Word building what are the pieces of advice in the text

Chapter 5 how english words are made. word-building1

Before turning to the various processes of making words, it would be useful to analyse the related problem of the composition of words, i. e. of their constituent parts.

If viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units which are called morphemes. Morphemes do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of words. Yet they possess meanings of their own.

All morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots (or radicals} and affixes. The latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the structure of the word (as in re-read, mis-pronounce, un-well) and suffixes which follow the root (as in teach-er, cur-able, diet-ate).

Words which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of word-building known as affixation (or derivation).

Derived words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary. Successfully competing with this structural type is the so-called root word which has only a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely represented by a great number of words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier borrowings (house, room, book, work, port, street, table, etc.), and, in Modern English, has been greatly enlarged by the type of word-building called conversion (e. g. to hand, v. formed from the noun hand; to can, v. from can, п.; to pale, v. from pale, adj.; a find, n. from to find, v.; etc.).

Another wide-spread word-structure is a compound word consisting of two or more stems2 (e. g. dining-room, bluebell, mother-in-law, good-for-nothing). Words of this structural type are produced by the word-building process called composition.

The somewhat odd-looking words like flu, pram, lab, M. P., V-day, H-bomb are called shortenings, contractions or curtailed words and are produced by the way of word-building called shortening (contraction).

The four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings) represent the main structural types of Modern English words, and conversion, derivation and composition the most productive ways of word-building.

To return to the question posed by the title of this chapter, of how words are made, let us try and get a more detailed picture of each of the major types of Modern English word-building and, also, of some minor types.

Affixation

The process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme. The role of the affix in this procedure is Very important and therefore it is necessary to consider certain facts about the main types of affixes.

From the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same two large groups as words: native and borrowed.

Some Native Suffixes1

Noun-forming	-er	worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.
-ness	coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc.
-ing	feeling, meaning, singing, reading, etc.
-dom	freedom, wisdom, kingdom, etc.
-hood	childhood, manhood, motherhood, etc.
-ship	friendship, companionship, mastership, etc.
-th	length, breadth, health, truth, etc.
Adjective-forming	-ful	careful, joyful, wonderful, sinful, skilful, etc.
-less	careless, sleepless, cloudless, senseless, etc.
-y	cozy, tidy, merry, snowy, showy, etc.
-ish	English, Spanish, reddish, childish, etc.
-ly	lonely, lovely, ugly, likely, lordly, etc.
-en	wooden, woollen, silken, golden, etc.
-some	handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.
Verb-forming	-en	widen, redden, darken, sadden, etc.
Adverb-forming	-ly	warmly, hardly, simply, carefully, coldly, etc.

Borrowed affixes, especially of Romance origin are numerous in the English vocabulary (Ch. 3). It would be wrong, though, to suppose that affixes are borrowed in the same way and for the same reasons as words. An affix of foreign origin can be regarded as borrowed only after it has begun an independent and active life in the recipient language, that is, is taking part in the word-making processes of that language. This can only occur when the total of words with this affix is so great in the recipient language as to affect the native speakers’ subconscious to the extent that they no longer realize its foreign flavour and accept it as their own.

* * *

Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive types. By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce-words, i. e. words coined and used only for this particular occasion. The latter are usually formed on the level of living speech and reflect the most productive and progressive patterns in word-building. When a literary critic writes about a certain book that it is an unputdownable thriller, we will seek in vain this strange and impressive adjective in dictionaries, for it is a nonce-Word coined on the current pattern of Modern English and is evidence of the high productivity of the adjective-forming borrowed suffix -able and the native prefix un-.

Consider, for example, the following:

Professor Pringle was a thinnish, baldish, dispeptic-lookingish cove with an eye like a haddock.

(From Right-Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse)

The adjectives thinnish and baldish bring to mind dozens of other adjectives made with the same suffix; oldish, youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish, longish, yellowish, etc. But dispeptic-lookingish is the author’s creation aimed at a humorous effect, and, at the same time, proving beyond doubt that the suffix -ish is a live and active one.

The same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: «I don’t like Sunday evenings: I feel so Mondayish». (Mondayish is certainly a nonce-word.)

One should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency of occurrence. There are quite & number of high-frequency affixes which, nevertheless, are no longer used in word-derivation (e. g. the adjective-forming native suffixes -ful, -ly; the adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin -ant, -ent, -al which are quite frequent).

Some Productive Affixes

Noun-forming suffixes	-er, -ing, -ness, -ism1 (materialism), -ist1 (impressionist), -ance
Adjective-forming suffixes	-y, -ish, -ed (learned), -able, -less
Adverb-forming suffixes	-ly
Verb-forming suffixes	-ize/-ise (realize), -ate
Prefixes	un(unhappy), re(reconstruct), dis (disappoint)

Note. Examples are given only for the affixes which are not listed in the tables at p. 82 and p. 83.

Some Non-Productive Affixes

Noun-forming suffixes	-th,-hood
Adjective-forming suffixes	-ly, -some, -en, -ous
Verb-forming suffix	-en

Note. The native noun-forming suffixes -dom and -ship ceased to be productive centuries ago. Yet, Professor I. V. Arnold in The English Word gives some examples of comparatively new formations with the suffix -dom: boredom, serfdom, slavedom [15]. The same is true about -ship (e. gsalesmanship). The adjective-forming -ish, which leaves no doubt as to its productivity nowadays, has comparatively recently regained it, after having been non-productive for many centuries.

Semantics of Affixes

The morpheme, and therefore affix, which is a type of morpheme, is generally defined as the smallest indivisible component of the word possessing a meaning of its own. Meanings of affixes are specific and considerably differ from those of root morphemes. Affixes have widely generalized meanings and refer the concept conveyed by the whole word to a certain category, which is vast and all-embracing. So, the noun-forming suffix -er could be roughly defined as designating persons from the object of their occupation or labour (painter — the one who paints) or from their place of origin or abode {southerner — the one living in the South). The adjective-forming suffix -ful has the meaning of «full of», «characterized by» (beautiful, careful) whereas -ish Olay often imply insufficiency of quality (greenish — green, but not quite; youngish — not quite young but looking it).

Such examples might lead one to the somewhat hasty conclusion that the meaning of a derived word is always a sum of the meanings of its morphemes: un/eat/able =» «not fit to eat» where not stands for unand fit for: -able.

There are numerous derived words whose meanings can really be easily deduced from the meanings of their constituent parts. Yet, such cases represent only the first and simplest stage of semantic readjustment with in derived words. The constituent morphemes within derivatives do not always preserve their current meanings and are open to subtle and complicated semantic shifts.

Let us take at random some of the adjectives formed with the same productive suffix -y, and try to deduce the meaning of the suffix from their dictionary definitions:

brainy (inform.) — intelligent, intellectual, i. e, characterized by brains

catty — quietly or slyly malicious, spiteful, i. e, characterized by features ascribed to a cat

chatty — given to chat, inclined to chat

dressy (inform.) — showy in dress, i. e. inclined to dress well or to be overdressed

fishy (e. g. in a fishy story, inform.) — improbable, hard to believe (like stories told by fishermen)

foxy — foxlike, cunning or crafty, i. e. characterized by features ascribed to a fox

stagy — theatrical, unnatural, i. e. inclined to affectation, to unnatural theatrical manners

touchy — apt to take offence on slight provocation, i. e. resenting a touch or contact (not at all inclined to be touched)1

The Random-House Dictionary defines the meaning of the -y suffix as «characterized by or inclined to the substance or action of the root to which the affix is attached». [46] Yet, even the few given examples show that, on the one hand, there are cases, like touchy or fishy that are not covered by the definition. On the other hand, even those cases that are roughly covered, show a wide variety of subtle shades of meaning. It is not only the suffix that adds its own meaning to the meaning of the root, but the suffix is, in its turn, affected by the root and undergoes certain semantic changes, so that the mutual influence of root and affix creates a wide range of subtle nuances.

