Doubling the final consonant in polysyllabic words when adding a suffix starting with a vowel.

i. If the last syllable is stressed and contains one vowel letter, which gives one short vowel sound, and one consonant at the end, the final consonant is doubled (to preserve pronunciation). For example, be'gin – begi nn ing, com'mit – commi tt ed, oc'cur - occurring.

ii. If the last syllable is not stressed or it contains two vowel letters, a long vowel sound or a diphthong, or two consonants at the end, the final consonant is not doubled. For example, ' reckon – reckoned, 'reason – reasoned, 'happen – happened, 'offer – offering, con'c ea l – concealed, de'spair – despairing.

iii. In two-stemmed compound words you should take into account individual stems: gravedi gg er (grave + dig + er).

Adding suffixes starting with a vowel to words ending in ‘l’.

i. ‘L’ is doubled both in mono- and polysyllabic words when the last syllable (no matter stressed or not) contains one vowel: travel – trave ll ing. Exception: parallel – paralle l ing – paralle l ed.

ii. ‘L’ is not doubled both in mono- and polysyllabic words when the last syllable contains more than one vowel: trailed – trailed, appeal - appealing. But if there is a letter combination ‘ue’ in the middle of a word, final ‘l’ is doubled: fuel – fuelled.

iii. Exceptions are suffixes ‘-ist’, ‘-ic’ and ‘-ism’ which do not require any doubling: formal – formality, brutal – brutality, capital – capitalism, fatal – fatalist – fatalism.

NB! If you add a suffix starting with a consonant, final consonant is never doubled: glad – gladly, quarrel – quarrelsome, regret – regretful.

UNIT 5.

Silent ‘e’ at the end of words.

Letter combinations ‘-ch’/‘-tch’, ‘-ge’/‘-dge’, ‘-c’/‘-ic’ at the end of words.

Exercise 1. Distribute the words below into three columns:

1. words in which silent ‘e’ is kept;

2. words in which silent ‘e’ is dropped;

3. exceptions to the rule.

Hate + ful, time + ly, true + ly, courage + ous, race + ial, peace + ful, notice + able, move + ment, whole + ly, grace + ous, hope + ing, agree + ing, amuse + ment, tire + less, pronounce + able, marriage + able, receive + ing, due + ly, lie + ing.

Now write the correct variant if the words derived.

Exercise 2. Seven of the underlined words in the letter below contain mistakes. Find and correct them.

I am writeing to thank you for haveing us to stay and to let you know that the improvments on our house have now been completed and hopefully we can move in very soon. We are driving there next Saturday. The children are extremlyexcited about living in such a beautiful house, but I’m a little worried about keeping the valueable furniture safely away from them!

Hoping you’ll be comeing to visit us soon.

Yours truely, Sarah

Exercise 3. Add suffixes to the words in bold so that the letter had logic. Don’t forget that some words change their spelling when a suffix is added to them.

Dear Jamal,

I’m write to invite you to my birthday celebrate next Thursday at the amuse park. It’s still undergoing renovate but will be open from Monday. It’ll be very excite. There’s an amaze water-flume and a really scare rollercoaster. If you’re extreme dare, there’s also a huge wheel in which you go backwards and upside down while revolve sideways. Can you image it? Even I might not be adventure enough for that!

Dad says he’ll do the drive, so don’t have an argue with your parents about how you’re going to get there and back. I was use at persuade Dad to come in, too. He thinks it’ll be tire and noise. So, we can go on our own as long as we’re on our best behave and act sense. Let me know if you’re come. I’m really hope to see you. It should be true brilliant.

Lots of love, Miles

P.S. I’m sending invite to Tanya and Steve too, but it’s like Tanya won’t come. She’s quite nerve and says you have to be ridicule to enjoy being frightened.

Exercise 4. Choose the correct variant of words with ‘-ch’/‘-tch’ at the end.

1. The football pich/pitch is near the church/churtch.

2. She used a torch/tortch to light up the darkened cellar.

3. The coach/coatchreached/reatched the station on time.

4. I’ve just bought a Swiss wach/watch.

5. The beach/beatch at Brighton is polluted.

6. The customer asked the waiter to fech/fetch a mach/match for his cigar.

7. Can you touch/toutch the branch/brantch of that tree?

8. The pach/patch of grass near the dich/ditch is very wet and muddy.

9. The Pope has preached/preatched in every continent of the world.

10. Take this bunch/buntch of flowers to Mrs. Finch/Fintch.

Exercise 5. Finish the words in the text with ‘-ge’ or ‘-dge’.

