Students’ activities

CHAPTER 2 : PHONOLOGY

1. Give the correct technical terms for the sounds made in the following ways:
(a) both lips coming together
(b) the bottom lip and top teeth coming together
(c) the tongue touching the upper teeth ridge
(d) the tongue touching the hard palate
(e) the tongue touching the soft palate

2. Give the correct technical term for the sounds resulting from the following closure:
(a) complete closure followed by slow release of air
(b) complete closure of the oral cavity with the air diverted through the nose
(c) partial closure where the air stream is blocked by the tip of the tongue but allowed to escape round the sides of the tongue
(e) complete closure followed by a sudden release of air

3. Give the symbol for each of the following sounds and give an example of its use in an English word::
(a) voiced bilabial plosive
(b) bilabial nasal
(c) voiceless labiodental fricative
(d) alveolar lateral
(e) high front unrounded vowel
(f) high back rounded vowel
(g) voiced alveolar fricative
(h) voiced bilabial nasal
(i) voiceless velar plosive
(j) voiced dental fricative






CHAPTER 3 : THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

1. Supply pairs of English words which can be distinguished by the following sets of consonants. (For example, a minimal pair for /p/ and /b/ could be ‘pear’ and ‘bear’. Remember that you are dealing with sounds and not spellings, so ‘post’ and ‘boast’ would also be a minimal pair.)
(a) /p/ and /b/
(b) /t/ and /d/
(c) /k/ and /g/
(d) /s/ and /z/
(e) /∫/ and / t∫/
(f) /n/ and /ŋ/
(g) /m/ and /p/
(h) /n/ and /d/
(i) /r/ and /l/
(j) / t∫/ and / ʤ /

2. Transcribe the following words phonemically.
(a) ghost
(b) among
(c) infiltrate
(d) farmyard
(e) chutney
(f) judging
(g) splendid
(h) underpinned
(i) thousandths
(j) beautiful

3. Add one of these sounds to the start of these words to make other words: /h/,
/j/, /w/. think of sounds, not spelling!
Example: air hair, where
(a) earth ……………………
(b) ear ……………………
(c) or ……………………
(d) in ……………………
(e) eight ……………………
(f) eyes ……………………
(g) all ……………………
(h) aid ……………………
(i) ill ……………………
(j) art ……………………
(k) I’ll ……………………
(l) eat ……………………
(m) ache ……………………
(n) eye ……………………
(o) old ……………………


CHAPTER 4: MORPHOLOGY

1. Identify the morphemes in the following words, indicating where a spelling
change my be necessary when one breaks the word down into its constituents.
(a) equalizers
(b) inclination
(c) befriending
(d) transportation
(e) endearment
(f) predetermination
(g) dangerously
(h) unbelievable
(i) protection
(j) dehumanize

2. Pick out the bound morphemes in the following words and say whether they are
derivational morphemes (D) or inflectional morphemes (I).
(a) inflectional
(b) terrifying
(c) hospitalized
(d) regularizes
(e) reviewers
(f) respectably
(g) represents
(h) stifles
(i) previewed
(j) submariners

3. What are the main allomorphs of each of the following morphemes? Provide
examples to illustrate each of the allomorphs.
(a) -s (s in the verb ‘looks’)
(b) -ed (as in the verb ‘looked’)
(c) in- (as n the words where the morpheme means ‘not’, for example ‘in +
eligible’)


CHAPTER 5: LEXICOLOGY

1. How many (a) orthographic, (b) morphological, (c) lexical and (d) semantic words
have we in each of the following lists?
(a) make, makes, making, made, maiden
(b) fire, fires, fir, firs, fur
(c) take, taken, took, taking, takings
(d) bass (fish), bass (singing voice), bass (tree bark)
(e) royal, regal, kingly (in the context ‘royal/regal/ kingly bearing’)

2. Expand the following compounds in the same way as in Exercise 2 and, where
possible, say which parts of speech are involved in the compound.
(a) football
(b) greenhouse
(c) handsaw
(d) highlife
(e) lambswool
(f) income
(g) milkman
(h) outlook
(i) scarecrow
(j) takeaway


CHAPTER 6: SYNTAX

1. Pick out and classify the phrases in the following sentences. (Example: ‘The young boy will be running very fast’. Here we have three phrases: a noun phrase ‘The young boy’, a verb phrase ‘will be running’ and an adverb phrase ‘very fast’.)
(a) Please send me three boxes of biscuits on the 14th of July.
(b) All the children seemed extremely happy.
(c) She couldn’t go to the fete because of her bad cold.
(d) To have played football for JUVENTUS was his greatest achievement.
(e) The boy will have arrived in Spain by this time.

2. Pick out the noun clauses in the following sentences and say whether they
function as subjects, objects or complements.
(a) She supposed that they would have enough money.
(b) What we heard was a tissue of lies.
(c) When confronted by the facts, he became what one might as agitated.
(d) That is all I can remember.
(e) ‘Who was she?’ was of course the first question that everyone asked.

3. Write down all the clauses in the following sentences saying (a) whether they are main or subordinate clauses and (b) what type of subordinate clause has been used.
(a) I shall always remember what you said.
(b) When we arrived everyone was asleep.
(c) It was what everyone had feared.
(d) He arrived on the very day when we were celebrating your birthday.
(e) The hat which I bought was the wrong color.


CHAPTER 7: SEMANTICS

1. Put the following lists into taxonomic hierarchies:
(a) rose, plant, tea-rose, dog-rose, flower, daisy.
(b) tea, coffee, beverage, milk, black coffee, sugared coffee.
(c) cold-blooded animals, warm-blooded animals, animals, crocodiles, birds,
fish, whales.

2. Examine the following sentences carefully and try to establish a hierarchy of
the verbs used. (Put the most general verb at the top.)
(a) He rushed down the road.
(b) He went down the road.
(c) He walked down the road.
(d) He strolled down the road.
(e) He ran down the road.

3. Explain the semantic ambiguity of the following sentences by providing two or
more sentences that paraphrase the multiple meanings.
Example: “She can’t bear children” can mean either “She can’t give birth to
children” or “She can’t tolerate children.”
(a) He waited by the bank.
(b) The long drill was boring.
(c) You should see her shop.