Linguistics applied to FL teaching and learning

2022-2023

Semantics: Practice exercises (1)

1. There is a pair of words underlined in each sentence.

Tell whether the words are synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homonyms or
homographs.
1. I couldn’t bear to give my pet bear to a zoo! Homonyms
2. I hope the pharmacist brews up some good medicine to put on my bruise.
Homphones
3. What makes you think that I can repair the broken bike that you couldn’t fix?
synonyms
4. Sylvia’s fast new car beat my slow one in the race. antonyms
5. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I heard the news. antonym
6. We planted a pair of pear trees in the yard. homophones
7. If you think about cause and effect, you'll know what the result of your decision will
be. synonyms
8. Aunt Evie hates hunting, so please hide that deer hide before she gets here.
homonyms
9. I hired a fine lawyer to defend me, but he charged me more than the fine I would
have had to pay. homonyms
10. Her knight in shining armour rides a horse that is as black as night. homphones
11. The fire took seconds to destroy a painting that took weeks to create. antonym
12. There’s a stiff penalty for breaking that law, and it’s a fair punishment. synonyms
13. He may be innocent of all the charges, but he acted like he was guilty when he
ran away. Antonyms
14. Irma thinks you are very well informed, but Shelly believes you don’t know what
you're talking about. synonyms
15. Carlos refuses to buy any book written by that author homphones.

2. Analysis of one entry from two online dictionaries: spot

Look the word spot up in OALD and LDCE in their online versions. Compare the
information provided by each dictionary in relation to pronunciation, morphology,
syntax, and semantics. Among several aspects, you may consider the following:

Pronunciation  Is there a phonetic and/or phonemic transcription provided? If

so, in which variety of English?
 Are there accompanying sound files? In which variety of
English?

Morphology  Is there any information on bound morphemes? If so, which

categories of bound morphemes are considered?

Syntax  What parts of speech are specified in each entry?

 Is the word contextualized in larger syntactic constituents,
e.g., phrases, sentences?

Semantics  What types of lexical relations are included in each dictionary

entry?
 Is there any mention of vocabulary lists? If so, what do those
lists stand for?

Direct links to dictionary entries for spot:

1
 Linguistics applied to FL teaching and learning
2022-2023

 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/spot_1 -
spot_idmgs_1
 https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/spot