c) BELIEFS ARE LOVE OBJECTS
d) BELIEFS ARE POSSESSIONS
1. He is wedded to a belief in his own infallibility.
2. That belief died out years ago.
3. We share many beliefs.
4. You are governed by your beliefs.
5. He acquired most of his beliefs during childhood.
6. He embraced that belief wholeheartedly.
7. His belief was born of the early philosophers.
8. Beliefs dictate actions.
Task 71
a) metaphor or b) metonymy?
1. John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
- sandwich (two or more slices of
((1718- 1792), an inveterate gambler who
bread with meat, cheese, etc. between)
аte slices of cold meat between bread
at the gaming table during marathon sessions)
2. Don Juan (a legendary Spanish nobleman
- Don Juan (a man who has great success
who had love affairs with many women)
with women
3. Cinderella (a fairy tale character who is badly - Cinderella (a girl or woman whose beauty
treated by her family but with the help of her
or abilities have not been recognized, or
fairy godmother marries a prince)
who becomes rich and successful after
a period of difficulty)
4. Rudolf Diesel ((1858-1913), a German
- diesel (a type of compression ignition
mechanical engineer)
engine)
5. Rockefeller ((1839-1937), an American
- Rockefeller (a very rich person)
industrialist. He made a vast fortune from his
company Standard Oil)
6. James Thomas Brudnell, -7th Earl of
Cardigan ((1797-1868), a British cavalryman
of the Crimean War fame)
7. Job ((in the Old Testament) a virtuous man
who kept his faith in God in spite of many
misfortunes)
8. Falstaff (a hero of Shakespeare's plays)
9. 1st Duke of Wellington - ((1769-1852),
a British soldier and statesman, known as
the Iron Duke. He defeated Napoleon at the
Battle of Waterloo, bringing the Napoleonic
Wars to an end)
10. Adonis ((in Greek mythology) a handsome
young man who was loved by Aphrodite)
11. Jekyll and Hyde(the protagonist of
Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case
of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886))
12. Jean Baptiste (a French linen weaver)
13. Andre Marie Ampere((1775-1836), a great
French mathematician and physicist)
14. Methusetah (a Hebrew Patriarch,
Patriarch, ther of Noah, described in the Old
Testament as living for 969 years)
- cardigan (a knitted jacket fastened with
buttons, first worn during the Crimean War
as protection against the cold winters)
- Job (a sufferer who keeps his faith)
- Falstaff (a corpulent, jovial,
irrepressibly impudent person)
- Wellingtons, Wellingtons (boots
extending to the top of the knee in front
but cut low in back)
- Adonis (a very handsome young man)
- Jekyll and Hyde (a person marked
by dual personality, one aspect of which
is good and the other is bad)
- batiste(a sheer cotton or silk material
used for handkerchiefs, lingerie,
children's wear, ladies' summer dresses)
- ampere (the unit of electrical current)
- Methuselah (an extremely old man)
Task 72
Read the stories about the transition of proper names into common ones accompanied by
semantic changes. In each case identify the nature of semantic change: a) metaphor, b)
metonymy.
Etienne de Silhouette → silhouette
1. Etienne de Silhouette was the French controller general of finances in the mid-18th century.
He was extremely close with the state's money as well as his own, so close, in fact, that à la
Silhouette came to mean "cheaply" for a time. His niggardliness was greeted with ridicule. It
was even suggested that one of his economies was the decoration of his house with his outlines,
which he made himself, rather than with more expensive paintings. Outline drawings, as stingy
of detail as Silhouette was of money, were given his name.
Louis Braille → Braille / braille
2. The system of reading and writing for the blind Braille was invented by Louis Braille. In 1812
a little French boy, Louis Braille, was blinded. He learned his alphabet at a school for the blind
by feeling twigs that were fashioned in the shape of the letters. The lad was hungry for
knowledge and impatient with this awkward technique. When he was older he heard of a French
Army captain who devised a system of raised dots and dashes by which his orders could be read
by the fingers in the dark. It occurred to Louis that the principle was good for the blind. So Louis
Braille developed a system of reading and writing for the blind in which letters are printed as
groups of raised dots that they can feel with their fingers.
Samuel Pickwick →Pickwick
3. Samuel Pickwick was created by Charles Dickens. Mr. Pickwick debuted in a series of
Dickens' stories that were first published in 1836 and 1837. He was the kind, but somewhat
easily fooled, chairman of a club he started and named after himself - the Pickwick Club. The
stories tell about the adventures of Pickwick and other club members. The tales made Charles
Dickens a literary sensation, and Mr. Pickwick became so popular that people began using his
name as a general term for someone who is pleasant but naive.
Joseph I. Guillotine → guillotine
4. Joseph I. Guillotine was a French doctor. He never invented that horrible device used to
execute people, especially in France in the past. The device worked like this: a sharp blade was
raised up on a frame and dropped onto the person's neck. Neither is there any truth in the legend
that he was one of the first to die beneath its falling blade. But one cannot say he had nothing to
do with it. Dr. Guillotine supported capital punishment and suggested the use of the machine instead of hanging. He insisted that it was a more "humanitarian" way of putting criminals to
death. The machine was first used in Paris in 1792: a notorious highwayman was the first
sentenced to be guillotined. Dr. Guillotine died quietly in his bed twenty-two years later. It is
also interesting to note that now the word guillotine is used to name a device used for cutting and
trimming papers.
John Duns Scotus → dunce
5. This word meaning "a stupid person" is an eponym for John Duns Scotus (1265-1308), a
leading scholar of philosophy and theology. Scotus was born in Duns, Scotland, and his writings
formed the philosophical core for a Scholastic sect named after him, the Scotists. In the 16th
century, humanists and reformers began attacking the Scotists for splitting hairs and engaging in
useless philosophical discussions. In retaliation, the Scotists railed against the new learning of
the Renaissance. As a result, Duns (Duns → dunce) becamе associated with those who refused to
learn.
Levi Strauss → Levis
6. The word Levis stands for close-fitting, heavy blue denim pants that are reinforced at strain
points with copper rivets. It comes from Levi Strauss of San Francisco, the pioneer overall
manufacturer of the West, who began his business in the Gold Rush days. The company
trademark Levis became a popular term for almost any durable work pants, especially blue jeans.
Task 73
Examples of metonymical transfer of geographical names are exceedingly numerous. Here are
some of them. Discuss them with your teacher.
