Unit 1

Vocabulary Building

1. What is an abbreviation? Give examples of some standard abbreviation in English.

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word where the last letters of a word are omitted.  Abbreviation is useful in writing when one has to cram a lot of words into a small space. Although they help at simplifying the language it is essential to note that one must avoid using them in formal writing except for some universal abbreviations. It is essential to know if your audience knows the abbreviation before using it while conversing with them.

Below are examples of some commonly used abbreviations:

Professor – Prof.

B.S. = Bachelor of Science B.A. = Bachelor of Arts M.A. = Master of Arts M.B.A. = Master of Business Administration Ph.D. = Doctor of Philosophy

UN – United Nations

Times and dates -

• a.m. (ante meridiem) = before noon p.m. (post meridiem) = after noon
• Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec.
• Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., Sun.

Places -

U.S. (United States), U.K. (United Kingdom), E.U. (European Union), U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates).

Units of Measurement -

• In. (inches) ft. (feet) lbs. (pounds)
• Mm. (Millimetres) cm. (centimetres) m. (meters)

There are some rules that must be kept in mind while using abbreviations, they are as follows:

1. Periods should be used in abbreviations that contain lowercase letters. For example – c.o.d.
2. Periods should not be used for organizations, titles, time zones, businesses, and acronyms. For Example: UN, CIA, NASA, ISRO, IBM, EST.
3. Proper nouns always have capitalized abbreviation such as United Nations – UN or World Health Organization – WHO. Common noun do not have capitalized abbreviation such as compact disk – cd or air conditioner – ac.

2.     What are antonyms? Give examples.

Antonyms are words that carry the opposite meaning to another word. They can be used to show contrast between two things or emphasize a point. Antonyms can be totally different words from their counterparts or can also be formed by adding prefixes to some words.

Below are some examples of antonyms that are commonly used in the English language:

Antonyms formed by changing entire words

Love – hate

Beginning – ending

Ugly – beautiful

Wild – tame

Extrovert – introvert

Antonyms formed by adding prefix –un

Acceptable - unacceptable

Able - unable

Do - undo

Certain – uncertain

Seen – Unseen

Antonyms formed by adding the prefix –in

Decent – indecent

Tolerant – intolerant

Human – inhuman

Curable – incurable

Expressible – inexpressible

Antonyms formed by adding the prefix –non

Sense – nonsense

Essential – nonessential

Flammable – non-flammable

Renewable – non-renewable

Entity – nonentity

Other prefixes used to form antonyms of words are –anti (Thesis - Antithesis), -ill (Literate – Illiterate), -mis (Informed – Misinformed), -dis (Assemble – Disassemble) etc.

Short list of antonyms in English, listed by the part of speech:

Nouns

• Day / night
• East / west
• The enemy / friend
• Failure / success  
• Guest / host
• Health / disease
• Question / answer
• Speaker / listener
• Summer / winter
• Top / bottom/ up / down

Verbs

• Agree / disagree/accept
• Arrive / leave/ come / go
• Begin / end/ start
• Fall asleep / wakefulness/sleep
• Find / lose/ gain
• Lend / borrowing
• Love / hate
• Open / close/turn on /turn off
• Remember / forget
• Start / stop

Adjectives

• Is asleep / awake
• Beautiful / ugly /good/ bad
• Big / small
• Black / white
• Cheap / expensive
• Dead / alive
• It is dry / wet
• Easy / difficult
• Full / empty
• Good / bad
• Hot / cold
• Intelligent / stupid/you are smart
• Sad / happy/ exciting
• Sick / living healthy
• Thin / fat

Adverbs

• Always / never
• With anger / happily/ excitement
• Fast / slowly
• Here / there
• Inside / outside/ indoors/ outdoors
• Likely / unlikely/possible/ impossible
• Near / far
• Partly / fully
• Seemingly / actually/ visually
• Yesterday / tomorrow

Prepositions

• Above / below
• Against / for / because
• Before / after
• In / out/ indoors/ outdoors
• Like / unlike/ love / contrast
• On / off
• Plus / minus
• To / from
• Towards / away/remote
• With / without

Conjunctions

• And / or
• Therefore / nevertheless /or so

Interjections

• Bravo / boo

• Hello / goodbye
• Holy cow / duh
• Phew / oops
• Thanks / no thanks
• Yes / no
• Yippee / oh my/ oh

3.     What are synonyms in English? Give examples.

Synonyms are words that carry a similar or same meaning to another word. Sometimes even though the synonym of a word has an identical meaning the word and the synonym may not be interchangeable.For example, "blow up" and "explode" have the same meaning, but "blow up" is informal (used more in speech) and "explode" is more formal (used more in writing and careful speech). Synonyms also provide variety to speech and writing.

