A Manual of English Stylistics

S T Y L IS T IC L E X IC O L O G Y

t is known that words are not used in speech to the same

I extent. Since certain words occur less frequently than

others, it is natural to presume that the difference
between them is reflected upon the character of the
words themselves. Those words that are indispensable
in every act of communication have nothing particular about them -
cause no definite associations. On the contrary, words used only in
special spheres of linguistic intercourse have something attached to
their meaning, a certain stylistic colouring.
indispensable words are stylistically neutral. Words of
special spheres are stylistically coloured. This is the main division
of words from the stylistic viewpoint.
Thus, words pertaining to special spheres of linguistic
intercourse possess some fixed stylistic tinge of their own.
Regardless of the context, they reveal their attachment to one
linguistic sphere or another. An English speaking person needs no
context to state that such synonyms as chap - man - individual or
dad - father - sire are stylistically different. But this differentiation
does not remain stable. The stylistic value undergoes changes in
the course of history, with the lapse of time. Therefore, stylistic
classifications must be confined to synchronic aspect.
So, all the words are divided into neutral and non-neutral.
The general stylistic classification must show the relations of non-
neutral words to neutral ones. It is evident that certain groups of
stylistically coloured words must be placed, figuratively speaking,
above the neutral words. These groups are formed by words with a
tinge of officiality or refinement about them, poetic words, high-
flown words in general. Other groups are to be placed below the
neutral words. Their sphere of use is socially lower than the neutral
sphere. We can name them «super-neutral» (elevated) and «sub-
neutral» (words of lower ranks), respectively.

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Super-neutral Words

Among elevated words we can find those which are used in

official documents, diplomatic and commercial correspondence,
legislation, etc. Such words have a tinge of pomposity about them.
Their colouring is that of solemnity, and the words are termed
«solemn words». The other variety of words is the poetic diction -
words used in poetry and lyrical prose. They are «poetic words».
True, it is hardly possible to deliminate strictly solemn words from
poetic words.
The stylistic colouring of elevation also occurs in archaisms,
bookish words and foreign words.
Archaisms. This term denotes words which are practically
out of use in present-day language and are felt as obsolete.
Archaisms may be subdivided into two groups. The first group is
represented by «material archaisms», or «historical archaisms» -
words whose referents have disappeared. The second group is
formed by archaisms proper - those words which have been ousted
by their synonyms.
In the works of fiction the use of archaic words serves to
characterize the speech of the bygone epoch, to reproduce its
atmosphere. It should be noted that archaisation does not mean
complete reproduction of the speech of past epochs; it is effected
by the use of separate archaic words.
In other cases, occurring in the speech of a person, archaic
words show his attachment to antiquity.
In poetry archaisms are used to create romantic atmosphere,
the general colouring of elevation. The colouring may be described
as poetic and solemn at the same time.
In official form of speech the function of archaisms is the
same as in poetry (to rise above the ordinary matters of everyday
life), but the colouring produced is different It is the colouring of
solemnity.

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Bookish words. These words belong to that stratum of the

vocabulary which is used in cultivated speech only - in books or in
such special types of oral communication as public speeches,
official negotiations, etc. They are mostly loan-words, Latin and
Greek. They are either high-flown synonyms of neutral words, or
popular terms of science. Consider the following example:
A great crowd came to see - A vast concourse was assembled
to witness.
Began his answer - commenced his rejoinder.
A special stratum of bookish words is constituted by the
words traditionally used in poetry («spouse» - husband or wife,
«woe» - sorrow, «foe» - enemy). Some of them are archaic:
«aught» - anything, «naught» - nothing, others are morphological
variants of neutral words: «oft > - often, «list» - listen, «morn» -
morning.
Foreign words. Foreign words should not be confused with
borrowed words. Foreign words in English are for the most part
late borrowings from French - those words which have preserved
their French pronunciation and spelling. For example, the French
formula «Au revoir» used in English by those ignorant of French
has something exquisite. In the French word «chic» the same tinge
of elegance is felt.
Sub-neutral Words

Among the sub-neutral words the following groups are

distinguished:
a) words used in informal speech only - the colloquial words;
b) jargon words and slang, as well as individual creations
(nonce-words);
c) vulgar words.
The first group lies nearest to neutral words. In their use there
is no special stylistic intention whatever on the part of the speaker.
The words of the second group have been created, so to speak, on
purpose with a view to intentional stylistic degradation. The lowest