PET SHOW FIASCO

A colle…. pet show ended in disaster last week. Besides the usual cats and dogs, some rather stran…. entrants emer….d, including a he….hog, a ba….r, and a rock in a ca….! The ju…. (Annie Mall, a local vet) crin….d as a cat ate a mouse called Mi….t, and a parrot mana….d to fly up to a high le…., out of reach. Some people began to fi….t, and accused the he….hog of having fleas. Its angry owner said that such remarks did dreadful dama…. to people’s ima…. of the creatures, and blows were exchan….d. In the confusion, a puppy called Smu…. ran off with the ba…. for first prize, and was later declared the winner.

Exercise 6. Finish the words in the text with ‘-ch’ or ‘-tch’.

KI….EN PUN….-UP!

Guests at a local hotel had only sandwi….es for lun…. today, as chefs Pierre Noir (Fren….) and Jan Van Glyk (Du….) were fighting. Noir accused Van Glyk of scor….ing his ….icken dish by swi….ing up the oven. Van Glyk said he hadn’t tou….ed it and Noir was no ma…. for him anyway. The waiters wa….ed and ….eered as Noir ….ased Van Glyk, clu….ing a bu….er’s ha….et. Van Glyk threw a ba…. of eggs at Noir, who then poured ke….up over Van Glyk’s head. The enraged Van Glyk pun….ed Noir, who fell and hit his head on a ben…., while Van Glyk pi….ed forward, wren….ing his ankle. Both needed to be carried on a stre….er to an ambulance. The police fe….ed them from the hospital, where Noir received ten sti….ed, and Van Glyk, a pair of cru….es.

Exercise 7. Fill in ‘k’ where it is needed.

I. My mother insisted I had a music..al education.

II. Don’t be such a panic..er! We’ll sort out the problem.

III. The school inspector was very critic..al of the lessons she had seen.

IV. If it’s a nice day, we’ll go picnic..ing in the woods.

V. My father was an electric..al engineer.

VI. This problem is basic..ally very simple to solve.

VII. This new coffeemaker is mechanic..ally very simple.

VIII. I love the supermarket doors that open automatic..ally.

IX. The customs officer opened the case and found the heroin that the drugs traffic..er had hidden in the bottom.

X. She researched the problem systematic..ally from the beginning to the end.

XI. Joe was very popular with the other kids because she was always mimic..ing the teachers.

Linguistic commentary on UNIT 5.

Silent ‘e’ at the end of words.

1) Words ending in a consonant (except ‘c’, ‘g’) + ‘e’:

a. If we add a suffix beginning with a vowel, ‘e’ is dropped: time – timing, etc. Exceptions: acre – acreage, dye – dyeing, glue – gluey, mile – mileage.

b. If we add a suffix beginning with a consonant, ‘e’ is preserved: time – timeless, etc. Exceptions: nine – ninth, whole – wholly, awe – awful.

2) Words ending in a vowel + ‘e’:

a. If we add a suffix beginning with a vowel, ‘e’ is dropped: argue – arguing, etc.

b. If we add a suffix beginning with a consonant, ‘e’ is dropped either: argue – argument, etc.

3) Words ending in letter combinations ‘-ce’/‘-ge’:

a. If the suffix begins with a vowel ‘e’/‘i’/‘y’, ‘e’ is dropped because letter ‘c’ is pronounced as [s] before these letters: notice – noticing, manage – managing. Exceptions: singe – singeing, age – aging/ageing (both variants are possible).

b. If the suffix begins with a vowel ‘a’/‘o’/‘u’ or a consonant, ‘e’ is preserved not to change the pronunciation: notice – noticeable, manage – manageable, encourage – encouragement.

4) Additional rules:

a. If a word ends in ‘-ie’, ‘-ie’ is changed into ‘y’ when adding suffix ‘-ing’: die – dying, lie – lying.

b. If a word ends in ‘-ee’, ‘e’ is preserved (except adding the suffix ‘-ed’): disagree – disagreement, but disagreed.

Letter combinations ‘-ch’/‘-tch’, ‘-ge’/‘-dge’, ‘-c’/‘-ic’ at the end of words.