But is the suffix -y probably exceptional in this respect? It is sufficient to examine further examples to see that other affixes also offer an interesting variety of semantic shades. Compare, for instance, the meanings of adjective-forming suffixes in each of these groups of adjectives.

1. eatable (fit or good to eat)2

lovable (worthy of loving)

questionable (open to doubt, to question)

imaginable (capable of being imagined)

2. lovely (charming, beautiful, i. e. inspiring love)

lonely (solitary, without company; lone; the meaning of the suffix does not seem to add anything to that of the root)

friendly (characteristic of or befitting a friend.)

heavenly (resembling or befitting heaven; beautiful, splendid)

3. childish (resembling or befitting a child)

tallish (rather tall, but not quite, i. e. approaching the quality of big size)

girlish (like a girl, but, often, in a bad imitation of one)

bookish (1) given or devoted to reading or study;

(2) more acquainted with books than with real life, i. e. possessing the quality of bookish learning)

The semantic distinctions of words produced from the same root by means of different affixes are also of considerable interest, both for language studies and research work. Compare: womanly — womanish, flowery — flowered -— flowering, starry — starred, reddened — reddish, shortened — shortish.

The semantic difference between the members of these groups is very obvious: the meanings of the suffixes are so distinct that they colour the whole words.

Womanly is used in a complimentary manner about girls and women, whereas womanish is used to indicate an effeminate man and certainly implies criticism.

Flowery is applied to speech or a style (cf. with the R. цветистый), flowered means «decorated with a patters of flowers» (e. g. flowered silk or chintz, cf. with the R, цветастый) and flowering is the same as blossoming (e. g. flowering bushes or shrubs, cf. with the R. цветущий).

Starry means «resembling stars» (e. g. starry eyes) and starred — «covered or decorated with stars» (e. g. starred skies).

Reddened and shortened both imply the result of an action or process, as in the eyes reddened with weeping or a shortened version of a story (i. e. a story that has been abridged) whereas shortish and reddish point to insufficiency of quality: reddish is not exactly red, but tinged with red, and a shortish man is probably a little taller than a man described as short.

Conversion

When in a book-review a book is referred to as a splendid read, is read to be regarded as a verb or a noun? What part of speech is room in the sentence: I was to room with another girl called Jessie. If a character in a novel is spoken about as one who had to be satisfied with the role of a has-been, what is this odd-looking has-been, a verb or a noun? One must admit that it has quite a verbal appearance, but why, then, is it preceded by the article?

Why is the word if used in the plural form in the popular proverb: If ifs and ans were pots and pans? (an = if, dial., arch.)

This type of questions naturally arise when one deals with words produced by conversion, one of the most productive ways of modern English word-building.

Conversion is sometimes referred to as an affixless way of word-building or even affixless derivation. Saying that, however, is saying very little because there are other types of word-building in which new words are also formed without affixes (most compounds, contracted words, sound-imitation words, etc.).

Conversion consists in making a new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged. The new word has a meaning Which differs from that of the original one though it can more or less be easily associated with it. It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech.

The question of conversion has, for a long time, been a controversial one in several aspects. The very essence of this process has been treated by a number of scholars (e. g. H. Sweet), not as a word-building act, but as a mere functional change. From this point of view the word hand in Hand me that book is not a verb, but a noun used in a verbal syntactical function, that is, hand (me) and hands (in She has small hands) are not two different words but one. Hence, the case cannot be treated as one of word-formation for no new word appears.

According to this functional approach, conversion may be regarded as a specific feature of the English categories of parts of speech, which are supposed to be able to break through the rigid borderlines dividing one category from another thus enriching the process of communication not by the creation of new words but through the sheer flexibility of the syntactic structures.

Nowadays this theory finds increasingly fewer supporters, and conversion is universally accepted as one of the major ways of enriching English vocabulary with new words. One of the major arguments for this approach to conversion is the semantic change that regularly accompanies each instance of conversion. Normally, a word changes its syntactic function without any shift in lexical meaning. E. g. both in yellow leaves and in The leaves were turning yellow the adjective denotes colour. Yet, in The leaves yellowed the converted unit no longer denotes colour, but the process of changing colour, so that there is an essential change in meaning.

The change of meaning is even more obvious in such pairs as hand > to hand, face > to face, to go > a go, to make > a make, etc.

The other argument is the regularity and completeness with which converted units develop a paradigm of their new category of part of speech. As soon as it has crossed the category borderline, the new word automatically acquires all the properties of the new category, so that if it has entered the verb category, it is now regularly used in all the forms of tense and it also develops the forms of the participle and the gerund. Such regularity can hardly be regarded as indicating a mere functional change which might be expected to bear more occasional characteristics. The completeness of the paradigms in new conversion formations seems to be a decisive argument proving that here we are dealing with new words and not with mere functional variants. The data of the more reputable modern English dictionaries confirm this point of view: they all present converted pairs as homonyms, i. e. as two words, thus supporting the thesis that conversion is a word-building process.

Conversion is not only a highly productive but also a particularly English way of word-building. Its immense productivity is considerably encouraged by certain features of the English language in its modern Stage of development. The analytical structure of Modern English greatly facilitates processes of making words of one category of parts of speech from words of another. So does the simplicity of paradigms of En-lush parts of speech. A great number of one-syllable Words is another factor in favour of conversion, for such words are naturally more mobile and flexible than polysyllables.

Conversion is a convenient and «easy» way of enriching the vocabulary with new words. It is certainly an advantage to have two (or more) words where there Was one, all of them fixed on the same structural and semantic base.

The high productivity of conversion finds its reflection in speech where numerous occasional cases of conversion can be found, which are not registered by dictionaries and which occur momentarily, through the immediate need of the situation. «If anybody oranges me again tonight, I’ll knock his face off, says the annoyed hero of a story by O’Henry when a shop-assistant offers him oranges (for the tenth time in one night) instead of peaches for which he is looking («Lit. tie Speck in Garnered Fruit»). One is not likely to find the verb to orange in any dictionary, but in this situation it answers the need for brevity, expressiveness and humour.

The very first example, which opens the section on conversion in this chapter (the book is a splendid read), though taken from a book-review, is a nonce-word, which may be used by reviewers now and then or in informal verbal communication, but has not yet found its way into the universally acknowledged English vocabulary.

Such examples as these show that conversion is a vital and developing process that penetrates contemporary speech as well. Subconsciously every English speaker realizes the immense potentiality of making a word into another part of speech when the need arises.

* * *

One should guard against thinking that every case of noun and verb (verb and adjective, adjective and noun, etc.) with the same morphemic shape results from conversion. There are numerous pairs of words (e. g. love, n. — to love, v.; work, n. — to work, v.; drink, n. — to drink, v., etc.) which did, not occur due to conversion but coincided as a result of certain historical processes (dropping of endings, simplification of stems) when before that they had different forms (e. g. O. E. lufu, n. — lufian, v.). On the other hand, it is quite true that the first cases of conversion (which were registered in the 14th c.) imitated such pairs of words as love, n. — to love, v. for they were numerous to the vocabulary and were subconsciously accepted by native speakers as one of the typical language patterns.

* * *

The two categories of parts of speech especially affected by conversion are nouns and verbs. Verbs made from nouns are the most numerous amongst the words produced by conversion: e. g. to hand, to back, to face, to eye, to mouth, to nose, to dog, to wolf, to monkey, to can, to coal, to stage, to screen, to room, to floor, to ^lack-mail, to blacklist, to honeymoon, and very many ethers.

Nouns are frequently made from verbs: do (e. g. This ifs the queerest do I’ve ever come across. Do — event, incident), go (e. g. He has still plenty of go at his age. Go — energy), make, run, find, catch, cut, walk, worry, show, move, etc.

Verbs can also be made from adjectives: to pale, to yellow, to cool, to grey, to rough (e. g. We decided sq rough it in the tents as the weather was warm), etc.

Other parts of speech are not entirely unsusceptible to conversion as the following examples show: to down, to out (as in a newspaper heading Diplomatist Outed from Budapest), the ups and downs, the ins and outs, like, n. (as in the like of me and the like of you).

