1.What is polymy?
Having multiple meanings that are related.
2.What are the two different ways of organising polymous
words? Explain them
1)The diachronic approach begins with the primary meaning
and then arrange the other meanings (derived meanings) in
the order in which they developed.
2)The synchronic approach begins with the most popular
meaning (central meaning) and then arrange the other
meanings (marginal meanings) in order of popularity.
3.What are the two different ways in which polymy develops?
Explain them
1)Radiation. Secondary meanings are independent from one
another and are derived directly from the primary meaning.
点滴积累2)Concatenation. Secondary meanings are connected and
derive from primary meaning through successive shifts of
meaning from one condary meaning to another.
4.What is homonymy?
Homonyms are works different in meaning but either identical both in sound or spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.
5.Give an example of a perfect homonym, a homophone and a
homograph
1)perfect homonym 同音同形date日期/date红枣
2)homophone 同音异形Knew/new, meet/meat
3)homograph 异音同形record(v.)/record(n.)
6.Give an example of the rhetorical u of homonymy
Hi Jack （你好杰克）– hijack（打劫）
7.What is the difference between polymy and homonymy? Give
an example to illustrate the difference
1)Polymy is about connection of meanings. Book can mean
a book as in “I read a book”, and “I book a hotel room”.
The cond meaning is related to the first one becau in
the past hotel staff will write the customers’ information
on a book when rerving a room.室内设计理念
2)homonymy is about form. Lie can mean not being honest or
being in a horizontal position. The two meanings have the
漫画萝莉same form but no connection.
8.Classify the following pairs of antonyms into complementaries
(binaries), contraries (gradable) or convers (relational).
Explain why
朱自清绿1)Good/bad, contraries
2)odd/even, complementaries
3)above/below, convers
4)clean/dirty, contraries
5)remember/forget, complementaries?
6)old/young, contraries
7)before/after, convers
9.What is hyponymy? Give an example
The meaning of a more specific word is included in that of a more general word.
例Flower is the superordinate term, ro is the subordinate term.
10.What is synonymy?
Synonyms are words different in sound and spelling but nearly or exactly alike in esntial meaning.
每日励志语录11.What is the difference between absolute and near (relative)
synonyms?
1)Absolute synonyms – interchangeable in every way
2)Near synonyms – similar in denotation but have different
shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality. 12.What are some of the reasons why synonyms exist?
1)Borrowing from other languages
2)Dialects and regional English
3)Figurative and euphemistic u of words
4)Coincidence with idiomatic expressions
13.What are some of the factors that discriminate between relative
synonyms? U examples
1)Range of meaning. “timid” is more extensive becau it
can be ud to describe the state of mind at a time and the
disposition, but “timorous” only describe the disposition.
2)Degree of intensity. A “wealthy” person has much more
money than a “rich” person.
3)Differences in stylistic features. “ask” is ud commonly
and tend to be colloquial. “question” is more formal. 14.(The development of English) What was the language spoken in
the British Isles before English? How was English introduced?
Celtic. Germanic tribe invaded and ttled after Roman. They brought their own culture. It was called Anglo-saxon (the name of two tribes) and also called old English.
雪女御魂搭配
15.What are the three phas of the English language and what
were their time periods? What events marked the transition of one pha to another?
a)Old English (450 - 1150) ——Norman conquest from
France in 1066, but the real development of middle English
started in the 12th century becau the ruling class spoke
Anglo French and the peasants spoke Anglo-Saxon so it
took quite a long time for them to intermix.
b)Middle English (1150 - 1500) ——during Renaissance
there was an explosion of information and knowledge about
Ancient Greece and Roman. People stated to read so ideas
spread. Greek and Latin words started entering English.
Besides, printing was invented, more can read and write
books.
c)Modern English (1500 – prent)
16.Over its history, English has evolved from a highly inflected
language to a nearly non-inflected language. What is the
日期函数difference? Give an example of inflection in English
Inflection means to modify a word to indicate grammatical
relations. A lot of words in a highly inflected language have ending or form changes in order to show its grammatical
function. But a weakly inflected language has fewer changes.
As English developed, it has changed from a highly infected language to a weekly one.
17.What are the most important languages that English has
borrowed from? Why?
1)French – Norman conquest
2)Latin –Renaissance, a lot of Latin book were translated
中小学生行为规范into English
3)Scandinavia – Vikings (9 century) influenced old English 18.What is the difference between a Content Word and a
Functional word? Give an example of each.
