An introduction to the structure structure of English: Lexis Lexis and Grammar Lesson 1
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TEXTBOOKS
1. Culp Culpep eper er,, J. et al. al. (ed (eds. s.)) (20 (2009 09). ). English Language. Description, Variation and Context . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapters 5, 6, 7, 10). (C. et al.) 2. Depraetere, I. & C. Langford (2012). Advanced (2012). Advanced English Grammar. A Linguistic Approach. London: Bloomsbury (Chapter 1; Chapter 2: pp. 20-59; Chapter 3: pp. 77110; 119-129). (D&L) Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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SELF-STUDY •
Mark, G. McCarthy, M. & F. O’Dell (2006). English Vocabulary Vocabulary in i n Use. Upperintermediate. Cambridge University Press.
or •
Schmitt, D., Schmitt, N., Mann, D. (2011) Focus on Vocabulary1. Vocabulary1. Second edition. ed ition. Pearson. Pearson.
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Lessons (First Semester) Wednesdays group A-B, 14.30-15.30 group C-D, 15.30-16.30 •
28 Sep.
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5, 12, 19 Oct.
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2, 9, 16, 23, 30 Nov. Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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Lesson 1 1. What is a word?
word form; lexeme; grammatical word 2. Word classes (introduction)
content words; function words •
C. et al. 6.1, 6.3
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D&L Chapter 1 (3.1); ex.2 p. 257; ex.11 p.260
Resources: vocabulary level tests, dictionaries Class exercises Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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1. What is a word? •
WORD-FORM
A word-form is the physical form that represents a word in speech or writing. ORTHOGRAPHIC FORMS (written language)
PHONOLOGICAL FORMS (spoken language)
Boys (plural)
/bɔɪz/
boys’ (plural possessive) boy’s (singular possessive)
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LEXEME
The term ‘lexeme’ is used when by ‘word’ we mean an item requiring a single dictionary entry. •
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LEXEME: ‘SPEAK ’ WORD-FORMS: speak, speaks, speaking, spoke, spoken
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Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
MATCH
WASH
KIND
SOON
match matches
wash washes washing washed
kind kinder kindest
soon sooner soonest
GOOSE
BRING
BAD
WELL
goose geese
bring brings bringing brought
bad worse worst
well better best
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The same (orthographic and/or phonological) word-form may be related to different meanings: CAPITAL
(noun)
- Madrid is the capital of Spain. - He wrote the title in capitals. - 6 Things You Need to Know About Raising Capital for a Small Business - The Ionic capital is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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She saw him saw through that plank of wood.
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A word can have different meanings according to the class it belongs to:
‘MEAN’: 1. ‘an average’ (noun) 2. ‘have a particular meaning’ (verb) 3. ‘not generous’ (UK), ‘unkind’ (US) (adjective) In this case the same word form represents two or more distinct lexemes.
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minute noun /mɪn.ɪt/
a 20-minute bus ride the minutes [ plural ] Could you take/do (= write) the minutes, Daniel? minute verb [ T ] /mɪn.ɪt/ to make a written record of what is said at a meeting minute adjective /maɪˈnuːt/ •
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I've never seen a man with such tiny hands - they're minute!
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Noun-verb lexemes with a shift in stress according to the part of speech:
con duct (verb or noun?) /kənˈdʌkt/ ̍ conduct (verb or noun?) /ˈkɒn.dʌkt/ ̍
EXERCISE
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GRAMMATICAL WORD
Words as syntactic units. A lexeme together with the morphological and syntactic properties associated with it: speaking is the progressive form of the verb speak spoke is the past tense form of the verb speak spoken is the ..................................................... a. She played the flute. b. She has played the flute. Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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a. She played the flute. b. She has played the flute. The same meaning of the same lexeme ( play ) realised by the same word-form ( played ) but with two different grammatical functions: a) it indicates that an action happened in the past b) an action was (recently) completed.
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2. Word classes (introduction) Each word belongs to a specific WORD CLASS (noun, verb, etc.). When the same form appears in more than one class, we consider the various occurrences as separate lexemes: Smoke (verb)
smoke (noun)
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still (adverb)
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still (adjective)
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11 WORD CLASSES: CONTENT WORDS (4 classes) FUNCTION WORDS (7 classes)
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CONTENT WORDS: NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, VERBS and ADVERBS. NOUN: boy, water, beauty
ADJECTIVE: expensive, watery, calm VERB (=full verb): break, sing, become ADVERB: now, here, safely Young cheetahs mature quickly . Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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We can form nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs by adding suffixes
wonder+ ful teach+er class+ify sober+ly •
Content word classes form OPEN classes.
EXERCISE
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FUNCTION WORDS
Function words are ‘non-content’ words. They signal grammatical function. They constitute CLOSED classes. Although small in number, they tend to occur more frequently. EXERCISE
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The ten most frequent words in English ( based on an analysis of the Oxford English Corpus). Rank
Word
1
the
2
be
3
to
4
of
5
and
6
a
7
in
8
that
9
have
10
I
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Seven ‘function word classes: ’
DETERMINERS: the, my , which book...?, some bread, this, that, these, etc. The and a/an are the most common determiners. PRONOUNS: I, me, they, anyone, all, some, many, who, which, what A large overlap between determiners and pronouns: This wine is much too sweet . (determiner) This is an excellent wine. (pronoun)
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PREPOSITIONS Some common prepositions in order of frequency: of, in, to, for, with, on, by, at, from, as A large overlap between prepositions and adverbs, particularly adverbs of place and direction: I looked up the chimney . (preposition) I looked up. (adverb) Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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CONJUNCTIONS Conjunctions are introductory linking words. Some common conjunctions in order of frequency. (i) subordinating conjunctions: That, as, if, when, than, because, while, where, although (ii) coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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AUXILIARIES They precede the main verb in the verb phrase: (i) modal auxiliaries: can, will, may, shall, could, would, might, should, must (ii) primary auxiliaries: be, have, do
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NUMERALS: (i) cardinal numbers: one, two, ... (ii) ordinal numbers first, second,... DISCOURSE MARKERS We can add them (particularly in speech) at the beginning, middle, or end of utterances. They signal feelings, and interactive meanings. They also indicate how the discourse is developing: Right, OK Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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WHICH WORD CLASS? He is sitting beside her on the sofa. (preposition) I had a hat on. (adverb)
A word may belong to more than one class: ‘round’ a round stone (adjective) round the corner (preposition) they all gathered round (adverb) ... when we round the next bend (verb) EXERCISE 4 Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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RESOURCES AND TOOLS VOCABULARY LEVEL TESTS
How many words do you know in English? Try these vocabulary tests. 1. Recognition test http://www.lextutor.ca/tests/levels/recognition/1_14k/
2. Production test (versions A-B-C, 3000 word level) http://www.lextutor.ca/tests/levels/productive/ Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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DICTIONARIES a. monolingual dictionaries (choose one) - Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2008) - Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary, Heinle Cengage Learning (2009) - Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2010) - Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2007) - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 8 th Edition (2010) Luciana Pedrazzini_ Lexis and grammar
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b. bilingual dictionaries (choose one) - Ragazzini 2015 - Dizionario inglese-italiano Italian-English Dictionary di Giuseppe Ragazzini, Zanichelli, Bologna 2014 - Oxford-Paravia 2010, Dizionario ItalianoInglese e Inglese-Italiano, edizione 3.0
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