* * *

It was mentioned at the beginning of this section that a word made by conversion has a different meaning from that of the word from which it was made though the two meanings can be associated. There are Certain regularities in these associations which can be roughly classified. For instance, in the group of verbs made from nouns some of the regular semantic associations are as indicated in the following list:

I. The noun is the name of a tool or implement, the verb denotes an action performed by the tool: to hammer, to nail, to pin, to brush, to comb, to pencil.

II. The noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of behaviour considered typical of this animal: to dog, to wolf, to monkey, to ape, to fox, to rat. Yet, to fish does not mean «to behave like a fish» but «to try to catch fish». The same meaning of hunting activities is conveyed by the verb to whale and one of the meanings of to rat; the other is «to turn informer, squeal» (sl.).

III. The name of a part of the human body — an action performed by it: to hand, to leg (sl.), to eye, to elbow, to shoulder, to nose, to mouth. However, to face does not imply doing something by or even with one’s face but turning it in a certain direction. To back means either «to move backwards» or, in the figurative sense, «to support somebody or something».

IV. The name of a profession or occupation — an activity typical of it: to nurse, to cook, to maid, to groom.

V. The name of a place — the process of occupying» the place or of putting smth./smb. in it (to room, to house, to place, to table, to cage).

VI. The name of a container — the act of putting smth. within the container (to can, to bottle, to pocket).

VII. The name of a meal — the process of taking it (to lunch, to supper).

The suggested groups do not include all the great variety of verbs made from nouns by conversion. They just represent the most obvious cases and illustrate, convincingly enough, the great variety of semantic interrelations within so-called converted pairs and the complex nature of the logical associations which specify them.

In actual fact, these associations are not only complex but sometimes perplexing. It would seem that if you know that the verb formed from the name of an animal denotes behaviour typical of the animal, it would easy for you to guess the meaning of such a verb provided that you know the meaning of the noun. Yet, it is not always easy. Of course, the meaning of to fox is rather obvious being derived from the associated reputation of that animal for cunning: to fox means «to act cunningly or craftily». But what about to wolf? How is one to know which of the characteristics of the animal was picked by the speaker’s subconscious when this verb was produced? Ferocity? Loud and unpleasant fowling? The inclination to live in packs? Yet, as the Hollowing example shows, to wolf means «to eat greedily, voraciously»: Charlie went on wolfing the chocolate. (R. Dahl)

In the same way, from numerous characteristics of | be dog, only one was chosen for the verb to dog which is well illustrated by the following example:

And what of Charles? I pity any detective who would have to dog him through those twenty months.

(From The French Lieutenant’s Woman by J. Fowles)

(To dog — to follow or track like a dog, especially with hostile intent.)

The two verbs to ape and to monkey, which might be expected to mean more or less the same, have shared between themselves certain typical features of the same animal:

to ape — to imitate, mimic (e. g. He had always aped the gentleman in his clothes and manners. — J. Fowles);

to monkey — to fool, to act or play idly and foolishly. To monkey can also be used in the meaning «to imitate», but much rarer than to ape.

The following anecdote shows that the intricacies ex semantic associations in words made by conversion may prove somewhat bewildering even for some native-speakers, especially for children.

«Mother», said Johnny, «is it correct to say you ‘water a horse’ when he’s thirsty?»

«Yes, quite correct.»

«Then», (picking up a saucer) «I’m going to milk the cat.»

The joke is based on the child’s mistaken association of two apparently similar patterns: water, п. — to water, v.; milk, n. — to milk, v. But it turns out that the meanings of the two verbs arose from different associations: to water a horse means «to give him water», but to milk implies getting milk from an animal (e. g, to milk a cow).

Exercises

I. Consider your answers to the following.

1. What are the main ways of enriching the English vocabulary?

2. What are the principal productive ways of word-building in English?

3. What do we mean by derivation?

4. What is the difference between frequency and productivity of affixes? Why can’t one consider the noun-forming suffix -age, that is commonly met in many words (cabbage, village, marriage, etc.), a productive one?

5. Give examples of your own to show that affixes have meanings.

6. Look through Chapter 3 and say what languages served as the main sources of borrowed affixes. Illustrate your answer by examples.

7. Prove that the words a finger and to finger («to touch or handle with .the fingers») are two words and not the one word finger used either as a noun or as a verb.

8. What features of Modern English have produced the high productivity of conversion? и

9. Which categories of parts of speech are especially affected by conversion?

10. Prove that the pair of words love, n. and love, v. do not present a case of conversion.

II. 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 |b the infirmary now, and have been for six days. The Head nurse is very bossy. She is tall and thinnish with a Hark 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)1

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…

(From Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse. Abridged)

III. Write out from any five pages of the book you are reading examples which illustrate borrowed and native affixes in the tables in Ch. 3 and 5. Comment on their productivity.

IV. 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 

V. Write out from the book yon 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.

VI. 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, ad].; overwrite, v.; irregular, adj.; illegals adj.; retype, v.; old-womanish, adj.; disrespectable, adj.; inexpensive, adj.; unladylike, adj.; disorganize, v.; renew, u.; eatable, adj.; overdress, u.; disinfection, п.; snobbish, adj.; handful, п.; tallish, adj.; sandy, adj.; breakable, adj.; underfed, adj.

VII. 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.

1. 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 her. self 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)1

VIII. 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.

IX. Find eases 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 33owns. 12. The upshot seemed to be that I was left to Пасе life with the sum of £ 87 17s 4d. 13. «A man could Hie 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.

X. 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 this 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. |Ь) 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 installment 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 dog’s, 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 dog’s me.»

XI. 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.

XII. 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, v. 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, v. dress, n. — to dress, v. floor, n. — to floor, v.

XIII. 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. S!’ 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.'»

Афанасьева О. В., Морозова Н. Н. А72 Лексикология английского языка: Учеб пособие для студентов. 3-е изд., стереотип

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How English Words Are Made. Word-Building¹

Before turning to the various processes of making words, it would be useful to analyse the related problem of the composition of words, i. e. of their constituent parts.

If viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units which are called morphemes. Morphemes do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of words. Yet they possess meanings of their own.

All morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots (or radicals} and affixes. The latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes which precede the root in the structure of the word (as in re-read, mis-pronounce, un-well) and suffixes which follow the root (as in teach-er, cur-able, diet-ate).

Words which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called derived words or derivatives and are produced by the process of word-building known as affixation (or derivation).

Derived words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary. Successfully competing with this structural type is the so-called root word which has only a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely represented by a great number of words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier borrowings (house, room, book, work, port, street, table, etc.), and, in Modern English, has been greatly enlarged by the type of word-building called conversion (e. g. to hand, v. formed from the noun hand; to can, v. from can, п.; to pale, v. from pale, adj.; a find, n. from to find, v.; etc.).

Another wide-spread word-structure is a compound word consisting of two or more stems² (e. g. dining-room, bluebell, mother-in-law, good-for-nothing). Words of this structural type are produced by the word-building process called composition.

The somewhat odd-looking words like flu, pram, lab, M. P., V-day, H-bomb are called shortenings, contractions or curtailed words and are produced by the way of word-building called shortening (contraction).

The four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings) represent the main structural types of Modern English words, and conversion, derivation and composition the most productive ways of word-building.

To return to the question posed by the title of this chapter, of how words are made, let us try and get a more detailed picture of each of the major types of Modern English word-building and, also, of some minor types.

Affixation

The process of affixation consists in coining a new word by adding an affix or several affixes to some root morpheme. The role of the affix in this procedure is Very important and therefore it is necessary to consider certain facts about the main types of affixes.

From the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same two large groups as words: native and borrowed.

