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Exercise 1

Define the meanings of the words in the following sentences. Say how the meanings of the same word are associated one with another.

1. I walked into Hyde Park, fell flat upon the grass and almost immediately fell asleep.

2. a) 'Hello', I said, and thrust my hand through the bars, whereon the dog became silent and licked me prodigiously, b) At the end of the long bar, leaning against the counter was a slim pale individual wearing a red bow-tie.

3. a) I began to search the flat, looking in drawers and boxes to see if I could find a key. b) I tumbled with a sort of splash upon the keys of a ghostly piano, c) Now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher, d) Someone with a positive manner, perhaps a detective, used the expression 'madman' as he bent over Welson's body that afternoon, and the authority of his voice set the key for the newspaper report next morning.

4. a) Her mouth opened crookedly half an inch, and she shot a few words at one like pebbles, b) Would you like me to come to the mouth of the river with you?

5. a) I sat down for a few minutes with my head in my hands, until I heard the phone taken up inside and the butler's voice calling a taxi, b) The minute hand of the electric clock jumped on to figure twelve, and, simultaneously, the steeple of St. Mary's whose vicar always kept his clock by the wireless began its feeble imitation of Big Ben.

6. a) My head felt as if it were on a string and someone were trying to pull it off. b) G. Quarter main, board chairman and chief executive of Supernational Corporation was a bull of a man who possessed more power than many heads of the state and exercised it like a king.

Exercise 2

Copy out the following pairs of words grouping together the ones which represent the same meaning of each word. Explain the different meanings and the different usages, giving reasons for your answer. Use dictionaries if necessary.

smart, adj.

smart clothes, a smart answer, a smart house, a smart garden, a smart repartee, a smart officer, a smart blow, a smart punishment

stubborn, adj.

a stubborn child, a stubborn look, a stubborn horse, stubborn resistance, a stubborn fighting, a stubborn cough, stubborn depression

sound, adj.

sound lungs, a sound scholar, a sound tennis-player, sound views, sound advice, sound criticism, a sound ship, a sound whipping

root, n.

edible roots, the root of the tooth, the root of the matter, the root of all evil, square root, cube root

perform, v.

to perform one's duty, to perform an operation, to perform a dance, to perform a play

kick, v.

to kick the ball, to kick the dog, to kick off one's slippers, to kick smb. downstairs

Exercise 3

The verb "to take" is highly polysemantic in Modern English. On which meanings of the verb are the following jokes based? Give your own examples to illustrate the other meanings of the word.

1."Where have you been for the last four years?"

"At college taking medicine."

"And did you finally get well?"

2."Doctor, what should a woman take when she is

run down?"

"The license number, madame, the license number."

3.Proctor (exceedingly angry): So you confess

that this unfortunate Freshman was carried to this

frog pond and drenched. Now what part did you take in

this disgraceful affair?

Sophomore (meekly): The right leg, sir.

Exercise 4

Explain the basis for the following jokes. Use the dictionary when in doubt.

1. С a 11 e r: I wonder if I can see your mother, little boy. Is she engaged?

Willie: Engaged! She's married.

2. Booking Clerk (at a small village station): You'll have to change twice before you get to York.

Villager (unused to travelling): Goodness me! And I've only brought the clothes I'm wearing.

3. The weather forecaster hadn't been right in three months, and his resignation caused little surprise. His alibi, however, pleased the city council.

"I can't stand this town any longer," read his note. "The climate doesn't agree with me."

4.Professor: You missed my class yesterday, didn't you?

Unsubdued student: Not in the least, sir, not in the least.

5. "Papa, what kind of a robber is a page?" "A what?"

"It says here that two pages held up the bride's train."

Exercise 5

Choose any polysemantic word that is well-known to you and illustrate its meanings with examples of your own. Prove that the meanings are related one to another.

Exercise 6

a. Identify the denotative and connotative elements of the meanings in the following pairs of words.