Many words in the English language contain more than one synonym. Some examples of Synonyms:

Shallow - superficial

Stop – cease

Spontaneous - capricious

Gloomy – sad - unhappy

House - home - abode

Evil - bad - wicked

Garbage - trash - junk - waste 

Present – gift – reward – award

Sniff – smell – inhale

Little – small – tiny

Under – below – beneath

Short list of synonyms in English, listed by the part of speech:

Nouns:

• Belly / stomach
• Children / kids
• Disaster / catastrophe
• Earth / soil
• Father / dad
• Happiness / joy
• Instinct / intuition/ understanding
• Mother / mom
• Present / gift
• Sunrise / dawn

Verbs:

• Answer / reply
• Beat / defeat
• Behave / act
• Begin / start
• Close / shut/ turn on/turn off
• Leave / exit
• Provide / supply/ distribution
• Select / choose
• Shout / yell
• Speak / talk

Adjectives:

• Big / large
• Complete / total/number
• Correct / right
• Crazy / mad
• Foolish / silly /fool/ stupid
• Happy / glad
• Hard / difficult
• Ill / sick
• Last / final
• Near / close
• Sad / unhappy
• Stable / steady/ strong

Adverbs:

• Abroad / overseas
• Almost / nearly/ about / approx.
• Bad / poorly
• Fast / quickly
• Intentionally / purposefully
• Out / outside
• Rarely / seldom/ not common
• Sometimes / occasionally/ periodically
• Surely / for sure/ definetly
• Very / highly / extremely/too much

Prepositions:

• Above / over/ more
• About / regarding / concerning
• Against / versus
• Below / beneath / under
• By / via
• Despite / in spite of
• In / into/ to
• Off / away
• Until / till
• With / including

Conjunctions:

• And / plus
• Because / since
• But / yet/for now
• If / provided
• Once / as soon as possible/ and

Interjections:

• Hello / hi
• Gee / gosh
• Goodness / goodness me / my goodness
• No / nope
• Oh Lord / oh good Lord
• Thanks / thank you
• Whoopee / yahoo / hooray
• Yes / yeah

4.     What are some Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes commonly used in English?

Most of these combining/ interactive forms can be used as either prefixes or suffixes. Examples are presented to illustrate current usage.

5.     Give examples of some commonly used prefixes from foreign languages to form derivatives.

English speakers today--or even people trying to find out English--can enjoy understanding a number of the derivatives, or parts of a word taken from other languages, like Latin and Greek. Since there are over 1,000,000 words within the English, it's impossible to memorize all of them. However, understanding some basic components of words and customary ones that are derivatives of the classical languages can assist you determine their meaning.

In some ways, a word is simply sort of a cake, made from different ingredients. You'll find out what a word means by watching its three parts. The root, or the foremost basic sort of the word that also has meaning, is what makes up the bottom of the word. Frequently something is going to be attached the start of a word to feature meaning, which is named a prefix. Suffixes are almost like prefixes, but instead come at the top of the word. For instance, if you study the word ''microbiology,'' you'll see it's composed of those three parts, all of Greek origin: a prefix, ''micro-'' (meaning ''small''); a root, ''bio'' (meaning ''life''); and a suffix, ''logy'' (meaning ''study of''). Understanding these parts can assist you determine that microbiology is that the ''study of small life forms.''

Many English words and word parts are often traced back to Latin and Greek. The subsequent table lists some common Latin roots.

Latin root Basic meaning Example words:

From the instance words within the above table, it's easy to ascertain how roots combine with prefixes to make new words. For instance , the basis -tract-, meaning “to pull,” can combine with variety of prefixes, including de- and re-. Detract means literally “to pull away” (de-, “away, off”) and retract means literally “to pull back” (re-, “again, back”). The subsequent table gives an inventory of Latin prefixes and their basic meanings.

