Bài tập tự luận Từ Vựng Ngữ Nghĩa Học - EN11

 

I. Answer the following questions:  (40 points)

1.  What is a word ? its typical features? 

2.  What is a morpheme?  What are the differences between a word and a morpheme?                      

(The file sent will be named after each student’s name. Plagiarism will lead to failure)

 

1. What is a word ? its typical features? 

A word is a built-in unit in a language. Word is the smallest unit, stable structure, complete meaning, used to form sentences. Words can act as names of things (nouns), activities (verbs), states, properties (adjectives)... Words are tools that represent human concepts to reality.

In linguistics, words are the object of study at many different levels, such as word structure, morphology, phonology, stylistics, and syntax. A word can be defined as a meaningful element of a language. Unlike a sphere, it can always stand alone. A word can consist of a single sphere or several compound spheres. For example, when we say 'reconstruct,' it is a single word, but it is not a single sphere but two spheres put together ('re' and 'construct').

A noun is a type of word in English that indicates the name of a person, thing, event, or place. A verb is a type of word in English that describes an action, a state or an emotion. Verbs in English help determine what the subject is doing or suffering. An adjective is a type of word in English that indicates the nature of things, events, or phenomena. Adjective in English is Adjective, abbreviated as (adj). An adverb is a type of word in English that indicates a state or condition. Adverb in English is Adverb, abbreviated as (adv). A preposition is a type of word in English used to express the relationship between the circumstances, the time or the position of the things or events being talked about.

A morpheme refers to the smallest meaningful element of a word. A morpheme cannot be further broken into parts. For example, chair, dog, bird, table, computer are all morphemes. As you can see they express a direct meaning yet cannot be further separated into smaller parts. However, a morpheme is not similar to a syllable as it carries a meaning. For example, when we say giraffe, it consists of a number of syllables but a single morpheme.

 

2. What is a morpheme?  What are the differences between a word and a morpheme?

A morpheme refers to the smallest meaningful element of a word. A morpheme cannot be further broken into parts.

For example, chair, dog, bird, table, computer are all morphemes. As you can see they express a direct meaning yet cannot be further separated into smaller parts. However, a morpheme is not similar to a syllable as it carries a meaning. For example, when we say giraffe, it consists of a number of syllables but a single morpheme.

The best way to understand word and morpheme, when they become rather confusing, is through understanding the difference between the two, the word and the morpheme. A language consists of various elements such as sentences, words, syllables, morphemes, etc. A morpheme is usually considered as the smallest element of a word or else a grammar element, whereas a word is a complete meaningful element of language. The difference between the two is that while a word always conveys a meaning, in the case of a morpheme, this is doubtful. It can sometimes convey a meaning and sometimes not. This article attempts to highlight this difference through a description of the two terms.

 

II. Exercises   Exercises on Prefixes

 I.Which negative adjective fits each of the following definition ?

 

1.  ……… Unmarried ........ not having a husband or wife.

2.  ……… Inedible ………means impossible to eat

3.  …… Illiterate …………means unable to read and write.

4.  ……Unemployed …….means not having a job.

5  ……Unpartial ……...means fair in giving judgement, not favouring one side.

6  ………… Irreplaceable ……means unable to be replaced.

 

II.  Answer the following questions

 What kind of oven cooks things particularly fast ?.......Microwave.............................

1.  What kind of drug can help somebody with an infection ?.............Antibiotic...............

2.  What kind of company has branches in many countries ?..........Multi-national............

3.  How does a passenger aeroplane normally fly ?.........On auto-pilot......................

4.  What is a student who is studying for a second degree ?.....Postgraduate................

5.  What means "underground railway in the US " and " underground passage in the UK" 

     ?  .............................Subway...................................................................

III.Rewrite the following sentences, using prefixes.

 

1 He's in favour of the American approach. ...................................................................

è He’s pro-American

2.  The BBC tried to avoid pronouncing foreign words incorrectly ............................

è The BBC tried to avoid mispronouncing

3.  Most people say they have to work too hard but are paid too little..........................

è Most people say they are overworked but underpaid

4.  He dated his cheque with a date that was late than the real date ...............................

è He post-dated his cheque

5.  She's still on good terms with the man who used to be her husband.............................

è She's still on good terms with her ex-husband

6.  He made so many mistakes in the letter that he had to write it again............................

è He made so many mistakes in the letter that he had to rewite it

 

IV. Use your knowledge of prefixes to write definitions of the underlined words 

          Although Jim is an ex-soldier, he's only semi-literate. When he tries to write a letter , he misspells half the words and his wife has to rewrite it for him . His wife used to work in a sub-department of the post office where her main job was redirecting mail . Jim's very pro-army but he over-emphasizes its good points. His wife, on the other hand, is rather anti-army and she undervalues its positive aspects.

 

ex-soldier à a former soldier

semi-literate à a person who is poorly educated

misspells à spell (a word) incorrectly

rewrite à write (something) again so as to alter or improve it

sub-department à part of a larger department

redirecting à direct (something) to a new or different place

pro-army à in favour of or supporting military organizations

over-emphasizes à place excessive emphasis on

anti-army à Opposing an army

undervalues à appreciated highly enough

 

 

 

V. Which word is the odd one out in each set and why ?

 

1, legible, loyal, legal, legitimate ........................ loyal …………………………

2, insert, internal, inedible, income ........................... income .............................

3, uncomfortable ,unlock ,unfold, unzip...................... uncomfortable...................

4, extract, ex-wife, ex- communicative, exhale.................. ex-wife.......................

5, worship, kinship,friendship, partnership .................. worship...........................