英语词汇学综合练

英语词汇学综合练习 I. Decide whether the following statements are true or false 1. The transitional period from Old English to Modern English is known as Middle English (1100-1500), which is characterized by the strong influence of French. 2. Words of Anglo-Saxon origin are loan words. 3. Acronyms and derivations are all processes of shortening words or word groups. 4. Componential analysis enables us to have an exact knowledge of the conceptual meaning of words. 5. Polysemy is an essential feature of a language’s economy and efficiency. 6. The great majority of the basic word stock of the English language are native words, that is, words of Anglo-Saxon origin. 7. Clipping involves the deletion of one or more syllables from a word, which is also available in its full form. 8. Content words have lexical meaning but no grammatical words. 9. The impact of context on meaning differs from one word to another and from one instance or passage to another. 10. When an idiom is reordered, its sense is usually destroyed. 11. There is an intrinsic connection between the sound symbol and the sense of all English words. 12. Inflectional affixes have only grammatical meanings. 13. The most important development of the English language in the United States has been in the grammatical structure. 14. “Aliens”are foreign borrowings which have been naturalized in English in terms of pronunciation and spelling. 15. Many established suffixes in English are still active today in producing new derivatives. 16. The classification of morphemes into free and bound is now considered more scientific than the classification of morphemes into roots and affixes. 17. The coinage of common words from proper names constitutes one of the major types of English word formation. 18. The ability of one word to denote several senses is one of the basic peculiarities of human speech. 19. All roots can stand alone as words. 20. “Composition” is a word-building process in which a word is formed through joining two or even more existing words (or free morphemes). 21. The meaning of a word, esp. that of a polysemous word, is often determined by the context in which it occurs. 22. During the Renaissance English borrowed a large number of Latin and Greek words. 23. Words like “coup d etat” and “détente” are usually considered to be foreign by native speakers of English. 24. English is more closely related to German than French. 25. Scandinavian languages refer to Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. 26. Old English was a highly inflected language. 27. Modern English is considered to be an analytic language. 28. The four major foreign contributors to English vocabulary in earlier times are Latin, French, Scandinavian and Italian. 1 29. The major factors that promote the growth of modern English vocabulary are advances in sciences and technology as well as influence of foreign cultures and languages. 30. The most important mode of vocabulary development in present-day English is creation of new words by means of word-formation. 31. Middle English absorbed a tremendous number of foreign words with a little change in word endings. 32. Open compounds look like free phrases as the elements forming each word are written separately. 33. As a rule, the stress of compounds falls on the first element. 34. A compound functions as a single grammatical unit, so the internal structure can not be changed. 35. Such words as the poorer, the departed, a Republica n are all examples of partial conversion. 36. Motivation explains why a particular form has a particular meaning. 37. Unlike conceptual meaning, associative meaning is unstable and indeterminate. 38. Affective meaning refers to the part of the word-meaning which indicates the attitude of the user. 39. By etymological motivation, we mean that the meaning of a particular word is related to its origin. 40. Relative terms are relational opposites, which include verbs reversing the action of each other. 41. Idioms are fixed in structure and so can never be changed. 42. Some idioms deny analysis in terms of grammar. 43. Idioms are characterized by terseness, expressiveness and vividness. 44. The prefix “de” is polysemic. 45. The basic word stock is made up of native words exclusively. 46. Complete or absolute synonyms are very rare in English. II. The following are multiple-choice questions. Mark your answer by circling A, B, C, or D which best completes the sentence. 1. The English language from to the present is called Modern English. A. 450 B. 1100 C. 1500 D. 1800 2. The sentence “John was fired for petty thieving” is stylistically . A. literal B. colloquial C. archaic D. neutral 3. Of the following words, is an acronym. 