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UMED
Department of Foreign Languages
Semantics
Task 3
The following pairs of words share at least one sense in common, but do not share all
their senses (i.e., they are like ‘ripe’ and ‘mature’). For each pair: (a) give a sentence in
which the two words could be used interchangeably without altering the sense of the
sentence; (b) give another sentence using one of the words where a different sense is
involved. The first one has been done for you.
(1)
ripe/mature
(a). . . . These ripe/mature wines will make a good accompaniment to most
meat dishes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(b). . . . .The poem “Neutral Tones” is a good example of Hardy’s mature
style. (*ripe style is unacceptable) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(2)
deep/profound
(a) you have my deep/profound sympathy
Other examples of nouns that can collocate with either deep or profound:
knowledge / regret / understanding / effect / impact / change(s) / etc.
(b) Only deep: The river/water/snow/etc is very deep.
Other examplesː deep trouble / breath / cut / wound / voice / sigh / etc.
Only profound: The baby was at risk of being born with profound deafness.
(= severe)
(3)
broad/wide
(a) The river is very broad/wide at this point.
Other examples of nouns that can collocate with either broad or wide:
street / shoulders / smile / range / etc.
(b) Only broad: He speaks with a broad Irish accent.
Other examplesː a broad outline / to be in broad agreement on something /
in broad daylight / etc.
It is difficult to find words which collocate only with wide; some nouns
prefer wide, e.g. a wide choice / a wide variety / etc but are sometimes
found in the company of broad.
For examples where only wide is possible, we need to look at idioms, set
phrases, etc: The door was wide open / In a few seconds Tom was wide
awake / Open your mouth wide / She stared at him with wide eyes / We need
to act on a Europe-wide scale / etc.
(4)
earth/soil
(a). They filled the hole with good soft earth/soil.
Tutorial 7
Earth/soil are generally interchangeable when the meaning is “the substance
that plants grow in”.
(b) Only earth: The rocket fell back to earth when its motors failed. / You
could feel the earth shake as the trucks came closer.
We usually speak of soil erosion. Examples where only soil is possible do
not abound, but consider soil in its other (literary) meaning of ‘country’ or
‘area of land’ as in It was the first time she had set foot on African soil.
(5)
side/edge
(a) The house stands at the side/edge of the lake. / He sat on the side/edge
of the bed. So side and edge seem to be interchangeable when the meaning
is “a part or an area of something near the edge and away from the middle”.
(b) Only side: Britain and Australia are on opposite sides of the world. /
I’m on your side. / a shape with five sides / the funny side of a situation /
etc.
Only edge: Be careful – this knife has a very sharp edge. / They brought the
country to the edge of disaster. / etc.
Task 4
In the lecture we noted that synonyms are often differentiated by having different
collocations. We used the example of ‘big’ – ‘large’. Below is a list of pairs of
synonymous adjectives. Try to find a collocation for one adjective that is impossible for
the other.
(1)
‘safe’ – ‘secure’: a safe driver / a safe journey // a secure future
(2)
‘fake’ – ‘false’: false accusations / false claims / false modesty / a false impression //
fake designer clothing / fake pearls (= not genuine; ‘false’ is rarely used in
this sense)
(3)
‘dangerous’ – ‘perilous’: a dangerous area / a dangerous game / dangerous driving //
perilous: often used with ‘journey’, ‘adventure’, etc
(4)
‘mad’ – ‘insane’: a mad scientist / mad cow disease // insane asylum
(5)
‘quick’ – ‘fast’: ‘a fast car’ but ‘a quick look’ / ‘a fast train’ but ‘a quick glance’ /
‘a fast grower’ but ‘a quick reply’ / ‘a fast pace’ but ‘a quick decision’
‘Fast’ is used especially to describe a person or thing that moves or is able to move at
great speed, whereas ‘quick’ is more often used to describe something that is one in a
short time or without delay.
Tutorial 7
(6)
‘sick’ – ‘ill’: a sick relative / a sick joke // it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good
(7)
‘near’ – ‘close’: the near future / near collapse // a close friend / a close connection
(8)
‘expensive’ – ‘dear’: my dear friends // an expensive holiday, etc
(9)
‘wealthy’ – ‘rich’: Fish is a rich source of protein / rich soil / rich food //
(10)
‘correct’ – ‘right’: You were right to do what you did (NB: this is not a collocation!)
Your right hand / Is this the right way to the station? / She’s the right
person for the job.
but … a grammatically correct sentence!
Task 4 adapted from Semantics, J I Saeed, Blackwell Publishing Limited 2009
and Tasks 1 – 3 adapted from Semantics: a coursebook, J R Hurford, B Heasley & M B Smith, CUP 2007
Tutorial 7