XV. The sentences given below contain synonyms. Write them out in groups and explain the difference where the words are familiar

XIV. Consider your answers to the following.

Part 3

How are synonyms traditionally defined? On what criterion is this definition based?

How can synonyms be defined in the terms of componential analysis? On what criterion is this definition based?

Show how the dual nature of synonyms can be clearly seen if they are regarded through semantic criterion.

Why is the definition of synonyms based on the criterion of interchangeability open to question?

What types of synonyms were defined in Academician V. V. Vinogradov's classification system?

What is the modern approach to classifying synonyms? Illustrate this classification with examples.

What connotations differentiate the verbs to create and to manufacture; the adjectives pretty, handsome and beautiful?

Which word in a synonymic group is considered to be the dominant synonym? What are its characteristic features?

Can the dominant synonym be substituted for certain other members of a group of synonyms? Is the criterion of interchangeabitity applicable in this case?

Which words are called euphemisms? What are their two main types? What function do they perform in speech? What is the effect of overusing euphemisms in speech?

Which words do we usually classify as antonyms? Give your own examples of such words.

To which parts of speech do most antonyms belong? How do you account for this?

1. a) Bessie gets up and walks towards the window, b) He did nothing from morning till night but wander at random, c) I saw a man strolling along. d) The men sauntered over to the next room.

2. a) The next witness was Dr. Burnett, a thin middle-aged man. b) The woman was tall with reddish curly hair and held a scarlet kimono round her slender figure, c) The girl was slim and dark. d) Studying him, Mrs. Page saw a spare young man with high cheekbones and blue eyes.

3. a) There was a fat woman, who gasped when she talked. b) She came in like a ship at full sail, an imposing creature, tall and stout, c) She was twenty-seven perhaps, plump, and in a coarse fashion pretty, d) He was a person of perhaps forty, red-faced, cheerful, thick.

4. a) Strange, unstable woman. It was rather embarrassing that she would cry in a public gallery. b) It was a life that perhaps formed queer characters. c) I thought it odd that they should allow her to dance quite quietly in Berlin, d) It is a veritable picture of an old country inn with low, quaint rooms and latticed windows.

XVI. Give as many synonyms for the italicized words in the following jokes as you can. If you do not know any of them consult the dictionaries.¹ [A. Gandelsman. English Synonyms Explained and Illustrated. M., 1963; G. Crabb. English Synonyms. H. Y. Grosset and Dunlap, 1945; N. Webster. Webster's Synonyms, Antonyms and Homonyms. N. Y., 1962; Ю. Д. Апресян, В. В. Ботякова. Т. Э. Латышева и др. Англо-русский синонимический словарь. M., 1979.]

1. A celebrated lawyer once said that the three most troublesome clients he ever had were a young lady who wanted to be married, a married woman who wanted a divorce, and an old maid who didn't know what she wanted.

2. Воss: You are twenty minutes late again. Don't you know what time we start to work at this office?

New Employee: No, sir, they are always at it when I get here.

3. He (as they drove along a lonely road): You look lovelier to me every minute. Do you know what that's a sign of?

She: Sure. You are about to run out of gas.

4. Husband (shouting upstairs to his wife): For last time, Mary, are you coming?

Wife: Haven't I been telling you for the last hour that I'll be down in a minute.

5. "Oh, Mummie, I hurt my toe!" cried small Janey, who was playing in the garden. "Which toe, dear?" I inquired, as I examined her foot. "My youngest one," sobbed Janey.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-07