4. The definition of a word given in the dictionary is called its meaning. A. connotative B. denotative C. stylistic D. affective 5. The language the early immigrants brought with them to America was different from present-day English; the greatest difference lies in . A. spelling B. pronunciation C. grammar D. vocabulary 6. serves as a typical example of euphemism. A. “Pious” means “hypocritical virtuous” B. “A mental hospital” referring to “a madhouse” C. “A landscape architect” meaning “ a garden” D. “Slow learners” referring to “underachievers” 7. The word “success” used to mean “result, outcome”; now it means a “favourable outcome or result”. This is an example of of meaning. A. elevation B. degeneration C. extension D. restriction 8. Middle English began with the conquest of England in 1066. A. Greek B. Norman C. Danish D. Roman 9. New words in a language are also referred to as . A. archaisms B. neologisms C. colloquialisms D. euphemisms 10. The branch of linguistics treating of word origins is called . A. grammatology B. phraseology C. lexicology D. etymology 11. The root “-retain” as in “maintain”, “retain” and “detain” means . A. to hold B. to give C. to get D. to put 12. The suffix “ling” as in “hireling” and “weakling” has a shade of meaning. A. poetic B. euphemistic C. commendatory D. derogatory 13. “Bank” has the meanings of “land along the side of a river” and “a place in which money is kept and paid out”. This is an example of . A. polysemy B. homonymy C. hyponymy D. homophony 14. “Journey” originally meant “a day’s walk”. Now it means “distance traveled”. This is a case of . A. generalization B. specialization C. degeneration D. amelioration 15. He is one of my fast friends. “Fast” here means . A. rapid B. steadfast C. secure D. sensitive 16. The history of English begins with the conquest of what is now England by the Angles, Saxons and the . A. Scandinavians B. Danes C. Jutes D. Norsemen 17. In Modern English, most Greek borrowings came into English through . A. German B. Dutch C. Latin D. Celtic 18. Idioms are usually semantically . A. determined B. opaque C. arranged D. flexible 19. The language which has most seriously affected present-day British English is probably contemporary . A. Yiddish B. French C. Spanish D. American 20. “Donate” resulting from “donation” is an example of . A. clipping B. compounding C. reduplication D. back-formation 21. is not a pair of contrasting words. A. High, bright B. Empty, full C. Rough, gentle D. Fair, dark 22. The prefix in the word does not change it to a different word-class. A. endanger B. unearth C. antiwar D. unfair 23. The use of “senior citizen” for old people is a case of . A. vulgarism B. euphemism C. colloquialism D. archaism 24. “Tired” and “fatigued” are synonyms, but they differ in . A. denotative meaning B. connotative meaning C. stylistic meaning D. affective meaning 25. is a non-productive affix. A. “anti” as in “antiwar” B. “with” as in “withhold” C. “mal” as in “maltreat” D. “un” as in “unjust” 26. Words formed from elements of mixed origins are called . A. hybrids B. translation loans C. hyponyms D. taboos 27. Since World War II, gives rise to the largest percentage of new words in the English language. A. compounding B. derivation C. conversion D. borrowing 28. “Watergate” meaning a political scandal is derived from the name of a . A. person B. building C. trademark D. literary character 29. The words in the group make up a semantic field. A. “father, teacher, son, brother” B. “red, white, rose, milk” C. “sorrow, grief, regret” D. “socks, slippers, shoes, glass” 30. The three foreign languages that have exercised the greatest influence on the development of the English vocabulary are . A. German, French and Italian B. Greek, Latin and French C. Italian, Spanish and German D. Greek, Italian and Celtic 31. The word”pioneer”, originally meaning “foot-soldier”, is an example of . A. extension of meaning B. elevation of meaning C. degeneration of meaning D. narrowing of meaning 32. English has borrowed a large number of words from various foreign languages, and such words as “ballet” and “chauffeur” are examples of . A. denizens B. semantic borrowings C. translation loans D. aliens 34. Broadly speaking, words of deep emotional content are likely to be . A. those of foreign origin B. those newly formed C. those long handed down from English origin D. those not frequently used 35. A morpheme is a two-facet language unit which possesses both and meaning. A. function B. letters C. syllable D. sound 36. The language brought to North America by the British explorers in the seventeenth century belongs to the early stage of English. A. Old B. Middle C. Modern D. Contemporary 37. The word “villain”, originally meaning “a man who worked on a farm