To conceal — to disguise, to choose — to select, to draw — to paint, money — cash, photograph — picture, odd — queer.

b Read the entries for the English word "court" and the Russian "суд" in an English-Russian and Russian-English dictionary. Explain the differences in the semantic structure of both words.

Exercise 7

Read the following extracts and explain the semantic processes by which the italicized words acquired their meanings

1. 'Bureau', a desk, was borrowed from French in the 17th с. In Modern French (and English) it means not only the desk but also the office itself and the authority exercised by the office. Hence the familiar bureaucracy is likely to become increasingly familiar. The desk was called so because covered with bureau, a thick coarse cloth of a brown russet.

2. An Earl of Spencer made a short overcoat fashionable for some time. An Earl of Sandwich invented a form of light refreshment which enabled him to take a meal without leaving the card-table. Hence we have such words as spencer and sandwich in English.

3. A common name for overalls or trousers is jeans. In the singular jean is also a term for a durable twilled cotton and is short for the phrase jean fustian which first appeared in texts from the sixteenth century. Fustian (a Latin borrowing) is a cotton or cotton and linen fabric, and jean is the modern spelling of Middle English Jene or Gene, from Genes, the Middle French name of the Italian city Genoa, where it was made and shipped abroad.

4. Formally barn meant "a storehouse for barley"; today it has widened to mean "any kind of storehouse" for animals or equipment as well as any kind of grain. The word picture used to refer only to a representation made with paint; today it can be a photograph or a representation made with charcoal, pencil or any other means. A pen used to mean "feather" but now has become generalized to include several kinds of writing implements — fountain, ballpoint, etc. The meaning of sail as limited to moving on water in a ship with sails has now generalized to mean "moving on water in any ship".

Exercise 8

Read the following extract and criticize the author's treatment of the examples. Provide your own explanations.

Words degenerate in meaning also. In the past villain meant "farm labourer"; counterfeiter meant "imitator" without criminal connotations, and sly meant "skilful". A knave meant a "boy" and immoral meant "not customary", and hussy was a "housewife".

Other words improve in meanings. Governor meant "pilot" and constable meant "stable attendant". Other elevations are enthusiasm which formally meant "fanaticism", knight which used to mean "youth", angel which simply meant "messenger" and pretty which meant "sly". No one can predict the direction of change of meaning, but changes occur constantly.

Exercise 9

Explain the logical associations in the following groups of meaning for the same words. Define the type of transference which has taken place.

1. The wing of a bird — the wing of a building; the eye of a man — the eye of a needle; the hand of a child — the hand of a clock; the heart of a man — the heart of the matter; the bridge across-the-river — the bridge of the nose; the tongue of a person — the tongue of a bell; the tooth of a boy — the tooth of a comb; the coat of a girl — the coat of a dog.

2. Green grass — green years; black shoes — black despair; nickel (metal) — a nickel (coin); glass — a glass; copper (metal) — a copper (coin); Ford (proper name) — a Ford (car); Damascus (town in Syria) — damask; Kashmir (town in North India) — cashmere.

Exercise 10

Analyse the process of development of new meanings in the italicized words in the examples given below.

1. I put the letter well into the mouth of the box and let it go and it fell turning over and over like an autumn leaf.

2. Those who had been the head of the line paused momentarily ori entry and looked around curiously.

3. A cheerful-looking girl in blue jeans came up to the stairs whistling.

4. Seated behind a desk, he wore a light patterned suit, switch from his usual tweeds.

5. Oh, Steven, I read a Dickens the other day. It was awfully funny.

6. They sat on the rug before the fireplace, savouring its warmth, watching the rising tongues of flame.

7. He inspired universal confidence and had an iron nerve.

8. A very small boy in a green jersey with light red hair cut square across his forehead was peering at Steven between the electric fire and the side of the fireplace.

9. While the others were settling down, Lucy saw Pearson take another bite from his sandwich.

10. As I walked nonchalantly past Hugo's house on the other side they were already carrying out the Renoirs.

Exercise 11

Explain the basis for the following jokes. Trace the logical associations between the different meanings of the same word.