Letter combinations ‘-ch’ and ‘-ge’ are used at the end of words after:

1. consonants (lunch, cringe);

2. long vowels (speech [i:], huge [ju:]);

3. diphthongs (couch [au], cage [ei]).

After short vowels ‘-tch’ and ‘-dge’ are used: catch [æ], clutch [Λ], dredge [e]. Exceptions: such, much, attach, detach, sandwich, bachelor, pigeon (but here it stands not at the end of the word).

If we form an adjective or an adverb from a noun or an adjective ending in ‘-c’/‘-ic’, we should add ‘k’ before suffixes beginning with a vowel ‘e’/‘i’/‘y’ to preserve pronunciation. For example, panic – panicking, panicked, panicky.

All the other words preserve their regular spelling: dramatic – dramatically, republic – republican.

UNIT 6.

Suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’.

Adding ‘-ly’ to form adverbs.

Exercise 1. Form adjectives from nouns in bold with the help of one of the suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’.

1. Modeling is a glamour profession.

2. Lightning is extremely danger.

3. Japan is a very mountain country.

4. I am reading a humour book.

5. Matthew is a study pupil.

6. Be caution when crossing the road.

7. A dancer’s life demands rigour discipline.

8. Housework is dull and labour.

9. Monkeys are mischief creatures.

10. I am always anxiety to arrive on time.

Exercise 2. Make new words with the help of the suffixes offered.

Curious + ity, hinder + ance, repeat + ition, exclaim + ation, disaster + ous, administer + ate, four + ty, pronounce + ation, waiter + ess, explain + ation, monster + ous, vain + ity, remember + ance, nine + th.

Exercise 3. Insert the missing letter when necessary in the adjectives below.

Anx..ous, contin..ous, synonym..ous. consc..ous, numer..ous, jeal..ous, fam..ous, suspic..ous, ingen..ous (=sincere), ingen..ous (=skilful), spontan..ous, harmon..ous, prestig..ous, prec..ous, industr..ous, grac..ous, caut..ous, monoton..ous.

Exercise 4. Add suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’to the following nouns to form adjectives.

Variety, sulphur, monster, vapour, harmony, monotony, prodigy, felicity, continuity, space, oblivion, malice, anxiety, notoriety, fury, jealousy, curiosity, sonority, grace, suspicion, superstition, mystery, fame, numeral, industry, infection.

Exercise 5. Match words to their definitions.

interested in every little detail	gracious
famous for bad deeds	famous
happy, lucky	superstitious
diligent	furious
worrying about smth.	jealous
elegant	notorious
believing in foolish prejudice	curious
violent about smth., enraged	monstrous
too suspicious + nervous + distrustful	spacious
very well-known	anxious
having much room in itself	industrious
horrible, fearful	felicitous

Exercise 6. Provide the words with transcriptions.

Ingenuous, gracious, felicitous, suspicious, gorgeous, monstrous, furious, infectious, mysterious, notorious, synchronous, scandalous, malicious, sonorous, oblivious, famous, curious, cautious, conscious.

Exercise 7. Insert an appropriate adjective with one of the suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’.

1. –Ann’s husband is a workaholic – I’ve never seen him having a second of rest! –I suppose he’s simply ……….. –Opinions, just as tastes, may differ. I don’t like him in either case. It’s whispered, he never leaves her alone and doesn’t believe her words, makes rows and all sorts of things! –Come on, many people are ……….. And then, someday you’ll wring your neck gossiping like this!

2. She’s perfectly ………. – would make a detour twenty miles long if a black pussy cat crosses the shortest way.

3. I’m ………. about the results of my test.

4. He’s ………. for his abject behaviour.

5. Mary has given shelter to a dog, two cats and a turtle. And at that, a family of storks lives on a maple beside her window. I suspect, one room is too ………. for her alone.

6. ‘Shelter’ is ………. to ‘asylum’, and ‘diligent’ is ………. to ‘……….’.

7. Joe looks so ………. – he must be keeping some scandalous secret all to himself! Let’s go and wheedle it out of him!

8. “Sorry, I can’t come – I’m staying at my granny’s for a week – my brother has caught scarlet fever, and the doctor says he’s ……….”.

9. He’s got a problem with the ………. tenses, always leaving out the conjugated ‘be’.

10. She’s the most ………. painter I’ve ever been acquainted with – a real Master of the Brush!

Exercise 8. Complete the sentences below with the correct form of the adverb.

