Exercise and Tasks

Exercise 1. Arrange the following ideographic synonyms according to the degree of intensity.

1. Ask, beg, implore.

2. Desire, long, wish.

3. Decay, fade, wither.

4. Beautiful, handsome, lovely, pretty.

5. Annoy, irritate, vex.

6. Alarmed, frightened, terrified.

7. Delight, happiness, pleasure.

8. Affliction, despair, sadness.

9. Astonishment, consternation, surprise.

10. Excuse, forgive, pardon.

11. Accident, disaster, misfortune.

12. Capability, genius, talent.

Exercise 2. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words.

Bad. ill, wicked, evil

1. Working on a newspaper one does not learn the way to break... news.

2. Nessie fiddled with her tea-spoon, dropped it, then blushed shamefully as though discovered in a... act.

3. It is not a... plan.

4. He could see the little... eyes.

5. A pretty face may cover a... heart.

6. I know how cruel and... my temper can be.

7. I thought it was... news you were going to tell me.

High, tall, lofty

1. He looked ahead at the... grass with the flat-topped trees behind.

2. "Women upset," said Wilson to the... man.

3. Oh, one's mode of life might be... and scrupulous.

4. The captain was a... man of about forty.

5. Her drawing room has three windows looking on the river, and the ceiling is not so... as it would be in an older house of the same pretension.

6. She said in a very... way, "Do you mind following me into the drawing room?"

7. He wore a... hat.

8. The... polish of his boots shone even in the dimness of the tent.

Firm, hard, solid

1. His sister, who was a..., rather practical person, used to complain that there were too many scents at Manderley.

2. The stones were... and... under my feet.

3. She looked very... and grim.

4. It was... to give in while I still had some fight in me.

5. He uttered a... laugh.

6. These orders that are coming now are turned into... business.

7. He felt triumphant, proud,... and successful man among a lot of failures.

8. "Well," she said, her voice dry and..., not the voice she would have used to him.

Exercise 3. Give antonyms to the following words. Arrange them into three columns:

· derivational antonyms (careful - careless: active - inactive);

· absolute antonyms (white - black);

· mixed antonyms (correct - incorrect, wrong).

Active, alert, alive, amity, appearance, arrange, artless, attentive, aware, bad, big, begin, brave, busy, careful, comfortable, competent, consistent, continue, convenient, correct, courage, descend, discord, distinct, employed, enemy, expensive, faithful, faulty, final, free, frequent, gay, hostile, kind, legal, low, misfortune, normal, painful, polite, post-war, preceding, progressive, rational, revolutionary, rough, safety, sane, slow, sufficient, temporary, timidity, underestimate, uniformity, wet, white, wrong.

Exercise 4. Fill in the blanks with words antonymous to those in italics.

1. Why do you reject my offer and... his?

2. He may be dexterous at football, but he is very... on the dance floor.

3. I enjoy the climate that is rigorous in winter and... in summer.

4. Some of the books were excluded from the list but those that were... were obligatory.

5. I'm afraid the sweet cream will get... if you keep it in the warm.

6. Most exercises were correct, but several were....

7. Near the bank the river was shallow, but in the middle it was... enough to swim.

8. The basket was disposed on a low settee beside the... clipboard.

Exercise 5. Express the contrary meaning using antonyms. State whether they are absolute or derivational.

1. All the seats were occupied.

2.The room was lighted by the strong rays of the sun.

3. A lamp is a necessary thing in this room.

4. The little boy was outside the car.

5. He drew a crooked line.

6. The lesson seemed to be long and difficult.

7. On the tray there was a jug of cold water.

8. The coach was empty of passengers.

9. Around the garden ran a high wall.

10. The book looked dull.

11. They chose a cheap restaurant.

12. He was tall.

13. He opened the door.

14. He was sad again.

Exercise 6. What distinguishes each of the following pairs of synonyms - dialect, formality, or connotation?

1. astonished ‒ flabbergasted

2. chat ‒ gossip

3. earwig ‒ clipshears

4. give ‒ donate

5. hate ‒ loathe

6. ice lolly ‒ icey pole

7. insect ‒ creepy-crawlie

8. much ‒ mickle

9. slippery ‒ slippy

10. throw ‒ hurl

Exercise 7. For each of the following words: (a) say whether it has an antonym and give it if it does; (b) say what kind of antonymy is involved (gradable, complementary, converse).

emigrate, equine, freedom, frothy, new, proud, simple, speak, straight, triangular.

Exercise 8. Propose a hyponymy tree with crockery as the most superordinate term. Can you identify any lexical gaps or where you need to use the same term on more than one level?