1. Father was explaining to his little son the fundamentals of astronomy.

"That's a comet."

"A what?"

"A comet. You know what a comet is?"

"No."

"Don't you know what they call a star with a tail?"

"Sure — Mickey Mouse."

2. "Pa, what branches did you take when you went to school?"

"I never went to high school, son, but when I attended the little log school-house they used mostly hickory and beech and willow."

3. What has eyes yet never sees? (Potato)

4. H e (in telephone booth): I want a box for two.

Voice (at the other end): Sorry, but we don't have boxes for two.

H e: But aren't you the box office of the theatre? Voice: No, we are the undertakers.

Exercise 12

In the examples given below identify the cases of widening and narrowing of meaning.

1. While the others waited the elderly executive filled his pipe and lit it.

2. Finn was watching the birds.

3. The two girls took hold of one another, one acting gentleman, the other lady; three or four more pairs of girls immediately joined them and began a waltz.

4. He was informed that the president had not arrived at the bank, but was on his way.

5. Smokey had followed a dictum all his life: If you want a woman to stick beside you, pick an ugly one. Ugly ones stay to slice the meat and stir the gravy.

Exercise 13

Have the words evaluative connotations in their meanings? Motivate your answer and comment on the history of the words.

1. The directors now assembling were admirals and field marshals of commerce.

2. For a businessman to be invited to serve on a top-flight bank board is roughly equivalent to being knighted by the British Queen.

3. I had a nice newsy gossip with Mrs. Needham before you turned up last night.

4. The little half-starved guy looked more a victim than a villain.

5. Meanwhile I nodded my head vigorously and directed a happy smile in the direction of the two ladies. 6.1 shook hands with Tom; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child.

Exercise 14

Read the following. Find examples of "degeneration" and "elevation" of meaning. Comment on the history of the words.

1. King Arthur invented Conferences because he was secretly a Weak King and liked to know what his memorable thousand and one knights wanted to do next. As they were all jealous knights he had to have the memorable Round Table made to have the Conferences at, so that it was impossible to say which was top knight.

2. A 1 f: Where are you going, Ted?

Ted: Fishing at the old mill.

A 1 f: But what about school?

T e d: Don't be silly. There aren't any fish there!

Exercise 15

In the following sentences, trace the process of nar­rowing of meaning in the words given in bold type.

1. There was enough food there to keep a starving family for a week.

2. He (Mr. Brocklehurst) starved us when he had the sole superintendence of the provision department, before the committee was appointed.

3. There was a bunch of violets on the hearse, and the undertaker mentioned the incident to avoid mistake.

4. I know the name of every owner of every British moor, yes—and their tenants, too. I know how many grouse are killed, how many partridge, how many head of deer.

5. I put the bacon in the bilin' pot to keep the hounds from gittin' it.

6. A deed of blood, or fire, or flames

Was meat and drink to simple James.

7. О beware, my lord, of jealousy: It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on.

Exercise 16

In the following sentences, compare the various meanings of the word "nice."In each sentence, substitute a synonym for the word "nice."

1. Clarice, the daughter of somebody on the estate, a nice quiet well-mannered girl, who, thank Heaven, had never been in service before, and had no alarm...

2. Leah is a nice girl, to be sure.

3. "Well, what people!" she said. "We've just nice time for the train".

4. Realize that he was handsome, and could be extraordinary "nice" when he liked, and was really very clever, in his own critical way, and you see how many chances he had of being adored and protected.

5. Mrs. Blimber said: "Oh Dombey, Dombey, this is really very careless!" and piled them (the books) up afresh for him; and this time, by dint of balancing them with great nicety; Paul got out of the room, and down a few stairs before two of them escaped again.

6. He ventured lo tell her in his clumsy way that if her heart were more varm towards him she would not be so nice about his landwriting and spelling.