Some Native Suffixes¹

Noun-forming	-er	worker, miner, teacher, painter, etc.
-ness	coldness, loneliness, loveliness, etc.
-ing	feeling, meaning, singing, reading, etc.
-dom	freedom, wisdom, kingdom, etc.
-hood	childhood, manhood, motherhood, etc.
-ship	friendship, companionship, mastership, etc.
-th	length, breadth, health, truth, etc.
Adjective-forming	-ful	careful, joyful, wonderful, sinful, skilful, etc.
-less	careless, sleepless, cloudless, senseless, etc.
-y	cozy, tidy, merry, snowy, showy, etc.
-ish	English, Spanish, reddish, childish, etc.
-ly	lonely, lovely, ugly, likely, lordly, etc.
-en	wooden, woollen, silken, golden, etc.
-some	handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.
Verb-forming	-en	widen, redden, darken, sadden, etc.
Adverb-forming	-ly	warmly, hardly, simply, carefully, coldly, etc.

Borrowed affixes, especially of Romance origin are numerous in the English vocabulary (Ch. 3). It would be wrong, though, to suppose that affixes are borrowed in the same way and for the same reasons as words. An affix of foreign origin can be regarded as borrowed only after it has begun an independent and active life in the recipient language, that is, is taking part in the word-making processes of that language. This can only occur when the total of words with this affix is so great in the recipient language as to affect the native speakers’ subconscious to the extent that they no longer realize its foreign flavour and accept it as their own.

* * *

Affixes can also be classified into productive and non-productive types. By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce-words, i. e. words coined and used only for this particular occasion. The latter are usually formed on the level of living speech and reflect the most productive and progressive patterns in word-building. When a literary critic writes about a certain book that it is an unputdownable thriller, we will seek in vain this strange and impressive adjective in dictionaries, for it is a nonce-Word coined on the current pattern of Modern English and is evidence of the high productivity of the adjective-forming borrowed suffix -able and the native prefix un-.

Consider, for example, the following:

Professor Pringle was a thinnish, baldish, dispeptic-lookingish cove with an eye like a haddock.

(From Right-Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse)

The adjectives thinnish and baldish bring to mind dozens of other adjectives made with the same suffix; oldish, youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish, longish, yellowish, etc. But dispeptic-lookingish is the author’s creation aimed at a humorous effect, and, at the same time, proving beyond doubt that the suffix -ish is a live and active one.

The same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: «I don’t like Sunday evenings: I feel so Mondayish». (Mondayish is certainly a nonce-word.)

One should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency of occurrence. There are quite & number of high-frequency affixes which, nevertheless, are no longer used in word-derivation (e. g. the adjective-forming native suffixes -ful, -ly; the adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin -ant, -ent, -al which are quite frequent).

Some Productive Affixes

Noun-forming suffixes	—er, -ing, -ness, -ism1 (materialism), -ist1 (impressionist), -ance
Adjective-forming suffixes	-y, -ish, -ed (learned), -able, -less
Adverb-forming suffixes	-ly
Verb-forming suffixes	-ize/-ise (realize), -ate
Prefixes	un- (unhappy), re- (reconstruct), dis- (disappoint)

Note. Examples are given only for the affixes which are not listed in the tables at p. 82 and p. 83.

Some Non-Productive Affixes

Noun-forming suffixes	-th,-hood
Adjective-forming suffixes	-ly, -some, -en, -ous
Verb-forming suffix	-en

Note. The native noun-forming suffixes -dom and -ship ceased to be productive centuries ago. Yet, Professor I. V. Arnold in The English Word gives some examples of comparatively new formations with the suffix -dom: boredom, serfdom, slavedom [15]. The same is true about -ship (e. g- salesmanship). The adjective-forming -ish, which leaves no doubt as to its productivity nowadays, has comparatively recently regained it, after having been non-productive for many centuries.

Semantics of Affixes

The morpheme, and therefore affix, which is a type of morpheme, is generally defined as the smallest indivisible component of the word possessing a meaning of its own. Meanings of affixes are specific and considerably differ from those of root morphemes. Affixes have widely generalized meanings and refer the concept conveyed by the whole word to a certain category, which is vast and all-embracing. So, the noun-forming suffix -er could be roughly defined as designating persons from the object of their occupation or labour (painter — the one who paints) or from their place of origin or abode {southerner — the one living in the South). The adjective-forming suffix -ful has the meaning of «full of», «characterized by» (beautiful, careful) whereas -ish Olay often imply insufficiency of quality (greenish — green, but not quite; youngish — not quite young but looking it).

Such examples might lead one to the somewhat hasty conclusion that the meaning of a derived word is always a sum of the meanings of its morphemes: un/eat/able =» «not fit to eat» where not stands for un- and fit for: -able.

There are numerous derived words whose meanings can really be easily deduced from the meanings of their constituent parts. Yet, such cases represent only the first and simplest stage of semantic readjustment with in derived words. The constituent morphemes within derivatives do not always preserve their current meanings and are open to subtle and complicated semantic shifts.

Let us take at random some of the adjectives formed with the same productive suffix -y, and try to deduce the meaning of the suffix from their dictionary definitions:

brainy (inform.) — intelligent, intellectual, i. e, characterized by brains

catty — quietly or slyly malicious, spiteful, i. e, characterized by features ascribed to a cat

chatty — given to chat, inclined to chat

dressy (inform.) — showy in dress, i. e. inclined to dress well or to be overdressed

fishy (e. g. in a fishy story, inform.) — improbable, hard to believe (like stories told by fishermen)

foxy — foxlike, cunning or crafty, i. e. characterized by features ascribed to a fox

stagy — theatrical, unnatural, i. e. inclined to affectation, to unnatural theatrical manners

touchy — apt to take offence on slight provocation, i. e. resenting a touch or contact (not at all inclined to be touched)¹

The Random-House Dictionary defines the meaning of the -y suffix as «characterized by or inclined to the substance or action of the root to which the affix is attached». [46] Yet, even the few given examples show that, on the one hand, there are cases, like touchy or fishy that are not covered by the definition. On the other hand, even those cases that are roughly covered, show a wide variety of subtle shades of meaning. It is not only the suffix that adds its own meaning to the meaning of the root, but the suffix is, in its turn, affected by the root and undergoes certain semantic changes, so that the mutual influence of root and affix creates a wide range of subtle nuances.

But is the suffix -y probably exceptional in this respect? It is sufficient to examine further examples to see that other affixes also offer an interesting variety of semantic shades. Compare, for instance, the meanings of adjective-forming suffixes in each of these groups of adjectives.

1. eatable (fit or good to eat)²

lovable (worthy of loving)

questionable (open to doubt, to question)

imaginable (capable of being imagined)

2. lovely (charming, beautiful, i. e. inspiring love)

lonely (solitary, without company; lone; the meaning of the suffix does not seem to add anything to that of the root)

friendly (characteristic of or befitting a friend.)

heavenly (resembling or befitting heaven; beautiful, splendid)

3. childish (resembling or befitting a child)

tallish (rather tall, but not quite, i. e. approaching the quality of big size)

girlish (like a girl, but, often, in a bad imitation of one)

bookish (1) given or devoted to reading or study;

(2) more acquainted with books than with real life, i. e. possessing the quality of bookish learning)

The semantic distinctions of words produced from the same root by means of different affixes are also of considerable interest, both for language studies and research work. Compare: womanly — womanish, flowery — flowered -— flowering, starry — starred, reddened — reddish, shortened — shortish.

The semantic difference between the members of these groups is very obvious: the meanings of the suffixes are so distinct that they colour the whole words.

Womanly is used in a complimentary manner about girls and women, whereas womanish is used to indicate an effeminate man and certainly implies criticism.

Flowery is applied to speech or a style (cf. with the R. цветистый), flowered means «decorated with a patters of flowers» (e. g. flowered silk or chintz, cf. with the R, цветастый) and flowering is the same as blossoming (e. g. flowering bushes or shrubs, cf. with the R. цветущий).

Starry means «resembling stars» (e. g. starry eyes) and starred — «covered or decorated with stars» (e. g. starred skies).

Reddened and shortened both imply the result of an action or process, as in the eyes reddened with weeping or a shortened version of a story (i. e. a story that has been abridged) whereas shortish and reddish point to insufficiency of quality: reddish is not exactly red, but tinged with red, and a shortish man is probably a little taller than a man described as short.