1. Anne answered all the questions ………. (correct).

2. The cinema is ………. (complete) full.

3. We can eat ………. (inexpensive) in this restaurant.

4. Frank looked at her ………. (unhappy).

5. The magician was ………. (able) assisted by his young son.

6. Their house was ………. (attractive) decorated.

7. The windows in my mother’s car are ………. (electric) operated.

8. My son has been ………. (false) accused of murder.

9. Repairs are ………. (normal) done by the mechanic.

10. Put that down and come over here ………. (immediate).

Linguistic commentary on UNIT 6.

Suffixes ‘-ous’, ‘-ious’, ‘-eous’, ‘-uous’.

Suffix ‘-ous’ is always pronounced as unstressed short [əs]: jealous. This suffix usually follows voiced consonants and liquid ‘r’.

Suffix ‘-ious’ is usually pronounced as [iəs]: notorious, glorious. But when it follows sounds [∫] or [dg], it’s pronounced as [əs]: precious, prestigious.

Suffix ‘-eous’ is normally pronounced as [jes] or [jəs]: miscellaneous. Words with such a suffix are usually bookish words.

Suffix ‘-uous’ can only be pronounced as [juəs]: continuous.

If the word ends in ‘f’, it’s changed into ‘v’ when a suffix is added: grief – grievous.

If the word ends in ‘-ge’, ‘e’ is preserved when suffix ‘-ous’ is added: courage – courageous.

If the word ends in ‘-ce’, ‘e’ is changed into ‘i’ when suffix ‘-ous’ is added: grace – gracious.

If a suffix is added to the words ending in ‘-our’, letter ‘u’ in the ‘-our’ is omitted: vigour – vigorous. NB! A letter can also be omitted when some other suffixes are added: curious – curiosity, etc. These words should be memorized.

Adding ‘-ly’ to form adverbs.

Adverbs are usually formed by adding ‘-ly’ to adjectives: light – lightly, brave – bravely.

If an adjective ends in ‘-y’, then ‘-y’ changes into ‘i’ + ‘ly’: funny – funnily.

If an adjective ends in ‘-le’, ‘e’ is dropped and ‘y’ is added: simple – simply, possible – possibly.

If an adjective ends in ‘-ic’, we must add ‘ally’: automatic – automatically.

Exceptions: true – truly, shy – shyly, sly – slyly, public – publicly, whole – wholly.

NB! Some adjectives have the same form for adverbs: fast – fast, early – early. Some adjectives change their form completely when forming an adverb: good – well.

UNIT 7.

Differences between American and English spelling.

Exercise 1. Change American spelling of the words below for British one.

Analog, archeology, dialog, draft, favorite, maneuver, mustache, story (of a building), anesthesia, catalog, encyclopedia, humor, jewelry, omelet, pajamas, aluminum, defense, donut, plow, license, routing, specialty, stabilize.

Exercise 2. Respell the following American commercials.

From Monday thru Friday

Nite Life

Phabulous Phood

When in Roam…

Hy* Top

Shu-Wite

California Sunkist

Can we tawk?

Squeezit

Hi-way

Your fate and your wate

Exercise 3. Insert the missing letters for the following words in American spelling and then write the words in British spelling.

Telegr.., met.., fo..nt, trave..er, t..re, arch..ology, co..y, hum..r, jewe..ry, c..rb, defen..e, fav..rite, p..jamas, gr..y, mechanic..e, abridg..ment, blam..able, s..eptic, wag..on, conne..ion, apologi..e, stor..y, skil..ful.

Exercise 4. Write the word according to its definition. Give, if possible, two variants of spelling.

1. List of items, events, etc, e.g. for a concert, for radio or TV…………….

2. Decision of a judge or court…………..

3. Colour made by mixing black and white, coloured like ashes…………….

4. Coded collection of information, data, etc fed into a computer…………...

5. Floor or level in a building…………….

6. Band of rubber on the rim of a wheel……………..

Exercise 5. Edit the text for a British newspaper. Correct the misspellings.

Studies show that color not only attracts attention but also helps readers remember a feature. The novelty of the color favors. But as color becomes more comonnplace on papers, its effectivness is likly to become less pronounced. Remarkable black and white photoes might well be more memorable. An advantage of editorial color is that it stimulats advertizers to use color, too. And advertizers, of course, pay more for color advertizing then for black and white advertizing.

Exercise 6. Insert the missing letters. Sometimes more than one variant is possible.

1) She was so thin I hardly recogni..ed her.