Exercise 17

In the following sentences, analyse the development of meaning of the words given in bold type.

1. An artful designing woman? Yes, so she is..

2. Surface. Charles has been impudent, sir, to be sure; but I do hope no busy people have already preju­diced Sir Oliver against him.

3. Lady Sneer-well. I have found him out a long time since. I know him to be artful, selfish, and malicious—in short, a sentimental knave; while with Sir Peter, and indeed, with all his acquaintance, he passes for a youthful miracle of prudence, good sense, and benevolence.

4. And is this the wretched caitiff?

5. The day after he left the barracks the rascal met a respectable farmer.

6. "D'ye hear the villain?" groans the tall young man.

7. And I thought of Ben too, with his narrow watery blue eyes, his sly idiot's smile.

8. Uncle Nick was a clever fellow — 'cleverest man in London', someone had called him—but none had ever impugned his honesty.

9. С u 1 v e r. Do you suppose, my marble statue, that after all I've said a't the Club about the rascality of this Honours business, I could ever have appeared there as a New Year Baronet?

10. The only excuse I can make is that I've become boorish through living alone.

11. I am ashamed of you! It will ruin me! A miserable boor! A churl! A clown! It will degrade me in the eyes of all the gentlemen of England!

Exercise 18

In the following extracts, trace the process of elevation in the meaning of the words given in bold type.

1.Prince John held his high festival in the Castle of Ashby. This was not the same building of which the stately ruins still interest the traveller, and which was erected at a later period by the Lord Hastings, High Chamberlain of England, one of the first victims of the tyranny of Richard the Third.

2. Richard. Minister—I should say Captain. I have behaved like a fool.

Judith. Like a hero.

3. If that my beauty is but small, Among court ladies all despised, Why didst thou rend it from that hall, Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized?

4. In rough magnificence array'd,

When ancient chivalry display'd

The pomp of her heroic games..

5. "It is well," said Prince John haughtily; "although unused to such refusals, we will endeavour to digest our banquet as we may, though ungraced by the most success­ful in arms, and his elected Queen of Beauty."

6. To do Crump justice, he does not cringe now to great people. He rather patronizes them than otherwise and in London speaks quite affably to a Duke who has been brought up at his college or holds out a finger to a Marquis.

7. This knight had left the field abruptly when the vic­tory was achieved; and when he was called upon to receive the reward of his valour, he was nowhere to be found.

8. We'll have to do something about it. We must write to the Ministry of Health.

Exercise 19

State the cause of the changes in meaning of the words given in bold type.

1. A spaceship sails. 2. A hydroplane lands on the sea. 3. A ship may be manned by women. 4. Lady, you're a gentleman! 5. mill. 6. magazine. 7. weekly journals.

Exercise 20

Compare the following examples, noting the different ways of expressing similarity.

1. She was as obstinate as a mule.

2. He (Old Jolyon). did not know what she wanted, he said, with going to a dance like this, a poor affair, he would wager; and she no more fit for it than a cat.

3. He (Bosinney) reminded James, as he said afterwards, of a hungry cat.

4. He (Bosinney) had no more idea of money than a cow.

5. I was not quite sure whether they had locked the door Alas! Yes: no jail was ever more secure...

б. I desire you to have the goodness to talk to me a little now and divert my thoughts which are galled with dwelling on one point, cankering as a rusty nail.

7. The restless, rather wolfish look had gone from the long bony face.

Exercise 21

a) Pick out the metaphors from the following word combinations.

b) Use them in sentences of your own.

1. A green bush; a green man; a green apple; green with envy.

2. Seeds of a plant; seeds of evil.

3. A fruitful tree; fruitful work.

4. A fruitless tree; a fruitless effort.

5. The root of a tree; the root of a word.

6. A blooming rose; blooming health.

7. A fading or faded flower; fading or faded beauty.

Exercise 22

Explain the logic of the transfer of meaning.

