英语词汇学试题
Introduction and Chapter 1
Basic Concepts of Words and Vocabulary(练习1)
I.Each of the statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement.
1. Morphology is the branch of grammar which studies the structure or forms of words, primarily through the
use of _________construct.
A. word B. form C. morpheme D. root
2.________ is traditionally used for the study of the origins and history of the form and meaning of words.
A. Semantics B. Linguistics C. Etymology D. Stylistics 3.Modern English is derived from the language of early ______ tribes.
A. Greek B. Roman C. Italian D. Germanic
4. Semantics is the study of meaning of different _________ levels: lexis, syntax, utterance, discourse, etc.
A. linguistic B. grammatical C. arbitrary D. semantic
5.Stylistics is the study of style . It is concerned with the user‘s choices of linguistic elements in a particular________ for special effects
A. situation B. context C. time D. place
6.Lexicography shares with lexicology the same problems: the form , meaning, origins and usages of words, but they have a _______ difference.
A . spelling B. semantic C. pronunciation D. pragmatic
7. Terminology consists of _______ terms used in particular disciplines and academic areas.
A. technical B. artistic C. different D. academic
8. __________refers to the specialized vocabularies by which members of particular arts, sciences, trades, and professions communicate among themselves.
A. Slang B. Jargon C. Dialectal words D. Argot
9 ._________ belongs to the sub-standard language, a category that seems to stand between the standard general words including informal ones available to everyone and in-group words. A. Jargon B. Argot C. Dialectal words D. Slang
10. Argot generally refers to the jargon of _______.Its use is confined to the sub-cultural groups and outsiders can hardly understand it.
A. workers B. criminals C. any person D. policeman 11.________ are words used only by speakers of the dialect in question.
A. Argot B. Slang C. Jargon D. Dialectal words
12. Archaisms are words or forms that were once in _________use but are now restricted only to specialized or limited use.
A. common B. little C. slight D. great
13. Neologisms are newly-created words or expressions, or words that have taken on ______meanings.
A. new B. old C. bad D. good
14. Content words denote clear notions and thus are known as_________ words. They include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and numerals.
A. functional B. notional C. empty D. formal
15. Functional words do not have notions of their own. Therefore, they are also called _______words. Prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries and articles belong to this category.
A. content B. notional C. empty D. new
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II. Complete the following statements with proper words or expressions according to the course book. 16.Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, inquiring into the origins and _____of words.
17.English lexicology aims at investigating and studying the ______ structures of English words and word equivalents, their semantics, relations, _____development, formation and ______.
18. English lexicology embraces other academic disciplines, such as morphology, ______,etymology, stylistics,
________.
19. There are generally two approaches to the study of words , namely synchronic and _______. 20. Language study involves the study of speech sounds, grammar and_______.
III. Match the words or expressions in Column A with those in Column B according to 1) basic word stock and nonbasic vocabulary 2) content words and functional words 3) native words and borrowed words 4)characteristics of the basic word stock.
A B
21 . Stability ( ) A. E-mail 22. Collocbility( ) B. aught 23. Jargon( ) C. por 24. Argot ( ) D. upon 25.Notional words( ) E. hypo 26. Neologisms ( ) F. at heart 27. Aliens ( ) G. man 28. Semantic-loans( ) H. dip 29. Archaisms ( ) I. fresh 30. Empty words ( ) J. emir
IV. Study the following words or expressions and identify 1) characteristics of the basic word stock 2) types of nonbasic vocabulary.
31. dog cheap ( ) 32 a change of heart ( ) 33. can-opener ( ) 34.Roger ( ) 35. bottom line ( ) 36.penicillin ( ) 37. auld ( ) 38. futurology ( ) 39.brethren ( ) 40. take ( ) V. Define the following terms.
41. word 42. Denizens 43. Aliens 44. Translation-loans 45. Semantic-loans VI. Answer the following Questions
46.Illustrate the relationship between sound and meaning, sound and form with examples.
47. What are the main characteristics of the basic word-stock? Illustrate your points with examples. 48. Give the types of nonbasic vocabulary with examples. VII. Analyze and comment on the following.
