4. Give lexicological analysis of the following humorous poem.

Mother Tongue by Richard Armour

No language barrier. No dictionary required.

Advertisement of the British Travel Association

Oh, to be in England	Where gasoline is petrol,
Only ‘alf a mo’,	And a stone is fourteen pound,
Where, when they speak of wireless,	And motorcars have bonnets,
They mean a radio.	And you take an Underground.
Where private schools are public,	Where, holding up your trousers,
And public schools are snobby,	It’s braces that you use,
And insurance is assurance	And a truck is called a lorry
And a cop is called a bobby.	And boots are really shoes.
Where traffic hub’s a circus	Where a druggist is a chemist,
And up is down the street,	And the movies are the flicks,
And a sweater is a jumper	And you queue up on the pavement
And candy is a sweet,	For a stall at three and six
Where a cracker is a biscuit	There is no language barrier
And a trifle is dessert,	The tourist needs to dread
And bloody is a cuss word,	As long as he knows English
And an ad is an advert,	From A to Z (no, zed).

Section IX

1. Choose one of the dictionaries from the given list.

• Longman Dictionary of English Language and culture

• Cambridge International Dictionary of English

• The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

• Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage

• Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms

• Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

• American Idioms Dictionary

• Technical Dictionary

Make a presentation of the dictionary along the following lines. You may find it useful to study the introduction to the dictionary.

• selection of lexical units,

• arrangement of entries,

• selection and arrangement of meanings,

• definition of meanings,

• illustrative examples,

• setting of the entry.

2. Working in small groups find one word for lexicographic analysis (mouse, house, hand, rush, square, etc.) and decide which dictionary each student is going to analyze. Then compare how the dictionary entries of one and the same word differ. Special attention should be paid to the number of word-meanings and their definitions.

3. The following text contains numerous vocabulary errors. Correct them and explain how (and what kind of) dictionaries can help students of English to avoid such mistakes. Expensive Mary

Expensive Mary,

The postman helped at the birth of your letter this morning.

In this place is the prescription for doing tarts. First confuse some butter and some flour. Increase two eggs to the confusion. Hit the confusion with the spoon of wood. Inflame your furnace and abandon him until he has 25 grades. Insert your confused tart in the furnace. Abandon her for 20 moments. If your tart has a brown head take her from the furnace. Rest your tart until she is frigid. She will look pretty if you cover her head with impalpable sugar.

Answer key for the assignment Expensive Mary.

Expensive (Dear) Mary,

The postman helped at the birth of (delivered) your character (letter) this morning. In this place (here) is the prescription (recipe) for doing tarts (making cakes). First confuse (mix) some butter and some flour. Increase (add) two eggs to the confusion (mixture). Hit (beat) the confusion with the spoon of wood. Inflame (light) your furnace (oven) and abandon (leave) him until he has 25 grades (degrees). Insert your confused tart in the furnace (Put your cake mixture in the oven). Abandon her for 20 moments. If your tart has a brown head (brown on top) take her from the furnace. Rest your tart until she is frigid (Leave the cake until it is cool).She will look pretty if you adorn her head with impalpable sugar (Decorate the top of your cake with icing sugar).