1. The wings of a bird, of an aeroplane, of a mill; on wings of joy.

2. The foot of a man, of a hill, of a bed.

3. The neck of a girl, of a bottle.

4. Tongues of flame; The child's tongue is coated.

5. The legs of a dog, of a table.

6. Moscow is the heart of our country; My heart is beating with excitement.

7. The mouth of a pot, of a river, of a cave.

Exercise 23

Use the following metaphors in sentences of your own.

1. Thoughts wander; one's mind wanders.

2. Spirits rise (fall).

3. One's heart sinks.

4. A touching story.

5. A flight of imagination.

6. To be shaken with grief.

7. Bitter thoughts; a sour smile; a sweet temper.

8. Warm sympathy; to burn with impatience; in the heat of the argument; burning wish; a cold smile.

9. To overflow with tender­ness or pity.

Exercise 24

Comment on the metaphors given in bold type.

1. I quite forgot to consider at all that great rock of disaster in the working class world—sickness.

2. I have been green, too, Miss Eyre,—ay, grass green; not a more vernal tint freshens you now than once fresh­ened me.

3. "I took him for a man of other metal," said Sir Geoffrey; — "nay, I would have sworn it, had any one asked my testimony".

4. I had a new pride in my rooms, after his approval of them, and burned with a desire to develop their utmost resources.

5. His changes of mood did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do with their alteration; the ebb and flow depended on causes quite disconnected with me.

6. Miss Harden, be it observed, was the house-keeper, a woman after Mr. Brocklehurst's own heart, made of equal parts whalebone and iron.

Exercise 25

Comment on the etymology and meaning of the follow­ing cases of metonymy:

1. Colt, Ford, sandwich, mackintosh, silhouette, boycott, hooligan, gladstone bag, dunce, quisling.

2. Electricity, magnetism, boston, cheviot, madeira, champagne, bordeaux, Mocco, malaga.

Exercise26

Discuss the following cases of metonymy:

1. He is the hope of the family.

2. She was the pride of her school.

3. I have never read Balzac in the original.

4. My sister is fond of old china.

5. The coffee-pot is boiling.

6. The pit loudly applauded.

7. He succeeded to the crown.

Exercise 27

In the following extracts, state what the metonymy stands for. Analyse the logical association of the metonymy and the idea it expresses.

Model: Give every man thine ear and few thy voice.

In this case the word 'ear' stands for 'the sense of hearing'; and 'voice', for 'speaking'. In other words, here the organ performing a function (action) is named instead of the function (action). A paraphrase of the sentence might be expressed thus: 'Listen to everybody but speak to few'.

1. In their hearts they would even feel it an interven­tion of Providence, a retribution—had not Bosinney endan­gered their two most priceless possessions, the pocket and the hearth.

2. She looked out of her window one day and gave her heart to the grocer's young man.

3. Silence on both sides. "Have you lost your tongue, Jack?" "Have you found yours, Ned?"

4. Away they went bravely on their hunt in the gray dawn of a summer morn­ing, and soon the great dogs gave joyous tongue to say that they were already on the track of their quarry.

5. So I resolved to sell no more muscle and to become a vendor of brains. 6. "Do you sell anything to eat here?" one questions the grizzled old carpet slippers who opens the door.

7. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears …

Exercise 28

In the following examples,, state whether the singular stands for the plural, the part, for the whole, the individual for the class, the more general for the less.general, the concrete for the abstract or vice versa, or the name of the material for the thing made.

1. He commanded a fleet of thirty sail.

2. The horse is a domestic animal.

3. Yes, when his liquor goes the wrong way (Gold.).

4. There is a mixture of the tiger and the ape in the character of a Frenchman (Volt.). 5. The authorities put an end to the tumult.

6. He was bound in irons.

7. I have a few coppers in my purse.

Exercise 29

In the following sentences, point out the hyperbole.