49. Classify the following words and point out the types of words according to notion.
earth, cloud, run, walk, on, of, upon, be, frequently , the, five, but, a , never.
50. Group the following borrowed words into Denizens, Aliens, Translation-loans, Semantic-loans.
Dream, pioneer, kowtow, bazaar, lama, master-piece, port, shirt Key to Exercises:
I. 1. A2.C3.D4.A5.B6.D7.A8.B9.D10.B11.D12.A13.A14.B15.C II. 16.meanings17.morphological, historical, usages 18. semantics, lexicography19.diachronic20.
vocabulary
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21. G 22. F23. E24. H25. C26. A27. J28.I29.B30.D 31. the basic word stock; productivity 32. the basic word stock; collocability 33.the basic word stock; argot 34.nonbasic word stock; slang 35. nonbasic word stock; jargon
36. nonbasic word stock ;terminology 37.nonbasic word stock; dialectal words 38. nonbasic word stock ,neologisms 39. nonbasic word stock; archaisms 40. the basic word stock; polysemy
V-----VI. (see the course book)
VII. 49. Content words: earth, clould, run, walk, frequently, never, five
Functional words: on, of, upon, be, the, but, a.
50. Denizens: port, shirt, Aliens: bazaar, kowtow
Translation-loans: lama, masterpiece Semantic-loans:dream, pioneer
Chapter 2 The Development of the English Vocabulary and Chapter 3 Word Formation I(练习2)
I. Each of the statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement.
1. It is assumed that the world has approximately 3,000( some put it 5,000)languages, which can be grouped
into the basis of similarities in their basic word stock and grammar. A. 500 B. 4000 C. 300 D. 2000
2. The prehistoric Indo-European parent language is thought to be a highly ______language.
A. inflected B. derived C. developed D. analyzed
3. After the _________, the Germanic tribes called Angles ,Saxons, and Jutes came in great numbers.
A. Greeks B. Indians C. Romans D. French 4. The introduction of ________had a great impact on the English vocabulary.
A. Hinduism B. Christianity C. Buddhism D. Islamism
5. In the 9th century the land was invaded again by Norwegian and Danish Vikings. With the invaders, many
________words came into the English language.
A. Greek B. Roman C. Celtic D. Scandinavian
6. It is estimated that at least ______ words of Scandinavian origin have survived in modern English. A. 500 B. 800 C. 1000 .D. 900
7. The Normans invaded England from France in 1066. The Norman Conquest started a continual flow of
______ words into English.
A. French B. Greek C. Roman D. Latin
8. By the end of the _______century , English gradually came back into the schools, the law courts, and
government and regained social status.
A. 12th B. 13th C. 14th D.15th
9. As a result , Celtic made only a ________contribution to the English vocabulary.
A. small B. big C. great D. smaller
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III. IV.
10. The Balto-Slavic comprises such modern languages as Prussian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovenian and _______.
A. Greek B. Roman C. Indian D. Russian
11. In the Indo-Iranian we have Persian , Bengali, Hindi, Romany, the last three of which are derived from the
dead language.
A. Sanskrit B. Latin C. Roman D. Greek 12. Greek is the modern language derived from _______.
A. Latin B. Hellenic C. Indian D . Germanic
13. The five Roamance languages , namely, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian all belong to the
Italic through an intermediate language called _______.
A. Sanskrit B. Latin C. Celtic D. Anglo-Saxon
14. The ________family consists of the four Northern European Languages: Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish
and Swedish, which are generally known as Scandinavian languages.
A. Germanic B. Indo-European C. Albanian D. Hellenic
15. By the end of the _______century , virtually all of the people who held political or social power and many
of those in powerful Church positions were of Norman French origin. A. 10th B.11th C.12th D. 13th
II. Complete the following statements with proper words or expressions according to the course book. 16. Now people generally refer to Anglo-Saxon as _______.
17. . If we say that Old English was a language of full endings , Middle English was one of ______.
