Technical English I

Chapter 1: Focus on Language: Vocabulary

ANNA UNIVERSITY TRICHY Syllabus

Unit 1: Focus on Language: Vocabulary 1.1 General Vocabulary

Vocabulary I. Using the dictionary: Do you have a dictionary of your own? Yes/No If yes, which one do you have? Tamilnadu Textbook Corporations Dictionary/ Oxford/Macmillan/Chambers/Webster/Lifco/any other? When and why do you consult a dictionary? To check (i) the spelling (ii) the pronunciation (iii) the meaning (iv) the usage Do you have any difficulty in using the dictionary? If yes, what are the difficulties? Who is a lexicographer? What is a dictionary? Who compiled the first dictionary in English? In which year? Who compiled The American Dictionary of the English Language? In which year?

Note: For every word, there are two meanings: (a) the literal meaning (b) the contextual meaning, i.e., the meaning that is determined by the context in which the word occurs Example: Who is here so base that would be a bondman? (Julius Caesar) What is the meaning of the word base? here.

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Technical English I

Chapter 1: Focus on Language: Vocabulary

The Concise Oxford Dictionary gives you as many as fifteen meanings. Now, what meaning are you going to choose? Note: The context will help you to choose the meaning of the word base. How to use a dictionary? If you are looking up an entry in a standard dictionary, you will learn the spelling the pronunciation and word stress word class the meaning derivatives phrasal verbs, and idioms and phrases where that word occurs irregular inflections, if any

Know your dictionary and learn to use it intelligently: Example: And the grave is not our goal. (A Psalm of Life) What is the meaning of grave? From the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2002): What items are given in this entry? Along with the headword grave, the dictionary gives us its spelling (grave) pronunciation / greIv/ and / grQ:v/ word class (noun, adjective and adverb) meaning (the place where a dead body is buried; serious; (grave) accent in some languages)
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Technical English I

Chapter 1: Focus on Language: Vocabulary

usage (Hes never even visited his mothers grave; beyond the grave; a grave expression) So what is the meaning of grave in And the grave is not our goal(A Psalm of Life)? Since there are three entries, what meaning will you choose? The meaning of grave as given in the first entry: the place where a dead body is buried in a deep hole in the ground. It also means death in the literary sense. But there is an additional meaning as well, and that is the contextual meaning. Task: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Look up a dictionary and gather relevant details of the italicised words:

There are clear differences between the Tamil spoken in Coimbatore, Tuticorin, Chennai and Nagercoil. Similarly, there are differences between British English and American English, and even within England there are many (dialectal) differences based on regional variations and class differences. These differences could be grouped under three major headings: vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. Differences in Vocabulary: British English autumn biscuit crisps film ground floor holiday lorry luggage mobile phone nappy petrol post sweets tap taxi tin underground American English fall cookie potato chips movie first floor vacation truck baggage cell phone diaper gasoline mail candy faucet cab can subway

The plural of index and matrix The singular of data and alumni The pronunciation of reservoir and communal The word accent for economics and biology The adjective of money and governor The noun form of religious and dedicate The differences between hire and rent in British and American English

8. The differences between home and house, and thin and lanky 9. Note down any five words from the Indian languages that are entered in the Oxford Dictionary (e.g. : catamaran, bandicoot). 10. Find out the etymology (root word) of educate and manufacture. II. Varieties of English: Have you ever noticed the way people from different parts of Tamilnadu speak Tamil? Have you observed the differences between British English and American English, especially in terms of spelling?

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Technical English I

Chapter 1: Focus on Language: Vocabulary

1.1 Word Formation The following are major ways of word formation in English. 1 Compounds 3 Abbreviations 5 Conversions 2 Derivations 4 Blends 6 Coinage