1. Downing Street (No 10 Downing Street
- Downing Street (the British Prime
is the Prime Minister's residence)
Minister and Cabinet)
2. Lombard Street (a street in the City of
- Lombard Street (the financial world of
London known for financial and banking
Great Britain)
activity)
3. White House (the official Washington,
- White House (the President and his advisers)
D.C. home of the President of the United
States)
4. the Pentagon(the five-sided building
- the Pentagon (the leaders of the US
near Washington that is the headquarters
armed forces)
of the US Department of Defense and
the US armed forces)
5. a country club at Tuxedo Park, New York
- tuxedo (a dinner-jacket)
6. Balaclava (a village in the Crimea where
- balaclava(a closely-fitting woollen hat
a battle of the Crimean War was fought in 1854) that covers the head and neck,
with an opening for the face)
7. Nȋ mes (a city in and the capital of Card,
- denim (a kind of cloth; short for serge
in France)
de Nimes)
8. the Cheviot Hills (on the border between
- cheviot (a kind of wool cloth)
England and Scotland)
9. Madeira (the largest of a group of islands
- Madeira, madeira(a white dessert
the Madeira Islands - in the Atlantic Ocean
which belong to Portugal)
10. Bourbon County (Kentucky)
11. Champagne (a region in France)
12. Sardinia (a large Italian island off the
country's west coast)
13. Labrador (a peninsula in Canada)
14. Charleston (a seaport in South Carolina)
15. Limousin (a former province in central
France)
16. Buncombe(a place in South Carolina, USA)
17. Blarney stone (a stone in Blarney Castle
near Cork, Ireland, held to make those who
kiss it skilled in flattery)
wine from the island of Madeira)
- bourbon (a type of whisky distilled in the
US chiefly from corn)
- champagne (any of various types of
sparkling white wine)
- sardine(a young pilchard or a similar
fish, usually tinned in oil or tomato juice)
- Labrador, labrador (a breed of dog with
a smooth black or golden coat)
- Charleston (a fast dance, popular in the
1920s, in which the knees are turned
inwards and the legs kicked sideways)
- limousine (a large luxurious car)
- buncombe, bunkum (insincere talk;
nonsense)
- blarney (skilful flattery)
Seminar 5
“Lexical Syntagmatics”
Discussion:
1. Lexical syntagmatics (general description).
2. Semantic word relationships. Free word – combinations.
3. Proper lexical word relationships. Phraseological units.
4. Lexico-semantic word relationships. Set non-phraseological units.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 130-132, pp.415-423.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 226-231.
Practice:
Task 130
Examine the contexts and identify the types of the word-combinations:
a) a free word-combination;
b) a phraseological unit;
c) a set non-phraseological unit.
1. Would a small child know that? (Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary).
2. Only somebody with a small mind would have refused to help (Oxford Advanced Learner's
Encyclopedic Dictionary).
3. It's such a small world! (J.M. Cain).
4. She [Elsa] was very conservative in her habits, and except for slight variations our routine was
the same every day: an early morning walk, followed by her midday slumber close to me by our
tree on the river-bank (J. Adamson).
5. Someone else decided that he ought to fall in love (K. Mansfield).
6. The sea was as flat as a pancake and the sun was heavy and hot... (J. Jones).
7. Happy New Year!
8. We tiptoed to the door, turned off the room light, and went downstairs (J. Wyndham).
9. You know why you're here, of course, so we needn't beat about the bush (A.J. Cronin).
10. His attitude towards his prodigal son was that of stern, unrelenting resentment (Fr. Norris).
11. He could not resist the facetious answer which came to his mind (W.S. Maugham).
12. “Рооr man," said Mother without conviction when we had all stopped laughing (G. Durrell).
13. A sea trip does you good when you are going to have a couple of months of it, but, for a
week, it is wicked(J.K. Jerome).
14. "This is a pretty kettle of fish," he said (W.S. Maugham).
15. You have your hands on thousands, you fools, and hang a leg! (R.L. Stevenson).
Task 131
Are you sure that you know the meanings of these phrases?
Set I
What are the following?
1. Russian tea:
8. Greek gift:
a) tea with lemon served in glasses
a) expensive
b) tea with milk and sugar
b) unusual
c) tea with dried carrots
c) dangerous
2. Irish coffee:
9. Turkish delight:
a) coffee without milk
a) a type of drug
b) cold coffee without sugar
b) sweets
с) coffee with cream and whisky
c) a pretty girl
3. Scotch egg:
10. Dutch courage:
a) scrambled eggs
a) the courage that one gets from drinking alcohol
b) an egg wrapped in sausage
b) cowardice
c) a small egg
c) insolence
4. Swiss roll:
11. English disease:
a) a kind of cake with jam or cream inside
a) chicken-pox
b) a register
b) flu
c) a tricycle
c) depression
5. Irish bull:
12. French windows
a) an animal
a) a type of doors
b) a dancing-party
b) windows made of dark glass
c) absurdity
c) double-glazing windows
6. German shepherd:
13. Scotch mist:
a) a dog
a) dung produced by Highland cattle
b) a farmer
b) the words of a drunken Scotsman
c) a soldier
c) a type of rain
7. Welsh uncle:
14. Double Dutch:
a) a rich uncle
a) a person whose parents are Dutch
b) a distant relative
b) gibberish
c) an uninvited guest
c) a double decker
Set II
Choose the correct translation of the underlined phrases:
1. "Clementina," she explained, "insisted upon a Welsh rabbit after her lesson. She is such a
queer girl. Welsh rabbits at five in the afternoon. The General was there. You should have seen
him run for the chafing dish, Joe, just as if there wasn't a servant in the house (O. Henry).
a) кролик по-валлийски
b) яичница с помидорами
c) гренки с сыром
2. Across the street was a drug store well lighted; sending forth gleams from the German silver
and crystal of its soda fountain and glasses (O. Henry).
a) нержавеющая сталь
b) мельхиор
c) серебро
Task 132
Read the Idiomatic Diet. Here the humorous effect is achieved through the play upon the direct
meaning and the figurative meaning of these phrases. Identify the figurative meanings of the
idioms. Use phraseological dictionaries if necessary.
Idiomatic Diet (how to lose weight without exercise)
Here's the guide to calorie-burning activities and the number of calories per hour they consume.
