PRACTICE

Exercise 1:
What is the origin of the word nitwit?

Exercise 2:
Indicate the meaning relation between the parts of the following English compound
words.
e.g.:
sunlight: light given by the sun
chessboard: board for playing chess on

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 flycatcher: bird that catches flies for food
1. daybreak 10. typing-paper 19. tapemeasure
2. frostbite 11. sleepwalking 20. handyman
3. driftwood 12. sunbathe 21. kettledrum
4. popcorn 13. homework 22. soapflake
5. handshake 14. workbench 23. cowshed
6. brainwashing 15. motorcycle 24. butterfingers
7. matchmaker 16. silkworm 25. highbrow
8. mincemeat 17. sawdust
9. drinking-water 18. doorknob

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Exercise 3:
Which of the following pairs contain an example of calque? How could you describe the
other(s)?
(a) footobooru (Japanese) – football (English)
(b) training (Hungarian) – training (English)
(c) luna de miel (Spanish) – honeymoon (English)

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Exercise 4:
Can you identify the different word-formation processes involved in producing each of
the underlined words in these sentences?
(a) Eliza exclaimed, “Absobloominlutely!”
(b) When I’m ill, I want to see a doc, not a vet.
(c) These new skateboards from Zee Designs are kickass.
(d) Don’t you ever worry that you might get AIDS?
(e) Shiel still parties every Saturday night.
(f) Do you have a xeroxmachine?
(g) I like this old sofa – it’s nice and comfy.

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 Exercise 5:
More than one process was involved in the creation of the forms underlined in these
sentences. Can you identify the processes involved in each case?
(a) Can you FedExthe books to me today?
(b) Are you still using that old car-phone?
(c) Police have reported an increase in carjackings in recent months.
(d) Welcome, everyone, to karaokenight at Cathy’s Bar and Grill!
(e) Jeeves, could you tell the maid to be sure to hoover the bedroom carpet?

Exercise 6:
Identify the prefixes and suffixes used in these words: carelessness, disagreement,
ineffective, refillable, and unfaithful.

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Exercise 7:
In Kamhmu, the word sal means “to put an ornament in the ear”. What would be the
word for “an ear ornament”?

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Exercise 8:
Indicate whether each italicized and underlined expression is a compound (C) or a
grammatical structure (GS). Pay no attention to hyphens or spaces, for these are
deceptive. Complete the table given below.
1 C Jim’s car is a hardtop. (= a car with a metal roof)
This jar has a rather hard top.
2 GS
(= The jar has a top which is rather hard.)
3 It was a jack-in-the-box.
4 The plant in the box is rare.
A ‘hot ,dog (= a hot sausage served in hot bread roll, often with onions and
5
mustard) is not a ,hot ‘dog.
6 A ‘hot ,dog is not a ,hot ‘dog. (= a dog which is hot)
7 He has a dog in the manger attitude.
8 He has a dog in the manger attitude.
9 She has a ,strong ‘hold on him.
10 She has a ‘stronghold on him.
11 George found his father-in-law.
12 George found his father in trouble.
13 They bought it in the ‘black ,market.
14 The electricity went off, and we caught in a black, completely lightlessmarket.
His spending money was a source of annoyance to his father. (= the money
15 C
spent by him)
His spending money was a source of annoyance to his father. (= the way
16 GS
according to which he spends his money)

Exercise 9:
Give the original words from which these clipped words were formed. Complete the table
given below.

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 1 ad 14 cello
2 gas 15 bus  omnibus
3 taxi 16 coon racoon
4 cab cabriolet 17 Phil
5 frat fraternity 18 Joe
6 photo 19 Tom
7 gin Geneva 20 Al Albert, Alfred or
Alvin
8 curio 21 Fred
9 wig 22 Bert
10 bra brassière 23 Gene
11 brandy 24 Beth
12 pike (road)  turnpike maître d’ maître d’ hotel
25
13 memo /ˌmeɪtrəˈdiː/ /ˌmeɪtrədəʊˈtel/

Exercise 10:
Give the original of each of the following blends. Complete the table given below.
1 smog
2 telecast  television + broadcast
3 electrocute
4 splatter  splash + splatter
5 Amerindian
6 Eurasian
7 newsboy
8 medicare

Exercise 11:
Give the blends that result from fusing these words. Complete the table given below.