Conversion

When in a book-review a book is referred to as a splendid read, is read to be regarded as a verb or a noun? What part of speech is room in the sentence: I was to room with another girl called Jessie. If a character in a novel is spoken about as one who had to be satisfied with the role of a has-been, what is this odd-looking has-been, a verb or a noun? One must admit that it has quite a verbal appearance, but why, then, is it preceded by the article?

Why is the word if used in the plural form in the popular proverb: If ifs and ans were pots and pans? (an = if, dial., arch.)

This type of questions naturally arise when one deals with words produced by conversion, one of the most productive ways of modern English word-building.

Conversion is sometimes referred to as an affixless way of word-building or even affixless derivation. Saying that, however, is saying very little because there are other types of word-building in which new words are also formed without affixes (most compounds, contracted words, sound-imitation words, etc.).

Conversion consists in making a new word from some existing word by changing the category of a part of speech, the morphemic shape of the original word remaining unchanged. The new word has a meaning Which differs from that of the original one though it can more or less be easily associated with it. It has also a new paradigm peculiar to its new category as a part of speech.

The question of conversion has, for a long time, been a controversial one in several aspects. The very essence of this process has been treated by a number of scholars (e. g. H. Sweet), not as a word-building act, but as a mere functional change. From this point of view the word hand in Hand me that book is not a verb, but a noun used in a verbal syntactical function, that is, hand (me) and hands (in She has small hands) are not two different words but one. Hence, the case cannot be treated as one of word-formation for no new word appears.

According to this functional approach, conversion may be regarded as a specific feature of the English categories of parts of speech, which are supposed to be able to break through the rigid borderlines dividing one category from another thus enriching the process of communication not by the creation of new words but through the sheer flexibility of the syntactic structures.

Nowadays this theory finds increasingly fewer supporters, and conversion is universally accepted as one of the major ways of enriching English vocabulary with new words. One of the major arguments for this approach to conversion is the semantic change that regularly accompanies each instance of conversion. Normally, a word changes its syntactic function without any shift in lexical meaning. E. g. both in yellow leaves and in The leaves were turning yellow the adjective denotes colour. Yet, in The leaves yellowed the converted unit no longer denotes colour, but the process of changing colour, so that there is an essential change in meaning.

The change of meaning is even more obvious in such pairs as hand > to hand, face > to face, to go > a go, to make > a make, etc.

The other argument is the regularity and completeness with which converted units develop a paradigm of their new category of part of speech. As soon as it has crossed the category borderline, the new word automatically acquires all the properties of the new category, so that if it has entered the verb category, it is now regularly used in all the forms of tense and it also develops the forms of the participle and the gerund. Such regularity can hardly be regarded as indicating a mere functional change which might be expected to bear more occasional characteristics. The completeness of the paradigms in new conversion formations seems to be a decisive argument proving that here we are dealing with new words and not with mere functional variants. The data of the more reputable modern English dictionaries confirm this point of view: they all present converted pairs as homonyms, i. e. as two words, thus supporting the thesis that conversion is a word-building process.

Conversion is not only a highly productive but also a particularly English way of word-building. Its immense productivity is considerably encouraged by certain features of the English language in its modern Stage of development. The analytical structure of Modern English greatly facilitates processes of making words of one category of parts of speech from words of another. So does the simplicity of paradigms of En-lush parts of speech. A great number of one-syllable Words is another factor in favour of conversion, for such words are naturally more mobile and flexible than polysyllables.

Conversion is a convenient and «easy» way of enriching the vocabulary with new words. It is certainly an advantage to have two (or more) words where there Was one, all of them fixed on the same structural and semantic base.

The high productivity of conversion finds its reflection in speech where numerous occasional cases of conversion can be found, which are not registered by dictionaries and which occur momentarily, through the immediate need of the situation. «If anybody oranges me again tonight, I’ll knock his face off, says the annoyed hero of a story by O’Henry when a shop-assistant offers him oranges (for the tenth time in one night) instead of peaches for which he is looking («Lit. tie Speck in Garnered Fruit»). One is not likely to find the verb to orange in any dictionary, but in this situation it answers the need for brevity, expressiveness and humour.

The very first example, which opens the section on conversion in this chapter (the book is a splendid read), though taken from a book-review, is a nonce-word, which may be used by reviewers now and then or in informal verbal communication, but has not yet found its way into the universally acknowledged English vocabulary.

Such examples as these show that conversion is a vital and developing process that penetrates contemporary speech as well. Subconsciously every English speaker realizes the immense potentiality of making a word into another part of speech when the need arises.

* * *

One should guard against thinking that every case of noun and verb (verb and adjective, adjective and noun, etc.) with the same morphemic shape results from conversion. There are numerous pairs of words (e. g. love, n. — to love, v.; work, n. — to work, v.; drink, n. — to drink, v., etc.) which did, not occur due to conversion but coincided as a result of certain historical processes (dropping of endings, simplification of stems) when before that they had different forms (e. g. O. E. lufu, n. — lufian, v.). On the other hand, it is quite true that the first cases of conversion (which were registered in the 14th c.) imitated such pairs of words as love, n. — to love, v. for they were numerous to the vocabulary and were subconsciously accepted by native speakers as one of the typical language patterns.

* * *

The two categories of parts of speech especially affected by conversion are nouns and verbs. Verbs made from nouns are the most numerous amongst the words produced by conversion: e. g. to hand, to back, to face, to eye, to mouth, to nose, to dog, to wolf, to monkey, to can, to coal, to stage, to screen, to room, to floor, to lack-mail, to blacklist, to honeymoon, and very many ethers.

Nouns are frequently made from verbs: do (e. g. This ifs the queerest do I’ve ever come across. Do — event, incident), go (e. g. He has still plenty of go at his age. Go — energy), make, run, find, catch, cut, walk, worry, show, move, etc.

Verbs can also be made from adjectives: to pale, to yellow, to cool, to grey, to rough (e. g. We decided sq rough it in the tents as the weather was warm), etc.

Other parts of speech are not entirely unsusceptible to conversion as the following examples show: to down, to out (as in a newspaper heading Diplomatist Outed from Budapest), the ups and downs, the ins and outs, like, n. (as in the like of me and the like of you).

* * *

It was mentioned at the beginning of this section that a word made by conversion has a different meaning from that of the word from which it was made though the two meanings can be associated. There are Certain regularities in these associations which can be roughly classified. For instance, in the group of verbs made from nouns some of the regular semantic associations are as indicated in the following list:

I. The noun is the name of a tool or implement, the verb denotes an action performed by the tool: to hammer, to nail, to pin, to brush, to comb, to pencil.

II. The noun is the name of an animal, the verb denotes an action or aspect of behaviour considered typical of this animal: to dog, to wolf, to monkey, to ape, to fox, to rat. Yet, to fish does not mean «to behave like a fish» but «to try to catch fish». The same meaning of hunting activities is conveyed by the verb to whale and one of the meanings of to rat; the other is «to turn informer, squeal» (sl.).

III. The name of a part of the human body — an action performed by it: to hand, to leg (sl.), to eye, to elbow, to shoulder, to nose, to mouth. However, to face does not imply doing something by or even with one’s face but turning it in a certain direction. To back means either «to move backwards» or, in the figurative sense, «to support somebody or something».

IV. The name of a profession or occupation — an activity typical of it: to nurse, to cook, to maid, to groom.

V. The name of a place — the process of occupying» the place or of putting smth./smb. in it (to room, to house, to place, to table, to cage).

VI. The name of a container — the act of putting smth. within the container (to can, to bottle, to pocket).

VII. The name of a meal — the process of taking it (to lunch, to supper).

The suggested groups do not include all the great variety of verbs made from nouns by conversion. They just represent the most obvious cases and illustrate, convincingly enough, the great variety of semantic interrelations within so-called converted pairs and the complex nature of the logical associations which specify them.

