Origin of Words

Some dictionaries indicate the origin & derivation of a word before it became an English word.

 

Meaning/ Explanation / Definition of words: 

This is the most important information about a word is its meaning.  Most words have many meanings or shades of meaning.  Do not read just the first meaning listed of the word you are looking up. Go down the numbered list.  Look for meaning that best suits the context in which the word is used.

Also look up words above & below the word you are looking up. You will find that words are often closely related. It will help to extend your recognition of the word in other forms & contexts.

 

Exercise (iv-a) Meaning:

Lookup the words ‘fast’ and ‘set’. Write the total number of different meanings of each word. Include all the numbered and lettered meanings for each part of speech.

 

Exercise (iv-b)

Meaning/Explanation / Definition of words:

Use the dictionary to find the specific meanings of the word

‘play’ in each of the following.

1.         The boys like to play a on the hard court

2.         Amna will play the sitar in the concert.

3.         The play produced by the arts club was a success.

4.         It was a clever play that won the football game.

5.         The gardener played the hose on the flower beds.

6.         A ‘week without water can make one weak’  is a play

            on words

 

(vi)Usage/Restrictive Labels:

Br / Am; formal / informal, colloquial, dialectal, archaic, poetic, slang.  This information is important in writing.

A dictionary will tell you the usage of words and phrases, idioms / proverbs of the language.  It will also tell you about the limitations of the use of the word. Special labels are used to show this. If a word is no longer in current use it will be labelled archaic (arch) or obsolete (obs).  Other  labels will tell you of the level of usage: whether the word has literary flavour (poetic) or is slang (sl), formal (fml) informal (infml).   

 

Exercise( vi-a )Usage Restrictive Labels

Idioms / Two-word Verbs / Phrasal Verbs / Noun Phrase:

 

Look up the underlined words in the following sentences

 & write their meanings.

 

1.         Prof. Widdowson held forth  for over an hour about the

            need for communication language teaching.

2.         I don’t get how you found the answer.

3.         My roommate is pretty hard up these days.

 

 

Exercise (vi-b) Restrictive or Usage Labels:

 

a)         Look up the words / phrases, write whether its use is

            primarily slang, informal or colloquial.

            Guys                Cool                

Example

Will it be O.K. if I met you at the library about eight.

           

Label:   Colloquial

            Meaning: All Right

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