2) Exerci..e is good for you.

3) The second edition has been revi..ed.

4) The teacher had 30 children to supervi..e.

5) My friends organi..d a surpri..e party for me.

6) The music store speciali..es in pianos.

7) Some snakes hypnoti..e their prey.

8) The sales assistant pressuri..ed me into buying it.

9) I won first pri..e in the competition.

10) Our new puppy was adverti..ed in the newspaper.

11) When the actor forgot his lines, he had to improvi..e.

12) I like taking part, but I despi..e losing.

13) My big brother critici..es me.

14) I went trick or treating disgui..ed as a vampire.

15) My brother pri..ed the box open with a lever.

Linguistic commentary on UNIT 7.

American and British spelling derives from the same common stock but has diverged since American Revolution in a number of ways. Nevertheless, the main patterns of orthography remained the same.

Only few spelling differences concern the initial positions of letters (e.g. gaol – jail, curb – kerb). Most of British-American spelling differences occur in medial or final word positions. Let us regard some of them, the most permanent ones:

1. in American English the final ‘e’ is removed from verbs before adding ‘-ing’ and in nouns before the suffix ‘-able’, in correct British English this is not done. Compare: routeing (British) – routing (American), blameable (British) – blamable (American). However, American practice of dropping the ‘e’ has become quite common in British English;

2. British English preserves ‘e’ in words when adding ‘-ment’ while American English tends to drop it: judgement (British) – judgment (American), abridgement (British) – abridgment (American);

3. if a verb ends in a single ‘l’, then when adding suffixes ‘-ing’, ‘-ed’, ‘-er’ this ‘l’ is doubled in British English and not doubled in America: signaller, signalling, signalled (British) – signaler, signaling, signaled (American);

4. American English tends to prefer ‘-ize’ and ‘-ization’ whereas British English prefers ‘-ise’ and ‘-isation’: realize, realization (American) – realise, realisation (British). But there are some words which can be written only with ‘z’ and vice versa: prize (the verb ‘to prise’ has absolutely a different meaning), size, rise, wise, advise, exercise, revise, surprise, advertise, televise, compromise, supervise, despise, devise, disguise, enterprise, improvise. Though recently even these words can sometimes be spelt with ‘z’ instead of ‘s’;

5. parts of British words ‘our’ and ‘oul’ are usually spelt as ‘or’ and ‘ol’ in American English: colour (British) – color (American), favour (British) – favor (American), moult (British) – molt (American), etc.;

6. American ‘-er’ as a word ending is in some words equivalent to ‘-re’ in British English: theatre (British) – theater (American), centre (British) – center (American);

7. words ending in ‘-gue’ in British lose ‘-ue’ and end just in ‘-g’: analogue (British) – analog (American);

8. sometimes British ‘c’ can be substituted by ‘s’ in America: defence (British) – defense (American);

9. words ending in ‘-tte’ and ‘-mme’ in British tend to end in ‘-t’ and ‘-m’ in American English: omelette (British) – omelet (American). Apart is the word ‘program’. For long this way of spelling was regarded as an American one, but now it is used in Great Britain too and relates to information technologies: program music, program trading, etc. The spelling ‘programme’ is used in BrE in the meaning of “ a schedule of activities, procedures, etc to be followed; a radio or TV performance or production ”;

10. in some classical borrowings British spellings have combinations ‘oe’ and ‘ae’ while Americans spellings have only ‘e’: archaeology (British) – archeology (American), manoeuvre (British) – maneuver (American);

11. Americans tend to write compounds as single words: secondhand (American) – second-hand, second hand (British), fellowman (American) – fellow-man, fellow man (British).

However, there are some individual words which are spelt differently in AmE and in BrE: cozy, skeptic, gray, jail, aluminum, draft, jewelry, mustache, pajamas, specialty, story (=floor), thru, tire (American) – cosy, sceptic, grey, gaol, aluminium, draught, jewellery, moustache, pyjamas, speciality, storey, through, tyre (British).

UNIT 8.

Additional rules.

Exercise 1. All the words below contain the sounds [kəl]which can be produced by letter combinations ‘cal’, ‘cle’, ‘kle’. Guess the words by their definitions and spell them correctly.