Words and word roots may also combine with suffixes. Here are examples/ instances of some important English suffixes that come from Latin:

6.     Give examples of some commonly used root words from foreign languages in English?

English is part of the German branch of the family of Indo-European language, so why is it so influenced in Latin and Greek? Although the origin of the English languages ​​was introduced in England at the beginning of the 5th century by people from Denmark and Germany, the language was not entirely different from what we speak today.

When the Normans, a number of French Catholics, invaded the British islands in 1066, they came with their two languages: Latin and French. Because they were a ruling party long after the invasion, English became the language of the weak, effectively forcing English speakers to accept Latin and French words in their own language to match. Since the Renaissance began, nearly 500 years later, many Latin words, as well as those of the Greeks, were included to make English a more '' learned 'language because of the Renaissance's emphasis on classics.

• Abacus:
  Abacus is derived from the Greek word - abax, meaning "sand tray."
   
• Allegory:
  Allegory is derived from Greek - allos meaning "other" and agora meaning gathering place (especially the market). Eventually words join and are linked to the verb to speak of one thing and another to mean another.
   
• Apricot:
  The term comes from the French -  abricot - and it was a bit confusing until the fifteenth century - it does not have a single simple etymology, but rather a mixture of many theories under consideration. But all these roads lead to Rome, from where that name - and fruit - began to spread throughout Europe.
   
• Addictive:
  Slaves agreed to allow Roman soldiers to pay for a concert in battle they were considered addicted to. Finally, a person who was addicted to anything called addiction.
   
• Alarm:
  From Italian, "All'arme" - "To arms!"
   
• Alcohol:
  Alcohol is taken from an Arabic al-kuhl, which has meant that there is a very good antimony powder used for eye makeup. It voiced the idea of ​​something so elegant and smooth, so the Arabic alchemists give the name of al-khul which brings in any insubstantial powder obtained by slow release (a direct conversion of a solid base into a vapor, or process of return), and thus for all computers available through the sanitization process.
   
• Algebra:
  The name means "the science of equations" in English comes from an article by one of al-Khowarizmi's (see "algorithm"), "Ab his AL-JAHR w'almuqaBAlah", meaning, "The Science of Transportation and Sanitation/ Cancellation."
   
• Algorithm:
  The name means "rules of computing" in English, which is based on al-Khowarizmi (Try saying it soon), an Arabic mathematician who lives around A.D. 825 who completed the best known numerical work using Arabic numerals.
   
• Appendix:
  In Latin it means "the hanging part." The human supplement hangs at the end of a large stomach; appendices given at the end of the book.
   
• Assassin:
  Assassin from the old Arabic word "hashshshin," means "person who loves hash," that is, marijuana. Earlier it was referring to a group of heroes who would smoke before the war.
   
• Asthma:
  Latin for asthma, "asthma," meaning "asthma" and "hypertension." The Latin word is derived from the Greek that feels the same.
   
• Avocado:
  Avocado from "awaguatl," the original American testicle name. The Spaniards got the word and used to refer to what we now call avocado.
   
• Ballot:
  Ballot, an Italian word meaning "small ball or pebble or stone." Italian citizens voted by placing a small stone or ball in one of the many boxes.
   
• Barbarian:
  Barbarian from "barbaroi" in Greek, meaning "babblers”.
   
• Bead:
  Bead from the Old English "gebed," which means, "prayer."
   
• Biscuit:
  Biscuit from mediaeval French 'Bis + cuit' which means 'double cooked'
   
• Boulevard:
  Boulevard from (French) Boulevard; and Bulwark
   
• Bucolic:
  From the Greek "boukolos," meaning "shepherd," from "bous," meaning "ox."
   
• Bulimia:
  Bulimia comes from the Greek "bous" meaning "ox" and "limos," which means "starvation," probably because a person with Bulimia is hungry for beef.
   
• Cab:
  Old Italian terminology for goat (cabra in Spanish).
   
• Calculate:
  The calculation comes from calculus, the Latin word pebble.
   