Beating around the bush...............................75
Jumping to conclusions..............................100
Climbing the walls......................................150
Swallowing your pride.................................50
Passing the buck...........................................25
Throwing your weight around
(depending on your weight)....................50-300
Dragging your heels.....................................100
Pushing your luck.........................................250
Making mountains out of molehills.............500
Hitting the nail on the head............................50
Wading through paperwork..........................300
Bending over backwards.................................75
Jumping on the bandwagon...........................200
Running around in circles.............................350
Eating crow…………………………………225
Tooting your own horn....................................25
Climbing the ladder of success......................750
Pulling out the stops........................................75
Adding fuel to the fire....................................160
Wrapping it up at the day's end........................12
To which you may want to add your own favorite activities, including:
Opening a can of worms..................................50
Putting your foot in your mouth.................... 300
Starting the ball rolling....................................90
Going over the edge.........................................25
Picking up the pieces after..............................350
Counting eggs before they hatch........................6
Seminar 6
“Polysemy”
Discussion:
1. Polysemy in English (general description).
2. The semantic structure of the polysemantic word as a hierarchy of its lexico-semantic variants
/LSV/.
3. Ways of discriminating between LSV:
a) syntagmatic approach;
b) paradigmatic approach.
4. Classifications of meanings of the polysemantic word:
a) synchronic paradigmatic classification;
b) diachronic classification;
c) stylistic classification.
5. Types of polysemy (radial, chain, radial - chain).
6. Types of relationships between the meanings of the polysemantic word (intersection,
inclusion, semantic homonymy).
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 50-55, pp.278-286.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 174-182.
2. The Issues in Englis Philology (Study Manual). – Irkutsk, 1998.- P.48-51.
3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.50-57.
4. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.49-62.
5. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. –
М.: Дрофа, 1999. – С. 131-142.
Practice:
Task 50
What are the meanings of the polysemantic words which are played upon in these jokes?
1. Customer: "I would like a book, please."
Bookseller: "Something light?"
Customer: "That doesn't matter. I have my car with me."
2. The new maid was full of her own importance. She had worked on the Continent and felt
superior to the other servants.
One day she was telling "below stairs" some of her experiences.
"How do the foreign dishes compare to English ones?" asked one of her audience.
"Oh," replied the maid, airily, "they break just the same."
3. The teacher was giving her class a test in natural history.
"Now, Tony," she said, "tell me where the elephant is found."
Tony thought a little and then answered: "The elephant is such a large animal that it is hardly
ever lost."
4. While waiting in line at the space flight station ticket window, a man asks for a seat in a
spaceship on the flight to the moon.
"Sorry, sir," the attendant says, "but all passenger flights have been cancelled for the next few
days."
"Oh," said the man. "How come?"
"Well, the moon is full right now."
5. Pam: "Hasn't Harvey ever married?"
Beryl: "No, and I don't think he intends to, because he's studying for a bachelor's degree."
6. Caller; "I wonder if I can see your mother, little boy. Is she engaged?"
Willie: "Engaged! She's married."
7. Prof: "Nobody ever heard of a sentence without a predicate."
Stud.: "I have, professor."
Prof: "What is it?"
Stud.: "Thirty days."
8. "Very sorry, Mr. Brown, but the coffee is exhausted," the landlady announced.
"Not at all surprised," came back Mr. Brown. "I've seen it growing weaker and weaker every
morning."
9. "You're a pretty sharp boy, Tommy."
"Well, I ought to be. Pa takes me into his room and strops me three or four times a week."
Task 51
Can you identify the meanings of the polysemantic words which are played upon in these riddles
and conundrums?
1. Why are oysters lazy?
(They are always found in bed.)
2. When does a chair dislike you?
(When it can't bear you.)
3. Why is a proud man like a music book?
(Because he is full of airs.)
4. Why is an English teacher like a judge?
(Both give people sentences.)
5. What bird can lift the most?
(A crane.)
6. What has a lot of keys but cannot open any doors?
(A piano.)
Task 52
Establish the meanings of the underlined polysemantic adjectives realized in these contexts.
1. a) They brew their sour beer without the fear of police raids (N. Gordimer).
b) McGinnis considered this, his expression sour (English Guides: Metaphor).
2. a) Most often we hear about great deeds of men who fear nothing; of giants who turn the tide
of battle by a single brave act (D. d'Amato).
b) There was a brave and conspicuous assemblage in the dining-saloon of a noted hostelry
where Fashion loves to display her charms (O. Henry).
3. a) She made him a bed in the small room (D.H. Lawrence).
b) I lived in the country when I was small (Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic
Dictionary).
c) She's a very small eater (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
4. a) To most police, the cold spell simply meant that the bad men wouldn't gee around so much
(J.J. Marric).
b) She had spread a cloth on the grass and father was kneeling beside it carving slices of meat
from a cold leg of lamb (A. Marshall).
c) The dogs lost the cold scent (Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary).
5. a) An Irishman was asked if his horse was timid. "Not at all," said he, "he frequently spends
the night by himself in a dark stable." (A. Joke).
b) The insistent, passionate, dark soul, the powerful unsatisfaction in him seemed stilled and
tamed, the lion lay down with the lamb in him (D.H. Lawrence).
c) Your meaning is too dark for me (Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary).
6. a) It is difficult enough to fix a tent in dry weather... (J.K. Jerome).
b) Even when he might appear to be depressed, his dry sense of humour never deserted him
(English Guides: Metaphor).
c) For the next four days he lived a simple and blameless life on thin Captain's biscuits (I
mean that the biscuits were thin, not the captain) and soda-water; but, towards Saturday, he got
uppish, and went in for weak tea and dry toast, and on Monday he was gorging himself on
chicken broth (J.K. Jerome).
7. a) I had not seen a dead man since the war (N. Gordimer).
b) The town is dead now the mine has closed (Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic
Dictionary).
c) I sat him at a table, where he dropped into a dead sleep (J. Reed).
8. a), b) Miss Hudson was within shouting distance of fifty, thin to the point of boniness, with a
sharp nose and a sharp tongue and a refined voice (B. Neels).
c) His long lean hands moved noiselessly, and only the sharp crunching rush of the teeth of
his reaping hook through the yellow stalks of the rye could be heard (L. O’Flaherty).
Task 53
Read the passage and identify the meanings of the word nice in the contexts that follow the text.
"...more than half of all words adopted into English from Latin now have meanings quite
different from their original ones. A word that shows just how wide-ranging these changes can
be is nice, which is first recorded in 1290 with the meaning of stupid and foolish. Seventy-five
years later Chaucer was using it to mean lascivious and wanton. Then at various times over the
next 400 years it came to mean extravagant, elegant, strange, slothful, unmanly, luxurious,
modest, slight, precise, thin, shy, discriminating, dainty, and - by 1769 - pleasant and agreeable.