1. I was thunder-struck.

2. Utterly amazed, I was speechless.

3. What a stunning thing to do.

4. She was unutterably astonished.

5. The child seemed stupefied, petrified, dumbfounded, flabbergasted.

Exercise 30

a) Give examples with the same words as are given in bold type in the following sentences, using them in other meanings.

b) State whether the words in your examples are poly­semantic or homonymous with the words given in bold type.

1. A ball might have done for me in the course of the war, and may still, and how will Emmy be bettered by being left a beggar's widow?

2. As the time passed he started to set the type for the little revolutionary sheet they published weekly.

3. The slender, flexible right hand was badly cut and grazed. The Gadfly held it up.

4. Considerable scandal, indeed, arose against Sir Geoffrey Peveril, as having proceeded with indecent severity and haste upon this occasion; and rumour took care to make the usual additions to the reality.

5. One evening Mr. Venus passed a scrap of paper into Mr. Boffin's hand, and laid his finger on his lips.

6. To be sure it is pleasant at any time; for Thornfield is a fine old Hall, rather neglected of late years perhaps.

7. I was honoured by a cordiality of reception that made me feel I really possessed the power to amuse him; and that these evening conferences were sought as much for his pleasure as for my benefit.

8. What of that? More unequal matches are made every day.

9. Listen, then, Jane Eyre, to your sentence: to-morrow, place the glass before you, and draw in chalk your own picture, faithfully, without softening one defect.

10. Taggart sat down too, lit his own pipe, took a sheet of paper and scrawled the words: "Georgie Grebe Article" across the top.

11....I think I have a right to know why you ask me that.

12. "No crowding," said Mr. Rochester; "take the drawings from my hand as I finish with them; but don't push your faces up to mine".

13. It appeared as if there were a sort of match or trial of skill you must understand, between the kettle and the cricket.

Exercise 31

a) Comment on the different meanings of the word "one" as used in the following sentences.

b) Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. He lit his pipe; and almost at once began to revolve the daily problem of how to get a job, and why he had lost the one he had.

2. The Gadfly shuddered: "Ah!" he said softly, "that hurts, doesn't it, little one?"

3. But it is not easy for one to climb up out of the working class—especially if he is handicapped by the possession of ideals and illusions.

4. For it is in the nature of a Forsyte to be ignorant that he is a Forsyte, but young Jolyon was well aware of being one.

5. One cold, rainy day at the end of April George Osborne came into the Coffee House, looking very agitated and pale.

6. He did not utter one word of reproach.

7. One mighty groan of terror started up from the massed people.

8. One can't eat one's cake and have it.

9. To bite off one's nose in order to spite one's face.

10. "One min­ute!" said Soa.mes suddenly, and crossing the room, he opened a door opposite.

Exercise 32

a) Comment on the meanings of the word "thing" as, used in the following sentences.

b) Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. Everything was very good; we did not spare the wine, and he exerted himself so brilliantly to make the thing pass off well, that there was no pause in our festivity.

2."Dora, indeed!" returned my aunt. "And you mean to say the little thing is very fascinating, I suppose?"

3. I began by being singularly cheerful and light-hearted, all sorts of half-forgotten things to talk about came rushing into my mind, and made me hold forth in a most unwonted manner.

4. Sir Barnet was proud of making people acquainted with people. He liked the thing for its own sake, and it advanced him.

5. When he wanted a thing, a fresh obstacle only rendered him the more resolute.

6. "Don't cry, Miss Dombey," said Sir Walter, in a transport of enthusiasm. "What a wonderful thing for me that I am here..."

7. Logical positivists never talk about "things-in-themselves" or about the "unknow­able," because they regard such talk as senseless.

8. This is very bad, for fog is the only thing that can spoil my plan.

9. He was satisfied with most things, and, above all other things, with himself.

10. "No," she answered. "I am not! I can't be. I am no such thing. Why should I be penitent, and all the world goes free..."

11. For my sake you are prepared to do this terrible thing.

12. Come, old boy, you had much better have the thing out at once.

13. "The very thing!" said Jacob, "I will charter two river steamboats, pack them full of these unfortunate children".