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place is taken by vulgarisms, i.e. words which due to their

indecency are scarcely admissible in a civilized community.
Colloquial words. They are words with a tinge of familiarity
or inofficiality about them. There is nothing ethically improper in
their stylistic coloring, except that they cannot be used in official
forms of speech. To colloquialisms may be referred:
a) colloquial words proper (colloquial substitutes of neutral
words), e.g., chap;
b) phonetic variants of neutral words: baccy (tobacco), fella
(fellow);
c) diminutives of neutral words: daddy, piggy, as well as
diminutives of proper names - Bobby, Becky, Johny;
d) words the primary meaning of which refer them to neutral
sphere while the figurative meaning places them outside
the neutral sphere, making them lightly colloquial. E.g.,
spoon as a colloquial word means «a man with a low
mentality».
e) most interjections belong to the colloquial sphere: gee!
Er? Well, etc.
Jargon words. Jargon words appear in professional or social
groups for the purpose of replacing those words which already
exist in the language.
Jargon words can be subdivided into two groups:
professional jargonisms and social jargonisms. The first group
consists of denominations of things, phenomena and process
characteristic of the given profession opposed to the official terms
of this professional sphere. Thus, professional jargonisms are
unofficial substitutes of professional terms. They are used by
representatives of the profession to facilitate the communication.
The group of social jargonisms is made up of words used to
denote non-professional thing relevant for representatives of the
given social group with common interests (e.g., music fans, drug-
addicts and the like). Such words are used by representatives of the
given group to show that the speaker also belongs to it (I-also-

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belong-to-the-group function). Very often they are used for the

purpose of making speech incoherent to outsiders. When used
outside the group in which they were created, such words impart
expressiveness to speech. In literary works jargonisms indicate to
the fact that the speaker belongs to a certain professional or social
group.
Very close to jargon is cant.
Cant is a secret lingo of the underworld - of criminals. The
only primary reason why it appeared is striving to secrecy, to
making speech incomprehensible to outsiders. It also serves as a
sign of recognition.
It is noteworthy that when jargon words and cant are used in
literary works they are employed to show that the character
belongs to a certain professional or social or criminal group (the
function of characterization).
Slang. Slang is the part o f the vocabulary made by commonly
understood and widely used words and expressions of humorous
kind - intentional substitutes of neutral and elevated words and
expressions. The psychological source of its appearance and
existence is striving for novelty in expression. Many words and
expressions now referred to slang originally appeared in narrow
professional groups; since they have gained wide currency, they
must be considered as belonging to slang.
In creation of slang various figures of speech take part:
the upper storey (head) - metaphor;
skirt (girl) - metonymy;
killing (astonishing) - hyperbole;
whistle (flute) - understatement;
clear as mud - irony.
In slang we find expressions borrowed from written speech
(e.g., «yours truly» used instead of the pronoun «I»). Some slang
words are just distortions of literary words: cripes (instead of
Christ). Sometimes slang words are just invented: shinanigan
(trifles, nonsense).

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Nonce-words. Nonce-words are defined as chance words,

occasional words, words created for the given occasion by analogy
with the existing words by means of affixation, composition,
conversion, etc. E.g., «There was a balconyful of gentlemen...» (the
word balconyful was coined by analogy with the words
«mouthful», «spoonful», «handful»). Being non-existent,
unknown, yet comprehensible in the given situation, such words
produce humorous effect. Being used just once, they disappear
completely.
Vulgar words. This is a stylistically lowest group of words
which are considered offensive for polite usage. They may be
subdivided into two groups: lexical vulgarisms and stylistic
vulgarisms.
To the first group belong words expressing ideas considered
unmentionable in a civilized society. It is, so to speak, the very
lexical meaning of such words which is vulgar.
The second group - stylistic vulgarisms - are words the
lexical meanings of which have nothing indecent or improper
about them. Their impropriety in civilized life is due solely to their
stylistic value - to stylistic connotation expressing derogatory
attitude of the speaker towards the object of speech.
In real life vulgar words help to express emotions, emotive
and expressive assessment of the object spoken about When used
in works of literature they perform the function of characterization.
I f used too frequently, vulgar words lose their emotional
quality and become mere expletives (e.g., «You are so dam good-
looking»).

Interaction o f Stylistically Coloured Words and the Context

The following general rules of stylistic interaction may be

stated:
1. An elevated word placed in a stylistically neutral context
-imparts the latter a general colouring of elevation, i.e.