The meaning shifted so frequently and radically that it is now often impossible to tell in what
sense it was intended, as when Jane Austen wrote to a friend, "You scold me so much in a nice
long letter ... which 1 have received from you.""(from Bryson B. Mother Tongue, The English
Language [61:72])
1. We had a nice time at the beach.
2. Try to be nice to your uncle when he visits.
3. This is a nice mess you’ve got us into!
4. nice shades of meaning
5. She's not too nice in her business methods.
Task 54
Analyse the contexts (semantic, grammatical, phrasal) in which the verb make is used and
identify the meanings of this word. Give all necessary explanations.
1. The carpenters made a bed.
2. She made her bed before breakfast.
3. She has made several films.
4. He made a fortune on the stock market.
5. She made him cry.
6. She made him her assistant.
7. She made a good wife.
8. It's my first holiday for two years so I'm going to make the most of it.
9. I may be very stupid, but I can't make head or tail out of what you're saying.
Task 55
Read the passage from N, Shute's "Requiem for a Wren" and give a correct definition of the term
semantics.
"Do you know what he teaches?"
Bill grinned. "Semantics," he said. "I learned that word."
"Christ. Do you know what it means?"
"Well, it's not Jews." said Bill. "Janet won't have that. It's words or something."
I nodded. I didn't think there was a chair of semantics in the university; it was probably a
research subject.
Seminar 7
“English Vocabulary as a System”
Discussion:
1. Paradigmatic relations vs. syntagmatic links (general description).
2.Thematic and ideographic groups, semantic fields.
3. Lexico-semantic grouping of words.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 127-129, pp.408-414.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 187-192.
2. The Issues in Englis Philology (Study Manual). – Irkutsk, 1998.- P.54-56.
3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.226-229.
4. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.82-85.
Practice:
Task 127
Find the generic term (hypernym) in each of the following sets.
1. blackmail, drug-trafficking, forgery, pickpocketing, crime, mugging
2. bag, barrel, basket, container, box, bowl
3. TV programme, documentary, soap opera, weather forecast, game show, commercial
4. parsley, rosemary, herb, thyme, sage, tarragon
Task 128
Identify the generic word (hypernym) and its hyponym(s) in the contexts.
1. "Why did you tear the back part out of that new book?" asked the long-suffering wife of the
absent-minded doctor.
"Excuse me, dear," said the famous surgeon, "the part you speak of was labelled 'Appendix'
and I took it out without thinking." (A. Joke).
2. Just above the desserts came the list of vegetables. Carrots and peas, asparagus on toast, the
perennial tomatoes and corn and succotash, lima beans, cabbage... (O. Henry).
3. "Say, Jim," said the friend of a taxi-cab driver, standing in front of a vehicle, "there's a purse
lying on t floor of your car."
The driver looked carefully around and then whispered: "Sometimes when business is bad I put
it there and leave the door open, it's empty but you've no idea how many people will jump in for
a short drive when they see it." (A. Joke).
4. "It's only a bird, silly," said Edmund.
"It's an owl," said Peter. "This is going to be a wonderful place for birds. I shall go to bed
now. I say, let's go and explore tomorrow. You might find anything in a place like this. Did you
see those mountains as we came along? And the woods? There might be eagles. There might be
stags. There'll be hawks." (C.S. Lewis).
5. As they made their way to the oubliette to which feminine guests of the club were confined,
Jane was aware of an odd and disagreeable feeling. Analysing this, she found that what was
causing it was what Roget in his Thesaurus would have called violent anger, extreme agitation,
fury, wrath and the rest of the emotions; listed under the heading of Rage (P.O. Wodehouse).
6. Their fruit trees hadn't lived up to their labels. Most of 'em had turned out to be persimmons
and dogwoods, with a grove or two of blackjacks and poplars. The only' one that showed any
signs of bearing anything was fine young cottonwood that had put forth a hornet's nest and half
of
an
old
corset-cover
(O.Henry).
7. The time and content of the next meal of the day depended entirely on our luck fishing. If, for
instance, we caught shark or a big queenfish or tuna in the morning, we would have enough for a
lunch and a supper. I would poach a couple of steaks at midday and preserve another two
servings by rubbing salt and vinegar over the pieces of fish which were then left in the shade, to
be cooked later on (L. Irvine).
8. He went to a bistro where they don't know him and ordered every brand of liquor that was in
the place -whisky, rum, brandy, vermouth, absinthe, calvados -mixed the whole damn mess and
drank it (P. La Mure).
9. Many early Swedish immigrants to the U.S. were craft workers. Explain what skills each of
the following had and what products they contributed to the communities in which they lived:
tailor, shoemaker, blacksmith, carpenter, cabinetmaker, stonemason, and bricklayer (Bright Ideas
Calendar).
10. The one thing in Germany that never fails to charm and fascinate me is the German dog. In
England one grows tired of the old breeds, one knows them all so well: the mastiff, the plumpudding dog, the terrier (black, white or rough-haired, as the case may be, but always
quarrelsome), the collie, the bulldog; never anything new. Now in Germany you get variety. You
come across dogs the like of which you have never seen before: that until you hear them bark
you do not know they are dogs. It is all so fresh, so interesting. George stopped a dog in
Sigmaringen and drew our attention to it. It suggested a cross between a codfish1 and a poodle
(J.K. Jerome).
11. "To Bostrine Fell Rushing, my aunt," Ruth Boar-chards had written, "I leave the gold-anddiamond brooch set with rubies, the gold-and-pearl ear clips, the pearl necklace with the sapphire
clasp, the cultured pearl double-strand necklace, the cultured pearl single-strand necklace and all
the rings and other jewelry in the personal vault, everything that belonged to my grandmother,
my mother, or my late wife, and all the rest, sundry pieces of jewelry that are too numerous to
identify but that were purchased by me or by anyone known or unknown for my grandmother,
my mother, or my wife, and which are now or always have been in my possession - all this, I
leave to my aunt, Bostrine Fell Rushing." (L. Fosburgh).
12. Elizaveta has unquestionably learned some of his skills: the food is delicious. She takes
enormous trouble in preparing it; and Soligorsk has its own bakery so there is fresh bread for
breakfast, and at other times during the day the most delicious smells waft into the house - of
pastry, cinnamon and icing sugar - and at tea you see the results - wonderful cakes and biscuits
and brioches covered with almonds and sugar. And they eat jam with spoons without spreading it
on bread and butter! (P.P. Read).
Task 129
Establish the type of semantic relations between the following words.