7 8

Borrowing Clipping

1. Compounds The head words like Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs are joined together as in the following example to form a new word altogether. I noun + noun >> compound noun II noun + verb >> compound 1 air + line >> airline 1 head + ache >> headache 2 air + port >> airport 2 heart + attack >> heart-attack III verb + noun >> noun compound IV verb + adverb >> compound 1 play + boy >> playboy 1 work + hard >> hardworking 2 pick + pocket >> pickpocket 2 last + ever >> everlasting V adjective + noun >> compound 1 green + house >> greenhouse 2 black + horse >> black-horse 2. Derivations Words are formed by adding affixes to roots. Roots are content morphemes or cores, carrying with them lexical meanings. Affixes could be either functional (grammatical) or semantic (lexical). I Functional Affixes (grammatical / phonetic) In English, some suffixes are functional ones, they help change part of speech: 1.1 Nouns can be changed to adjectives by adding suffixes like -al, -ous, -ful etc. -a l -ous -ful condition conditional danger dangerous care function functional fame famous mouth 1.2 Verbs and adjectives can be changed to Nouns by adding suffixes like -ion, -ness, -cy etc. -ion - n e ss - cy generate generation precise preciseness idiot revolve revolution kind kindness excellent II Semantic Affixes (grammatical / phonetic) In English, semantic affixes change the semantic meaning of words.
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1.1 Prefixes: - Prefixes modify the lexical meaning of the base. They do not generally alter the word-class of the base. ( un-, in-, im-, ir-, il-, re-, semi-, super-, tele-, multi- etc.) un-, in-, im-, ir-, ilrese m i fair unfair cover recover vowel familiar unfamiliar tell retell automatic superte le mu l t i market supermarket phone telephone lateral man superman scope telescope national uniform uniform cycle unicycle 1.2 Suffixes: - Suffixes change the word-class of the base but some contain lexical meanings. (-er, -or, -ee, -ist, -less, -man etc.) -er, -or, -ee, -ist - l e ss - ma n work worker care careless post teach teacher pain painless sales III Abbreviations Abbreviation is a way of word formation. English abbreviations include initialisms and acronyms 3.1 Initialisms: - They are pronounced letter by letter. British Broadcasting Company BBC European Union International Olympic Committee IOC Voice of America 3.2 Acronyms: - They are pronounced like words rather than as sequence of letters. North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO Surface to air missile IV Blends Blending is a process of word-formation in which a new word is formed by combining the meanings and sounds of two words, one of which is not in its full careful both of them are not in their full forms. form or motorist+hotel motel Europe+Asia mouthful smoke+fog smog news+broadcast IV Conversions Conversion is also known as word-class shift or functional shift, it involves shifting a word from one part of speech to another without changing its form. idiocy We can man 10 ships. man: to provide men excellency He plans to go to Japan plan: to make an arrangement V Coinage The rapid development of science and technology and the necessity for

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Technical English I

Chapter 1: Focus on Language: Vocabulary

more and more frequent intercommunication among people each day have resulted 8 in an on going language revolution in the virtual world i.e., Internet. New words and V expressions pop up everyday and are being spread at very high speed. 1 For example: netter, nettie, net-writing, net-writer, bluetooth and the like. 2 VI Borrowing 3 New words also enter a language through borrowing from other languages. English, 4 for example, borrowed a lot of French words as a result of the Norman invasion in 5 1066, and thats why the English lexicon has a Latinate flavor to it, even though 6 English did not descend from Latin. 7 Here are some examples of foreign words that found their way into English: 8 (a) Cockroach (from Spanish) (b) Piano, concerto (from Italian) (c) Catamaran (Tamil) (d) Feminine (French) V I Cl i p p i n g Another process of word-formation is clipping, which is the shortening of a longer word. word. Clipping in English gave rise to words such as fax from facsimile, gym from and gymnasium, lab from laboratory. I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 III 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 noun + noun >> compound noun: air + line >> airline air + port >> airport eye + brow >> eyebrow eye + sight >> eyesight foot + ball >> football book + worm >> bookworm moon + light >> moonlight tooth + brush >> toothbrush verb + noun >> noun compound play + boy >> playboy pick + pocket >> pickpocket flash + light >> flashlight push + button >> pushbutton cut + bank >> cut-bank cut + throat >> cutthroat cut + line >> cut-line II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 noun + verb >> compound: head + ache >> headache heart + attack >> heart-attack ear + pick >> ear-pick tear + drop >> teardrop foot + note >> footnote sun + rise >> sunrise eye + reach >> eye-reach hand + write >> handwriting verb + adverb >> compound work + hard >> hardworking last + ever >> everlasting grow + out >> outgrown take + off >> take-off break + out >> outbreak behave + well >> wellbehaved know + well >> well-known

make + weight >> makeweight adjective + noun >> compound: green + house >> greenhouse black + horse >> black-horse black + board >> blackboard high + way >> highway blue + print >> blueprint hot + line >> hotline red + head >> redhead red + neck >> redneck

break + down >> breakdown

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