or villa”, is an example of . A. elevation of meaning B. degradation of meaning C. narrowing of meaning D. extension of meaning 38. The noun “dissatisfaction” is formed by a word-building process known as . A. derivation B. composition C. blending D. back-formation 39. The idiomatic expression in “the old fellow has kicked the bucket” means . A. The old fellow has struck a pail with his feet B. The old man has passed away C. The old man has gone to the bucket D. The old pail has been damaged 40. “Sow” (put seeds in soil) and “sow” (a fully grown female pig) are . A. homophones B. homographs C. hyponyms D. perfect synonyms 41. The verb “sculpt” is probably due to the process of . A. clipping B. back-formation C. acronymy D. reduplication 42. The word “knight”, which originally meant “youth” or “servant”, gives an example of . A. restriction B. elevation C. degeneration D. extension 43. The sentence “Feeling fatigued, Tom retired early” is stylistically . A. colloquial B. slang C. literary D. neutral 44. “Beautiful” and “ugly” form a pair of . A. complementaries B. gradable antonyms C. marked antonyms D. conversives 45. The part “-ceive” in the verb “conceive” is . A. a free root B. an inflectional affix C. a bound root D. a derivational affix 46. The majority of back-formed words are . A. nouns B. adjectives C. verbs D. adverbs 47. “Tired” and “fatigued” are synonyms, but they differ in meaning . A. affective B. stylistic C. denotative D. connotative 48. The word “dilly-dally” characterizes the process of . A. clipping B. acronym C. reduplication D. back-formation 49. The prefix “de” in “debug” and “defrost” means . A. to add B. to drop C. to remove D. to break 50. Today the largest number of words formed by conversion are . A. nouns from verbs B. verbs from nouns C. adjectives from verbs D. verbs from adjectives 51. The word “fond”, which originally meant “foolish”, gives an illustration of of meaning. A. degeneration B. restriction C. extension D. elevation 52. The semantic relationship between the word “willow” and “tree” is one of . A. synonymy B. homonymy C. antonymy D. hyponymy 53. “Starve ” used to mean “to die”. Now it means “to die of hunger”. This is a case of . A. generalization B. specialization C. degeneration D. elevation 54. The words “worked” and “working” have the same . A. denotative meaning B. connotative meaning C. lexical meaning D. grammatical meaning 55. Antonyms are found primarily in . A. qualitative adjectives B. possessive adjectives C. possessive pronouns D. conjunctions 56. “Principle” and “principal” are . A. homophones B. homographs C. hyponyms D. perfect synonyms 57. The difference between sound and form are due to . A. the fact of more letters than phonemes in English B. stabilization of spelling by printing C. influence of the working of students D. innovations made by linguists 58. Statesman is an appreciative word while politician is a word. A. colloquial B. derogatory C. commendatory D. neutral 59. Happy and unhappy are a pair of . A. non-gradable antonyms B. root antonyms C. derivational antonyms D. conversives 60. The noun “flu”comes from the word “influenza”. This is an example of the word-building process known as . A. shortening/clipping B. back-formation C. functional shift D. conversion 61. Words completely out of current use are called . A. archaic B. poetic C. slang D. obsolete 62. It is possible for to be free morphemes. A. prefixes B. inflectional affixes C. roots D. combining form 63. The pair of words “hot” and “cold” belongs to the type of antonyms known as . A. complementaries B. conversives C. contrasts D. relational opposites 64. The semantic relationship between “chair” and “furniture” is one of . A. synonymy B. homonymy C. antonymy D. hyponymy 65. If a word consists of a free morpheme and a bound morpheme we call it a . A. simple word B. compound word C. derived word D. complicated word 66. The word “stretched” is made up of two . A. vowels B. morphemes C. syllables D. phonemes 67. In terms of oppositeness of meaning, is a pair of conversives. A. “buy” and “sell” B. “present” and “past” C. “love” and “hate” D. “far” and “near” 68. A of sheep is gazing in the field. A. flock B. herd C. shoal D. swarm 69. When you have a problem in your study, you may ask the teacher for help. “Ask”here means . A. invite B. demand C. require D. request III. Blank-filling Directions: Complete the following sentences by supplying an appropriate term for each blank according to the course book. 1. Borrowed words which still sound foreign and look foreign are . 2. There is no relationship between sound and meaning as the connection between them is arbitrary and conventional. 3. are borrowings that have become naturalized or assimilated in English. 