14. That I can't tell you much about: a man doesn't remember the next few days after a thing of that kind, as a rule.

15. T r a nt o. Well, John. How are things?

16. Mrs. Culver. I quite agree that titles have degraded. Quite! The thing is to make them respectable again.

17. "We are both miserable as it is," said she. "What is the use of trying to make things worse? Let us find things to do, and forget things".

18. Your letter is the first consoling thing I have had since my disaster ten days ago.

19. Delia Caruthers did things in six octaves so promisingly.

Exercise 33

a) State the meaning and origin of the following per­fect homonyms.

b) Translate them into Russian.

1. date, fritter, keel, rally, sap, stalk, toll, blaze, defer, long, perch, mean, yard, school, refrain, full, don, band, carp, halt, mess, policy, relay, scrub, tart, tense, skate, pulse, launch, exact, compound, boot, bat, brat, corporal, cuff, fold, miss, mood, pupil, sage, sallow, toast.

2. can, clip, poke, repair, tap, may, pool, gin, mere, shed, wake, quarry, mint, count, staple, rash, defile, ferret, like, rear, angle, blow, host.

3. bark, beetle, bill, dock, hide, lay, lime/ down, fast, duck, scale, mole, fit, gall, moor, march, smack, race, hatch, rail, rock, spell.

4. bound, pile, port, litter, sound, tick.

Exercise 34

Translate into Russian.

1. The weight began to lift from his brain.

2. Lockhard now entered with wine and refreshments, which it was the fashion to offer as a whet before dinner. The evening was cool after the thunder-storm, the woods wet and dirty.

3. He felt one foot slipping and lifted it into the air. Bill, the heir, slumbered in his covered cot. I meant but to confront the oppressor ere I left my native land. Accepting their adieus with an air of con­tempt Ravenswood beheld his ruinous habitation cleared of riotous guests.

4. Old Sessy had his way in due course. Gil­christ gave one of his coarse laughs.

5. To their great joy they found a tolerably good fire in the grate.

6. He smiled at the girl who had fuzzy hair. There were no other tracks; possibly I was on the trail of a March hare.

7. The bread and honey was deposited on a plantain leaf. His daughter, naturally timid, was bred up in those ideas of filial awe and implicit obedience.

8. He drew his bridle up with the bitter feeling that his poverty excluded him from the chase. The fair bridal procession at last reached the parish church.

9. "That will bring you into trouble, Master," said Bucklaw. "Not a whit; I have nothing to fear". Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

10. Then he awoke in pain from his stiffened muscles and chilled by the mountain wind. Last week one of the panes broke in the early morning.

11. The rain was lashing at the rails. Throwing the rein of his own horse to the Master of Ravenswood he sprang up that which the stranger resigned to him. "Your merits are so great," says the nation, "that your children shall be allowed to reign over us. It does not mat­ter that your eldest son be a fool".

12. Of course, he knew that tune now that he heard the. Words — Santa Lucia; it awakened something deep, hot, almost savage within him, sweet and luring like a strange fruit or the scent of a tropical flower. Did they want to buy for immediate delivery six hundred barrels of prime flour?

13. The pale moon gave him a view of the solitary tower. In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear.

14. I should think it, upon the whole, an improvement in your accommodation. The two little candles pierced a hole in the darkness.

15. The rabbits scudded away with their white tails in the air. She was like the girl in the fairy-tale.

16. Colonel Ashton, in his father's absence, acted as principal mourner. He does everything on prin­ciple. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial princi­ples.

Exercise 35

a) Arrange the following ideographic synonyms according to their degree of intensity.

b) Use them in sentences of your own.

1. ask, implore, beg;

2. longing, desire, wish;

3. wither, decay, fade;

4. handsome, pretty, beautiful;

5. irritate, annoy;

6. pierce, penetrate;

7. alarmed, frightened, terrified;

8. abominable, detestable, execrable;

9. happiness, pleasure, delight;

10. affliction, despair, sadness;

11. astonishment, consternation, surprise;

12. excuse, pardon, forgive;

13. accident, disaster, misfortune;

14. malicious, naughty, nasty, wicked;

15. genius, capability, talent.

