Camelia Bejan Nicoleta Sava

A Workbook in Lexical Semantics

Table of contents
1. Word formation
1.1. Affixation ………………………………………………………………1
1.2. Compounding……………………………................................................7
1.3. Other means of word formation………………………………………...11
2. Word meaning.
2.1. Componential analysis……...…………………………………………..15
2.2. Hyponymy………………………………………………………………17
3. Lexical relations
3.1. Synonymy………………………………………………………………18
3.2. Sources of synonymy…………………………………………………...23
3.3. Antonymy……………………………………………………………….24
3.4. Polysemy………………………………………………………………..25
3.5. Homonymy………………………………………………………………27
3.6. Paronymy…………………………………..............................................28
4. Idioms………………………………………………………………………………28
Glossary……………………………………………………………………………….31
References……………………………………………………………………………..35

1. Word formation

1.1. Affixation
1. State which of the suffixes below are productive. Give examples of words formed with each suffix
and use them in short sentences of your own.

A) Noun-forming suffixes:

-age; -ant; -dom; -ee; -ence; -er; -ese; -ess; -hood; -ism;

-ist; -ite; -ling; -ment; -or; -ry; -ship; -th; -tion.

B) Adjective-forming suffixes:

-ed; -esque; -fold; -ful; -ish; -like; -ly; -y.

C) Verb-forming suffixes:

-ate; -en; -fy; -ize.

D) Adverb-forming suffixes:

-long; -ly; -ward; -wise.

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2. State the origin and explain the meaning of the suffixes in the following words:

apologize, atheism, circulation, clockwise, coldness,

craftsmanship, drunkard, fashionable, foolish, forward,
glorious, wooden, hopeful, kingdom, ladylike,
manifold, picturesque, powerless, refreshment, sarcasm,
spheroid, troublesome, waiter, .

3. Pick out words with noun-forming suffixes. Comment on the origin and productivity of the
suffixes.
1. Certain solutions are presented to us all in youth, and the swiftness with which we see their
foolishness is an almost unerring test of intelligence.
2. Isabel was often amused at his explicitness and at the small allowance he seemed to make
either for her own experience or for her imagination.
3. During those first years of trial, error, embarrassment, a child needs family standards
to fall back on, reliable habits of thought and feeling that provide security and
protection. (Neil Kurshan, 1987)
4. I already knew that I wanted to write novels … but even so, I could not avoid feeling some
sort of excitement, or enhancement of interest, whenever I saw Rutherford walking down
Free School Lane.
5. He sat by without speaking, looking at the entrances and exits, the greetings and chatterings
of Madame’s visitors.
6. Most college students will experience homesickness at some point during their
college experience, mixing anxiety about their new surroundings with feelings of
depression at being away from loved ones.
7. Soon, he took on the mannerisms of a gangster, and began to act tough and talk out of
the corner of his mouth.
8. She could not bring her situation into harmony with her feelings, with her convictions;
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4. Write out the words with adjective-forming suffixes. Comment on the origin and productivity of
the suffixes:
1. The tone of science was the tone of Rutherford: boastful because the major discoveries were
being made that very moment, creatively confident, generous, argumentative, lavish, and full
of hope.
2. The marshal’s opponent is a young captain of the staff, belted and curled and light-gloved,
who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals on earth; but
he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief. He is what is called an officer
with a future.
3. The sluggish procession in which they were moving led them eventually to the centre of the
town and the soberly illuminated front of the Imperial Hotel.
4. Madame gave Newman the sense of an elaborate education, of her having passed through
mysterious ceremonies and processes of culture in her youth, of her having been fashioned
and made flexible to certain exalted social needs.
5. His composition was a mixture of good-humoured manly force and a modesty that at times
was almost boyish.

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5. Underline the words with suffixes. Comment on the meaning and function of the suffixes.
Model: coldness = cold + -ness;
-ness = state, quality, instance of being; nominalizing suffix

1. She saw Mr. Outrage and Lord Metroland in consultation about the Censorship Bill (a
statesmanlike and much needed measure) which empowered a committee of five atheists to
destroy all books, pictures and films they considered undesirable, without any nonsense about
defence or appeal.
2. They had seen in their own homes the dreadful unhappiness and suffering caused by
Victorian ignorance.
3. His fraternal tenderness had touched her, and on his departure she had burst into tears.
4. Really, thought Clarissa, if collecting historical material is going to be as tiresome as this, I
wish I had accepted the offer of writing a travel book on Angola.
5. Then he asked himself: ‘Do I really want her?’ Was it a memory, or a hope, or mere pig-
headedness that kept him going with her.
6. Her glasses were blurred with tears and the car swerved left-ward towards the stone-wall.
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6. Identify the prefixed words from the following sentences. Indicate the part of speech they belong
to.

1. And when Lady Metroland began to expostulate, he shut her up very discourteously.
2. The race was not due to start until noon, but any indecision which they may have felt about
the next few hours was settled for them by the local police, who were engaged in directing all
traffic, irrespective of its particular inclinations, on the road to the course.
3. It was a spontaneous exhibition that had served its purpose on many different occasions. Sir
Edgar, however, disliked it even more than his earlier performance.
4. My thoughts … as long as I kept walking they’d remained mixed and chaotic, like
imperfectly recollected books and films; once I stopped they’d become unbearably organized;
if I walked quickly I could crane my mind with the speed of my own movement….
5. By the time I entered Cholon I had outstripped the news: life was busy, normal,
uninterrupted: nobody knew.
6. On the lips of a person less advanced in life, and less enlightened by experience than Mrs.
Touchett, such a declaration would savour of immodesty, even of arrogance.
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7. Use negative prefixes to form noun antonyms.

ability accuracy behaviour combatant conduct content

courage grateful interpret legibility like literacy
personal precision regular rest truth

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8. Look out the meaning of the prefix be- in the dictionary. Underline the words with the prefix in the
sentences below and comment on the meaning of the prefix in each case.

1. Mary Mouse shed tow little tears and felt for the brown, bejewelled hand of the Maharajah.
2. He stood bewildered, not appalled, on that dark shore which separates the ancient and the
modern world. He is power, passion, self-will personified.
3. If you are going into that line,-going to besiege the city of God,-you must not only be strong
in engines, but prepared with provisions.
4. Every point of his appearance and address bespoke the gentleman.
5. “Do you know you are the first lord I have ever seen?” she said, very promptly to her
neighbour. “I suppose you think I am awfully benighted.”
6. There are moments when all anxiety and stated struggle are becalmed in the infinite leisure
and repose of nature..
7. Gerald tried to comfort himself by imagining her on rain-swept platforms, their yellow-and-
purple decorations bedraggled and sordid.
8. The bewiskered fellow opposite him is General Starke, who led a commando in the War.
9. The explanation of the mystery was greeted with a relieved smile. But the magistrate
bethought him.
10. I should have sailed last night instead of the night before, but happening to buy an evening
paper, I saw in it an account of the awful tragedy that had befallen on us.

NOTE: the prefix ‘be-‘ may have the following meanings:

A) V + be- → V: a) around (e.g. beset), b) completely thoroughly, excessively (used as an
intensifier, e.g. besmear), c) away (used as a privative, e.g. betake), d) about
(used as a transitive prefix, e.g. bethink);
B) N + be- → V: a) make (e.g. bedim), b) furnish with, cover with, affect by, treat as
(e.g. becloud);
C) Past Part. + be- → A : covered with, furnished with, furnished with to excess (e.g. bemedaled)
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9. In the sentences below, underline the words with both a prefix and a suffix. State to what part of
speech they belong, the origin of the affixes and identify the hybrids.
Model: unchangeable – Adj., Ger + Lat, hybrid

1. At other times the reality became an infamy again and the unchangeable an imposture, and he
gave himself up to his angry restlessness

2. I talked to her repeatedly in the most serious manner, representing to her the wickedness of
what he has done, and all the unhappiness she had brought on her family.

3. In revolving Lady Catherine’s expressions, however, she could not help feeling some
uneasiness as to the possible consequence of her persisting in this interference.

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 4. Mr. Heng himself came cordially forward and ushered me into a little inner room lined with
the black carved uncomfortable chairs you find in every Chinese anteroom, unused,
unwelcoming.