4. Archaisms are words no longer in use or obsolete in use. 5. Content words are changing all the time whereas functional words are . Functional words enjoy a higher frequency in use than content words. 6. The reference of a word to a thing outside the language is and conventional. 7. The written form of English is an representation of the spoken form. 8. de-, dis-, un- are prefixes. 9. The Norman Conquest in 1066 started a continual flow of words into English. 10. Content words have both meanings, and meaning in particular. 11. The name given to the widening of meaning which some words undergo is . 12. Middle English refers to the language spoken from 1150 to . 13. is a method of turning words of one part of speech to those of a different part of speech. 14. Synchronically, is viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word in a certain historical period of time. 15. The same idiom may show differences when it is assigned different meanings. 16. Mal-, mis-, and pseudo- are prefixes. 17. is the relationship between language and the world. IV. Fill in each blank with a word contrary in meaning to the word given in the bracket. 1. Beads and shells are forms of money. (modern) 2. I have finished all the exercises. I am done. (partially) 3. On a humid day, there is lots of in the air. (dryness) 4. Mosquitoes won’t bite just anyone. They look for someone (ordinary). 5. If you want to drive, it is to have a driver’s license (unnecessary) 6. There is a great in our political beliefs. We agree on most things. (difference) 7. The man said, “I am . I didn’t do it.” (guilty) 8. The solider stood in a position while the general walked past him. (relaxed) 9. You will have to the string in order to open the box. (tighten) 10. No one lives in that house (inhabited). 11. My talks with my boss were . I will probably get a promotion soon. (unprofitable) 12. After his wife died, Mr. Green became very ; no one could cheer him up. (cheerful) 13. Doesn’t it seem as if large companies that communicate with customers mostly by computers are to human problems? (sensitive) V. Complete the following sentences using the words given below A). narrow, circumstantial, cool, fair, hollow, cold, random, cardinal, close, double-minded, round, green-eyed, happy, open-ended, capital, burning 1. When votes are counted and found to be nearly equal, for and against, it is said there has been a vote. 2. It is comfort to a man in deep affliction to tell him that it is his fate to suffer and that what can’t be cured must be endured. 3. A close shave is a synonymous expression for a escape from danger. 4. The points are the four points of the horizon known as north, south, east and west. 5. A question is a matter in dispute which urgently presses for settlement. 6. A sentence is one judicially pronouncing death upon a man as the punishment due to his crime. 7. There was no direct evidence in the case and the evidence was not sufficient to attach guilt to him. 8. One whose nature is not easily excited is sometimes spoken of as having a head. 9. One whose mind wavers between tow or more courses of action is called a man. 10. These fields give promise of a good harvest. 11. The monster is jealousy. 12. A expression is a clever, suitable suggestion, which show the way out of embarrassment. 13. A compliment is a compliment which is meant without heartiness or sincerity. 14. Since no conclusion is forthcoming, let’s keep the question . 15. A student at an examination in attempting to answer a question he is not sure of, is sometimes said to take a shot at the question. 16. The medical men signed a robin unanimously agreeing upon the terms they would charge. B). illegible, ineligible, lightening, lighting, plaintiff, plaintive, principle, principal 17. What are the two exports of this country? 18. Even if you are making notes for your won use, your writing should not be . 19. As the storm grew worse, they set about the boat. 20. The lost child continued to whimper in a manner. 21. As the witnesses gave their evidence, the felt confident that he would win the case. 22. He expressed the new scientific in a mathematical formula which we did not understand. 23. It is a rare occurrence for a human being to be struck by . 24. His age made him for the competition. C). crevice, crevasse, incredible, incredulous, respectfully, respectively, stationary, stationery 25. All the we need for our work is supplied by the school. 26. You should remember that the building is a war memorial and speak more . 27. The car was when it was struck by the railway engine. 28. The explorer found himself suspended at the end of a rope far down in a . 29. A pavilion and a swimming pool are to be built at the girls’ and boys’ schools . 