• Canter: (Spanish) Singing
  From the Latin "Cantare," which means, "to sing often." Latin "Canere" simply means "to sing."
   
• Carnival:
  Literal meaning: "Flesh, farewell." The end of "val" does not appear in the Latin "Vale." The modern Italian carnevale comes from the Old Italian "carnelevare"; levare = raise, place, remove. ) where people used to fast.
   
• Catharsis:
  In Early Modern English, it is used in the sense of "cleaning." The concept of this name was still used as recently as 1803.
   
• Candidate:
  From the Latin Candidus a word that means, "bright, shining, white, white." The ancient Roman members who were elected to this position wore bright white hats. The same name also spelled out the "firm", who are often not elected.
   
• Cell:
  Originally meant a monastery. It was Robert Hooke, who invented the first telescope. His first guess was the cork stem, which was made up of small columns. To him, the tiny fractions were like the little monasteries in which they lived, known as cells. Therefore, he called these microscopic building blocks "cells".
   
• Chapel:
  From the Cape "Italian" Capella, since the original Chapel was where the cape ("capella") of the St. Martin of Tour was kept.
   
• Vulture and Chasm:
  From the Greek "chainein," which means, "to soften"; So chaos was "just the beginning of the abyss" without the known universe we know.
   
• Champion; and Campus:
  Check out Kampf
   
• Charlatan:
  From the Spanish "charlar” for discussion /to chat.
   
• Cheers:
  From the Greek "Kara" for "face," with Latin "Cara," and the French French "Chiere". So "Take courage," it means, "Put on a happy face."
   
• Chocolate:
  It comes from the Spanish word for the same name, which came from the Nahuatl word (Aztecs language) "tchocoatl."
   
• Cider:
  It comes from the Greek Greek sycamore, which came from an ancient Hebrew shekel, which means "any alcoholic beverage other than wine made to ferment fruit juice."
   
• Claim:
  From the Latin "clamor", which is a judicial or public appeal raised on the discovery of sin.
   
• Coward:
  From Old French "coe" which means "tail." The OED adds, "The exact indication of the tail is uncertain: it may be an animal that 'turns tail' on a plane, or a practice in frightened animals to draw the tail between the hind legs: cf. The use of Heraldic in theory B 2. It is noteworthy that in the Old French version of Reynard the Fox ,Coart is the name of a hare: this may be a descriptive adjective with regard to its zeal; it is closed, and that the word is then transferred to 'the heart of a hare.'
   
• Companion: Compañero (Spanish); Copain (French) Partner
  From the Latin "Companionem," which was, "breadwinner" - "Con" (also) and "Pan" (bread) - your "partner" may have been someone to break bread with. "Look again to the Lord and take care of it.
   

Cretin:
From the French "Crétin", which originally meant "Christian."

7.     What are the different methods of word formation in English?

English vocabulary has been enriched from time to time from other languages. New words are either borrowed or coined. Roughly 70% of the words in English are borrowed or coined. T.C. Baruah says "A word says "A word is the smallest meaningful unit of sound. Every language has its own distinct patterns of combining morphemes to get larger units.

A form to which a rule of word-formation applied is called a base. Once a base has undergone a rule of word-formation the derived word itself may become the base for another, deviation and by re-application. It is possible to derive words of considerable morphological and semantic complexity. There are three major processes by which the base is modified. They are:

1. Affixation
2. Conversion
3. Compounding

There are some other minor devices also called reduplication, clipping blending and acronym.

8.     Describe the use of prefixes for word formation in English.

Change is the forte of any living language. Affixes are those used to form new words. These affixes are added either before or after the base form. It is of two types. Prefixation and suffixation.

Below are examples of some commonly used prefixes with their meanings:

9.     Provide some examples of commonly used suffixes for word formation in English.

Below are some examples of the most commonly used suffixes with the change in forms of words:

10. What are the conversion and compound methods of word formation?

Conversion

Conversion is the derivational process whereby an item changes its word class without the addition of either a prefix or suffix. In this process the same word is made to serve different grammatical functions. Many English words belong to more than one part of speech Ex: hope, love, work may be nouns as well as verbs. In addition to this, there is a deliberate transfer of a word from one part of speech to another. He calls it a conversion.

i) Verb - Noun conversion:
a) State - State of mind/sensation/doubt, love etc.