In actual fact, these associations are not only complex but sometimes perplexing. It would seem that if you know that the verb formed from the name of an animal denotes behaviour typical of the animal, it would easy for you to guess the meaning of such a verb provided that you know the meaning of the noun. Yet, it is not always easy. Of course, the meaning of to fox is rather obvious being derived from the associated reputation of that animal for cunning: to fox means «to act cunningly or craftily». But what about to wolf? How is one to know which of the characteristics of the animal was picked by the speaker’s subconscious when this verb was produced? Ferocity? Loud and unpleasant fowling? The inclination to live in packs? Yet, as the Hollowing example shows, to wolf means «to eat greedily, voraciously»: Charlie went on wolfing the chocolate. (R. Dahl)

In the same way, from numerous characteristics of | be dog, only one was chosen for the verb to dog which is well illustrated by the following example:

And what of Charles? I pity any detective who would have to dog him through those twenty months.

(From The French Lieutenant’s Woman by J. Fowles)

(To dog — to follow or track like a dog, especially with hostile intent.)

The two verbs to ape and to monkey, which might be expected to mean more or less the same, have shared between themselves certain typical features of the same animal:

to ape — to imitate, mimic (e. g. He had always aped the gentleman in his clothes and manners. — J. Fowles);

to monkey — to fool, to act or play idly and foolishly. To monkey can also be used in the meaning «to imitate», but much rarer than to ape.

The following anecdote shows that the intricacies ex semantic associations in words made by conversion may prove somewhat bewildering even for some native-speakers, especially for children.

«Mother», said Johnny, «is it correct to say you ‘water a horse’ when he’s thirsty?»

«Yes, quite correct.»

«Then», (picking up a saucer) «I’m going to milk the cat.»

The joke is based on the child’s mistaken association of two apparently similar patterns: water, п. — to water, v.; milk, n. — to milk, v. But it turns out that the meanings of the two verbs arose from different associations: to water a horse means «to give him water», but to milk implies getting milk from an animal (e. g, to milk a cow).

Exercises

I. Consider your answers to the following.

1. What are the main ways of enriching the English vocabulary?

2. What are the principal productive ways of word-building in English?

3. What do we mean by derivation?

4. What is the difference between frequency and productivity of affixes? Why can’t one consider the noun-forming suffix -age, that is commonly met in many words (cabbage, village, marriage, etc.), a productive one?

5. Give examples of your own to show that affixes have meanings.

6. Look through Chapter 3 and say what languages served as the main sources of borrowed affixes. Illustrate your answer by examples.

7. Prove that the words a finger and to finger («to touch or handle with .the fingers») are two words and not the one word finger used either as a noun or as a verb.

8. What features of Modern English have produced the high productivity of conversion? и

9. Which categories of parts of speech are especially affected by conversion?

10. Prove that the pair of words love, n. and love, v. do not present a case of conversion.

II. 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 |b the infirmary now, and have been for six days. The Head nurse is very bossy. She is tall and thinnish with a Hark 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)¹

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…

(From Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse. Abridged)

III. Write out from any five pages of the book you are reading examples which illustrate borrowed and native affixes in the tables in Ch. 3 and 5. Comment on their productivity.

IV. 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-

V. Write out from the book yon 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.

VI. 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, ad].; overwrite, v.; irregular, adj.; illegals adj.; retype, v.; old-womanish, adj.; disrespectable, adj.; inexpensive, adj.; unladylike, adj.; disorganize, v.; renew, u.; eatable, adj.; overdress, u.; disinfection, п.; snobbish, adj.; handful, п.; tallish, adj.; sandy, adj.; breakable, adj.; underfed, adj.

VII. 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.

1. 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 her. self 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)¹

VIII. 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.

IX. Find eases 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 33owns. 12. The upshot seemed to be that I was left to Пасе life with the sum of £ 87 17s 4d. 13. «A man could Hie 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.

X. 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 this 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. |Ь) 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 installment 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 dog’s, 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 dog’s me.»

XI. 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.

XII. 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, v. 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, v. dress, n. — to dress, v. floor, n. — to floor, v.

XIII. 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. S!’ 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.'»

Name ______________________________Form___________

WORD BUILDING

Exercise 1

Make as many words as you can by combining different parts of the box.

dis-	excite	-fill
un-	appoint	-lessly
im-	honest	-able
	patient	-ly
	success	-y
	direct	-ship
	kind	-ment
	profit	-ness
	help friend luck like	-ion

Exercise 2

Match a prefix in Column A with a word in Column B. Use each prefix and word once only.

Column A

1. il
2. re
3. under
4. sub
5. un
6. ir
7. ex
8. dis

Column В

1. organized
2. responsible
3. write
4. line
5. wife
6. legal
7. titles

h) comfortable

Now fill the gaps in the following sentences with an appropriate word formed above.

a) You wouldn’t be so ________________ if you had a diary and wrote down all the things you have to do.

b)This letter is very badly written. I’m afraid you’ll have to        it.

c) I prefer to see American films in English with        in my own language.

d)This sofa is really        . It makes my back ache.

1. In most countries it is        to open a bank account in a false name.
2. It was very ___________of you to go out and leave your younger brothers and sisters alone in the house.

g)        After you’ve read the book once straight through, read it again and        some of the

words you want to look up in your dictionary.
h)He has been divorced for ten years now, but he still has a good relationship with his        .

Exercise 3

Fill the gaps in the following sentences with the words in the box.

playground        truant        cheat        heart        correct      term      give    absent    hard        degree

break        university        headmaster        report        board

1.        Our teachers        our homework in the evening and        it

out the next day.

2.        My brother tried to          in the exam, but he was caught and sent to the ____________________________.

3.   I   like  to  play   football   in  the            with  my   friends   during  the   lunch ________________________________________

4.   She got a very good school        because she worked so        this ___________________

5.        I’d like to go to _______________ when I finish school and do a ___________________ in Economics.

6.        The teacher wrote the rules on the          and told us to learn them by __________.

7.   Were   you              for   a   good   reason   yesterday   or   were   you   playing ____________________?

Exercise 4

Make new words with the base words, using the suffixes and/or negative prefixes. Sometimes you need to make small changes to the spelling. Use your dictionary if necessary.

PREFIX	BASE WORD	SUFFIX
	conscious
	help	-able/ible
in-	kind
	literate	-fill
un-	loyal
	mature	-(t)ive
im-	measure
	polite	-less
il-	popular
	relevant	-cy
ir-	rely
	respect	-(i)ty
dis-	sense
	success	-ment
mis-	thought
	understand                        use	-ness

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets.

a)        What I appreciate most about my grandfather is his wisdom. His advice is always        

(HELP) and        (SENSE).

b)        Never go to Sue with a serious problem. She is very        (MATURE) and        

(SENSE).

c)        I think that boxing is a        (SENSE) sport. What is the point of trying to hit another person

until they are        (CONSCIOUS).

d)        We’d been walking along the        (USE) railway track for hours before we realized

that the map was out-of-date and        (USE).

1. The only thing poverty leads to is         (HAPPY) and        (LITERATE).
2. My aunt isn’t fond of today’s children. She thinks that they are all        (POLITE) and

        (RESPECT).

Exercise 5

Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets. Use your dictionary if necessary.

1. My mother was such an        person, always busy, always in a hurry. (ENERGY)
2. I made a stupid        and so things didn’t turn out as planned. (CALCULATE)
3. I’d like to do it        this time. I hope you don’t mind. (DIFFERENT)
4. If you ate more        food, you wouldn’t have all these problems with your skin. (HEALTH)

5.1 want to be an important        when I grow up. (SCIENCE)

1. It is almost impossible to actually measure        _. (INTELLIGENT)
2. He’s        at mending things. I’ll just have to do it myself. (USE)

Exercise 6

Fill in the gaps in the following sentences with an appropriate word from the box.

floods     drought     earthquake     injures      refugees        charity       emergency

1. Many have suffered terrible
2. The latest San Francisco
3. In case of        
4. Half a million___________

____________________as a result of fighting.

___________________measured 4.5 on the Richter scale.

break the glass and push the button.

have now crossed the border in an attempt to find food.