1. deer-dear
a) homonyms
2. deer – animal
b) synonym
3. deer-elk
c) antonyms
4. dear-expensive
d) hyponym - hypernym
5. dear-cheap
e) co-hyponyms
6. him - hymn
7. red - green
8. past-future
9. sickness – illness
10. yew- tree
11. yew - ewe
12. ewe-ram
13. ewe - you
Seminar 8
“Morphemic Analysis and Word-Formation Analysis”
Discussion:
1. Morphemic analysis and word-formation analysis.
2. Difficulties of morphemic analysis:
a) pseudo-morphemes;
b) unique roots;
c) combining forms;
d) semi-affixes;
e) other difficulties.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 14-16, pp.212-218.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 36.
2. The Issues in Englis Philology (Study Manual). – Irkutsk, 1998.- P.33-37.
3. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.81-87, 104-106, 116-118.
4. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.123-128, 129-130.
Practice:
Task 14
Analyse the morphological structure of the underlined words: identify the number of morphemes
and their types according to the semantic and the structural classifications of morphemes. Take
into account such units as semi-affixes (semi-prefixes, semi-suffixes), pseudo-morphemes, unique
roots, combining forms.
Examples:
Suddenly she felt anxious again (L. Fosburgh).
In the word anxious, there are 2 morphemes:
anxi- is a root, a bound morpheme,
-ous is a suffix, a bound morpheme.
But anyone with the least flair for psychology can perceive at once that the exact opposite was
the truth (A. Christie).
There are two points of view concerning the word perceive:
1) there are two pseudo-morphemes - the prefix per- and the root -ceive;
2) there is only one root morpheme.
Healthy self-esteem should not be confused with self-centeredness (Internet).
In the word self-centeredness, there are 4 morphemes:
center- is a root, a free morpheme,
self- is a semi-prefix,
-ed is a suffix, a bound morpheme,
-ness is a suffix, a bound morpheme.
1. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic (O. Wilde).
2. A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great
ones (Earl of Chesterfield).
3. Before two o'clock they were on the march and set off in a northeasterly direction... (C.S.
Lewis).
4. "I suppose in a way I shall enjoy this," the Marquis said, "but my disguise must be
foolproof." (B. Cartland).
5. Harris said he didn’t think George ought to do anything that would have a tendency to make
him sleepier than he always was, as it might be dangerous (J.K. Jerome).
6. But now, as part of his plan, he went out of his way to be cordial to such people (A. Hailey).
7. "I know, Penelope," he said ashamedly (L. Kennedy).
8. His health made him ill-fitted for hard labor (Random House Webster's Unabridged
Dictionary).
9. And he would take the rule, and remeasure, and find that he wanted half thirty-one and threeeighths inches from the corner and would try to do it in his head, and go mad (J.K. Jerome).
10. ...I frequently shared with you my last pot of strawberry jam... (P.O. Wodehouse).
11. She sounded uncharacteristically anxious (I. Shaw). ;
12. "Your history is perfect, like Desiree's geography,” said I dryly (R. Stout).
13. She simply sat there, semi-smiling at me (E. Segal).
14. The kiss was delicious (I. Shaw).
15. He completed the circuit of the pit without sighting his cousin and he frowned and cursed
the man's unreliability under his breath (S. Fraser).
16. For a moment, the woman's inquisitiveness had bothered me and I half-decided to put her in
a
cab
after
dinner...
(I.
Shaw).
17. A newspaper was on the bed - a half-smoked cigar balanced against his reading-lamp (K.
Mansfield).
18. Many a man is bitterly disillusioned after marriage when he realizes that his wife cannot
solve a quadratic equation (S. Leacock).
19. He was out of the door, moving fast, but still preserving a statesmanlike decorum (I. Shaw).
20. He had not yet taken the measure of this sire of his,who was as full of unexpectedness as a
girl at her first party (O. Henry).
21 . I suppose a psychologist would say that she had a guilty passion for Crale and therefore
killed him (A. Christie).
Task 15
Which unit does not belong to the set from the morphological point of view?
1. ringlet, leaflet, booklet, hamlet
2. cranberry, elderberry, waxberry
3. locket, pocket, hogget, lionet
4. telegraph, telephone, telethon, telegram
Task 16
Carry out the morphemic analysis and the word-formation analysis of the underlined words.
Example:
Of course, we are all aware that physical check-ups will not give us the whole story (A. Hailey).
The morphemic analysis: the word check-ups consists of 3 morphemes:
check- is a root, a free morpheme,
up- is a root, a free morpheme,
-s is an inflection, a bound morpheme.
The word-formation analysis: the noun check-ups is built by the two simultaneous processes of
word-composition and conversion (check up, v → check-up, n).
1. ...the silent fury of the stream and the awful blackness maddened me... (R. Stout).
2. When the table was cleared, the broken bread collected, the sugar and butter safe under lock
and key, she began to reconstruct the interview which she had had the night before with Polly (J.
Joyce).
3. He interviewed the proprietress, Mrs. Perenna, in her office, a small untidy room with a large
desk covered with loose papers (A. Christie).
4. Everyone admires our flat, because Mum keeps it spotless, and Dad keeps doing things to it.
He has done it up all over, and got permission from the Council to remodernise the kitchen (M.
Spark).
5. Warm a tablespoonful of honey over the gas fire and pour it into my hand, but be sure it is not
too hot (W. Saroyan).
6. Bread is the world's most widely-eaten food (Bright Ideas Calendar).
7. Clearly it was impossible to get him away without making a scene, which was unthinkable
(R. Stout).
8. She was a rich woman enjoying her riches (D.H. Lawrence).
9. On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at the baker's (K. Mansfield).
10. He explained why an able burglar sometimes had to travel on freights by telling me that a
servant girl had played him false in Little Rock, and he was making a quick get-away (O.
Henry).
11. Behind them were coats hanging on pegs, in front of them were snow-covered trees (C.S.
Lewis).
12. A six-inch, double-edged knife, sharp as a razor and pointed like a needle (R. Stout).
13. She wrote his answers in a book while he watched her in the way he would have watched an
untrustworthy horse that had its ears back (A. Marshall).
14. She said that I didn’t know how to housekeep (Internet).
15. Whatever happened to me, I could not wholeheartedly regret this adventure (Ph. Carr).
16. There was no sound from the group of onlookers... (R. Stout).
Seminar 9
“Homonymy”
Discussion:
1. Hononymy in English (general description).
2. Sources of homonymy.
3. Classifications of homonyms.
Practice:
Practicum – Tasks 75-89, pp.330-356.
