Semantic Exercise
1. agony aunt : a person, usually a woman, who gives advice to people with personal problems, especially in a regular magazine or newspaper article.
blackmail : the act of threatening to harm someone or someone's reputation unless the person does as you say, or a payment made to someone who has threatened to harm you or your reputation if you fail to pay the person
boyfriend : a man or boy with whom a person is having a romantic relationship
businessman : a man who works in business, esp. one with a job in a company
bus stop : a place, usually with a pole with a sign, where a bus stops to allow passengers to get on and off
climate change : changes in the world's weather, particularly an increase in temperature, thought to be caused by things such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
daydream : a series of pleasant thoughts about something you would prefer to be doing or something you would like to achieve in the future
doormat : a piece of thick material that is put on the floor by a door, used to clean your shoes on when you go into a building
eye candy : someone or something that is attractive but not very interesting or useful
firsthand : If you experience something firsthand, you experience it yourself
flea market : a market, usually taking place outside, where old or used goods are sold cheaply
foxhound : a type of dog with ears that hang down and short, smooth fur that is usually black, white, and light brown
gravy train : a way of making money quickly, easily, and often dishonestly
greenhouse : a building with a roof and sides made of glass, used for growing plants that need warmth and protection
horseshoe : a U-shaped piece of metal that is attached to the bottom of a horse's hoof to protect it
hotdog : to make fast, skilful movements in particular sports, especially skiing, in order to make people notice you
Semantically transparent : businessman, bus stop, climate change, daydream, doormat, foxhound, horseshoe, houseboat, human being, mailbox, mousetrap, shopping list, speed limit, sunglasses and video game.
Semantically nontransparent : agony aunt, blackmail, boyfriend, eye candy, firsthand, flea market, gravy train, greenhouse, hotdog, housewife, monkey business, nightmare, redhead, software, spin doctor, sweatshop and taste bud
2. - Sabre : a heavy sword with a wide, usually curved blade, used in the past by soldiers on horses
- yew : an evergreen tree (= one that never loses its leaves) with flat leaves like needles and small, red fruits
- copper (noun: a metal) : a chemical element that is a reddish-brown metal, used especially for making wire and coins
- vodka (noun: a drink) : a clear, strong alcoholic drink made especially from grain or potatoes
- hay (noun: farming product) : grass that is cut and dried and used as animal food
3. a. The specific is schedule. The referring expressions in
In b are she, herself and the party.
In c: a policeman, your car.
In d: the script.
In e: you, this.
4. A. sense of shot, its senses could relate to firing a gun, a scoring attempt in a sport like golf or soccer a view from a specific camera angle, a small glass of strong alcoholic drink, etc. The selected sense of shot determines the meaning of take. So contextual knowledge is required to disambiguate the words.
B. The capital letters give a clue that Tigers and Bulldogs are names, this would not be evident in speech. Even so, situational knowledge is needed to identify the referents of these expressions, such as college Volleyball l teams.
c. The name Isabel is being used to identify. In addition tall is a gradable adjective that needs some kind of contextual scale to be evaluated: is Isabel tall for a child or an adult basketball player?
d. The expression too hot, containing the gradable adjective hot, has to be evaluated against a contextually assumed purpose. This could simply be “too hot to be comfortable” but could be any assumed activity.
e. Everyone is clearly not intended to mean everyone in the world and so must be understood relative to a group known to the speakers and audiences.
5. a. The expression glass ceiling is a metaphorical way of referring to covert barriers to promotion or advancement, introduced originally with reference to women but used subsequently for other groups.
b. Metaphors characterizing economic issues such as war are frequent (for example trade wars). Here a future economic crisis is metaphorically viewed as a bomb, specifically a time bomb that suggesting the threat is already present and inexorable. The metaphor sets up a chronological parallel between the aging process and the bomb's timing device.
c. Here the metaphor creates an analogy between the passage of a parliamentary bill and childbirth. The choice of metaphor is given an extra dimension by the fact that the bill related to laws governing abortion in Ireland.
d. In the dock is an idiomatic way of describing being on trial in (an English-style) court. It is a conventional metaphor for being subject to critical scrutiny.
e. The nautical metaphor throw a lifeline is conventionalized for helping someone. In chapter 11 we discuss the idea that metaphors can become conventionalized to the point that they lose their figurative value and become dead metaphors. This example also includes metonymy, where the European Commission is identified by its location, Brussels, and Spain is used for the Spanish government.
