TUTORAIL ACTIVITIES/QUESTIONS for Chapter 6

1. The following pairs of words or phrases are similar in meaning. Try to tell the difference between the two words in light of classification of lexical meaning. (答案)

2. There are three kinds of antonymy. By writing C, G, or R in the blank, indicate whether the pair is complementary, gradable, or reversal opposites: (答案)
　　a) young/old　_________
　　b) awake/asleep　______
　　c) pass/fail　___________
　　d) husband/wife　________
　　e) buy/sell　___________
　　f) legal/illegal　__________
　　g) true/false　____________
　　h) over/under　____________
　　i) cheap/expensive　__________
　　j) guilty/innocent　____________

3. Write the semantic feature shared by the given words: (答案)
　　a) bull, rooster, bachelor, boy
　　b) milk, water, alcohol, oil
　　c) squash, tennis, cricket, fencing, boxing
　　d) idea, concept, love, clarity, democracy
　　e) pine, elm, willow, birch, popular
　　f) spanner, hammer, saw, pliers, jack
　　g) rose, lotus, lilac, orchid, chrysanthemum
　　h) walk, run, jump, hop, skip
　　i) pencil, pen, chalk, rubber, ruler
　　j) cheerful, excited, drunk, sober, dizzy

4. Each of the following words is a basic level term. Write its superordinate in the left blank and one of its subordinate in the right blank：(答案)
　　a) a)_______ table ________
　　b) b)_______ willow _______
　　c) c)_______ cat __________
　　d) d)_______ blue _________
　　e) e)_______ dictionary _________
　　f) f)_______ painting ___________
　　g) g)_______ driver______________
　　h) h)_______ verb _______________
　　i) i)_______ chemistry __________
　　j) j)_______ juice ______________

5. Underline the word that is not a prototype in each category: (答案)
　　a) apple, pear, grape, pomegranate, banana
　　b) pot, oven, knife, ladle, napkin
　　c) salmon, trout, carp, whale, sardine
　　d) saucer, toothpick, bowl, spoon, plate
　　e) sledge, truck, ship, plane, car
　　f) gun, knife, sword, tank, handgrenade, pistol
　　g) emu, parrot, sparrow, peacock, swallow, dove
　　h) stool, chair, couch, bed, fan, sofa
　　i) thumbpin, pen, pencil, staple, ruler, rubber
　　j) carrot, cabbage, spinach, cucumber, sweetcorn, tomato

6. Tell the semantic relation within the given sentence and that between the two sentences. (答案)
　　a) My uncle is male.
　　b) The spinster is married.
　　c) Jim is an orphan. Jim lives with his parents.
　　d) Sam is the husband of Sally. Sally is the wife of Sam.
　　e) He has gone to London. He has gone to England.
　　f) He has given up smoking. He smoked before.

7. The following sets of phrases and sentences are metaphorical. Determine the basis for each of these metaphor sets, using the pattern: "The metaphors in ( X ) describe ___ in terms of ____." (答案)
Example: The metaphors in a) describe objects in terms of human body.
　　a) the face of a clock
　　　　the hands of a watch
　　　　the foot of a mountain
　　　　the arm of a chair
　　　　the table legs
　　b) The theory is not easy to digest.
　　　　I have eaten up the professor’s words.
　　　　Chew on this new idea.
　　　　These books are not digestible for young readers.
　　c) She gives customers warm smiles.
　　　　She gave him an icy stare.
　　　　Everyone knows what is behind her cold face.
　　d) I have never won an argument with him.
　　　　He shot down all of your arguments.
　　　　They attacked every weak point in our argument.
　　　　Your argument is not defensible.
　　e) Our marriage is at a crossroad now.
　　　　My wife and I have to go our separate ways.
　　　　The two lovers have got off the track.
　　f) Is that the foundation of your theory?
　　　　You need more solid facts to buttress the theory.
　　　　The theory will fall apart if the basis is knocked down.
　　g) There is no market for the idea.
　　　　That idea just won’t sell.
　　　　It’s a worthless idea.
　　　　The idea is not accepted though it is well packaged.
　　h) His life is full of stories.
　　　　His life contained a lot of sorrow.
　　　　His life is empty.
　　i) Unemployment seriously infects the country’s economy.
　　　　There is vaccine to inoculate the country.
　　　　No one can tell how long it will take for the country to recover from the deflation.

MINI-PROJECTS

1. Make a list of five semantic categories and ask your students to give ten examples for each category. Rank their examples according to frequency of occurrence and see what you can find.

2. Prepare a word list which contains prototypical and non-prototypical words of certain semantic categories (fruit, vegetable, furniture, etc.). Test your students on these words and see what differences can be found between their performance.

3. Collect all the metaphors you can find around a concept (time, for example) in English and Chinese. Write the similarities and differences between Chinese and English metaphors. See how they reflect different ways to conceptualize an entity in the two cultures.