5. My aunt and my uncle were unselfish and generous and gentle…

6. Her left hand was pressed on her side, as though to still the unconquerable agitation of her
heart.

7. In spite of myself I laughed immoderately.

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10. Identify the hybrids in the following sentences and trace their etymology:

1. All looked graceful, lovely, charming, as they have not looked to me for many years.
2. The sentence however was more merciful than could have been expected, perhaps partly
because the criminal had not tried to justify himself, but had rather shown a desire to
exaggerate his guilt.
3. It is singular, however, how long a time often passes before words embody things; and with
what security two persons, who choose to avoid a certain subject, may approach its very
verge, and retire without disturbing it.
4. I am telling you the truth, and you have no right to disbelieve me; I have kept my word to
you.
5. I thought her, then, still more colourless and thin than when I had seen her last.
6. He told his mother countless stories every night about his school-companions.
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11. Morphemes are organized in patterned ways. Besides their linear order, the morphemes in a
word also have a hierarchical, structure. The sequence of morpheme layering is built up from a root.
Consider the word uncontrollably: its root is control, which functions as a stem for –able;
controllable functions as a stem for uncontrollable, and uncontrollable functions as a stem for
uncontrollably. This sequence may be represented using:

a) derivational rules Verb + -ABLE  Adjective controllable

UN- + Adjective  Adjective uncontrollable
Adjective + -LY  Adverb uncontrollable
b) a tree diagram
Adverb

Adjective

Adjective

Verb

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un control able ly

c) labeled brackets: [ [ un [ [ control Verb] + [ able ] Adj] Adj] ly Adv]

Draw tree diagrams and give labeled brackets for these English words: unlikelihood, disenchantment,
unreasonableness, unshockability, updated, recapitalization, revaccinations, reassuringly.

12. Consider the two analyses of untruthful given below. Give arguments for preferring one analysis
over the other:

[[[ un + [true Adj] Adj] + th N] + ful Adj]

[ un [[[ true Adj] + th N] + ful Adj] Adj]

13. Consider the following words:

a) For each word listed above, identify its lexical category.
b) Each word contains more than one morpheme. List all the morphemes and indicate whether
they are free or bound.
c) Indicate for each affix whether it is derivational or inflectional.

heard tinier unproductive toys

bookshops listened reassessment children’s

fixer-upper fatherly improbable improbability

repayment unamusing tidiest realignments

calculating disarms unremarkable forewarned

untidiness unpretentiousness

14. Cyber- has become a popular prefix during the 1990s. It has been attached principally to nouns to
form new nouns, as in cyberspace. List ten words that use the prefix cyber-, identifying any examples
of cyber- being prefixed to a lexical category other than a noun.
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15. Pre- serves as a prefix to several categories of words. Identify the categories of words to which
pre- has been attached:
preplan, precultural, prewash, preaffirm, preaffirmation, preallot,
precollegiate, prenatal, presurgical, preplacement, preantiquity
pre-Copernican.

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16. Affixation gives rise to pairs of words that are sometimes confused. Explain the difference in
meaning between the following confusables:

childish –childlike climactic – climacteric

contiguous – contagious practical – practicable
councillor – counsellor credible – credulous
factitious – fictitious graceful – gracious
momentary – momentous judicial – judicious

17.Fill the gaps with a derived word:

1. Goat milk is believed to be…….. nutriment
2. Daily ……. of classes is desirable, if not compulsory. attend
3. The Grand Canyon is a place of …….beauty. scene
4. The wild horses were driven into an …… enclose
5. The ………..use of that fuel will save your money. economy
6. He was granted permanent …….in Canada. resident
7. I am …… at a loss but I ‘ll come to my senses, that’s a promise. moment
8. Their supreme goal was the …….. of monarchy. abolish
9. She glared at us ……… and left the room. contempt
10. A…………of diplomatic relations has been announced. resume
11. You are supposed to give a ……… account of the events. fact
12. The poor family were weak from lack of ………… sustain
13. She was full of ………..indignation after finding out the truth. right
14. His lawyer has demanded a ………….of the hearing. postpone
15. His clothes were …………..of the 1930s. evoke
16. The ……………of the Prince of Wales took place in 1969. Invest
17. The editor’s main is to increase the paper’s ………….. read
18. The woman’s voice was ………….. Margaret’s. mistake
19. She has had this scar on her forehead since her ………… baby
20. Many of his words and expressions are rather ………….. slang
21. They have a bright …….. living-room downstairs. space

18. The suffix –er conveys several meanings (the polysemy of the suffix –er). Match the deverbal
nouns to the meaning groups: Agent, Impersonal Agent, Instrument, Experiencer, Action, Locative:
baker, atomizer, writer, hearer, diner, blotter, mower, printer, feeler, sleeper, pointer.

1.2. Compounding

1. Classify the following compounds according to structural criteria:

a) compounds in juxtaposition: heart-disease, tablecloth, ………………………………
b) compounds with a linking element: Anglo-Saxon, townsfolk, ………………………
c) compounds with form words: point of view, bread and bother, …………………… .
d) compound derivatives:

n + n + er: week-ender, ……………………………………………………………… .

adj + n + er: left-hander, .................................................................................................
vb + vb + er: go-getter, ...................................................................................................

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adv + vb + er: new-comer, ..............................................................................................
n + vb + er: theatre-goer, ................................................................................................
num + n + er: first-nighter, ..............................................................................................
adj + n + ed: broad-shouldered, .....................................................................................
n + n + ed: doll-faced, …………………………………………………………………
num + n + ed: two sided, ................................................................................................

the armed forces, background, class-consciousness, the day before yesterday, deaf-and-
dumb, dress circle, Education and Welfare, first-offender, fur-lined, handicraftsman,
Highlander, horsepower, late-comer, light-minded, lipstick, matter-of-fact, merry-go-round,
mud-built (house), out-of-sight, pearl-fishing, postcard, stay-at-home, snow-white,
stocking-weavers, tablecloth, ticket-collector, toothpick, three-cornered, treasure-seekers,
up-to-date, “Vanity Fair”, warm-hearted, waterfall, well-known, whirlwind, wig-maker,
worn-out.

2. Classify the italicized compound adjectives according to the part of speech to which their
components belong:

1. Antonia has great tawny-coloured intelligent searching eyes.

2. …In a more effective simile one might compare her to the water-haunted sunlight or an old
pavement in Venice.
3. She’s not very mobile but perfectly clean and an easy-going person.
4. David said, “But they’ve always had such a live-and-let-live attitude.”
5. I dreaded their gradual discovery that I was tongue-tied or doltish.
6. A strike against what? We’re looked-out boys.
7. You’d feel honour-bound to say it’s been a great show of working-class strength.
8. But that doesn’t mean I take a cut-and-dried attitude to the issues involved.

3. Comment on the structure of the following compounds. Supply other examples of English
compounds exhibiting the same structure.

1. He lived in a two-roomed shack.

2. Low down in the sky in front of us there were streaks of black and orange cloud, and above
them a pale, watery-green expanse…
3. He made diligent and pains-taking inquiries.
4. They stand up, and continue so to do, out of the ocean of the past, like the mist-topped peak
of Tenerife.
5. It went literally like clockwork.
6. I was pondering thus when suddenly that death-still body stirred into action.
7. Here Huck is with his runaway slave, Jim.
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4. Find out the compounds in the following sentences and classify them according to the type of
semantic relations between the Determinatum (D) and the determinant (d) (purpose, partitive, time or
place, comparison, material, instrumental, appositional relations)
Model: wholehoggers were like that.
wholehoggers = whole (d) + hog (D) + er, partitive relation

1. You could see them at the races, in the music-halls, at Court, in the tea-rooms and hotel-
lobbies.

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 2. To his acquaintance with a corner of Rome he added a fourteen-year-old vision of a
civilization where no one thought about anything but caresses.
3. David looking saw the old man… his yellow parchment, cigar-scented old body on this last
day of May.
4. He was now in partnership it seemed, with a friend who was opening a combined paint and
carpentry shop to assist the “do-it-yourself” householder.
5. There was a clue, perhaps in her attitude to the gorilla-like man, Leonard.
6. She had, it was true, accepted them, turned them into a kind of punch-drunk bliss.
7. Henderson remarked that there must be many complaints possible about backward methods
or imperfect materials, bottlenecks or failures of some sort or another.
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NOTE: The Determinatum is the head of a compound, the part that determines the part of speech of
the compound, the determinant modifies the Determinatum, further specifying it.