Exercise 36

Find the contextual synonyms in the following extracts and analyse their meaning.

1. Before she (the ship) has gained the surface, she throws a summerset. The instant she is on her legs, she rushes backward. And so she goes on staggering, heaving,
wrestling, leaping, diving, jumping, pitching, throbbing, rolling, and rocking: and going through all these move ments, sometimes by turns, and sometimes all together:—
until one feels disposed to roar for mercy.

2. But what the agitation of a steam-vessel is, on a bad winter's night in the wild Atlantic, it is impossible for the most vivid imagination to conceive. To say that she is flung down on her side in the waves, with her masts dipping into them, and that, springing up again, she rolls over on the other side, until a heavy sea strikes her with the noise of a hundred great guns, and hurls her back; that she stops and staggers, as though stunned, and then, with a violent throbbing at her heart, darts onward like a monster goaded into madness, to be beaten down, and battered, and crushed, and leaped on by the angry sea; that thunder, lightning, hail, and rain, and wind, are all in fierce contention for the mastery; that every plank has its groan, every nail its shriek, and every drop of water in the great ocean its howling voice—is nothing.... Words cannot express it. Thoughts cannot convey it. Only a dream can call it up again in all its fury, rage, and passion.

3. On it (the train) whirls headlong, dives through the woods again, emerges in the light, clatters over frail arches, rumbles upon the heavy ground, shoots beneath a wooden bridge which intercepts the light for a second like a wink, suddenly awakens all the slumbering echoes in the main street of a large town, and dashes on haphazard, pell-mell, neck-or-nothing, down the middle of the road... screech­ing, hissing, yelling, panting; until at last the thirsty monster stops beneath a covered way to drink.

4. The city's hum and buzz, the clinking of capstans, the ringing of bells... the clattering of wheels, tingled in the listening ear.

5. Dorchester is a delightfully peaceful old place, nes­tling in stillness and silence and drowsiness.

Exercise 37

a) In the following sentences, point out pairs of synonyms with alliteration.

b) Prove that they make one semantic unit.

c) Which of them contain elements that have become obsolete?

1. They arrived at our house bag and baggage at one o'clock in the morning.

2. Despite the fact that the ship had passed through a virtual hurricane, all the passengers arrived at port safe and sound.

3. And so once part and parcel of this particular household, Roberta found after a time, that it was narrow and restricted—and not wholly unlike the various narrow and restricted homes at Biltz.

4. So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate.

5. The next instant he was out, and "going on" like an Indian: yelling, laughing, chasing boys, jumping over the fence at the risk of life and limb... doing all the heroic things he could conceive of.

6. Many a beck and many a bow wel­comed these noble guests to as good entertainment as per­sons of such rank could set before such visitors.

7. He awoke every morning from rosy scenes of dream to an atmosphere that was vibrant with the jar and jangle of tormented life.

8. The least sound of it was a stimu­lus to his love, and he thrilled and throbbed with every word she uttered.

9. We grabbed the glasses and hunted everywhere for London, but couldn't find hair or hide of it, nor any other settlement.

10. The place went to rack and ruin, and he hated the rough, lonely life.

11. This keeps you downhearted and dismal all the time.

12. Norton was sensitive and excitable, though he never lost his head, while Kjeis and Hamilton were like a pair of cold-blooded savages, seeking out ten­der places to prod and poke.

13. All these floated along with the immense tide of population, whom mere curiosity had drawn together; and where the mechanic, in his leather apron, followed the dink and dainty dame, his city mistress.

14. You say you never heard of a Mrs. Rochester at the house up yonder, Wood; but I dare­say you have many a time inclined your ear to gossip about the mysterious lunatic kept there under watch and ward.

15. He soon made ducks and drakes of what I gave him.

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