1. What the ‘p’ stands for in PE.

2. Round shape.

3. Something in your way (starts with letter ‘o’).

4. Hanging finger of ice.

5. Vegetables preserved in vinegar, especially cucumbers.

6. Of utmost importance.

7. Where your foot joins your leg.

8. A type of music.

9. Single eye glass.

10. Cars, trucks, etc are all types of this.

11. Two-wheeled transportation.

12. In the surrounding area (starts with letter ‘l’).

Exercise 2. Insert the missing letters ‘a’ and ‘e’.

Acquaint..nce, confide..nce, differ..nce, innoc..nt, intellig..nt, par..nt, conveni..nt, clear..nce, allow..nce, ignor..nt, sil..nt, occurr..nce, perman..nt, observ..nt, dilig..nt, resid..nce, cli..nt, evid..nt, refer..nce, ramp..nt, influ..nce, assist..nt, audi..nce, lieuten..nt, effici..nt, griev..nce, defend..nt, exist..nce, appli..nce, appar..nt, circumfer..nce, nuis..nce, viol..nt, abs..nce, ten..nt, excell..nt, adjac..nt, import..nt, frequ..nt, interfer..nce, impertin..nt, disturb..nce, immin..nt, resembl..nce, consci..nce, inst..nt, obedi..nt, pres..nce, persever..nce, appear..nce, promin..nt, prud..nt, insur..nce, accid..nt, sent..nce, fragr..nt, reluct..nce, consequ..nce, insol..nce, pret..nce, ambul..nce.

Exercise 3. Derive nouns from the adjectives below. Give all the possible variants.

Brilliant, constant, correspondent, different, distant, important, independent, dependent, pregnant, present, significant.

Exercise 4. Insert the missing letters ‘s’ or ‘c’.

1. My piano teacher says that practi..e makes perfect – but I hate practi..ing!

2. A clairvoyant prophe..ied my future, but I will be surprised if her prophe..y comes true.

3. An inventor has devi..ed a devi..e to wake you up in the morning.

4. Everyone should buy a dog licen..e in order to licen..e their dog.

5. I advi..ed him not to give up, but he took no notice of my good advi..e.

Exercise 5. Some words in the story below lack double consonants, insert thee consonants.

I had had a fu..y feeling about things from the begi..ing. I had mi..ed my co..ection – the last train till morning, so I asked someone (a sma.. man with a shifty a..earance and a nervous ma..er) to reco..end a hotel. Leaving my lu..age I set off. The weather was ho..ible – to..ential rain poured down my co..ar and co..ected in my boots, while the wind whi..ed around me. After walking for ages down a deserted road, with no sign of any a..o..odation, I was ge..ing i..itable and depre..ed. Su..enly, I saw da..ling headlights coming from the o..osite direction. I a..empted to a..ract the driver’s a..ention, but the car a..elerated as it a..roached! I leapt out of the way, just avoiding a co..ision, and ho..led to the side of the road. Having na..owly avoided a te..ible a..ident, I was also u..erly lost. What was I to do? Just then, I noticed a light in the distance. I trudged toward it through the su..ounding darkne.., over pe..les and through pu..les of mu..y water, until eventua..y I a..ived at a sha..y li..le co..age.

I knocked, cautiously, but there was no reply. Su..re..ing my nerves, I heaved the door open with a great e..ort, and ste..ed into a dark pa..age. On my i..ediate right stairs led down – I a..ume to the ce..ar. An o..ensive sme.. came wafting up. In a room to my left, a table was set with food and a cup of co..ee – still warm. I was pu..led as to why the o..upant had left in such a hu..y. But before I could satisfy my a..etite by a..acking the food, I realized with a shu..er that I was not alone! I turned around to find myself looking down the ba..el of a gun. A man with a ha..ard expre..ion was calmly si..ing by the door, behind me. I hoped he didn’t have an itchy tri..er finger. I could te.. he was a profe..ional vi..ain by the way he said, “Don’t make it nece..ary for me to shoot you.” I didn’t like his a..itude one bit. But as my mo..o is “never say die”, I determined to try to escape at the first o..ortunity, or find a way to get a me..age to someone, somehow.

Linguistic commentary on UNIT 8.

Adjectives which have sounds [k(ə)l] at the end are spelt with ‘cal’: medical, practical. Nouns with the same sounds at the end have letter combinations ‘cle’, sometimes ‘ckle’: circle, tickle, fickle.