Literature:
1. Современный английский зык (слово и предложение). – Иркутск, 1997. – С. 182-186.
2. Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – Р.50-57.
3. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S. Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1966. – P.62-72.
4. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. –
М.: Дрофа, 1999. – С. 182-194.
Practice:
Task 75
Do the meanings given below belong to a) one and the same polysemous word or b)
homonymous words? Use several dictionaries to support your point of view.
1. SCHOOL • a place of education for children
• a large group of one kind of fish or certain other sea animals swimming together
2.BUG
• any small insect
• an apparatus for listening secretly to other people's conversations
3.RIFLE
• to make grooves (curved cuts) inside the barrel of a gun so as to make the bullets
spin
• to search through and steal everything valuable from (e.g. a desk, drawers,
handbag, etc.)
4.BASS
• (a man with) the lowest male singing voice, below baritone
• a fresh-water or salt-water fish that can be eaten
5. SPLEEN • a small organ near the upper end of the stomach that controls the quality of the
blood supply and produces certain blood cells
• violent anger, especially expressed suddenly
6. VAULT
• a roof or ceiling made out of a number of arches, as in many churches
• a jump over something in one movement using the hands or a pole to gain more
height
7. TANK
• a large container for storing liquid or gas
• an enclosed heavily armed and armoured vehicle that moves on two endless
metal belts
Task 76
Say in which of the following items: a) the meanings of a polysemous word are realized,
b) the meanings of two homonyms are realized. Use several dictionaries.
1. a tent pole - from pole to pole
2. a string of green beads round her neck - beads of sweat on her face
3. a good ear for music - an ear of wheat
4. three cracked ribs - the ribs of an umbrella
5. a slice of buttered toast - to propose a toast to the bride and groom
6. the bright beam of the car's headlights - "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" (J.D.
Salinger)
7. roast beef - My main beef is that it went on too long
8. the spring of a watch - in spring and in autumn
Task 77
What linguistic phenomena are these jokes based on: a) polysemy, b) homonymy? Give your
reasons for the choice made.
1. Diner: "Do you serve fish here?"
Waiter: "We serve anyone, sir."
2. Customer: "Waiter! What is this?"
Waiter: "It's bean soup, sir."
Customer: "No matter what it's been. What is it now?"
3. He had been trying to secure the attention of a waiter for ten minutes, but at last got up from
his chair and, going to the cashier's desk, demanded to see the manager.
"What for?" asked the girl.
"I've got a complaint."
"Complaint?" retorted the girl naughtily. "This is a restaurant, not a hospital."
4. "My grandfather lived to be ninety and never used glasses."
"Well, lots of people prefer to drink from a bottle."
5. A boy applied for a job in a butcher shop.
“How much will you give me?" he asked.
"Three dollars a week; but what can you do to make yourself useful around a butcher shop?"
"Anything."
"Well, can you dress a chicken?"
"Not on $ 3 a week," said the boy.
6. An ex-serviceman staying at one of the hotels in California wrote to his friend: "I came up
here for a change and rest. The waiters in this hotel take the change and the proprietor takes the
rest."
7. "Why did they hang that picture?"
"Perhaps because they couldn't find the artist."
8. "The poets of today," says a critic, "at least put plenty of fire into their verses."
"The trouble with some of them is that they do not put enough of their verses into the fire."
9. "How is that," said a gentleman to Sheridan, "that your name has no О attached to it? Your
family is Irish, and no doubt illustrious?"
"No family has a better right to О than our family," said Sheridan, "for we owe everybody."
10. "And how old are you, my little man?"
"I'm not old at all. I'm nearly new."
11. Nelly:"Is the man your sister is going to marry - rich?"
Dick: "I don't think so."
Nelly: "What makes you think so?"
Dick: "Well, every time mother talks about the wedding father says 'poor man'!"
12. Danny: "Mother, may I have a nickel for an old man who is crying outside?"
Mother: "Yes, dear. But what is the old man crying about?"
Danny: "He is crying, “Nuts, nuts, five cents a bag.'"
13. Dick: "My father always carries a young horse pistol with him."
Tony: "A young horse pistol?"
Dick: "Yes - a Colt."
14. "Your husband boasts he runs things in his family."
"He does - the lawn mower, the washing machine, the vacuum cleaner, the baby carriage and
the errands."
15. "Hello, old man, had any luck shooting?"
"I should say I had! I shot thirteen ducks in one day."
"Were they wild?"
"Well, not exactly; but the farmer who owned them was."
16. "How long have you been learning to skate?"
"Oh, about a dozen sittings."
17. The wits say that everybody seems to be dieting in California. They're even planning to
divide the state into No-Cal and Low-Cal.
18. "What are you reading?" asked the prison librarian.
"Nothing much," replied the prisoner. "Just the usual escape literature."
19. Orator (who noted the word "Push" on the outer side of the door when he entered the
hall): "There is a single word which is the secret of success in this fair country. I will impart it to
you; you will see it on the brass plate on the door."
Audience (reading in unison): "Pull!"
Task 78
Find the homonyms in the contexts and say to which type they belong: homophones, homographs
or homonyms proper.
1. a) Hard work, Pennine air and Mrs. Hall's good food had filled me out and the jacket failed to
meet across my stomach by six inches (J. Herriot).
b) "Wonder how long a person can survive without meat?" says Waldeen, somewhat breezily
(B.A. Mason).
2. a) Because by now I had learned that Mr. Holden moved fast when he started and for all I
knew the strike might be settled that afternoon (J.M. Cain).
b) They all admired Jannie's new blouse and skirt, and one of them had brought her a book and
the other had brought a dress and hat for her doll (Sh. Jackson).
3. a) But before they left they again bound our wrists firmly behind us, and tightened the cords
on our ankles (R. Stout).
b) With his left hand he seized the revolver, thrusting it upwards (B. Cartland).
4. a) In a few moments, he had frantically excavated a hole into which he could insert his head
and shoulders (W. Morris).
b) He could create whole worlds with one hand (S. Sheldon).
5. a) He requested George and me to kiss his mother for him, and to tell all his relations that he
forgave them and died happy (J.K. Jerome).
b) Irene Westcott was a pleasant, rather plain girl with soft brown hair and a wide, fine
forehead upon which nothing at all had been written and in the cold weather she wore a coat of
fitch skins dyed to resemble mink (J. Cheever).
6. a) I had been trying to identify the sensation, and thought it was like the sudden lull in a
heavy wind which has been beating against the trees and the windows for hours, and then stops
(Sh. Jackson),
b) I merely said I had been called to New York to wind up some details of my financial
settlement with the Harrises and told him I would call him by long distance every night (J.M.
