MY ATTITUDE TO LEARNING ENGLISH

1. Write the following words

Written form	Transcription
	1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

2. What is defined by the following?

… the study of word formation, of the structure of words.

3. a) Read some observations about words and their structure:

1. Some words can be divided into parts which still have meaning.

2. Some of the parts into which words can be divided can stand alone as words. But others cannot.

3. Those parts of the words that cannot stand alone influence the meaning of the word differently: some of them change the form of the word; others lead to the creation of an entirely new word.

4. These word-parts that can occur only in combination must be combined in the correct way.

5. Languages create new words systematically.

6. Many words have meaning by themselves. But some words have meaning

only when used with other words.

b) Match the observations and what linguists infer from these

a) Processes of word-formation can be described.

b) When there is a derivational suffix and an inflectional suffix in the word, they always appear in that order; first the derivational then the inflectional one, e.g., teach-er-s.

c) Bound grammatical morphemes can be further divided into two types: inflectional morphemes (e.g., -s, -est, -ing) and derivational morphemes (e.g., - ful, -like, -ly, un-, dis-).

d) Those morphemes that can stand alone as words are called free morphemes (e.g., boy, food, in, on). The morphemes that occur only in combination are called bound morphemes (e.g., -ed, -s, -ing).

e) The meaningful parts into which words can be divided—e.g., boldest can be divided into bold+est--are called the morphemes of the language. These are considered the basic units of meaning in a particular language.

f) Words that have meaning by themselves—boy, food, door—are called lexical

morphemes. Those words that function to specify the relationship between one

lexical morpheme and another—words like at, in, on—are called

grammatical morphemes. Parts of the words that change the form of the word to fit it into the grammar context – as -ed, -s - are also called grammatical morphemes.

4. Draw a chart showing relationship between different types of morphemes using the terms (some words may be used more ones)

Affixes

Adjectives

Articles

Bound

Conjunctions

Derivational

Free

Grammatical

Inflectional

Lexical

Morphemes

Nouns

Prepositions

Verbs

5. Read the text and fill in the gaps to make the text meaningful (consult the chart)

… …¹ are those that having meaning by themselves (more accurately, they have sense).

… …² specify a relationship between other morphemes. But the distinction is not all that well defined.

…³, …⁴, …⁵ ({boy}, {buy}, {big}) are typical lexical morphemes.

…⁶, …⁷, …⁸ ({of}, {the}, {but}) are grammatical morphemes.

… …⁹ are those that can stand alone as words. They may be lexical morphemes ({serve}, {press}), or grammatical morphemes ({at}, {and}).

… …¹⁰ can occur only in combination—they are parts of a word. They may be lexical morphemes (such as {clude} as in include, exclude, preclude) or they may be grammatical (such as {PLU} as in boys, girls, and cats).

We can make a further distinction within the set of morphemes that are both bound and grammatical. Bound grammatical morphemes (those that don’t have a sense by themselves and, additionally, always occur in combinations) are commonly known as ….¹¹. They can be further divided into derivational and …¹² affixes.

6. Match the description with the headings

Here is some of the evidence for the distinction between inflectional and derivational affixes in the English language:

1. May be either suffixes or prefixes

2. All are suffixes

3. Many were adopted from Latin, Greek, or other languages. (Though others, especially the suffixes, are native, including {ful}, {like}, {ly}, and {AG})

4. All native to English (since Old English was spoken around 500-1000 AD)

5. Have a wide range of application. E.g. most English nouns can be made plural, with {PLU}

6. May have a wide or narrow range

7. Give the full forms for the abbreviations in brackets

Inflectional Affixes

English has only eight inflectional affixes:

{PLU} = … Noun -s boys

{POSS} = … Noun -’s boy’s

{COMP} = … Adj -er older

{SUP} = … Adj -est oldest

{PRES} = … Verb -s walks

{PAST} = … Verb -ed walked

{PAST PART} = … … Verb -en driven

{PRES PART} = … … Verb -ing driving

8. Fill in the gaps with the parts of speech to describe the derivational processes

Derivational Affixes

There is an indefinite number of derivational morphemes.

For example, the following are some derivational suffixes:

{ize} attaches to a/an … and turns it into a verb: rubberize

{ize} also attaches to a/an … and turns it into a verb: normalize

{ful} attaches to a/an … and turns it into an adjective: playful, helpful

{ly} attaches to a/an … and turns it into an adverb: grandly, proudly

A different {ly} attaches to a/an … and changes it into an adjective: manly, friendly

English also has derivational prefixes, such as:{un}, {dis}, {a}, {anti}, all of which indicate some kind of negation: unhappy, dislike, atypical, anti-aircraft.

9. True/ false statements

1. Word is the smallest meaningful unit of the language.

2. Free morphemes can stand alone as words.

3. Bound morphemes always attach to other morphemes, never existing as words themselves.

4. Many inflectional affixes are adopted from Latin, Greek or other languages.

5. Inflectional affixes are only suffixes.

6. Inflectional affixes have a wide range of application.

7. Derivational affixes are all native to English.

MY ATTITUDE TO LEARNING ENGLISH

A truly educated person should know at least one for­eign language, which will enable him to communicate with foreigners, read books in the original, use a personal computer, take part in cultural and educational exchanges with other countries.

Among a great number of foreign languages I’ve cho­sen English because it is the world’s most important lan­guage in politics, science and culture. Over 330 mln people speak it as the mother tongue and nearly twice аs many use it as a second language. Half of the world’s scientific lit­erature is in English. It is the language of computer tech­nology. You will hardly be able to find a good job unless. you master the English language.

Furthermore, English is a very melodic language. When I heard English speech for the first time, I was taken with the harmony of its sounds and intonations. Later while studying the English grammar I discovered the other way of reflecting reality. And what I liked most about Eng­lish, that’s its proverbs and idioms. They are wise, witty and rhymed, many traditions of the English nation are rep­resented in them.

Of course my command of the language is still rather far from being perfect. But I believe that everything de­pends on myself and I’m determined to achieve the aims I’m pursuing.

Vocabulary:

1. to enable

2. exchange

3. twice as many

4. furthermore

5. to be far from being perfect

6. to be taken with

7. to pursue an aim

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1523