1. I never give to        . I think it should be the government’s responsibility.
2. There has been a        in certain parts of the country due to the lack of rain.
3. There has been so much rain that some rivers have burst their banks and there have been ______________________.

Exercise 7

Use the words given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in each space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

TAKE

EXAMINE

FRIEND

ESTIMATE

CROWD

CONDUCT

USE

LUCK

BELIEF

BACK

APPOINT

THE DRIVING TEST

I knew I would have to (0) retake my driving test as soon as I saw the

(1)        . He didn’t even say «hello» and seemed        very

(2)        . I was a little bit late I suppose as I had slightly

(3)        how long it would take me to get there. As usual

in this (4)        city all the buses were packed and I had had

to wait more than twenty minutes before a (5)        would let

me get on a bus. I knew apologizing would be (6)        so I

just got in the car. (7)        I wasn’t feeling particularly

nervous but this horrible man stared at me in (8)        as I

began to drive off. I put the car into gear, but it went (9)        

so fast I couldn’t believe it — straight into a wall. I was so (10)        

when he told me I had failed that I thought I might cry.

Exercise 8

Use the words given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in each space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

LAZY

HONEST

COMPLAIN

NUMBER

MANAGE

USE

QUALITY

RESIGN

REFUSE

FAIR

FATHER FIRES SON

A businessman sacked his own son because of (0) laziness, incompetence

and (1)        . Stuart Bidwell received dozens of letters of

(2)        about his work during the ten years he was his

father’s employee. «He got (3)        ,» said Stephen

        of the company.

at his job and he didn’t even

Bidwell, Stuart’s father. And the (4)

«He was absolutely (5)        

. Eventually he was asked to hand

have the right (6)        

in his (7)        after being caught making phone calls

to a girlfriend in Australia. His (8)        to resign forced

according to Stuart, who is

his father to sack him, (9) _______________

now suing his father.

Exercise 9

Fill the gaps in the following text with the correct form of the words in capitals.

I always wanted to be a great (1)        . I had                     SCIENCE

these dreams of discovering a (2)        new drug        REXOLUTION

that would save the lives of hundreds of people. Unfortunately, I was

never very good at (3)        at school and kept        CHEMIST

producing these horrible smells and the teacher used to get very cross with me.

After a while, I decided I would become an (4)                INVENT

and design an amazing new (5)        which                  PRODUCE

would become a household name. My parents were quite encouraging,

but told me to be a little more (6)        and not quite so        REAL

(7)        . A few weeks later I had a brilliant idea for        AMBITION

a pen that, at least (8)_____________,would write upside                            THEORY

down. To my (9)        ____________ a friend of mine pointed out                   DISAPPOINT

that it was not a new (10) __________.                                               DISCOVER  

Exercise 10

Use the words given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in each space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

ADVERTISING

Many people find their work rather (0) boring I get a lot of

(1) _______________from my job. Advertising can be very

(2)_____        because you have to think of new ways

to attract people’s (3)        . The best way to

do this is by surprising them. (4)        is boring

BORE

SATISFY

CREATE

ATTEND

FAMILIAR

and people soon get fed up with an (5) ______________ they	ADVERTISE
have seen many times before. (6)  _______________  they	CONSCIOUS
want to be shocked. Apart from (7) _______________, the	ORIGINAL
other really important (8)  _________________   of a good campaign is	CHARACTER
(9) _______________. After all if people don’t remember	MEMORABLE
what was being advertised, they won’t buy the (10)	PRODUCE

Exercise 11

Use the words given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in each space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

FIT

HEALTH

ENERGY

USE

SIMILAR

CHILD

INTELLIGENT

CLEVER

SCIENCE

CALCULATE

COMPETE

NOT FIT, BUT SMART

In my family we don’t worry about (0) fitness. I suppose you could

say I’m rather (1)        . I only eat junk food and

I never do any exercise. I’m not very (2)        and

I’m completely (3) ______________        at sports. My two sisters are not

(4) _________________to me when it comes to leading active lives.

Neither of them has played any kind of sport since (5)        

What they lack in sporting ability, they make up for in (6)        

They are two of the (7)_____________ people I know. One of        

them works as a research (8)        and the other designs

electronic equipment like (9)        and mobile phones.

They have both done extremely well in what are very  (10)__________ professions.

Exercise 12

Use the words given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in each space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

AMATEUR ATHLETICS

Events like city marathons are (0) increasingly popular. You don’t        INCREASE

have to be a (1)        person to take part in        COMPETE

(2)        , though you do need to be fairly                        ATHLETE

(3)        and reasonably fit. You can build up        ENERGY

fitness by jogging. It’s not the (4)        that        DISTANT

matters, but how long your jog for. You can improve your        
(5)        gradually over a period of weeks.              PERFORM

In (6) ________________for a long race like a marathon it’s         PREPARE

(7) _________________ to run more than a couple of kilometers         NECESSARY

most days. (8) ________________________marathon runners work on        SUCCESS

the (9) ____________________aspects of running long races.        PHYCHOLOGY
Mental (10) ____________________is just as important as being          STRONG

physically fit.

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Ответы к странице 68 

4F. English in Use — Английский на практике

1. Read the box, then complete the sentences with nouns derived from the words in bold. Use your dictionary. — Прочитайте текст в рамке, затем закончите предложения, вставив существительные, образованные из слов, выделенных жирным шрифтом. Используйте ваш словарик.

We can add certain endings to verbs to make nouns e.g. — Мы можем добавлять некоторые окончания к глаголам, чтобы сформировать из них существительные, например:

-ment (move − movement), — двигаться — движение
-ing (train − training), — тренировать — тренировка
-tion (create − creation), — создавать — создание
-ssion (transmit − transmission), — передавать — передача
-ery (recover − recovery), — восстанавливать — восстановление
-ation (organise − organisation). — организовывать — организация

Ответ:

1. Tom stayed home to accept delivery of his new plasma TV. (deliver) — Том остался дома, чтобы принять доставку его нового плазменного телевизора.
2. Click on the attachment in the email to see the pictures they sent us. (attach) — Кликните на вложение емейла, чтобы увидеть картинку, которую они нам послали.
3. The invention of the computer changed our lives forever. (invent) — Изобретение компьютера навсегда изменило нашу жизнь.
4. Since Jane’s discovery of online dictionaries, she refers to them for all her homework. (discover) — С тех пор, как Джейн открыла для себя онлайн-словари, она сверяет с ними всю свою домашнюю работу.
5. There has been an increase in spending on school computers. (spend) — Увеличились расходы на школьные компьютеры.
6. There is a lot of information available on the Internet! (inform) — В Интернете полно доступной информации.

2. Complete the gaps with: for, about, from, with, in, or on. Check in Appendix 2. — Заполните пробелы словами: for, about, from, with, in, или on. Сверьтесь с приложением 2.

Ответ:

1. John wrote to his cousin about the new website. — Джон писал своей кузине о новом сайта.
2. Every new invention starts with an idea. — Каждое новое изобретение начинается с идеи.
3. Kate has every electrical gadget available apart from a games console. — У Кейт есть все доступные электрические устройства, кроме игровой консоли.
4. Creating a robot is much more difficult in practice than in theory. — Создание робота намного сложнее на практике, чем в теории.
5. She relies on the Internet to keep informed about global events. — Она полагается на Интернет, когда хочет быть в курсе глобальных событий.
6. He uses the Internet to cater for most of his shopping needs. — Он использует Интернет, чтобы удовлетворить большую часть своих потребностей в покупках.

3. Complete with: out, out of, into, up, down. What does each phrasal verb mean? Check in Appendix 1. — Вставьте слова: out, out of, into, up, down. Что каждый фразовый глагол означает? Сверьтесь с приложением 1.

Ответ:

1. The fire broke out early this morning. — Пожар начался рано утром.
2. Burglars broke into Dad’s office last night. — Грабители вломились в офис отца прошлой ночью.
3. Jo and Time broke up after a fight. — Джо и Тайм порвали отношения после драки.
4. The washing machine has broken down again! — Стиральная машина опять сломалась!
5. They broke out of prison and escaped. — Они вырвались из тюрьмы и смылись.