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makes the whole utterance solemn or poetic, provided the

subject of speech is consistent with the stylistic colouring
of elevation.
2. An elevated word in a neutral context produces an effect
of comicality i f the subject of speech or the situation is
inconsistent with elevated colouring.
3. Sub-neutral words in a neutral context lower the stylistic
value of the whole.
4. Sub-neutral words in a super-neutral context or vice versa
produces a comic effect.

Dialect Words

Against the background of the literary language dialect words

as dialect peculiarities of speech are stylistically relevant. They
show the social standing of the speaker. Nowadays it is only in the
speech of the people deprived of proper school education forms of
speech are signs o f provincialism.
On the whole dialects differ from the literary language most
of all in the sphere of phonetics and vocabulary.
O f special significance for English literature is the so-called
Cockney - the dialect of the uneducated people in London. The
characteristic features of the Cockney pronunciation are as follows:
a) the diphthong [ei] is replaced by [ai]: to sy, topy instead of
«to say», «to pay»;
b) the diphthong [au] is replaced by monophthong [a:]: nah
then instead of «now then»;
c) words like «manners», «thank you» are pronounced as
menners, thenkyou;
d) the suffix «-ing» is pronounced as [n]: sittin standin

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EXERCISES

Exercise 1. State the type and the functions o f super-neutral

words in thefollowing examples:

1. He kept looking at the fantastic green of the jungle and then at

the orange-brown earth, febrile and pulsing as though the rain
were cutting wounds into it. Ridges flinched before the power of
it. The Lord giveth and He taketh away, Ridges thought
solemnly (Mailer).
2. Yates remained serious. «We have time, Herr Zippmann, to try
your schnapps. Are there any German troops in Neustadt?».
«No, Herr Offizier, that’s just what I ’ve to tell you. This
morning, four gentlemen in all, we went out of Neustadt to meet
the Herren Amerikaner» (Heym).
3. «Oh, I believed,» Fabermacher shrugged away the phrase. «To
me neutrons were symbols, n with a mass of m„= 1.008. But
until now I never saw them» (Wilson).
4. Anthony... clapped him affectionately on the back. «You’re a
real knight-errant, Jimmy», he said (Christie).
5. A young lady home back from school was explaining. «Take an
egg», she said, «and make a perforation in the base and a
corresponding one in the apex. Then apply the lips to the
aperture, and by forcibly inhaling the breath the shell is entirely
discharged of its contents». An old lady who was listening
exclaimed: «It beats all how folks do things nowadays. When I
was a gal they made a hole in each end and sucked» (Jespersen).
6. I had it from Sully Magoon, viva voce. The words are indeed
his... (O ’Henry).
7. There was a long conversation - a long wait. His father came
back to say it was doubtful whether they could make the loan
Eight per cent, then being secured for money, was a small rate
of interest, considering its need. For ten per cent Mr. Kugcl

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might make a call-loan. Frank went back to his employer, whose

commercial choler rose at the report» (Dreiser).
8. Not so the rustic - with his trembling mate.
He lurks, nor casts his heavy eye afar...
(Byron).
8. The man, who obviously, did not understand, smiled, and waved
his whip. And Soames was borne along in that little yellow­
wheeled Victoria all over star-shaped Paris, with here and there
a pause, and the question. «C'est par ici, Monsieur?»
(Galsworthy).
9. If manners maketh man, then manner and grooming maketh
poodle (Steinbeck).
10. «Jeffr, says Bill to me, «you are a man of learning and
education, besides having knowledge and information
concerning not only rudiments but facts and attainments». - «I
do», says I, «and I have never regretted it...» (O’Henry).
11.Mrs. Tribute «my deared» everybody, even things inanimate,
such as the pump in the dairy (Deeping).
12. From the dark, crowded center of the bar someone called
«Gargon!» and he moved away from me, smiling (Baldwin).

Exercise 2. State the type o f sub-neutral words in the following

examples:

1. I’ve often thought you’d make a corking good actress (Dreiser).

2. They graduated from Ohio State together, himself with an
engineering degree (Jones).
3. «Poor son of a bitch», he said. «I feel for him, and I ’m sorry I
was bastardly» (Jones).
4. I ’m here quite often - taking patients to hospitals for majors, and
so on (Lewis).
V Can we have some money to go to the show this aft, Daddy?
(Hemingway).

