Лекции по "Английскому языку"

 PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 1

The italicized words in the following jokes and extracts are formed by derivation. Write them out in two columns: A. Those formed with the help of productive affixes. B. Those formed with the help of non-productive affixes. Explain the etymology of each borrowed affix.

1. Willie was invited to a party, where refreshments were bountifully served.

"Won't you have something more, Willie?" the hostess said.

"No, thank you," replied Willie, with an expression of great satisfaction. "I'm full."

"Well, then," smiled the hostess, "put some delicious fruit and cakes in your pocket to eat on the way home."

"No, thank you," came the rather startling response of Willie, "they're full too."

2. The scene was a tiny wayside railway platform and the sun was going down behind the distant hills. It was a glorious sight. An intending passenger was chatting with one of the porters. "Fine sight, the sun tipping the hills with gold," said the poetic passenger.

"Yes," reported the porter; "and to think that there was a time when I was often as lucky as them 'ills."

3. A lady who was a very uncertain driver stopped her car at traffic signals which were against her. As the green flashed on, her engine stalled, and when she restarted it the colour was again red. This flurried her so much that when green returned she again stalled her engine and the cars behind began to hoot. While she was waiting for the green the third time the constable on duty stepped across and with a smile said: "Those are the only colours, showing today, ma'am."

4. "You have an admirable cook, yet you are always growling about her to your friends."

"Do you suppose I want her lured away?"

5 . Patient: Do you extract teeth painlessly?

Dentist: Not always — the other day I nearly dislocated my wrist.

6. The inspector was paying a hurried visit to a slightly overcrowded school.

"Any abnormal children in your class?" he inquired of one harassed-looking teacher.

"Yes," she replied, with knitted brow, "two of them have good manners."

7. "I'd like you to come right over," a man phoned an undertaker, "and supervise the burial of my poor, departed wife."

"Your wife!" gasped the undertaker. "Didn't I bury her two years ago?"

"You don't understand," said the man. "You see I married again."

"Oh," said the undertaker. "Congratulations."

8. Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. Please forget about that dreadful letter I sent you last week — I was feeling terribly lonely and miserable and sore-throaty the night I wrote. I didn't know it, but I was just coming down with tonsillitis and grippe ...I'm in the infirmary now, and have been for six days. The head nurse is very bossy. She is tall and thinnish with a dark face and the funniest smile. This is the first time they would let me sit up and have a pen or a pencil. Please forgive me for being impertinent and ungrateful. Yours with love. Judy Abbott. (From Daddy-Long-Legs by J. Webster)

9. The residence of Mr. Peter Pett, the well-known financier, on Riverside Drive, New York, is one of the leading eyesores of that breezy and expensive boulevard ...Through the rich interior of this mansion Mr. Pett, its nominal proprietor, was wandering like a lost spirit. There was a look of exasperation on his usually patient face. He was afflicted by a sense of the pathos of his position. It was not as if he demanded much from life. At that moment all that he wanted was a quiet spot where he might read his Sunday paper in solitary peace and he could not find one. Intruders lurked behind every door. The place was congested. This sort of thing had been growing worse and worse ever since his marriage two years previously. Marriage had certainly complicated life for Mr. Pett, as it does for the man who waits fifty years before trying it. There was a strong literary virus in Mrs. Pett's system. She not only wrote voluminously herself — but aimed at maintaining a salon... She gave shelter beneath her terra-cotta roof to no fewer than six young unrecognized geniuses. Six brilliant youths, mostly novelists who had not yet started... (Prom Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse. Abridged)

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 2

Write out from any five pages of the book you are reading examples which illustrate borrowed and native affixes. Comment on their productivity.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 3

Explain the etymology and productivity of the affixes given below. Say what parts of speech can be formed with their help.

-ness, -ous, -ly, -y, -dom, -ish, -tion, -ed, -en, -ess, -or, -er, -hood, -less, -ate, -ing, -al, -ful, un-, re-, im (in)-, dis-, over-, ab-

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 4

Write out from the book you are reading all the words with the adjective-forming suffix -ly and not less than 20 words with the homonymous adverb-forming suffix. Say what these suffixes have in common and in what way they are differentiated.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 5

Deduce the meanings of the following derivatives from the meanings of their constituents. Explain your deduction. What are the meanings of the affixes in the words under examination?

