Part 2. Tasks for practical classes

TASK 1. Write each word, putting a hyphen between its morphemes. Identify and characterize the morphemes:

- segment morphemes: the root morpheme, derivational affixes, inflexional affixes;

- non-segment morphemes: the zero morpheme, vowel interchange, stress shift.

Example: disagreed: dis – agree – d

↓ ↓ ↓

deriv. root infl.

Aff. Morp. Aff.

Overcarefulness, activities, news, reviewed, unfortunately, stuck, unreliability, risen.

TASK 2. How many lexemes are there in each line? How many word forms of each lexeme?

a. a building build built builder be building

b. jump has jumped will be jumping

c. fortunately unfortunately fortunate

TASK 3. Fill the table below with information about the defining characteristics of the three major groups of vocabulary.

	‘Parts of speech proper’ / Lexical words	Function words	Words outside the sentence structure / Inserts
General semantics
Formal morphological properties
Functional syntactic properties

TASK 4. Use the examples below to illustrate the consequences of sticking to only one principle when classifying words into classes. What conclusions can you make?

A. The general semantic principle only:

(A) running (boy), running (shoes), (The boy is) running;

Red, redness, to redden;

(To) jump, (a) jump.

B. The formal morphological principle only:

Desk(s), gardener(s/ -‘s/ -s’), milk, honesty, police; wooden, quick(er);

work(ed/ -ing/ -s), hit(-ting/ -s); yesterday, sometimes; in, before, yet.

C. The Functional syntactic principle only:

Subject	Predicate	Object	Adverbial
I Someone The bike Yours Nick Who	saw has bought is new. is a nice car. had to go said	him this book. it?	there yesterday. to the library.

TASK 5. In the passage below, identify the class each word belongs to:

o lexical words (parts of speech proper) – a noun, a lexical verb, an adjective, an adverb, a pronoun or a numeral;

o function words – a preposition, a conjunction etc.; or

o words outside the sentence structure/ inserts, e.g. parenthetical elements.

A: Um can you get me a screw driver?

B: Where?

A: Uh well just bring my tool box.

B: Oh okay. Wow. Be careful. We’re gonna have to take off the light fixture… Do circuits run back there?

A: Yep.

B: Okay. Move this. You want me to take off this? Ouch!

A: you okay?

B: Yeah. I guess I should put on shoes.

TASK 6. The following passage contains several nonsense words, which are underlined. Identify the word class of each made-up word. Briefly state what evidence you used to determine the word class.

Other reports have remanstroted an even chranger positive bitegration with plasma charestarob, which is the main cholesterol-carrying wisotrotein.

TASK 7. Identify the type of the genitive in the sentences below.

1. This follows his company’s successful outdoor production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Saltburn’s* Valley Gardens last summer.

* Saltburn = a place in Scotland

2. Bank’s net loss

Europe’s richest indoor women’s tennis tournament in Brighton is in danger of collapsing after Midland Bank yesterday withdrew their sponsorship.

TASK 8. A. Do the genitive constructions below sound natural and correct? If they don’t, why not?

B. Can you rephrase them using prepositional constructions?

1. his parents’ home

2. the demonstrators’ crowd

3. Spain’s inflation

4. a grapes’ bunch

5. the government’s denial of the need

6. a paper’s sheet

7. a book’s page

8. This was a good idea of Johnny’s.

9. It’s not my handwriting. It’s Celina’s.

10. the brutal child’s murder

11. the bread’s basket

12. two hours’ sleep

13. socialism’s future

14. the car’s make

15. out of harm’s way

16. these questions’ kinds

TASK 9. Classify the following nouns as central or peripheral. Briefly state what evidence you used to do so.

energy, desk, living, person, rubbish, cake, friend, cow, Jane, honesty, jogging.

TASK 10. 1) Underline each verb phrase in the sentences below.

2) What kind of verbs is it composed of?