Cain).
7. a) She said the doctors told her not to drive; the bones in the back of her neck will always be
weak (J. Schumacher),
b) It lay in a ditch for over a week (B.A. Mason).
8. a) The building was made of ordinary wood, painted white a few years ago but starting to
peel (J.C. Oates).
b) When they wished to communicate with each other he sent her a note addressed to her
maid (B. Cartland).
9. a) "Let us walk down the road a little," said the priest (O.K. Chesterton).
b) She rode a borrowed bicycle (D. West).
10. a) Then three little slender bunches of ryestalks lay flat on the dewy grass beneath the fence,
one bunch behind each reaper's bent left leg (L. О'Flaherty).
b) His grey eyes were shadowed and, as Ferris passed into the flat, they flickered
momentarily (C. McCullers).
11. a) He gave her a little bow, but said nothing, and his eyes followed her as she walked with
measured step from the room (W.S. Maugham),
b) Finally there were two triumphant bouquets of violets, each with the stems wrapped in
tinfoil shrouded by a bow of purple chiffon; and one bouquet she wore at her waist and the other
she carried in her hand (B. Tarkington).
12. a) The road was built over a flat plain covered with gray alkali dust, with only a few tufts of
dry grass showing, and this plain extended for miles and miles (J.M. Cain).
b) Well take the plane tonight, do whatever has to be done about your divorce, and that will
be the end of Mrs. Harris the Younger and Mrs. Harris the Elder (J.M. Cain).
13. a) Miss Bewlay showed me where everything was kept (M. Spark).
b) My biggest worry was that my chair was beginning to show signs of wear... (J. Herriot).
14. a) Anyone who had passed the time of day with him and his dog refused to share a bench
with them again (K. Vonnegut Jr).
b) At a quarter past nine Andy and the sheriff came in (G. Berriault).
15. a) The dawn had just broken and from the river rose a white mist shrouding the junks that lay
moored close to one another like peas in a pod (W.S. Maugham).
b) She was like a rosebud that is beginning to turn yellow at the edges of the petals, and then
suddenly she was a rose in full bloom (W.S. Maugham).
16. a) Her way of life was mean and miserly, but she did not know it (D. West).
b) In the cool blue twilight of two steep streets in Camden Town, the shop at the corner, a
confectioner's, glowed like the butt of a cigar (G.K. Chesterton).
17. a) She wore a necklace of diamonds set in silver (W.S. Maugham).
b) We had another council of war next day (A.C. Doyle).
18. a) At that moment they were all thinking precisely the same thing - that somehow or other
this clergyman, who was certainly not the local fellow, had been sent to poke his nose into their
business and to report what he found to the government (R. Dahl).
b) "The dogs followed the scent well," said Mr. Grant (A. Christie).
19. a) The mahogany was hard and very dry, and as Claud worked, a fine red dust sprayed out
from the edge of the saw and fell softly to the ground (R. Dahl).
b) The whole family saw him to the door (C. McCullers).
20. a) He was riding from Kensington to Hampton Court when he was thrown from his horse
(Ph. Carr).
b) He wanted to raise them against the present King and bring James back to the throne (Ph.
Carr).
Task 79
Recollect homonyms for the underlined words in the following sayings and proverbs.
1. None so deaf as those who won't hear.
2. Old birds are not to be caught with chaff.
3. You cannot judge a tree by its bark.
4. Drop by drop the sea is drained.
5. The belly is not filled with fair words.
6. As you sow you shall mow.
7. Little pitchers have long ears.
8. One cannot blow and swallow at the same time.
9. If it were not for hope, the heart would break.
Task 80
Recollect homonyms for the underlined words in the "familiar quotations"'.
1. Gambling is an express train to ruin (Unknown).
2. He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never remember
it (P. Charron).
3. To read without reflecting, is like eating without digesting (E. Burke).
4. What is justice? To give every man his due (Aristotle).
5. Waste not fresh tears over old grieves (Euripides).
6. He who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires and fears, is more than a king (J.
Milton).
Task 81
Recollect homonyms for the underlined words. Use dictionaries, if necessary. Identify them as
homophones, homographs, homonyms proper.
1. I was frying a slice of liver next evening when he turned up at the door (N. Gordimer).
2. Angry women, seeing white sheets lying in the dust, threw sticks and stones at Pat, and I had
to pray that they would never hit and kill him (A. Marshall).
3. The doctor crossed the ward and stopped beside the bed of the drunk who was sitting waiting
for him, his face with its twitching mouth stamped with anxiety (A. Marshall).
4. Blood was oozing out of his shoulder wound (P.M. Stewart).
5. After a respectable period of time had passed, Henryk explained that he must return to work,
thanked Mrs. Rennick for her co-operation, paid the bill and left (J. Archer).
6. I repeated my prayers to him while he listened, gazing at the ceiling, his hands clasped on his
chest (A. Marshall).
7. She sat on the high seat, bracing herself to every plunge or sway, one hand clutching the
nickel rail at the end (A. Marshall).
8. These straggling, excited groups were mainly composed of men with green boughs in their
hats and the most ludicrous of weapons in their hands (R. Sabatini).
Task 82
What are the homophones of the words? Use an English-Russian dictionary.
1. ate
11. flocks
21. stair
2. away
12. fowl
22. straight
3. awl
13. Grisly
23.tacks
4. bait
14. Knap
24. taut
5. beat
15 Leak
25. tied
6. bread
16. Lynx
26. urn
7. carat
17. Male
27. weigh
8. cede
18. Pause
28. wrack
9. corral
19. Pi
29. wry
10.cygnet
20. Sine
30. yore
Task 83
Find 1-2 homonyms proper to the following words. Use an English-English dictionary.
1. ash
6. loom
2. balk
7. mint
3. cape
8. paddy
4. corn
9. painter
5. graze
10. ram
Task 84
Are the underlined words homophones?
1. a) So Bullard and his dog set out through the park each day in quest of new faces (K.
Vonnegut Jr).
b) To dispel emphatically his uneasy advantage over his sleeping brother, he threw himself on
the hump of Eugie's body (G. Berriault).
2. a) George said that in that case we must take a rug each, a lamp, some soap, a brush and comb
(between us), a toothbrush (each), a basin, some tooth-powder, some shaving tackle (sounds like
a French exercise doesn't it?), and a couple of big towels for bathing (J.K. Jerome).
b) Will you have some soup before the meat course? (Oxford Advanced Learner's
Encyclopedic Dictionary).