Reddish, adj.; overwrite, v.; irregular, adj.; illegal, adj.; retype, v.; old-womanish, adj.; disrespectable, adj.; inexpensive, adj.; unladylike, adj.; disorganize, v.; renew, v.; eatable, adj.; overdress, v.; disinfection, n.; snobbish, adj.; handful, n.; tallish, adj.; sandy, adj.; breakable, adj.; underfed, adj.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 6

In the following examples the italicized words are formed from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate these derivatives into Russian and explain the difference in meaning.

l. a) Sallie is the most amusing person in the world — and Julia Pendleton the least so. b) Ann was wary, but amused. 2. a) He had a charming smile, almost womanish in sweetness, b) I have kept up with you through Miss Pittypat but she gave me no information that you had developed womanly sweetness. 3. a) I have been having a delightful and entertaining conversation with my old chum, Lord Wisbeach. b) Thanks for your invitation. I'd be delighted to come. 4. a) Sally thinks everything is funny — even flunking — and Julia is bored at everything. She never makes the slightest effort to be pleasant, b) — Why are you going to America? — To make my fortune, I hope. — How pleased your father will be if you do. 5. a) Long before he reached the brownstone house... the first fine careless rapture of his mad outbreak had passed from Jerry Mitchell, leaving nervous apprehension in its place. b) If your nephew has really succeeded in his experiments you should be awfully careful. 6. a) The trouble with college is that you are expected to know such a lot of things you've never learned. It's very confusing at times, b) That platform was a confused mass of travellers, porters, baggage, trucks, boys with magazines, friends, relatives. 7. a) At last I decided that even this rather mannish efficient woman could do with a little help, b) He was only a boy not a man yet, but he spoke in a manly way. 8. a) The boy's respectful manner changed noticeably. b) It may be a respectable occupation, but it sounds rather criminal to me. 9. a) "Who is leading in the pennant race?" said this strange butler in a feverish whisper. b) It was an idea peculiarly suited to her temperament, an idea that she might have suggested herself if she had thought of it ...this idea of his fevered imagination. 10. Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. You only wanted to hear from me once a month, didn't you? And I've been peppering you with letters every few days! But I've been so excited about all these new adventures that I must talk to somebody... Speaking of classics, have you ever read Hamlet? If you haven't, do it right off. It's perfectly exciting. I've been hearing about Shakespeare all my life but I had no idea he really wrote so well, I always suspected him of going largerly on his reputation. (J. Webster)

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 7

Explain the difference between the meanings of the following words produced from the same root by means of different affixes. Translate the words into Russian.

Watery — waterish, embarrassed — embarrassing, manly — mannish, colourful — coloured, distressed — distressing, respected — respectful — respectable, exhaustive — exhausting — exhausted, bored — boring, touchy — touched — touching.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 8

Find cases of conversion in the following sentences.

1. The clerk was eyeing him expectantly. 2. Under the cover of that protective din he was able to toy with a steaming dish which his waiter had brought. 3. An aggressive man battled his way to Stout's side. 4. Just a few yards from the front door of the bar there was an elderly woman comfortably seated on a chair, holding a hose linked to a tap and watering the pavement. 5. — What are you doing here? — I'm tidying your room. 6. My seat was in the middle of a row. I could not leave without inconveniencing a great many people, so I remained. 7. How on earth do you remember to milk the cows and give pigs their dinner? 8. In a few minutes Papa stalked off, correctly booted and well mufflered. 9. "Then it's practically impossible to steal any diamonds?" asked Mrs. Blair with as keen an air of disappointment as though she had been journeying there for the express purpose. 10. Ten minutes later I was speeding along in the direction of Cape Town. 11. Restaurants in all large cities have their ups and downs. 12. The upshot seemed to be that I was left to face life with the sum of £ 87 17s 4d. 13. "A man could be very happy in a house like this if he didn't have to poison his days with work," said Jimmy. 14. I often heard that fellows after some great shock or loss have a habit, after they've been on the floor for a while wondering what hit them, of picking themselves up and piecing themselves together.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 9

One of the italicized words in the following examples was made from the other by conversion. What semantic correlations exist between them?