Ii) Adjective - Noun conversion:
He seemed average (adjective)

The average was eighty (noun)

Iii) Noun - Verb conversion:

a)     To put in/on noun bottle (to put into a bottle) corner, floor.

b)    To give or to provide with something coat - to give a coat of paint- mask.

Iv) Adjective Verb conversion:
They were very humble (adjective)

They humbled him (Verb)

v) Adjective - Adverb Conversion:
The poem reads well (adjective)

He reads the poem well (adverb)

Vi) Stress shift:
con ‘duct (n) – ‘conduct (n)

Pro’duce (v) – ‘produce (n)

COMPOUNDS

English has a genius pattern for the formation of very expressing compound words. A compound word is a unit that consists of two or more words. There are no formal criteria that can be used for a general definition of compounds.

Orthographically they are written as one-word (bedroom) sometimes they are hyphenated (tax-free) and sometimes as two words without a hyphen (reading room) compounds may be classified on the basis of their syntax.

A. Noun compounds:
i) Subject and verb compounds:
The sun rises: Sunrise
The day breaks Day break
The girl dances: Dancing girl.

Ii) Verb and object compounds:
x calls the girl: call girl
x chews gum: chewing gum
x pays taxes: Tax payer
x see sights: sight seeing

Iii) Verb and Adverbial compounds:
x swims in the pool: swimming pool
x sits with the baby; baby sitter
x work at home : Home work

Iv) Noun + Noun (Verb compound)
Wind mill, Toy factory, Blood stain, Oak tree, girl-friend, motor cycle, Ashtray

v) Other noun & noun
It names an entire thing by specifying some features.
Paper back - the book has a paper back
- blockhead - pot-belly, blue bell, bird brain, high brow, loudmouth
- pale face, fat head, etc.

B. Adjective compounds:
a) Verb + Object compounds
Man - Eating - x eats man
- heart breaking
- self-defeating
- breath taking

b) Verb + Adverb compounds:
x goes across oceans: Ocean going
x feel it in the heart :Heart felt
x  works hard : Hard working

11. What are reduplicatives and clippings?

Reduplicative

Re-duplicatives are compounds which have two or more elements either identical or only slightly different.
eg: goody-goody (affectedly good)

The difference between the two elements may be in the initial consonants as in walkie-talkie or in the medial vowels egcriss-cross Most of the re-duplicatives are highly informal or familiar.

a) to imitate sounds:
tick-tack, bow-vow, ding-dong, ping-pong, flip-flap

b) to suggest alternative movements
see -saw

c) to identify
tip-top

d) to disparage by suggesting instability, nonsense, insincerity, vacillation, etc.
e.g:

• Humpty – dumpty
• Hurry – burry
• Hanky-panky                                                        
• Higgledy–piggledy
• Pell–mell
• Wishy - washy
• Zig – zag

CLIPPING
It is formed by the people who are fond of brevity - the term clipping notes the subtraction of one or more syllable from a word. This is used in informed style.

The shortening may occur at

a)   The beginning of the word:
Telephone – phone
Omnibus - bus
aeroplane– plane

b)  The end of the word :
Mike – Microphone
exam - examination
Movies - Moving pictures
add – advertisement
Photo – Photograph

c)   At both ends of the word:
flu –influenza

12. Write a short note on Blending and using Acronyms for word formation?

BLENDS

In a blend atleast one of the elements is fragmentary; words are coined by combining parts of words. Many blends have only a short life and are very informal.

e.g.
Motel from Motor + Hotel

Smog from smoke + Fog

Transistor from Transfer + Registor

Brunch from breakfast + lunch

Electrocute from Electro + Execute

Telecast from Television + Broadcast

ACRONYMS:

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of words. They are abbreviations of words. They are pronounced as a succession of Letters (alphabetisms) as in BBC, TV etc or as words in NATO, SEATO, etc.

A )Alphabetisms:
C.O.D - Cash on delivery
U.N - United Nations
G.H.Q - General head quarters

b) Words:
UNESCO - United Nations educational scientific and cultural organization
RADAR - Radio Detection and Ranging.

By the process of word formation, the original roots have acquired a variety of meaning.