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 1 happening + circumstances 
2 automobile + omnibus 
3 escalade + elevator 
4 blare or blow + spurt 
5 squall + squeak 

Exercise 12:
Pronounce these acronyms and give their originals. Complete the table given below.
1 UN /ˌjuːˈen/ United Nations
2 MC
3 BBC
4 AD
5 BC
6 TESL /,ti: i: es ‘el/ or /ˈtesl/ Teaching English as a Second Language
7 EFL
8 VIP
9 FIFA
10 NAM /,en ei ‘em/ National Association of Manufacturers

Exercise 13:
These verbs are back-formations. Write the words from which they are formed. Complete
the table below.
1 bootleg bootlegger
2 typewrite
3 coronate
4 resurrect resurrection
5 baby-sit

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 6 advance-register advance-registration
7 laze
8 jell
9 escalate
10 reminisce reminiscence
11 orate oration
12 donate
13 televise

Exercise 14:
Indicate the meaning relation between the parts of the following English compounds.
Complete the table given below.
1 chessboard board for playing chess on
2 flycatcher bird that catches flies for food
3 sunlight
4 daybreak
5 frostbite bite from frost
6 driftwood
7 popcorn
8 handshake
9 Brainwashing
(fig)
10 match maker
11 mince-meat
12 drinking-water
13 typing-paper
14 sleepingwalking walking in one’s sleep
15 sunbathe

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16 homework
17 workbench
18 motorcycle cycle power by a motor
19 silkworm
20 sawdust
21 doorknob knob on the door
22 tape-measure
23 soap-flake
24 cowshed
25 butterfingers a person with butter on his fingers, a person who is likely to drop things

Exercise 15:
Match each expression under A with the one statement under B that characterizes it.
A B
noisy crow compound noun
eat crow base morpheme plus derivational prefix
scarecrow phrase consisting of adjective plus noun
the crow base morpheme plus inflectional suffix
crow-like base morpheme plus derivational suffix
crows idiom
grammatical morpheme followed by lexical morpheme

Exercise 16:
Is long-eared a compound word. How is it different from other compounds like teacup,
or greenhouse?

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 _

Exercise 17:
In the light of compound nouns and noun phrases, explain the ambiguity of the following
sentences.
(a) The firemen burst into the smoking room.
(b) He has two French teachers.

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 _

Exercise 18:
Identify the process by which each of the following words was formed.
1. couch + potato → couch potato
2. in + credible → incredible
3. goose →geese
4. spoon + fork →spork
5. North American Free Trade Agreement →NAFTA
6. mis + align + ment →misalignment
7. bad →worse
8. hand + gun →handgun
9. nerdy + fantastic →nerdtastic
10. opinion →opine

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 _

Exercise 19:
Name the word-formation process exemplified by each of the following derivations.
1. Graphical User Interface → GUI
2. professor → prof
3. information + commercial → infomercial
4. drink → drank
5. sandwich (named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich!)
6. un- + rely + -able → unreliable
7. wind + shield → windshield
8. orientation → orientate
9. good → better
10. a process → to process

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 _

Exercise 20:
The words listed below have experienced some interesting changes in meaning over the
centuries. Look up each word in a good college dictionary (or an unabridged dictionary,
if available), and then provide the following information about its etymology:
(a) an earlier (usually obsolete) meaning of the word in English (or the meaning of the
word as it was used in another language before entering English)
(b) the most common meaning(s) of the word today

1. nice
(a)
(b)

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2. dandelion
(a)
(b)
3. muscle
(a)
(b)
4. salary
(a)
(b)
5. gorilla
(a)
(b)
6. gossip
(a)
(b)
7. gregarious
(a)
(b)
8. hazard
(a)
(b)
9. lunch
(a)
(b)
10. assassin
(a)
(b)

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