1. a) "You've got a funny nose," he added, b) He began to nose about. He pulled out drawer after drawer, pottering round like an old bloodhound. 2. a) I'd seen so many cases of fellows who had become perfect slaves of their valets. b) I supposed that while he had been valeting old Worplesdon Florence must have trodden on his toes in some way. 3. a) It so happened that the night before I had been present at a rather cheery little supper. b) So the next night I took him along to supper with me. 4. a) Buck seized Thorton's hand in his teeth, b) The desk clerk handed me the key. 5. a) A small hairy object sprang from a basket and stood yapping in the middle of the room, b) There are advantages, you see, about rooming with Julia. 6. a) "I'm engaged for lunch, but I've plenty of time." b) There was a time when he and I had been lads about town together, lunching and dining together practically every day. 7. a) Mr. Biffen rang up on the telephone while you were in your bath, b) I found Muriel singer there, sitting by herself at a table near the door. Corky, I took it, was out telephoning. 8. Use small nails and nail the picture on the wall. 9. a) I could just see that he was waving a letter or something equally foul in my face. b) When the bell stopped, Crane turned around and faced the students seated in rows before him. 10. a) Lizzie is a good cook, b) She cooks the meals in Mr. Priestley's house. 11. a) The wolf was suspicious and afraid. b) Fortunately, however, the second course consisted of a chicken fricassee of such outstanding excellence that the old boy, after wolfing a plateful, handed up his dinner-pail for a second instalment and became almost genial. 12. Use the big hammer for those nails and hammer them in well. 13. a) "Put a ribbon round your hair and be Alice-in-Wonderland," said Maxim. "You look like it now with your finger in your mouth." b) The coach fingered the papers on his desk and squinted through his bifocals. 14. a) The room was airy but small. There were, however, a few vacant spots, and in these had been placed a washstand, a chest of drawers and a midget rocker-chair. b) "Well, when I got to New York it looked a decent sort of place to me ..." 15. a) These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles... and furry coats to protect them from the frost, b) "Jeeves," I said, "I have begun to feel absolutely haunted. This woman dogs me."

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 10

Explain the semantic correlations within the following pairs of words.

Shelter — to shelter, park — to park, groom — to groom, elbow — to elbow, breakfast — to breakfast, pin — to pin, trap — to trap, fish — to fish, head — to head, nurse — to nurse.

 

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 11

Which of the two words in the following pairs is made by conversion? Deduce the meanings and use them in constructing sentences of your own.

star, n. — to star, v.

picture, n. — to picture, v.

colour, n. — to colour, v.

blush, n. — to blush, v.

key, n. — to key, v.

fool, n. — to fool, v.

breakfast, n. — to breakfast, u.

house, n. — to house, v.

monkey, n. — to monkey, v.

fork, n. — to fork, v.

slice, n. — to slice, v.

age, n. — to age, v.

touch, n. — to touch, v.

make, n. — to make, v.

finger, n. — to finger, v.

empty, adj. — to empty, v.

poor, adj. — the poor, n.

pale, adj. — to pale, v.

dry, adj. — to dry, v.

nurse, n. — to nurse, u.

dress, n. — to dress, v.

floor, n. — to floor, v.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 12

Read the following joke, explain the type of word-building in the italicized words and say everything you can about the way they were made.

A successful old lawyer tells the following story about the beginning of his professional life:

"I had just installed myself in my office, had put in a phone, when, through the glass of my door I saw a shadow. It was doubtless my first client to see me. Picture me, then, grabbing the nice, shiny receiver of my new phone and plunging into an imaginary conversation. It ran something like this:

'Yes, Mr. SI' I was saying as the stranger entered the office. 'I'll attend to that corporation matter for you. Mr. J. had me on the phone this morning and wanted me to settle a damage suit, but I had to put him off, as I was too busy with other cases. But I'll manage to sandwich your case in between the others somehow. Yes. Yes. All right. Goodbye.'

Being sure, then, that I had duly impressed my prospective client, I hung up the receiver and turned to him.

'Excuse me, sir,' the man said, 'but I'm from the telephone company. I've come to connect your instrument.'"