30. the number of careless drivers we saw was . 31. I have dropped some money into a between these paving stones. 32. The boy’s mother was when we told her of the success. D).guilt, gilt, board, bored, stare, stair, waist, waste, root, route, serial, cereal 33. The jury had no doubt about the of the accused. 34. Others thought the program was amusing but I was . 35. I was so amazed at the sight I could only stand and . 36. The invaders laid the entire countryside. 37. We were lost because our guide was unfamiliar with this . 38. I want to get home early because my favourite is on the program. VI. Section A. Fill the blanks in the following sentences with appropriate adverbs or prepositions. 1. A soft sea breeze set at midnight. 2. He is wise enough to see all these fine pretensions. 3. He set all objections and granted my request. 4. If land is cropped and not manured, it will run . 5. The judge said he would hold your case until the next sitting of the court. 6. If the weather holds , I suggest we go out on a picnic. 7. As neither of us would give in, the bargain fell . 8. He let his feeling run away his judgment. 9. He meant to put in a share of the profits. 10. One is not sorry to see the proud pulled . 11. He passes a learnt man in our little community. 12. He will draw from what he has promised. 13. He showed violent opposition at first, but when the scheme was fully explained, he came round our view. 14. He will stick nothing to accomplish his purpose. Section B: Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions 15 They have a heated debate on the question tea. 16. His voice was surprisingly profound one of so thin a neck. 17. He is meanness and deceit. 18. The picture is only Rubens, not by him. 19. We put quality quantity. 20. Cloth is sold the yard or the meter. 21. There is an island a little way the coast. 22. You must provide a possible lack of water. 23. He inherited this his father’s will. What he did is nothing what he might have accomplished. VII. Matching Match words in column A with the words or phrases in column B Section A A B 1. extension A. calculus 2. narrowing B. can-opener (all-purpose key) 3. elevation C. thee 4. degradation D. paranoid 5.transfer E. voyage 6. archaism F. busyboy 7. argot G. box 8. neologism H. sergeant 9. terminology I. pride 10. jargon J. microelectronics Section B A B 1. denizen A. chook 2. alien B. bazaar 3. archaism C. indigestion 4. neologism D. shift 5. dialectal words E. brethren 6. terminology F. laymen 7. extension G. microteaching 8. narrowing H. mistress 9. elevation I. voyage 10. degradation J. sergeant Section C A B 1. jargon A. audiovisual 2. terminology B. troth 3. archaism C. gossip 4. neologism D. dip (pick-pocket) 5. slang E. holler 6. argot F. naughty 7. elevation G. doctor 8. degradation H. futurology 9. extension I. citizen 10. narrowing J. persona VIII. Explain the following terms with appropriate examples. 1. back-formation 2. polysemy 3. blending 4. homonymy 5. conversion 6. compounding 7. root 8. elevation of meaning 9. hyponymy 10. specialization 11. generalization IX. Answer the following questions 1. What are the types of homonyms? 2.What is prefixation? 3. What is linguistic context? 4. What is degradation? 5. What is the discrimination of synonyms? 6. What are the features of compounding? 7. How do you classify English words? 8. What is extra-linguistic context? 9. What is the difference between prefixation and suffixation? Explain with two examples. 10. What are the major differences between basic word-stock and nonbasic vocabulary? 11. What are the characteristics of antonyms? 12. What is semantic unity of idioms? X. Analyze and Comment on the following 1. Grammatical meaning, lexical meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, connotative meaning, collocative meaning, conceptual meaning, associative meaning, denotative meaning, formal, neutral, informal, appreciative, pejorative Meaning--- 2. Analyze the morphological structures of the following words and point out the types of the morphemes. recollection, nationalist, unearthly 3. As homonyms are identical in sound or spelling, particularly homophones, they are often employed to create puns for desired effect of, say, humor, sarcasm or ridicule. Consider the following conversation that takes place between a waitress and a customer in a restaurant: “You are not eating the fish,” the waitress said to him, “Anything wrong with it?” “Long time no sea,” the man replied. 4. Collocation can affect the meaning of words 5. The “pen” is mightier than the “sword”. Explain what “pen” and “sword” mean respectively using the theory of motivation. 6. Connotative meaning is not stable. Comment on this statement with one example. 11