5. Give more examples of compounds in which:

Model: N flood (d) + N light (D) = flood-light

a. both d and D are nouns:

flood-light………………………………………
b. d is a participle and D is a noun:
filling station……………………………………
c. d is and adverb and D a participle:
well built………………………………………..
d. d is an adjective and D a participle:
pleasant-looking………………………………..
e. d is an adverb and D a noun:
background…………………………………….

6. Classify the italicized compounds according to the syntactic relationship between the constituents
(coordinative, and subordinative compounds):
Model: 1. secretary stenographer, actor-manager, bitter-sweet, queen-bee = coordinative
compounds – made up of two components semantically and structurally
independent and equal in importance;
2. stone-death, age-old, wrist-watch = subordinative compounds based on
domination of one compound over the other. The second component is the
structural centre, the grammatically dominant part of the word.

1. As they were following the hairpin river road, he cried…

2. He told a dryly amusing story about a set-to between Mrs. Masters and Annie Pratt…
3. The room was…filled like a junk shop with a jumble of pleasing, valuable antique furniture
and hideous worthless bric-a-brac.
4. He turned to see Mrs. Paget herself, pushing open the door with her rubber-ferruled stick.
5. After some desultory gossip and backchat… an elderly man with a walrus moustache took
the chairman’s place…
6. She cocked her cigarette up towards her nose in a jaunty errand-boy sort of way …
7. He opened the door, thankful and yet sorry that the showdown had been once more
postponed…

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 8. Jim Cooper and two others were indeed arrested, but they said nothing of Herb and he began
to feel more cock-a-hoop, protesting before his father that he’d behave himself in the future…
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7. Classify the following italicized compounds according to the degree of semantic motivation
(clearly motivated, partially motivated, non-motivated):

Model: foot-step, bottle-opener: clearly motivated (non-idiomatic);

hand bag, hand cuff, flower-bed: partially motivated;
fiddle sticks, dog-eared, slow-coach: non-motivated (idiomatic).

1. Med pulled herself up sharply as she was about to light one cigarette from another, replaced
the fresh one in the mother-of-pearl and ebony box, crushed out the used stub.
2. “I suppose it’s because I’m a whole hogger.”
3. Donald came back with a light grey over-coat, black hat, umbrella and washleather gloves.
4. Then one studied up Swedish and read the diaries and the barrels-full of notes…
5. He… covering my tables with vellum-bound folios…
6. We were cat’s-paws, that’s all.
7. Kit drank. “First time I’ve seen her”. “Then it’s a free-for-all, and may the worst man win?”
8. “You talk more tomfoolery every day, Jean,” he said magnanimously.
9. For a few moments he drove in silence, then he said, “You’re a pipe-man, aren’t you?” He
pulled a pouch out of a pocket of his dark-brown tweed suit and tossed it into Emery’s lap.
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8. The following italicized compounds and phrases, when used out of context, admit two possible of
interpretations. Identify the two possibilities and then choose the analysis which fits the context:
Model: Ideal Home Exhibition - [[Ideal Home] Exhibition] (Exhibition of ideal houses)
- [Ideal [Home Exhibition]] (Ideal exhibition of houses)

1. He dresses in the American style with belts of braces and so on …involving bright silk
handkerchiefs instead of ties.
2. Italians have a horror of making long term contracts.
3. She rested the nape of her neck against the cool iron bed rail and fell into a reverie.
4. Sally was in attendance, standing in front of the four yellowish-white China handles with
bright brass tips.
5. “I’ll come along tomorrow evening”, he said, and he leaned down for a good-night kiss.
6. When I was six, somebody pushed me into a pool on the Sunday-school-outing.
7. I had black bean soup and a beef stew with boiled potatoes for fifteen cents.
8. … the dark green crested plates… and the little army of satin clad footmen suddenly
appeared from nowhere.

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9. Compounding is still productive in advertising slogans. Comment on the effects of using

compounds in the following advertisements:

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 Discover Max Factor’s Lipfinity! It gives you gorgeous ultra-lasting colour that outlasts so
many challenges: food-proof, kiss-proof, party-proof…for up to 12 hours.

1.3. Other means of word-formation

Back-formation (Back derivation)

1. Compare the words in the two columns below. Comment on their formation pointing out which is
the original word and which is the derived one.
to automate automation
to baby-sit baby-sitter
to enthuse enthusiasm
greed greedy
to housekeep housekeeper
to sleepwalk sleep-walking
to televise television
to typewrite typewriter
to thought-read thought-reader

Abbreviation

2. Give the full form of the following abbreviated words. Indicate their pronunciation as well.
A.C., AM, B.A., BC, c.f., E.F.L., e.g., E.N.L., E.S.L., et al., i.e., K.O., N.B., M.A., PM, R.P.,
U.N.E.S.C.O., viz., yuppie, woopie, ZIP (Code)
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3. Below there is a list of commonly used abbreviations of the IT field. Match the abbreviations with
the full form:
BASIC < Basic Input/Output System>
BIOS < Compact Disc Read-Only Memory>
CD-ROM < Dynamic Link Library>
DLL < Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Introduction Code>
DRV < hyper text transfer protocol>
http < local area network>
IBM < Initialisation>
INI < International Business Machines>
LAN < Driver>
MSN < Microsoft Disc Operating System>
MS-DOS < The Microsoft Network>
PC < Random Access Memory>
RAM < world wide web>
www < Personal Computer>

Deflection (morphophonemic alternation, vowel interchange, root derivation)

4. Give verbs/adjectives corresponding to the following nouns and adjectives:
life food
alternate full
bath wide
blood loss

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 breath deep
breach song
broad speech

Conversion
5. Read the following pairs of words. Give their phonetic transcription.
N V N V
protest to protest record to record
import to import rebel to rebel
insult to insult subject to subject
object to object suspect to suspect
present to present torment to torment

Clipping (shortening)
6. Identify the clipping compounds formed from the following stems (with a complete first stem and a
clipped second stem):
air + telephone
baby + kidnap
computer + literacy
bold + audacious
slang + language
travel + catalogue
ad hoc + aristocracy
tank + bulldozer

7. Identify the stems of the following clipping compounds (with a complete first stem and a clipped
second stem):
cablegram robocop
cheeseburger snowmobile
headphone toytoon
motordome grey market
milkaholic videolog

8. Identify the clipping compounds formed from the following stems (with a complete second stem
and a clipped first stem):
boat + hotel
escalator + lift
parachute + troops
video + idiot
video + kid
hooligan + van
computer + accessories
revue + musical

9. Identify the stems of the following clipping compounds (with a complete second stem and a
clipped first stem):
airbus Internet
biogas medicare
cyberspace telenovel
e-money ecofriendly

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 teletourist triathlete

10. Identify the clipping compounds formed from the following stems (with a clipped second stem
and a clipped first stem):
fantastic + fabulous
European + bureaucrat
global + inflation
multiple + university
smoke + haze
transmitter + receiver
biographical + picture

11. Identify the stems of the following clipping compounds (with a complete second stem and a
clipped first stem):
avionics ComSat
bit simulcast
motel smog
electrocute telecast

12. Trace back the origin of the shortened words italicized in the sentences below and explain how
they are formed (aphaeresis, syncope, apocope):

1. You want to wash the jam of your mouth. Got a hanky?

2. Doing repairs on the outside of a rocket in mid air is a ticklish job.
3. But the pants certainly need it all right.
4. He tore out the ad and let the rest of the paper go with the wind.
5. I have no idea if you will be able to decipher this as the noise in the dorm is absolutely
incredible tonight and I can hardly hear myself think.
6. It was a long time, he said, since he had walked about the town alone in the evening, or been
into a pub.
7. This is my young assistant ma’am, said Doc Bingham with a noble gesture.
8. The phone rang. “Hello”, Eli said.
9. …the very shoe-roses for Netherfield were got by proxy.
10. Claire – “I need a smoke, a sip, and a good surface. Thank you.”. Tobias – “ Comfy?” Claire –
“Very!”
Note:
a) Aphaeresis or fore-clipping is the loss of an (some) initial phoneme(s) (e.g.: airplane > plane);
b) Syncope or medial clipping is the loss of some phonemes in medial position (e.g.: mistress > Miss)
c) Apocope or back clipping is the loss of some phonemes in final position (e.g.: bicycle > bike)

Reduplication

13. Comment on and classify the following pseudo-compounds according to the criterion of form
(reduplicative compounds proper, ablaut combinations, rhyme combinations).
1. Inge’s sugary words, her Scandinavian sing-song flowed back through his memories ....
2. He wanted to say, ‘Fiddle-de-dee’, had he not known that Gordon, in less ridiculous words,
would have shared Else’s feelings.
3. I’ve got a mortal dislike of crunchings and munchings and all such noise, it’s my one little
fiddle-faddle.
4. You haven’t heard boogiewoogie till you’ve heard him.