- Determine whether each verb is finite or non-finite

- Identify the type of the predicate

- Is the main verb transitive, intransitive, or copular (linking)?

- Which verbal categories are formally marked in each verb?

1. They had a nice chat.

2. Did you have to do it or were you given a choice?

3. I needn’t have watered the plants. It rained soon after I did.

4. He turned on the light.

5. You look lovely.

6. People thought he might have been joking.

7. She started working for the company a year ago.

8. His knuckles go pale as he grips the door frame.

9. The moon rose red.

10. We shall be meeting with all parties in the near future.

TASK 11. Identify and characterize different kinds of verbs. Which categories do they realize?

1. Varieties of crops should be cultivated which do not readily shatter.

2. She insisted that she pay her way.

3. I’d certainly tell you if I knew anything, but I don’t.

4. I am not attempting to be evasive.

TASK 12. Classify the following –ed forms as part of a Passive Voice verb form or a predicative adjective. Briefly state what evidence you used to do so.

1. We are delighted with the result.

2. I ought to be excited.

3. The silence was broken by the village crier.

4. The wire is always broken.

5. The problem was dealt with my developing a reference test.

6. He is well educated.

7. Those people got left behind in Vietnam.

8. She got terribly frightened.

9. Doherty was arrested in New York in June.

10. In two minutes, he was surrounded by a ring of men.

TASK 13. Classify the following adjectives as central or peripheral. Briefly state what evidence you used to do so.

Narrow, wrong, the rich, good, aware, residential, Scottish, alive, elect, charming, external, ethnic, the (very) young, insensitive, lone, awful, long, afraid, blue, unique, square, glass, impossible, big, mere, the unforgivable.

TASK 14. The words below are syncretic elements. Which of their characteristics are adjectival, which are verbal and which are nominal ones?

The Japanese, the wounded, the beautiful, running (kids), selected (stories)

TASK 15. Identify the semantic category of each of the adverbs in these sentences.

1. Don’t worry, he can’t have gone far.

2. I almost believed it.

3. We should be extremely cautious.

4. He is dead serious all the time.

5. It’s quite interesting.

6. She always eats the onion.

7. Automatically she backed away.

8. …her tears dropping hotly among the quietly flowing dead leaves.

TASK 16. Classify the underlined words as Adverbs, Prepositions or Conjunctions. Briefly state what evidence you used to do so.

1. He walked past.

2. He walked past the house.

3. He took the dog in.

4. He took the dog in the house.

5. They’ve lived happily (ever) since.

6. They’ve lived happily since that day.

7. They’ve lived happily since they got married.

TASK 17. Identify the class of each pronoun below.

1. What did he say?

2. Somebody tricked me.

3. I won’t tell you how it ended.

4. Is this yours, or mine?

5. His house got broken into.

6. I taught myself.

7. I like those.

8. That’s all I know.

9. He’s the guy who told me about this.

10. They know each other pretty well.

TASK 18. Classify the underlined words as Numerals (Cardinal or Ordinal) or Nouns with numerical meaning. Briefly state what evidence you used to do so.

1. I was doing my third week as a reporter.

2. I’ve read two thirds of the article.

3. Five is more than three.

4. They bought their little son a three-wheeler.

5. Damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds.

6. Over two hundred people have been arrested.

7. Henry the 8^th is said to have killed all his wives, isn’t he?

8. You want bus 44.

TASK 19. Identify the lexical word class (part of speech) of the underlined words below. Briefly state what evidence you used to determine the word class.

1a. I was flat on my back.

1b. I already told him to back off.

2a. It’s pretty hard to do that.

2b. I felt like I was pretty.

3a. Actually, it’s fun to horse around with danger.

3b. He is quite handy on a horse.

4a. The price was coming down all the time.

4b. The coming weekend is relatively quiet.

TASK 20. Each of the orthographic words below can belong to at least three different word classes. Use each word below in a sentence of your own to illustrate how it is used in different word classes, and indicate the class.

before early inside this like