Lecture 6 The vocabulary of n language as a System (continued)

Exercise 2.

Study the list of the synonyms given below and classify them into the following groups:

a) synonyms which display an obvious difference in denotational component of meaning (ideographical); b) synonyms which differ in connotational component of meaning (stylistic).

b) Lazy, Idle, Indolent:

The words mean "not active", "not in use or operation", "doing nothing".

Lazy - can be used without implying reproach or condemnation, e. g. lazy afternoon, the boy is too lazy to learn, I'm looking for a helper who is not incurably lazy.

Idle - suggests temporary inactivity or doing nothing through necessity, and hence carries no implication of faultfinding; e. g. The machines are idle during the noon hour Because supplies did not arrive that day, the work crew was idle for seven hours.

Indolent - is applied to someone who not only avoids effort but likes to indulge in relaxation. E. g. John was a contented, indolent fisherman. Selling from door to door is no occupation for an indolent person.

Home. House

These words identify any kind of shelter that serves as the residence of a person, family or household. House lacks the associated meanings attributed to home, a term that suggests comfort, peace, love and family ties. It may be said that what a builder erects is a house which, when lived in, becomes a home. Such a statement may be considered sentimental, echoing the lines of Edgar A. Guest ("It takes a heap v'livin' in a house t' make it home).

Sentiment or not, one usually speaks of "buying home" and "selling a house". But firemen put out a fire in a house, not a home, and reference is always made to a house and let; not a home and let. Conversely, one usually refers to a home for the aged, not a house for the aged. Since home and house are so subtly different in

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use, why not sometimes resort to Residence and Dwelling and save confusion? (Harry Show. Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions, 1975).