13
 5. … and then they themselves passed a close-packed flock of clip-clopping sheep ...
6. ‘Here we are in the Worst End’ said Dave, with a lavish gesture bestowing on her the West
End and all its luxuries – though the latter turned out to be chop-and-chip and ice-cream in a
small café.
7. I can understand your position. Although of course it’s only real shilly-shallying disguised as
intellect, no doubt.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Note:
Ablaut changes represent changes in the root vowel of strong verbs, as a consequence of stress (e.g.:
fall > fell; drink – drank – drunk)
Rhyme combinations represent combinations where with the shifting of a consonant, some special
rhyme is obtained (e.g. teeny-weenie)

14. Identify the reason for the use of hyphens:

- to avoid doubling or tripling of vowels or consonants…………………

- genitive marker ………………………
- repetition of words (reduplicative compounds) ………………………
- antonymic terms ………………………
- numerals
- letters of the alphabet
- colours
- titles, double qualities
- units of measurement
- present or past participles as a second element
- ellipsis
- onomatopoeic words
- connective vowels

cat’s cradle, face-to-face, Anglo-Saxon, cause-effect, long- and short-term loans, word-building,
second-rate, V-Day, blue-green, hand-made, 2-hour surveillance, minister-designated, 4-year
education, e-commerce, 4-year university, president-elect, night-flying, car-and ship-owners, puff-
puff-puff, Indo-European

15. The following terms are associated with computer or internet use. For each item, identify its
lexical category and comment upon the word-formation process (compounding, shortening, acronym,
conversion, etc.) and provide a brief definition, if possible.

Model: chatgroup – noun, compound, ‘a group of people ‘talking’ together via the Internet’

cyberenthusiast a flame
info pike Internetter
a lurker newbee or newbie
spamming a twit filter
cyberizing cyberspace
to flame out info superpike
I-way netiquette
a remailer a sysop

14
WYSIWYG FAQ
domain name IMHO
to e-mail to lurk
netter smileys
a thread software
source code programming language
to download code writer
Mac browser
mouse to keyboard

16. The following words or phrases have been selected from an article discussing electronic
commerce (Newsweek, July 7, 1997, p 80). Next to each write the word-building process used
(compounding, affixation, invention, shortening, conversion, derivation, semantic shift, borrowing,
blend)

cluelessness
Information Highway
into hyperdrive
the digital world
the wonky title
a cutting-edge blueprint
a virtual storefront
that will grease commerce
zipless electronic commerce
CDA ‘Communications Decency Act’

17. Translate the following excerpt and comment on the types of affixation:

Ca universitar, Petre Andrei a fost profesorul; printre profesori a fost sociologul; printre
sociologi a fost promotorul devenirii neîncetate; iar printre politicieni a fost susţinătorul cinstei,
corectitudinii şi dinamismului social. Cele trei preocupări vitale ale scurtei sale existenţe pământene,
profesoratul, sociologia şi politica au fost fericit împlinite de vocaţia sa de soţ şi părinte, aşa cum o
dovedesc atât propriile sale rânduri, cât şi mărturiile scrise sau orale ale descendenţilor săi.

(Horia Hulban, Petre Andrei şi sociologia educaţiei)

2. Word meaning
2.1. Componential analysis

1. Distribution is a structural basis for the identification of the various semantic features making up
the meaning of a word. The occurrence or impossibility of occurrence of a word in a given
distributional frame is usually accompanied by a change in its meaning, as illustrated by the examples
below:

Accepted distributions: Big is/are big very/how big, bigger

big1 mountain + + +
big2 sister + - -

15
 big3 fool + - +
big4 man in town + - +

Try to find similar distributional frames for the words heavy, soft, flat, empty, sweet, cold and, on that
basis, differentiate between their various meanings, as shown in the model above.

2. Given the following contexts, the following subcategorization of nouns can be arrived at:

1) Noun was breathing hard. (+ Animate) (- Animate)

2) Noun often coughs. (+ Human) (- Human)
3) Noun breed quickly. (+ Animal) (- Animal)
4) Noun were squealing. (+ Dog) (- Dog)
5) Noun yelped painfully. (+ Pig) (- Pig)
6) Noun were mewing. (+ Cat) (- Cat)
7) Noun were twittering. (+ Bird) (- Bird)
8) Noun were sprawling in the light.
(+ capable to emit light) (- capable to emit light)
9) Noon have been blooming all summer. (+ Plant) (- Plant)

3. Establish the selectional restrictions of the following groups of verbs in terms of their subject:
1) to sleep, to drink, to eat
2) to smile, to laugh, to speak
3) to beat, to roar, to bellow, to bray
4) to barn, to snarl
5) to grunt
6) to purr
7) to chirp, to coo, to croak
8) to shine, to glimmer, to glitter, to glare, to flash, to glow
9) to bud, to blossom, to fade, to wither

Comment on the consequences of the non-observance of such restrictions as evinced in the figurative
usage of language (be it colloquial, jocular, poetic); pay attention to the italicized verbs.

4. Given the following contexts, the following subcategorization of nouns can be arrived at:
1) They abolished Noun (+ Abstract) (-Abstract)

16
 2) They caught Noun (+Animate) (-Animate)
3) They educated Noun (+Human) (-Human)
4) They milked Noun (+Animal) (-Animal)
5) They suckled Noun (+ Adult) (-Adult)
6) They ploughed Noun (+ Solid) (-Solid)
7) They encircled Noun (+ Surface) (-Surface)
8) They poured Noon (+ liquid) (-liquid)

On the basis of the above classification find the selectional restrictions characterizing the
following group of verbs in terms of their direct object:
1) to elucidate, to generalize, to state, to formulate, to solve, to perpetrate
2) to grasp, to shake, to grip, to seize, to wash
3) to indent, to dig
4) to till, to chop, to carve, to cut
5) to drink, to filter
6) to chirp, to coo, to croak
7) to enclose, to surround, to cultivate

2.2. Hyponymy

1. Identify the hyponyms of the superordinate terms:

parents:
footwear:
cheese:
paper:
drinking vessel:
vehicle:

2. Find a superordinate for the following hyponyms:

Model: chair, bench, sofa, settee hyponyms of seat

a) wineglass, martini glass, tumbler

b) breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, high tea, brunch
c) wrist, knuckles, knees, ankles
d) house, barn, church, factory, hangar
e) square, circle, triangle
f) walk, run, swim, fly

3. Draw up a hyponym hierarchy and provide a characterization of the meaning of each word in the
hierarchy, in the form of its immediate superordinate plus a modifying phrase.
Model: house – building – structure – thing
thing superordinate of structure
structure hyponym of thing, superordinate of building
building hyponym of structure, superordinate of house
house hyponym of building

a) freshman, student, person, entity

b) fridge, kitchen utensil, tool, product thing
c) car, vehicle, product, thing
d) bucket, garden tool, tool, product, thing, entity,

17
3. Lexical relations
3.1. Synonymy

1. Find the prototype in the following groups of synonyms and give reasons for your choice:
Model: to depart, to quit, to leave, to clear out, to retire.
Dominant: to leave
Reasons: it is the general word, it is neutral both stylistically and emotionally and it
can stand for each of its synonyms in most uses.

