1. Mark each word in the line as neutral, colloquial, literary.

1. child – kid – infant – offspring;

2. father – daddy – male parent / ancestor;

3. leave / go away – be off / get out / get away / get lost – retire / withdraw;

4. continue – go on / carry on – proceed;

5. begin / start – get going / get started / Come on! – commence.

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2. Identify in the underlined words different groups of special literary and

special colloquial vocabulary.

1. He kept looking at the fantastic gree of the jungle and then at the orangebrown

earth…The Lord giveth and He taketh away, Ridges thought solemnly.

(N. Mailer)

2. She had said ‘Au revoir!’ Not good-bye! (J. Galsworthy)

3. For oft, when on my couch I lie … (W. Wordsworth)

4. I’m the first one saw her. I find out she’s some jock’s regular, she’s living

with a shrimp. (F.S. Fitzgerald)

5. “What a fool Rawdon Crawley has been,” Clump replied, “to go and marry

a governess. There was something about the girl too.” // “Green eyes, fair

skin, pretty figure, famous frontal development,” Squill remarked.

(W.M. Thackeray)

6. “Poor son of a bitch”, he said, “I feel for him, and I’m so sorry I was bastardly”.

(J. Jones)

7. There was a long conversation – a long wait. His father came back to say it

was doubtful whether they could make the loan. Eight per cent, then being

secured for money, was a small rate of interest, considering its need. For ten
per cent Mr. Kuzel might make a call-loan. Frank went back to his employer,

whose commercial choler rose at the report. (Th. Dreiser)

8. We’ll show Levenford what my clever lass can do. (A. Cronin)

9. I wandered lonely as a cloud // That floats on high o’er vales and hills …

(W. Wordsworth)

10. Father Knickerbocker met them at the ferry giving one a right-hander on the

nose and the other an uppercut with his left just to let them know that the

fight was on. (O. Henry)

11. The little boy, too, we observed, had a famous appetite, and consumed

schinken, and braten, and kartoffeln, and cranberry jam... with a gallantry

that did honour to his nation. (W.M. Thackeray)

12. “Il piove,” the wife said. She liked the hotel keeper. // “Si, si, Signora,

brutto tempo. It’s very bad weather.” (E. Hemingway)

3. Divide the given vocabulary into the following groups: archaic words (1),

poetic words (2), historic words (3), vulgarisms (4), slang (5), professionalisms

(6).

pal, yeoman, crony (a friend, or a person who works for someone in authority,
especially one who is willing to give and receive dishonest help), vassal, heavies
(A large muscular man employed to menace or intimidate, or as a nightclub
bouncer), whorehound (Someone who will happily pay all the money they can for
meaningless sex from random sluts), woolies (fat marijuana cigarette mixed with
PCP or crack), hammerman, booze (An alcoholic beverage),

dough (Cash, money.), falconet (a small light cannon), how’s tricks (how are
you?), beat it (to go away), steed (a horse, esp one that is spirited or swift),
damned, qouth (said), woe (intense grief or misery), son of a bitch, repast (food in
general), hell of, to deem (to judge or consider), nay (no), cursed, brethren (fellow
members of a religion, sect, society), whore (any woman who engages in
promiscuous sexual intercourse), brake weight, bloody, pebble pup
4. Point out the stylistic reference of each synonym in the groups below to

different types of vocabulary: literary (common / special), neutral or colloquial

(common / special).

1. face – visage – mug – deadpan;

2. nose – snout – beak – nasal cavity;

3. I think – I gather – I presume – I take it – I guess it – me thinks;

4. boy – youth – lad – young male person – youngster – teenager;

5. lass – girl – maiden – wench – young female person;

6. nonsense – absurdity – rot – trash;

7. legs – pins – lower extremities;

8. Silence, please! – Stop talking! – Shut your trap!

9. friend – comrade – pal – buddy – acquaintance;

10. Hurry up! – Move on! – Hasten your step!