3. a) Bassett was serious as a church (D.H. Lawrence).
b) The right wall was one unbroken series of open doorways, and in each of the rooms, whose
interiors we could plainly see, were one or more of the Inca Women... (R. Stout).
4. a) They had fried chicken and corn pudding and rich, glazed candied sweet potatoes (C.
McCullers).
b) Now then, why didn't I compel him to be more candid? (J.M. Cain).
5. a) His usually red face was quite purple with anger (A. Christie).
b) There was my cousin Georgia in town, and all she had to do was watch a little girl who
wore thick, glasses and was sort of strange, but very nice and quiet and no trouble, and she'd get
two dollars (J.C. Dates).
6. a) Don't you have a key to this door? (English Guides: Homophones).
b) There I lay on the hard stones of the quay, feeling very much inclined to laugh, but
looking, no doubt, very blue and ghastly (A.C. Doyle).
7. a) As a rule the Boran are very brave indeed, and are among the few African tribes who still
hunt lions with a spear (J. Adamson).
b)His hair was receding and the veins in his now naked temples were pulsing and prominent
and his body was spare except for an incipient belly bulge (C. McCullers).
8. a) Now she could marry Joe McClain, who comes over for supper almost every night, always
bringing something special, such as a roast or dessert (B.A. Mason).
b) It was my first close contact with desert land and it was like rattling madly through space
that didn't mean anything (J.M. Cain).
9. a) Smith had missed the first match having a bruised toe examined in hospital (English
Guides: Homophones).
b) Five hours of backbreaking work for the men on both ships saw the tow secured (R.S.
Porteous).
10. a) The shirt-sleeved man in the sheriff’s office said that the sheriff was at Carlson's Parlour
examining the Curwing boy (G. Berriault).
b) Then he picked up the paddle and paddled out to a sailboat that was moored to a round
white block of wood that he called a buoy (J.M. Cain).
11. a) He looked like a bear in the picture I'd seen once (J. Schumacher).
b) Mrs. Mooney's young men paid fifteen shillings a week for board and lodgings (beer or
stout
at
dinne
rexcluded)
(J.Joyce).
12. a) She slipped into a kimono and in her bare feet went over to her dressing-table (W.S.
Maugham).
b) Just bear that in mind (N. Shute).
13. a) So then Grant came over and put his arm around his mother and had tears in his eyes and
I didn't believe for a second that she was as sweet as she pretended to be... (J.M. Cain).
b) He stopped and sopped the sweat off his forehead, and smiled (E. Haycox).
14. a) When he turned away, not meeting her eyes, her lips made a sweet line across her dark
face, a softly maternal expression showing (E. Haycox).
b) So I made inquiries, and finally located a hotel, the Hutton, on West 58th Street, which
catered to women; and had a desirable suite which would shortly become vacant, consisting of
living room, bedroom, bath and pantry, for $150 a month (J.M. Cain).
Task 85
These words are paronyms. Match the words with their definitions.
1. RISE, RAISE
a) to come or go upwards; to reach a high or higher level, position, etc.
b) to lift or move something to a higher level
2. COMPANY, CAMPAIGN
a) group of people united for business or commercial purposes
b) a series of planned activities with a particular social, commercial or political aim
3. MACARONI, MACAROON
a) a small flat cake or biscuit made of sugar, egg white and crushed almonds or coconut
b) long hard tubes of pasta, often chopped into short pieces and boiled in water before eating
4. HUMAN, HUMANE
a) of or characteristic of man (contrasted with God, animals or machines)
b) having or showing sympathy, kindness and understanding
5. CRASH, CRUSH
a) to press or squeeze something/somebody hard so that there is breakage or injury
b) to fall or strike something suddenly and noisily
6. PRICE, PRIZE
a) an amount of money for which something is bought or sold
b) an award given to the winner of a competition, race, etc.
7. SERGEANT, SURGEON
a)a doctor who performs surgical operations
b) a non-commissioned army officer ranking above a corporal and below a warrant officer
8. RECIPE, RECEIPT
a) a written statement that something (especially money or goods) has been received
b) a set of instructions for preparing a food dish, including the ingredients required
Task 86
Determine the type of these homonyms: a) partial homonyms, b) full homonyms. Give all
necessary explanations.
1. lead, v (вести; руководить) - lead, n (свинец)
2. fast, adj (прочный, крепкий) - fast, adj (скорый, быстрый)
3. lie, v (лежать) - lie, v (лгать)
4. desert, v (покидать) - desert, n (пустыня)
5. bow, n (лук) - bow, n (поклон)
Task 87
Establish the type of these homonyms:
a) lexical;
b) grammatical;
c) lexico-grammatical.
1. friends - friend's - friends'
2. ball, n (мяч) - ball, n (бал)
3. nit, n (гнида) - knit, v (вязать)
4.right adj (справедливый) - right, adj (правый)
5. said v (past ind.) - said, v (past p.)
6. shy, adj (пугливый) - shy, v (бросать /мяч, камень/)
Task 88
Identify the source of homonymy for the words:
a) divergent meaning development;
b) convergent sound development;
c) borrowing;
d) conversion;
e) shortening;
f) sound imitation.
1. work, n - work, v
2. bang, n (a fringe of hair combed over the forehead) bang, n (a loud, sudden, explosive noise)
3. flower, n - flour, n
4. bank, n (a shore) - bank, n (a financial institution)
5. add, v - ad, n (an advertisement)
6. comb, n- comb, v
7. night, n-knight, n
8. rep, n (a kind of fabric) - rep, n (a representative)
9. love, n - love, v
10. board, n (a long, thin piece of timber) - board, n (an official group of persons who direct or
supervise some activity)
11. pale, adj - pale, v
12. match, n (a game) - match, n (a slender short piece of wood used for producing fire)
13. mew, n (a sea gull) - mew, n (the sound a cat makes)
14. sea, n- see, v
15. plate, n - plate, v
16. fan, n (an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air) - fan, n (an
enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer, etc.)
Task 89
Dwell upon the answers to the questions from the homonymic point of view.
1. "What is the difference between a watchmaker and a jailer?"
"The one sells watches and the other watches cells."
2. "What is the difference between a tree and an aeroplane?"
"One sheds its leaves and the other leaves its sheds."
3. "What is the difference between soldiers and girls?"
"The soldier faces powder. Girls powder faces."
4. "What is the difference between a cat and a comma?"
"The difference between a cat and a comma is that a cat has its claws at the end of its paws,
and a comma has its pause at the end of a clause."