1. handsome, lovely, beautiful, pretty, comely, good-looking

2. to inquire, to ask, to question, to interrogate
3. odour, scent, smell, bouquet, fragrance, perfume
4. to suspend, to hang, to dangle, to sling
5. fright, fear, consternation, horror, dread, panic, alarm
6. courage, bravery, fortitude, valour, gallantry
7. powerful, forceful, potent, forcible
8. ripe, mature, adult, grown-up

2. State which words in column B correspond to the generic term in column A by means of a
hyponymy relation:
Model: bird: robin, sparrow, goldfinch
poultry: hen, cock, goose, duck

A B
china tusk, fang, molar, incisor
linen chair, cupboard, book-case, desk
mathematics trousers, hat, socks, shirt, frock
animal cup, saucer, plate, cream-ewer, sugar-bowl, tea-pot
dog dog, cat, lion, squirrel
horse spaniel, poodle, setter, fox-terrier
clothes stallion, steed, mare, colt, foal, filly
furniture arithmetic, geometry, algebra
tooth napkin, sheets, table-cloth, pillow-slip

3. State whether the italicised words are prototypes or super-ordinates:

1. to get, to acquire, to obtain, to win, to earn, to gain;
2. cutlery, tea-pot, coffee-pot, sugar-bowl, silver;
3. forks, knives, spoons, cutlery;
4. to prohibit, to forbid, to interdict;
5. flower, snowdrop, carnation, rose, daffodil;
6. to reveal, to disclose, to discover, to show;
7. clear, transparent, lucid, limpid;
8. clothes, dress, attire, apparel, vesture;

4. Find in column B the words which are synonyms only in the contexts given in column A:
Model: A B
a wide __ / __ of selection/range => a wide selection / range of

A B

18
 ___ talk to be called, to come, to go
to ___ a glance belief, knowledge, recollection
to play somebody a ___ trick hole, corner
not to care a ___ squeak, shave
to ___ somebody a grudge to steal, to shoot, to throw
to have ___ words with somebody idle, empty
to laugh in one’s ___ to sink, to die
to ___ a deep sigh nasty, shabby, bad
to be in a ___ pin, straw, button
the best of my ___ to owe, to bear
to ___ to the bar eyelashes, eyelids, eyebrows
my heart ___ to fill, to answer
to hang on by one’s ___ to draw, to fetch, to give, to sigh
to have a narrow ___ sleeve, beard
to ___ the bill hard, high, sharp, hot
to __ / __ a resemblance bear/have

5. Use the following synonymous words in sentences of your own, paying attention to their
distributional opposition and state the difference in distribution that you notice.
Model: sick, ill My brother is ill.
She paid a visit to the sick old man.
(‘Ill’ is used predicatively; ‘sick’ is used attributively)
1. to tell, to say
2. house, home
3. to steal, to rob,
4. bare, naked
5. to like, to enjoy
6. lonely, alone
7. island, isle
8. still, yet
6. Arrange the following nouns into synonymic groups. Point out the semantic feature(s) shared by
them and indicate which of the listed synonyms may be regarded as the prototype:
Model: lack, ghost, affair, absence, scandal, privation, business, spirit, slander, want, defect,
apparition, back-biting, concern, thing, detraction, phantom, matter, phantasm, calumny

1 2 3 4
lack ghost affair scandal
absence spirit business slander
privation apparition concern back-biting
want phantom thing detraction
defect phantasm calumny

group 1: The prototype is ‘lack’. The feature shared in common by the synonymic group is
“something wanted what is insufficient or absent.”
group 2: The prototype is ‘ghost’. The feature shared in common by the synonymic group is
“a supernatural disembodied being, imagined as appearing in visual form or
haunting living persons.”

pain, compassion, vagabond, anguish, report, concern, mob, strife, recreation, discord, crowd,
solicitude, amusement, story, sorrow, hobo, pity, ache, tramp, commiseration, grief, pang,

19
 diversion, conflict, care, account, dissention, throng, anxiety, spark, chronicle, entertainment,
woe, vagrant, condolence, throe, dole, sympathy, twinge, variance, version, worry.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

7. Arrange the following verbs into synonymic groups. Point out the semantic feature(s) shared by
them and indicate which of the listed synonyms may be regarded as the prototype:

maladroit, civil, dusky, far, intoxicated, loyal, suitable, simple, faithful, drunk, dark, remote,
clumsy, courteous, meet, true, little, natural, fit, leal, naïve, wee, distant, drunken, obscure, polite,
awkward, inebriate, faraway, dim, gallant, inept, ingenuous, proper, diminutive, artless, gauche,
chivalrous, dusk, tipsy, tiny, fitting, tight, far-off, murky, staunch, teeny, courtly, gloomy, weeny.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

8. Arrange the following verbs into synonymic groups. Point out the semantic feature(s) shared by
them and indicate which of the listed synonyms may be regarded as the prototype:

charm, flame, chastise, pine, discharge, rule, decide, beat, ban, stare, inhibit, gloat, overcome,
cashier, glow, bewitch, correct, yearn, chasten, thirst for, glare, defeat, settle, fire, interdict,
captivate, blaze, hanker, vanquish, punish, peer, forbid, sack, determine, conquer, flare,
fascinate, prohibit, long, castigate, subjugate, gaze, bounce, subdue, resolve, dismiss, drop,
gape, enjoin, attract, hunger for, allure, discipline, enchant.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20
9. Arrange the following adverbs into synonymic groups:

actively, serenely, directly, near, accurately, obviously, gladly, irritably, soon, operatively,
close, calmly, peevishly, happily, evidently, correctly, snappishly, dead, dynamically,
tranquilly, immediately, at once, exactly, betimes, manifestly, waspishly, cheerfully,
straightway, petulantly, lively, light-heartedly, peacefully, distinctly, instantly, nigh, placidly,
precisely, right away, joyfully, pettishly, instantaneously, near-by, forward, apparently,
joyously, querulously, plainly.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10. Fill in the blanks with the corresponding synonyms:

a) alien, foreigner, stranger
1. Uncertain, whether the impression that Prosper Profond was dangerous should be traced to
the fact that he was a …………., or …………… as it was now called.
2. The child of the old king’s only daughter by a secret marriage with one much beneath her in
station – a ………….. some said.

b) place, seat, spot

1. They say this is a terribly difficult ……………… to work in.
2. I know it was the most famous ……….. in Honolulu and I entered it with lively curiosity.
3. He was a judge at the Old Bailey and it was through him that I was able to get s privileged
…………… in court when there was an interesting trial.

11. Fill in the blanks with the corresponding synonyms:

b) big, great, huge, large, tremendous
1. I shouldn’t have thought a missionary such a ………… bug that he couldn’t afford to put on
frills.
2. It is like the weakness in the character of a ……….. man which may make him less admirable
but certainly makes him more interesting.
3. He was born in Honolulu and his father had a …….. store which sold hosiery and all such
goods.

21
 4. His eyes had a twinkle in them and his ……….. horn spectacles gave him a demureness
which was not a little diverting.
5. He hesitated and looked at me with twinkling eyes through his …… round spectacles.

c) bare, barren
1. It was strange that she should have chosen to back and test the full effect of this shapeless
………. ugliness upon herself.
2. She had a white frock, very simple and well made; her arms were …………, and her hair had
a white rose in it.

12. Fill in the blanks with the corresponding synonyms:

b) to chat, to chatter, to discuss, to talk
1. The young man by his side ………. volubly in an English that had something in it of the
intonation of a foreign tongue.
2. My bearers ……. gaily as they trudged along in the bright morning.
3. A group of businessmen stood together at the bar, ……… affairs, and in a corner two
kanakas were drinking.
4. The negroes …………… to each other, and began to quarrel over a string of bright beads.

c) to earn, to gain, to win

1. Oh, I’m only doing that for the present, and I’m …………. a great deal of valuable
experience.
2. He had to …….. money at once and G.B., an old friend of his family, had offered to take him
into his own business.
3. We know that it will profit a man little if he ……….. the whole world and lose his soul. I
know I have ……….. mine.

13. Find contexts in which pail and bucket cannot be used to replace each other despite their
closeness of meaning and contexts in which torch and flash-light are not true synonyms.

14. Fill in the blanks with the corresponding synonyms:

a) barely, hardly, scarcely
1. But he had …….. appeared when Edward, looking up, caught sight of him, and gave a joyful
cry of surprise.
2. He ……….. knew how the inspiration had come to him, but suddenly he clasped her in his
arms.
3. The women made way for them, but …….. sufficient, as if grudging to yield ground.
4.
b) actually, really
1. She said we were ……. the only people on the ship they cared to know.
2. But when he is …….. alive – the only possible course is silence.