18. It can be concluded that English has evoked from a synthetic language (Old English) to the present _____
language.
19. The surviving languages accordingly fall into eight principal groups , which can be grouped into an
Eastern set: Balto-Slavic , Indo-Iranian ,Armenian and Albanian; a Western set :Celtic, Italic, Hellenic, _______.
20. It is necessary to subdivide Modern English into Early (1500-1700)and _____ Modern English.
III. Match the words or expressions in Column A with those in Column B according to 1) origin of the words 2)history off English development 3) language family.
A B
21. Celtic ( ) A.politics 22. religious ( ) B.moon 23.Scandinavian ( ) C. Persian 24. French ( ) D.London 25. Old English ( ) E. abbot 26.Dutch ( ) F. skirt 27.Middle English ( ) G. sunu 28. Modern English ( ) H. lernen 29. Germanic family ( ) I. freight
30.Sanskrit ( ) J. Norwegian IV. Study the following words or expressions and identify types of morphemes underlined.
31. earth ( ) 32.contradict ( ) 33. predictor ( ) 34. radios ( ) 35. prewar ( ) 36. happiest ( ) 37. antecedent ( ) 38. northward ( )
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38. sun ( ) 40. diction ( ) V. Define the following terms.
41. free morphemes 42. bound morphemes 43. root 44. stem 45.affixes VI. Answer the following questions. Your answers should be clear and short. 46. Describe the characteristics of Old English . 47. Describe the characteristics of Middle English. 48. Describe the characteristics of Modern English. VII. Answer the following questions with examples. 49. What are the three main sources of new words ? 50. How does the modern English vocabulary develop ? Key to exercises:
I. 1.C 2.A 3.C 4.B 5.D 6.D 7.A 8.B 9.A 10.D 11.A 12.B 13.B 14.A 15.B II. 16.Old English 17. Leveled endings 18. analytic 19. Germanic 20.Late(1700-up to the
present )
III. 21. D 22. E 23. F 24. A 25. G 26. I 27. H 28. B 29. J 30. C IV. 31. free morpheme/ free root 32. bound root 33. suffix 34. inflectional affix 35. prefix 36. Inflectional affix 37. prefix 38. suffix 39. free morpheme/free root 40.bound root
V.-VI ( See the course book )
VII. 49. The three main sources of new words are :
(1) The rapid development of modern science and technology ,e.g. astrobiology, green revolution ; (2) Social , economic and political changes; e.g. Watergate, soy milk; (3) The influence of other cultures and language; e.g. felafel, Nehru Jackets.
50. Modern English vocabulary develops through three channels: (1) creation, e.g. consideration, carefulness; (2) semantic change, e.g. Polysemy, homonymy ; (3) borrowing ;e.g. tofu, gongful.
Chapter 3 The Development of the English Vocabulary and Chapter 4 Word Formation II(练习3)
I. Each of the statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement.
1. The prefixes in the words of irresistible, nonclassical and apolitical are called _______.
A. reversative prefixes B. negative prefixes C. pejorative prefixes D. locative prefixes
2. The prefixes contained in the following words are called ______: pseudo-friend, malpractice, mistrust.
A. reversative prefixed B. negative prefixes C. pejorative prefixes D. locative prefixes 3. The prefixed contained in unwrap, de-compose and disallow are _________.
A. reversative prefixed B. negative prefixes C. pejorative prefixes D. locative prefixes 4. The prefixes in words extra-strong, overweight and archbishop are _____ .
A . negative prefixes B. prefixes of degree or size C. pejorative prefixes D. locative prefixes 5. The prefixes in words bilingual ,uniform and hemisphere are ________.
A. number prefixes B. prefixes of degree or size C. pejorative prefixes D. locative prefixes 6.________ are contained in words trans-world, intra-party and forehead. A. Prefixes of orientation and attitude B. Prefixes of time and order C. Locative prefixes D. Prefixes of degree or size 7. Rugby ,afghan and champagne are words coming from ________.
A. names of books B. names of places C. names of people D. tradenames 8. Omega, Xerox and orlon are words from _________.
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