Words with the endings ‘-ent’ and ‘-ence’ are more numerous than words with ‘-ant’ and ‘-ance’. Sounds [s], [∫], [dg] are usually followed by ‘-ent’ and ‘-ence’: absent, adjacent, efficient, urgent, etc. (exceptions: conversant, convulsant, depressant, dispersant, incessant, suppressant, sergeant, pageant).

Letter combination ‘qu’ is always followed by ‘-ent’: consequent, eloquent, frequent, etc. (there is only one exception: piquant – French word).

Sounds [t], [k], [g], [f] are usually followed by ‘-ant’: accountant, applicant, arrogant, infant (exceptions: competent, consistent, existent, persistent; words with sounds [k], [g], [f] can never be followed by ‘-ent’).

Some nouns are spelt with letter ‘c’ which is pronounce as [s] while verbs derived from them are spelt with ‘s’ which is pronounced as [z]: advice – to advise, device – to devise. But practice – to practise and licence – to license are always pronounced with sound [s].

UNIT 9.

Homonyms.

Exercise 1. Choose the word in brackets which rhymes with the word underlined.

1. Row the ………. across the river (now, boat).

2. We mustn’t have a row ………. in front of the children – they don’t like us arguing (now, boat).

3. When you ………. your watch, you’ll need to wind it up (find, thinned).

4. The strong wind ……….his hair (find, thinned).

5. You must take ………. not to tear that dress (near, care).

6. When she cried, a tear fell ………. his hand (near, care).

7. ………. many times must I bow to the king (go, how)?

8. ………. and put on a bow tie – it’s a very formal occasion (go, how).

9. I ………. to read newspapers in my job (need, bed).

10. Yesterday I read all the papers in ………. (need, bed).

11. Close the door before he ………. (goes, most).

12. ………. shops are very close (goes, most).

13. It’s no use, there isn’t enough ……… (shoes, mousse).

14. Use my ………. (shoes, mousse).

15. He lives on the money his father ………. him (drives, gives).

16. The way he ………., he needs nine lives (drives, gives).

17. The ………. live in the same barn as the sows (mows, cows).

18. The farmer ………. the field and then sows the seed in it (mows, cows).

Exercise 2. Correct the spelling and write the proper homophone.

1. A sun is male.

2. Soul is a kind of fish.

3. An ore is used for rowing.

4. A rein can be a downpour.

5. Hare is on the head.

6. An air can inherit money.

7. Letters and postcards are male.

8. A beech has sand.

9. A beat is a vegetable.

10. Boats may have sales.

11. Bread is made of doe.

12. A person’s way of walking is his gate.

13. A beet is a measure of rhythm.

14. A pain is a part of a window.

15. A cent is a smell.

16. A plane is where cattle graze.

17. A blind man has lost his site.

18. A pair is a kind of fruit.

19. Fur is a kind of tree.

20. Stares are in the house.

21. A beach is a kind of tree.

22. A tale is part of an animal.

23. A pane is a hurt.

24. A 747 is a plain.

25. Two things are a pear.

Exercise 3. Fill in the gaps with the proper word.

1. Go ………. down the road and then turn left at the lights (straight, strait).

2. Go ………. in peace (forth, fourth).

3. Go away! ………. (shoe, shoo).

4. Go out and check the ………. box, please (male, mail).

5. Go to the end of the ………. and wait your turn (cue, queue).

6. He ………. her fingers loose from the package (pride, pried).

7. He ………. my day when he said he likes my hair (made, maid).

8. His car broke down so he called for a ………. truck (toe, tow).

9. He found a new ……… to go to school (root, route).

10. He made a ………. to the right to catch his opponent off guard (faint, feint).

11. He stood for a long time on the ………. (peer, pier, pear).

12. She is a ………. girl, always giving herself airs (vain, vein, vane).

Exercise 4. Choose the appropriate word.

The weather/whether today was fowl/foul, but I’d promised to meat/meet granddad at half passed/past two/to/too. He was already/all ready there. He waived/waved when he saw/sore me. He said he’d only had a short wait/weight. He asked if I’d mist/missed him – of course/coarse! It was poring/pouring with rain, but we wandered/wondered along the beech/beach anyway. He sad/said I’d groan/grown since he’d last scene/seen me – what a compliment/complement! I said he should try dyeing/dying his white hair/hare. He laughed, and tolled/told me that he hated the whole/hole business of getting old. He said it seemed only yesterday when he used to read bedtime/bad time stories/storeys aloud/allowed to me. We talked about how board/bored I am at school. Granddad said I should know/no that every lessen/lesson is important, and that my opinion will altar/alter. That maybe/may be sow/so/sew, but I’m shore/sure I’ll never enjoy chemistry! I lead/led the way to the station to ensure/insure that he didn’t get lost. He asked me to right/write soon, and gave me some stationery/stationary with my name and address at the top of every peace/piece of paper.