15. Place the following words with related meanings on a scale from formal to informal: mean,
parsimonious, stingy, tight-arsed, ungenerous

FORMAL -------------------------NEUTRAL--------------------------- INFORMAL

3.2. Enriching the vocabulary of English

22
3.2.1. Loanwords
3.2.1.1. Loanwords from European languages.
For each language match the groups of words to the semantic fields:
French

high culture war / military French Louisiana French Others

Canadian (Cajun)

- bastion, brigade, battalion, cavalry, grenade, infantry, pallisade, rebuff, bayonet, - bigot,
chassis, clique, denim, garage, grotesque, jean(s), niche, shock
- ballet, cabernet, cachet, chaise longue, champagne, chic, cognac, corsage, faux
pas, nom de plume, quiche, rouge, roulet, sachet, salon, saloon, sang froid
- chowder
- jambalaya
Spanish
war animals other

 armada, adobe, alligator, alpaca, barricade, cannibal, canyon, coyote, desperado, embargo,
enchilada, guitar, marijuana, mesa, mosquito, mustang, ranch, taco, tornado, tortilla
Italian
architecture music literature food other

 alto, arsenal, balcony, broccoli, casino, cupola, duo, fresco, fugue, gazette (via French),
ghetto, gondola, macaroni, madrigal, motto, piano, opera, pantaloons, prima donna, regatta,
soprano, opera, stanza, studio, tempo, torso, umbrella, viola, violin
 from Italian American immigrants - cappuccino, espresso, mafioso, pasta, pizza, ravioli,
spaghetti, spumante, zucchini

Dutch, Flemish
shipping cloth industry art war food/drink other
a B C d e F

 boom, bow, bowsprit, buoy, commodore, cruise, dock, freight, keel, keelhaul, leak, pump,
reef, scoop, scour, skipper, sloop, smuggle, splice, tackle, yawl, yacht
 bale, cambric, duck (fabric), fuller's earth, mart, nap (of cloth), selvage, spool, stripe
 easel, etching, landscape, sketch
 beleaguer, holster, freebooter, furlough, onslaught
 booze, brandy(wine), coleslaw, cookie, cranberry, crullers, gin, hops, stockfish, waffle
 bugger (orig. French), crap, curl, dollar, scum, split (orig. nautical term), uproar

German
food clothes war others

23
  quartz, lager, knackwurst, liverwurst, loafer, noodle, pretzel, pumpernickel, sauerkraut,
schnitzel, lederhosen, dirndl
 (20th c. German loanwords) - blitzkrieg, zeppelin, U-boat, delicatessen, hamburger,
frankfurter, wiener, hausfrau, kindergarten, Oktoberfest, wunderkind, spritz (cookies), (apple)
strudel

2. Explain the meaning of the following words from: Yiddish, Scandinavian and Russian.

 bagel, Chanukkah (Hanukkah), chutzpah, dreidel, kibbitzer, kosher, pastrami (orig. from
Romanian), schlep, spiel, schlimazel, gefilte fish, goy, klutz, matzoh, schmuck.
 fjord, maelstrom, ombudsman, ski, slalom, smorgasbord
 apparatchik, czar/tsar, glasnost, icon, perestroika, vodka

3.2.1.2. Words from non-European languages

1. A great number of words were borrowed from American Indian languages as a result of the
contact between the American Indian communities and the speakers of American English. Match the
word to the following meaning groups:

animals clothes food Others

a b c d

avocado, cacao, cannibal, canoe, chipmunk, chocolate, chili, hammock, hurricane, maize,
moccasin, moose, pecan, possum, potato, skunk, squash, teepee, terrapin, tobacco, toboggan,
tomahawk, tomato, wigwam, woodchuck

2. Few words from languages other than European entered the vocabulary of the English language.
Match the word groups to the languages and check whether their meaning is known to you:

Sanskrit Hindi Dravidian Persian Arabic African Chinese Japanese Pacific Australia
(Farsi) Languages Islands

A b c d e f g h i J

 avatar, karma, mahatma, swastika, yoga

 bandanna, bangle, bungalow, chintz, cot, dungaree, juggernaut, jungle, loot, maharaja, nabob,
pajamas, punch (the drink), shampoo.
 curry, mango, teak, pariah
 check, checkmate, chess
 bedouin, emir, gazelle, giraffe, harem, hashish, lute, minaret, mosque, myrrh, salaam, sirocco,
sultan, vizier, bazaar, caravan
 banana (via Portuguese), banjo, boogie-woogie, gorilla, gumbo, jazz, jitterbug, jitters,
juke(box), voodoo, zebra, zombie
 ketchup, tea, ginseng, kowtow.
 geisha, hara kiri, judo, jujitsu, kamikaze, karaoke, kimono, samurai, sumo, sushi, tsunami
 bamboo, rattan, taboo, tattoo, ukulele.
 boomerang, budgerigar, kangaroo.

24
3.3. Antonymy

1. State which of the following antonymous words are strict bi-polar oppositions and which are
oppositions admitting gradations:
male - female married - single
clean - dirty alive - dead
young - old big - small
cheap - dear joy - sorrow
correct - incorrect to buy - to sell

2. State which of the following words in column A are antonyms proper and which are only reversible
pairs of those in column B:
Model: A B
brother to refuse
husband wife
brother sister
husband - wife: reversible pair (one of the elements implies the existence of the other)
brother - sister : antonyms proper (they may exist independently of each other)
to offer - to accept : reversible pair
to accept - to refuse: antonyms proper

A B
upstairs addition
to buy to take
high employer
good daughter
to give to lend
to reject to close, to shut
benefactor to sell
employee bride
true day
horrible long
to borrow guilty
to win inhospitable, boorish
subtraction bad
to open overclothes
night to accept, to select
hospitable downstairs
underclothes low
son false
bridegroom to lose
innocent fascinating
short malefactor

3.4. Polysemy

1. Build up sentences of your own using the different meanings of the polysemantic words given
below. Explain how context helps to distinguish their actual meanings:

25
 blind, code, figure, game, ground, line, term, wave.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. Look up the entries of the following polysemous adjectives in several dictionaries and discuss the
sense distinctions:

unbalanced

idle

canonical

particular

deep

floating

marginal

remote

3. Choose the correct word from the homophones given in brackets and use them in the following
sentences:

a) There is also a kind of birds called birds of (pray, prey).

b) He always does everything on (principal, principle).
c) The woman complained of terrible (panes, pains) in her stomach.
d) He was so upset that he gave (rain, rein, reign) to his anger.
e) The sight of the corpse made her (hare, hair) stand on end.
f) Loose his beard and hoary (hair, hare),
Streamed like a meteor to the troubled (air, heir)
g) A doubtful throne is ice on summer (seas, seize).
h) Hence, in a season of calm (weather, whether, wether)
Through inland far we be,
Our (souls, soles) have (sight, site) of the immortal (sea, see)
Which brought us hither.

4. Find perfect homophones for the words given below and use them is appropriate contexts:

aisle allowed bayed bough brake bridal

buss cent corps cote counsel are
farther floe fur hale hart hire
illicit lade lent mane muscle o'er
plait poll rite rode sew tied
tier vale wave whit won

26
5. Consider the following English words and decide whether they are best thought in terms of
homonymy or polysemy, and why. Try translating them into Romanian. Are there several possible
translation equivalents or will one word do for the different meanings the English word has?

cap face row club

way bed match plot

3.5. Homonymy

1. Identify the homophones of the following words:

air flower
aisle floor
buy for
cent hair
eye hour
key night
maid peace

2. Identify the different meanings and indicate the pronunciation of the following homographs:
sow tear
bow wind
lead wound

3. Choose the correct word from the homonyms in brackets:

a. His car broke down se he called for a ….truck (toe, tow)

b. I want to …. You for your delicious meal (complement, compliment)
c. He constantly … about the expense of those dinners (wind, whine, wined)
d. Do you want to go …? (higher, hire)
e. The … character in the play is a middle-aged widow (principle, principal)
f. The soldier … a flower on his uniform.(wore, war)
g. All those opposed should say … (nay, neigh)
h. A favorite orange is a … (naval, navel)
i. She was the prima ballerina in the … de ballet. (core, corps)
j. A famous brand of containers in US is called Tupper … (wear, ware, where)
k. The tables were …. They were nailed to the floor. (stationary, stationery)
l. There is a rich… of comedy in his plays (vain, vein, vane)
m. William made a …. that his brother would some day become an all-star pitcher.
(prophecy, prophesy)
n. A tiger in his … is more dangerous than three tigers in the open. (lair, layer).
o. Fabric … takes a lot of skill. (dying, dyeing)
p. The tourist used a traveller’s …to pay for his souvenirs. (check, cheque)
q. She was overcome by a fit of … (peak, peek, pique)
r. A type of tender chicken is called a … (friar, fryer)
s. The teacher stayed after school to … the student (council, counsel, consul)

(selected from Activities for English as a Second Language (ESL) Students, http://a4esl.org/ )
4. The following poems, of unknown origin, are examples of the use of capitonyms:

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 Job's Job
In August, an august patriarch
Was reading an ad in Reading, Mass.
Long-suffering Job secured a job
To polish piles of Polish brass.