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Давайте посмотрим на некоторые наиболее популярные значения фразового глагола break:

break down — сломаться, провалиться, пережить нервный срыв, сорваться (план);
break into — неожиданно начать что-то делать;
break off — внезапно прекращать что-то делать, отломить, оторвать, прервать отношения;
break through — преодолеть преграду, прорваться;
break up — закончить, прекратить, закрыться (на каникулы), разойтись, распасться, разразиться (смехом), пропадать (во время разговора);
break in (into) — вмешаться, ворваться, вломиться, прервать что-то;
break out — разразиться, начаться (о войне, восстании, пожаре), прорваться, покрыться чем-либо (о коже);
break out of — сбежать, вырваться;
break away — вырваться, сбежать, освободиться, оторваться (от группы);
break with — покончить (например, с прошлым).

---

4. Find the correct word, then make sentences using the other words. — Найдите правильное слово, затем составьте предложения с другими словами.

Ответ:

1. Who invented/discovered the light bulb? — Кто изобрел лампочку?
2. We do Chemistry research/experiments at school. — Мы проводим химические эксперименты в школе.
3. Do you have an electric/electronic oven? — У тебя есть электрическая духовка?
4. The engine/machine of my car has a problem. — С двигателем моей машины проблемы.
5. I need to access/download the Internet. — Мне нужен доступ к Интернету.
6. Technology has greatly effected/affected our lives. — Технологии сильно повлияли на нашу жизнь.
7. Dad offered/suggested to buy me a tablet. — Папа предложил купить мне планшет.

Дополнительный ответ:

1. Who discovered America? — Кто открыл Америку?
2. Did you ever think to direct your chemistry research to his problem? — Вы хоть раз подумали направить ваши химические исследования на эту проблему?
3. Do you have electronic gadgets? — У тебя есть электронные гаджеты?
4. Robots are just machines that can’t think, feel, create. — Роботы — это просто машины, которые не умеют думать, чувствовать, творить.
5. I need to download this file. — Мне нужно загрузить этот файл.
6. Inheritance is effected by law. — Наследование осуществляется по закону.
7. He suggested some health adaptation strategies — Он предложил несколько стратегий по адаптации в области здравоохранения.

5. Read the text below. Form derivatives from the words in brackets so that they fit gaps 1-6. — Прочитайте текст. Сформируйте слова из слов в скобках, чтобы они подходили к пробелам 1-6.

Ответ:

Ada Lovelace was one of the first female computer programmers. Born in 1852 in London, England, she grew up with a 1) fascination (fascinate) for maths and science. In 1833, she met the 2) inventor (invent) Charles Babbage.

They worked together for many years on a device called The Analytical Engine, a very 3) basic (base) kind of mechanical computer.

Later, in 1843, Ada published some notes about the machine which were 4) virtually (virtual) the first computer program. Seeing beyond Babbage’s ideas, she had the first vision of computers as we know them today.

In the 19th century, it was almost 5) unknowable (know) for a woman to be a scientist. Because of her one unique 6) achievements (achieve) Ada Lovelace inspires female computer programmers even today.

Ада Лавлейс была одной из первых женщин-программистов. Она родилась в 1852 году в Лондоне, Англия. В 1833 году она познакомилась с изобретателем Чарльзом Бэббиджем.

Они работали вместе в течение многих лет над устройством под названием аналитический двигатель, примитивным видом механического компьютера.

Позже, в 1843 году, Ада опубликовала несколько заметок об аппарате, который был фактически первой компьютерной программой. Выходя за рамки идей Бэббиджа, она впервые предвидела компьютеры, такими, какими мы их знаем сегодня.

В XIX веке было почти непостижимо для женщины быть учёным. Благодаря своим уникальным достижениям Ада Лавлейс вдохновляет женщин-программистов даже сегодня. 

Vocabulary

CV (curriculum vitae) – резюме

brief – кратко

to conduct the interview – проводить интервью, собеседование

to hold a position – занимать должность

panel of interviewers – группа интервьюеров

to suit the job – подходить для работы

on the spot – на месте, сразу

to consider an offer – рассмотреть предложение

assertive–уверенный в себе

a firm handshake — твердое рукопожатие

to lean – наклоняться

to stump – тяжело опускаться (на стул)

to keep a balance of power – сохранять равновесие сторон

point of view – точка зрения

timid – робкий, застенчивый

cheeky – наглый

to feel anxious – волноваться

to hedge – уклоняться от прямого ответа

In the United States every state has an employment service which
helps unemployed people who are looking for jobs. The local offices
list job openings in the area, and give practical advice on
interview techniques, application forms, letters, unemployment
insurance, and Social Security. Young people, especially those
without a college education, need to have this advice.

In England there is a special service for school leavers. The
Careers Advisory Service, which helps young people who are looking
for their first jobs. This is an extract from a brochure which is
given to young people by Dorset Careers Service.

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

Investigate:
what
company is like before you apply for the job.

Are they really the kind of organization you want to work for?

Write
an effective CV.
Keep
it
brief
and
simple — a badly written one will
lose you the job before you get to the interview stage.

Discover
as much as you can about the interview. Find
out where the interview is.
Find
out
the
interviewer’s name and telephone number. This
means finding out exactly
who will be conducting
the
interview,
what position
they
hold,
and
whether
it’s
an informal chat or a formal interview, possibly in front of a whole
panel
of
interviewers.

AT THE INTERVIEW

Dress
the part. Even
if the job is in a modern company where the code is
casual, you should dress formally for the interview — a suit is
always safe. Look clean and tidy. Never
keep your overcoat on during the interview.
If possible take it off outside the interview room.

Think
positively and confidently
about
yourself.
From the moment you decide
to apply for the job think about (and write down) all qualities you
have
to offer the company as well as the reasons you would suit
the job.
Use the interview to discover as much about the job as possible.
Even if they
offer it to you on
the spot
ask
for some time to
consider their offer.
Is it
right for you and
them?

Be
aware of your body language. Most
interviewers
don’t
realize it but they
are influenced by your body language the moment you walk into the
room.
Be assertive,
smile,
look the interviewer in the eye, and give a
firm
handshake.
Don’t lean
too
far over the desk or slump
in
the chair with your arms
crossed. Practice your ‘entrance’ at home with a friend so you feel
comfortable.

Keep
a balance of power throughout the interview. From
a psychologist’s point
of view this is what interviews are all about! Don’t be too timid
or
allow the interviewer to
dominate you because an interview is a two-way process,
and you are to decide whether you want the job. It’s as important
for you to ask questions about
your potential job as it is for the interviewer to question
you. But don’t be over-confident and cheeky.
No
one likes a “difficult”
candidate however good your qualifications are.

Keep
calm before and during the interview. Three-quarters
of people feel
anxious
about
job interviews and their nervousness often lets them down. The key
is to
learn interview skills which are as important as job skills, and
control
your nerves. Remember the interviewer may be nervous as well.

Ex.
11. Read about Dos and Don’ts for job seekers and
discuss how you can avoid mistakes and follow recommendations.

DOs
DON’Ts

Do stress your qualification for this job.	Don’t keep stressing your need for a job.
Do mention any experience you have which is relevant to the job.	Don’t discuss past experience, which has no application to the job situation.
Do assume an air of confidence.	Don’t apologize for your age.
Do approach the employer with respectful dignity.	Don’t be untidy in appearance.
Do try to be optimistic in your attitude.	Don’t mumble.
Do try to overcome nervousness and shortness of breath.	Don’t be one of those who can do everything.
Do answer the questions honestly.
Do indicate your flexibility and readiness to learn..	Don’t hedge in answering questions.
Do have a good resume.	Don’t hang around, prolonging the interview when it should be over.
Do be well groomed and appropriately dressed.	Don’t write incorrect information on your CV to make it look better.

What information from
the above table was familiar for you and what was new? Do you agree
with everything?

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