help lend one a hand Exercises on synonymy
1. decide whether the following statements are true or false. ( ) 1) Synonyms must be similar in meaning and in part of speech.
( ) 2) Most synonyms belong to relative synonyms and absolute synonyms are nonexistent.
( ) 3) Foreign words provide a most important source of English synonyms.
( ) 4) Synonyms are identical in denotation but only different in style and affection.
( ) 5) Foreign words are generally more formal than native words and French words are less formal than Latin words.
( ) 6) If the words differ in range and intensity of meaning, the words are not identical in denotation.
( ) 7) The major difference between unlike— dissimilar, homely—domestic is stylistic and that between black—nigger, determined—pigheaded is affective.
( ) 8) To choose the right synonym in a group, we should find out the difference in conceptual meaning, in colouring and in usage.
1．1)T 2)F 3)T 4)F 5)T 6)T 7) T 8)T
2. Give a word of similar meaning beginning with the letter \the following words:
a. woman f____ f. goodbye f____ b. scare f____ g. banquet f____ c. enemy f____ h. dirt f____ d. untrue f____ i. story f____ e. prestige f____ j. strange f____
2．woman——female enemy——foe
scare——frighten／fright untrue——false／fake goodbye--farewell dirt——filth
prestige——fame banquet——feast
story—— fiction／fable strange—foreign
3. In each of the following contexts, two words are given for the blank. In one case both words are interchangeable and in the other, only one can be used.
a. I'm afraid they will____ (refuse, reject) our offer.
b. We____(reject, refuse) goods that do not meet the required standard.
a. Our____?(target, goal) is a profit of $ 50, 000 for the coming year.
b. Montcrieff scored a fabulous____ (target, goal) in the second half.
a. His approach to his studies is rather____(shallow, superficial). b. The water is very____(shallow, superficial )—let's paddle. a. Could you____(fetch, bring) me my glasses? They are on the table.
b. Come to our party but don't forget to____(fetch, bring) a bottle.
a. I'm going to be late—I'll have to____(hurry, rush).
b. The hostages decided to try to____(hurry, rush) the terrorists to make him drop his gun.
a. I____(think, believe) he'll be here this evening. b. I don't____ (think, believe) in Father Christmas. a. From then on, the world (begin, start).
b. Since the plan is announced, let's ____(begin, start) to do our share.
3．a．refuse，reject b．reject a．target，goal b．goal a．Shallow，superficial b．shallow a．fetch，bring b．bring a．hurry，rush b．rush a．think，believe b．believe a．began b．begin，start
4. For each of the italicized words in the text we have suggested two synonyms. Choose the best one in each case and decide if the synonyms need to be qualified in any way.
A recent poll (1) revealed that many parents felt there was too much violence on TV. Interestingly enough, only eight percent felt that sex was
more harmful (2) than violence.
What emerged most clearly from the mass of figures was that parents exercise little control over their children’s' viewing, even when it worries them. They put the onus (3) on the programme makers which is both irresponsible and unfair. Even if children cannot be prevented from watching television, at least there could be a warning before the programme starts if it includes scenes likely to upset minors (4)This already happens in America.
Personally I would like to attach a warning to all those nasty (5), smutty (6) comedy shows. However, when I suggested that to a number of TV programme producers I was accused of being biased (7) --such are the problems of setting oneself up as a censor.
(1) survey | investigation (2) damaging | noxious (3) responsibility | blame (4) children | youngster (5) unpleasant | vicious (6) dirty | filthy (7) prejudiced | subjective
4 ．(1)po1l=survey (2)harmful=damaging (3)onus=responsibility. But onus is a much lower frequency item (4)minors=children. There is a stylistic difference；minors is a 1egal term． (5) nasty = unpleasant (6) smutty = dirty. Filthy is slightly more extreme and pejorative. (7) biased = prejudiced. Prejudiced has negative connotations.
Exercises on antonymy
1. Find the words, beginning with the letter d or g as indicated, that are the most logical opposites of the ones listed below.
a. surplus d i. lose g b. hope d j. sudden g
c. accept d k.disgrace g d. victory d 1. stingy g e. affirm d m. decrease g f. harmony d n. harsh g g. giant d o. release g h. add d p. scatter g Keys:
1. surplus--deficit hope--despair accept--decline victory--defeat affirm--deny harmony--discord giant--dwarf add--deduct lose--gain sudden--gradual disgrace--glory stingy--generous decrease-- grow harsh--genial release--grab scatter--gather
2. In linguistics, often a phenomenon is given different alternative names. The same is true of antonyms. Column A contains the terms for the three types of antonyms in this book; Column B is a least of alternative names you might meet with in other books. Try to match them.
A B