Herb's Herbs
An herb store owner, name of Herb,
Moved to a rainier Mount Rainier.
It would have been so nice in Nice,
And even tangier in Tangier. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitonym)

3.6. Paronymy.

1. Give the meanings of the following paronyms and provide a context for each of them:
affect effect
alive live
alone lonely
centenary centennial
childish childlike
classic classical
comic comical
comprehensive comprehensible
content contents
corporal corporeal
economic economical
exterior external
womanly womanish

1. She had a plump…….figure.

2. The acrobat had low ….round shoulders.
3. Corporal punishment has been banned in state schools in Britain.
4. He is more interested in the spiritual world than in the …..existence.
5. This system is very ………because it runs on half-price electricity.
6. That was the longest period of …………..and industrial crisis.

Idioms
1. Read the following story and then match the idiomatic expressions with the definitions below:

Joe Fisher was in trouble. He'd just been dismissed from his job at the local factory. He'd
worked there since leaving school, steadily working his way up from tea boy to the firm's accountant,
but his boss had found out that he'd been cooking the books. He'd started doing it because he was fed
up with seeing the fat cats at the top of the company making money hand over fist while he slogged
his guts out just to be paid enough money to live on. So he started stealing from the company. For a
few months it went like a dream and nobody suspected anything. Then he started living beyond his
means, buying a new house and an expensive car. People got suspicious and began to wonder how he
could throw so much money around on his salary. That's when the boss found out and everything
went badly wrong. He wondered what would happen now. Perhaps he could throw in the towel and
leave the rat race altogether. After all, he could sell that big new house and buy himself a nice little
cottage in the country…

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1. work extremely hard: _____
2. give up:_____
3. spend more than you earn: _____
4. make money very easily: _____
5. change facts and figures in a dishonest or an illegal way: ____
6. work very successfully: _____
7. spend money in a careless way: _____
8. get yourself more responsible jobs within a company:______
9. a competitive struggle for success in jobs and business: ________
10. a wealthy and powerful person: _______
(Linguistics Journal Volume 3 Issue 3: 164)

2. Analyse the transformations that occurred in the structure of the following idioms:

Idiom meaning transformations analysis

They buried the The hatchet seems not to have
hatchet. been buried yet by those
journalists.

Tim ate his heart out Tim ate his heart out over Sue on
over Sue on Wednesday, then he ate it out
Wednesday. over Jane on Thursday.

Tim ate his heart out over Sue,

and Dan ate HIS out over Jessica.

Bob cried his eyes Bob cried his eyes out on

out on Tuesday. Tuesday, and he cried them out
again on Sunday.

Bob cried his eyes out on

Tuesday, and Dan cried HIS out
on Sunday.
His words had The mere mention of John had
touched a nerve. touched a very raw nerve indeed.

All hell broke loose. All hell will break loose

All hell has broken loose.
All hell could have broken loose

The shit hit the fan. The shit might hit the fan.
The shit has hit the fan.
The shit must have hit the fan.
John’s game broke The ice was finally broken by
the ice at the party John’s game.

3. Paraphrase the statements underlined:

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 1. The 1,000 homeless people in Baghdad sleeping in night shelters are only the tip of
the iceberg. There are many thousands of homeless people in the city.
2. Why are you so late home? Your mother and I have been tearing our hair out
wondering where you were!
3. The office clerk says that they have got a big order from Sweden this morning and the
things are getting better, but the manager says that one swallow doesn't make a
summer and they should not be too optimistic.
4. He has no stomach for this kind of job. He should never have become a salesman.
5. Your father's having trouble at work, so his temper's on a short fuse today.
6. The two businessmen have locked horns over the deal.
7. The strange combination of colors hits you in the eye as soon as you enter the room.
8. He is not interested in reviewing small provincial exhibitions like this one; he's got
much bigger fish to fry.
9. I had trouble keeping my end up in the conversation, because I didn't know anything
about the subject.
10. After the terrible attack on its military bases, the country decided not to be caught
with its pants down a second time.
11. When you say such nasty things about the organization, you are biting the hand that
feeds you.
12. She forgot to send me an invitation to her party and then added insult to injury by
asking to borrow my jacket.
13. We must not forget to take account of price increases when we do the budget for next
year.
14. This new 'miracle diet' is a double-edged sword----it will make you lose weight fast
but you may have some unpleasant side effects.
15. He never remembers anything I tell him. It just goes in one ear and out the other.
(Linguistics Journal Volume 3 Issue 3: 165)

4. Paraphrase the statements underlined in the short passages:

1. Young students who plan on staying in the United States just long enough to finish two
semesters of high school have difficulty finding a host family. Lucy is one of the lucky ones.
"I think it all depends," says Lucy, "on how you answer the survey sent by the overseas study
company. For example, I did not economize on words. I even wrote about my four dogs, and
said I went to church every Sunday." She hit the target. Americans are quite religious and
have a special place in their hearts for pets.

2. At sixteen, I knew I had a shot at the 1976 Olympics. At the trials, one month prior to the
finals, I took first place on the ten-meter platform and on the springboard! This was
surprising because I had trained mostly on the platform. In the finals, I won the silver medal
for the platform. Unfortunately, I was not happy. Instead, I felt I failed because I had not won
the gold.

5. Spoiling a child happens when parents are unable to stand up to their children's unreasonable
demands. Such parents fluctuate between saying no and giving in. Neither response seems
satisfactory to them. If they refuse a request, they immediately feel regret for having been so
strict or ungenerous. If they give in, they feel regret over having been too easy. Parents and
their children were robbed of some mutual respect by this kind of variability.
6. The Japanese business person works to achieve harmony, even if the deal falls through , and
will spend whatever time is necessary to determine a "you to you" approach----trying to

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 understand the other person's point of view, communicating personal views only indirectly
and delicately.

7. In my field----finance and securities----we are often asked by Westerners how Nomura

Securities has managed to escape the paper traffic jam that American firms have faced. First,
we have very sophisticated computers. Second, and most important, the operational personnel
responsible for processing all these transactions stay and stay until the job is done.

8. Mary was a talented but struggling artist in her mid-twenties when she flew to New York
from her hometown, hoping to find work illustrating children's books----her life's goal. So she
was disappointed when all the book publishers she visited turned her down. One even
suggested the drawings might be better suited to greeting cards.
"I was crushed," Mary admits. Greeting cards seemed a come down from her high
expectations, but the advice stayed with her, and she decided to give it a try. The results
transformed her life forever. Today, Mary sells an astonishing 14 million greeting cards a
year. Her popular designs appear on more than 2,000 products, including books, calendars,
and kitchen items. Once you know Mary's distinctive drawing style, you can recognize her
cards from 20 paces away----bright, funny, and with an eye to the past. Her cards usually
have elaborate border designs comprised of repeated images: hearts, flowers, peaches, and
teapots, for example. Despite her success, Mary's feet are placed firmly on the ground. She
still lives 16 miles from where she grew up, has many friends dating back to school years,
and moved from a large house to a small one because, she explained, her family did not use
all the space in the old place. She does most of her drawing in her home studio at night.
(Linguistics Journal Volume 3 Issue 3: 166)
Glossary of terms
abbreviation a shortened form of a word or phrase. It consists of a letter or group of letters taken
from the word or phrase, e.g. the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the
abbreviation abbr. or abbrev.

acronym a word formed by taking letters from a phrase that is too long to use
comfortably (e.g: Laser is an acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation). If the letters do not make a word, but are pronounced
individually, as in the CIA or the BBC, it can be called an initialism.
Acronyms are regarded as a subgroup of abbreviations.

antonym a word which is opposite in meaning to another word. Male and female are called
ungradable antonyms (or complementaries), big and small are called gradable
antonyms (or gradable pair)

back formation a word formation process by means of which a word is made by the removal of
an affix from an existing word (e.g. the verb to televise was formed from the noun
television)

binary features semantic features that come in pairs, e.g.: [MALE] [FEMALE],
[ADULT] [YOUNG]

blending another term for portmanteau word

borrowing a word or a phrase which has been taken from one language and used in another
(e.g. English has taken moccasin ‘ a type of shoe’ from an American Indian
Language). When a borrowing is a single word it is called a loan word