Exercise 5. Substitute the parts underlined with one of the following words: there, there’s, their, theirs, they’re.

1. Look! There is Michelle!

2. Look at that, over in that direction!

3. I know they are going away today.

4. The house belonging to them is huge.

5. I want one just like the one they have.

6. There has been a dreadful accident.

7. Drop it! It’s the one belonging to them.

8. There has been a snowfall overnight.

9. I liked the friends belonging to them.

10. Have some more. There is plenty left.

11. I hate going to that place.

12. They are always arguing.

Exercise 6. Choose the appropriate word.

1. They decided to higher/hire a car and did so.

2. In Britain dessert/desert means fruit and nuts; in America they call pies, cakes, puddings, and ice-cream, desserts/deserts.

3. The letter put them off the sent/cent/scent, and the whole business failed.

4. We had a nice soul/sole for lunch.

5. We had difficulty in ceiling/sealing the leak.

6. The pane/pain was almost more than he could bare/bear.

7. The couple approached the alter/altar for the wedding ceremony.

8. The car’s new brakes/breaks held on the steep incline.

9. With her new glasses, her site/sight/cite was once again perfect.

10. They picked out a beautiful sight/site/cite overlooking a lake for their new home.

11. John is worried about his past/passed deeds.

12. The plane/plain dress suited the gravity of occasion.

13. The path cut strait/straight through the woods.

14. The monarch’s rain/rein/reign was marked by social unrest.

15. The religious leader performed the necessary rights/rites.

16. The superstitious villagers accused her of being a witch/which.

17. It was impossible to pass threw/through the airplane isle/aisle during the meal service.

Exercise 7. Explain the difference between the following words.

Accept/except

affect/effect

allusion/illusion

assure/ensure/insure

blonde/blond

canvas/canvass

capital/capitol

climatic/climactic

complement/compliment

complementary/complimentary

corps/corpse

counsel/council/consul

elicit/illicit

envelop/envelope

extant/extent

healthy/healthful

historic/historical

loose/lose

moral/morale

orient/orientate

principal/principle

quiet/quite

raise/rise/raze

stationary/stationery

unexceptional/unexceptionable

usage/use

proceed/precede

dye/die

adapt/adopt

eminent/imminent/immanent

formally/formerly

persecute/prosecute

pray/prey

rein/reign

whether/weather

Exercise 8. Choose the appropriate word.

1. He made an allusion/illusion to her, but it was not clear that he was talking directly about her.

2. He is a privileged owner of one of the few extent/extant pieces of ancient pottery.

3. He walked for days in dessert/desert without seeing another living thing, only sand.

4. Conscience/consciousness/conscientious is the voice that tells you not to do something after you have done it. He is a conscience/consciousness/ conscientious student. I’ll do it with a clear conscience/consciousness/ conscientious.

5. When working at the book, he made use of the artist’s letters and dairy/ diary. Butter, milk and cream are dairy/diary products.

6. The flies are kept at the personal/personnel Department. He said he was a personal/personnel friend of the President.

7. They rise/raise/rose their glasses and drank to absent friends. By how much did the taxes rise/raise/rose? The trip is sure to rise/raise/rose your spirits. His voice rise/raise/rose in anger when he saw them again.

8. Look! What a cute blonde/blond boy!

9. Stephen was faced with the moral/morale dilemma of whether to return the money he had found. Moral/morale is low, and many people are disillusioned.

10. She rammed into a stationery/stationary vehicle at the side of the road. His stationery/stationary was perfect – with the name of a company on it.

11. The counsel/council is responsible for the library service. Privately, the president was being counselled/councilled to end the war. Take counsel/council of your pillow. Sleep on it.

12. The Home Secretary has been canvassing/canvasing support for his new crime bill. We spent three months living under canvas/canvass.

Exercise 9. Choose the correct pronunciation of the homographs.

1. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed the tear.

2. The bandage was wound around the wound.

3. We must polish the Polish furniture.

4. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

5. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

6. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to roe.

7. They were too close to the door to close it.

8. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10. The buck does funny things when the does are present.

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