31
collocation any grammatical well-formed sequence of words. The term refers to the restrictions
on how words can be used together, for example which prepositions are used with
particular verbs , or which verbs and nouns are used together. e.g. do collocates with
damage, duty and wrong, but not with trouble, noise, and excuse:
do a lot of damage do one’s duty do wrong
make trouble make a lot of noise make an excuse

componential analysis an approach to the study of meaning which analyses a word into a set of
meaning components or semantic features. (e.g. the meaning of the word boy may be
analyzed as: [+human][+male][-adult]

compound word a combination of two or more words which functions as a single word. Compunds
are written in a single word (e.g. headache), as hyphenated words (e.g. self-
government), or as two words (e.g. police station)

connotation the additional meaning that a word or a phrase has beyond its central meaning.
These meanings show people’s emotions and attitudes towards what the word or
phrase refers to (e.g. child is defined as ‘a young human being’, but people associate
it with many other characteristics: affectionate, amusing, lovable, sweet, noisy,
irritating, grubby.

conversion a word formation process by which a word is moved from one word class to
another. The word down, for example, is normally a preposition (‘down the road’) or
an adverb (‘I fell down’). However, it can occasionally be used as a verb (He downed
the drink in one gulp).

corpus (pl. corpora) or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts (now usually
electronically stored and processed) used to do statistical analysis and hypothesis
testing, checking occurrences of words or word frequencies. A corpus may contain
texts in a single language (monolingual corpus) or text data in multiple languages
(multilingual corpus).

denotation the literal meaning or "dictionary definition" of a term, devoid of emotion,

attitude, and color

derivation the formation of new words by adding affixes to other words or morphemes
(the noun insanity is derived from the adjective sane by the addition of the negative
prefix in- and the noun-forming suffix –ity.)
derivational affix

diminutive affix an affix with the meaning of ‘little’ or ‘small’ (e.g. –let as in booklet, starlet)

etymon the original meaning or form of a word

etymology n. / etymological adj.

the study of the origin of words, and of their history and the changes. For
example the etymology of the modern English noun fish can be traced back to Old
English fisc. In the case of the word meat, there is a change in meaning. The word
comes from the Old English word mete which meant ‘food in general’.

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euphemism a pleasant replacement of an objectionable word that has pejorative
connotations (e.g. to pass on for ‘to die’)

headword the main word or lead entry in a dictionary

homographs words which are written in the same way but which are pronounced
differentlyand have different meanings (e.g. the verb lead and the noun lead
‘metal’)

homonyms words which are written in the same way and sound alike but which have
different meanings (e.g. to lie ‘to be in a horizontal position’ and to lie ‘not to tell
the truth’)

homophones words which sound alike but are written differently and often have different
meanings (e.g. the words no and know)

hyponymy a relationship between two words, in which the meaning of one of the words
includes the meaning of the other word. (e.g. lorry and vehicle are related in such a
way that lorry refers to a type of vehicle, and vehicle is the general term that includes
lorry and other types of vehicles. The specific term lorry is called a hyponym, and
the general term vehicle is called a superordinate.

jargon the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a
common interest: lawyers, computer programmers, criminals, etc. All have
specialised terms and expressions that they use, many of which may not be
comprehensible to the outsider.

lexeme [`leksi:m] (also lexical item) the smallest unit in the meaning system of a language that
can be distinguished from other similar units. It is an abstract unit which occurs in
many different forms in actual spoken or written sentences. (e.g. all inflected forms
such as sings, singing, sang, sung would belong to the one lexeme sing). Similarly,
such expressions as bury the hatchet, give up, school boy would each be considered a
single lexeme. In a dictionary, each lexeme has a separate entry or sub-entry.

lexical field (also semantic field) the organization of related words and expressions into a
system which shows their relationship to one another.
The absence of a word in a particular place in a lexical field of a language is
called a lexical gap.(e.g. there is no singular noun that covers both cow and bull as
horse covers stallion and mare.

lexicology n./ lexicological adj. / lexicologist n.

the study of the vocabulary items (lexemes) of a language, including their
meanings and relations (lexical fields), and changes in their form and meaning
through time. The research results of lexicologists may be of use to lexicographers.

lexicography n./ lexicological adj./ lexicographer n.

the compiling of dictionaries

lexicon all the words and idioms of a language. More formally, it is a language's inventory of
lexemes.

33
loan word (or borrowing) a word that has come into English from another language

neologism [ni`olәdjizm] a new word or expression which has come into the language. Often
neolog.isms are the result of the opening up of new areas of art, science or
technology

portmanteau word is formed out of parts of other words (e.g. brunch is formed from
breakfast and lunch).

root (also base form) a morpheme which is the basic part of a word and which may
occur on its own (e.g. man, keep, hot). Roots may be adjoined to other roots
(fireman), or take affixes (keeper).

semantic feature also semantic component, semantic properties the basic unit of meaning in a
word, e.g. [+human], [+male]. The meanings of words may be described as a
combination of semantic features.

semantics a branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words

sememe a unit of meaning. A sememe can be the meaning expressed by a morpheme, such as
the English pluralizing morpheme -s, which carries the sememic feature [+ plural].
Alternately, a single sememe (for example [go] or [move]) can be conceived as the
abstract representation of such verbs as skate, roll, jump, slide, turn, or boogie. A
seme is the smallest unit of meaning recognized in semantics, referring to a single
characteristic of a sememe.

slang informal language, using expressions that many would consider to be grammatically
imperfect and sometimes rude. It often used within small social groups where it can
help draw and keep the group together. It changes very quickly in English.

stem (also base form) that part of a word to which an affix can be added to produce another
word. The stem of a word may consist of : a) one morpheme (root) (work), b) a root
plus a derivational affix (work + -er = worker), c) two or more roots (work + shop=
workshop)

superordinate a general term that includes various different words representing narrower
categories, called hyponyms.

synonym n./ synonymous adj./ synonymy n. a word which has the same , or nearly the same,
meaning as another word.

taboo words considered unacceptable in ‘polite society’

thesaurus (pl. thesauruses) a word book in which words are arranged thematically to help
the user in selecting the right word for a specific purpose.
Words are organized by categories and concepts, so synonyms and near-synonyms
are grouped together (e.g. the concept ‘amusement’ groups the following words: fun,
frolic, merriment, jollity, joviality, laughter)

word the smallest linguistic unit which can occur on its own in speech or writing
word formation the creation of new words

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word frequency the frequency with which a word is used in a text or corpus

References
Baurie, Laurie, 1983, English Word-Formation. Cambridge: CUP.
Chilarescu M, C. Paidos, 2008, New Proficiency in English, Iasi: Polirom.
Chiţoran Dumitru, 1973, Elements of English Structural Semantics, Bucureşti: EDP.
Cruse, D.A., 1986, Lexical Semantics, Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.
Hulban Horia, 2001, Synthesis in English Lexicology and Semantics, Editura Spanda, Iaşi.
Geeraerts, Dirk, 2010, Theories of Lexical Semantics, Oxford University Press.
Katamba, Francis, 1994, English Words, London: Routledge.
Kempson, Ruth, 1977, Semantic Theory, Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics, Cambridge.
Levitchi, Leon 1970, Limba engleză contemporană. Lexicologie, Bucureşti: EDP.
Mecken H.L. 2000, The American Language. An Inquiry into the Development of English in the
United States. Bartleby.
Seely, John, 2002, Words, Oxford University Press.

Dictionaries of linguistic terms

Bussmann, H., 1996, Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics, Routledge.
Cruse, A., 2006, A Glossary of Semantics and Pragmatics, Edinburgh University Press.
Richards, J. C. J. Platt, H. Platt, 1993, Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics,
Longman.
Trask R.L., 1992, A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms in Linguistics, Routledge.

On-line resources

Affixes: the building blocks of English, available at: http://www.affixes.org/e/-eer.html

Quinion, Michael. 2008. Affixes: the building blocks of English.
(Available at: http://www.affixes.org/index.htm) Based on Quinion, Michael. 2002. Ologies and
Isms: word beginnings and endings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

WordNet is an open-source electronic lexical data base of English, developed at Princeton

University. (Available at: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn2.1

FrameNet: The Berkeley FrameNet Project is creating an on-line lexical resource for English, based
on frame semantics and supported by corpus evidence. It documents the range of semantic and
syntactic combinatory possibilities (valences) of each word in each of its senses, through computer-
assisted annotation of example sentences and automatic tabulation and display of the annotation
results. (Available at: http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu/

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