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6. «How long did they cook you!» Dongere’s stopped short and
looked at him. «How long did they cook you?» - «Since eight
this morning. Over twelve hours...» - «You didn’t unbutton
then? After twelve hours of it?» - «Me?.. They got a lot of
dancing to do before they’ll get anything out of me» (Howard).
7. Hello, kid! Gee, you look cute, all right! (Dreiser).
8. «George», she said, «you’re a rotten liar... The part about the
peace of Europe is all bosh» (Christie).
9. «No real sportsman cares for money», he would say, borrowing
a «pony» if it was no use trying for a «monkey». There was
something delicious about Montague Dartie. He was, a$ George
Forsyte said, a «daisy» (Galsworthy).
10.1 didn’t buy the piano to be sonatoed out of my own house
(Greenwood).

Exercise 3. Determine the functions performed by colloquialisms

in thefollowing examples:

1. With all your bitching you’ve never finished a tour of duty even
once (Heller).
2 . 1 was feeling about as cheerio as was possible under the circs
when a muffled voice hailed me from the north-east...
(Wodehouse).
3. Brenner had two more plays on Broadway in later years, both
disastrous flops. One Of them was produced by Craig (I.Shaw).
4. She let the program drop to the floor. «Did you cast an eye on
the stuff I sent over?» (I.Shaw).
5. I had a little operation on my dome and the doc left a couple of
fox-holes in my skull to remember him by (I.Shaw).
6. Since when have you been so palsy with Ed Brenner? (I.Shavy).
7. «You think we’ll run into that shark?» - «Nope» (Benchley).
8. D f course he’d say that. Why shouldn’t he? He’s your pal, isn’t
he? He probably told you you were doing the right thing
(Benchley).

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9. He had wanted to do the right thing; they had forced him not
to... I f he couldn’t stand up to Vaughan, what kind of cop was
he? (Benchley).
10. But you mustn’t, Ma. Gee, you mustn’t cry. I know it is hard
on you. But I ’ll be all right (Dreiser).

Exercise 4. Determine the functions performed by slang words in

the following examples:

1. You right, old buddy. Let’s make it (Baldwin).

2. «Now, listen», he said, «I ain’t the kind of joker going to give
you a hard time running around after other chicks and shit like
that» (Baldwin).
3. « If you don’t mind, Belinder», he said, <d’m going to try to nap
a little. I am absolutely bushed» (I.Shaw).
4. She really didn’t have any idea who this nut could be, or what
he was after (Baldwin).
5. And you carry that message to the Holy Ghost and if he don’t
like it you tell Him I said he’s a faggot and He better not come
nowhere near me (Baldwin).
6. «...So we made a lot of junk. I ’m not too proud to admit it. Four
hundred, five hundred pictures a year. Masterpieces don’t come
in gross lots and I ’m not saying they do. Junk, okay, mass
production, okay, but it served its purpose» (I.Shaw).
7. What’s Broadway today? Pimps, whores, drug-pushers,
muggers. I don’t blame you for running away from it all
(I.Shaw).
8. Murphy was contemptuous of Klein. «That punk little hustler»,
was Murphy’s description of Klein (I.Shaw).
9. «Swell», Brody said. «That’s just what I wanted to hear»
(Benchley».
10. «He’s a very rich man. No matter how long this shark thing
goes on, he won’t be badly hurt. Sure, he’ll lose a little dough,

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but he’s taking all this as if it was life and death - and I don’t
mean just the town’s. His» (Benchley).
11. Roberts whispered savagely: «Beat it. Get out of here. I want to
be alone, I said» (Wildler).

Exercise 5. Determine the functions performed by jargon words

in thefollowing examples:

1. They put me in this little cell with about four or five other cats
(Baldwin).
2. - I try to write interviews in depth for magazines. You’re
making face. Why?
- «In depth», he said.
- You are right, she said. Deadly jargon. You fall into it. It shall
never pass my lips again (I.Shaw).
3. - 1 think we’ve got a floater on our hands, Chief.
- A floater? What in Christ’s name is a floater?
It was a word Hendricks had picked up from his night reading.
«А drowning», he said embarrassed (Benchley).
4. «I just don’t see myself in the Army», Matthew said stubbornly.
«Get sent to some damn base in the Deep South - you know I
ain’t for that I ain’t about to take no crap off them red-necks...»
(Baldwin).

Exercise 6. Determine the functions performed by vulgarisms in

the following examples:

1. And that’s a crime, in this fucking free country (Baldwin).

2. He said, «That’s a hell o f a note» (Baldwin).
3. You can tell by the way he’s taken all this shit that he’s a man
(Baldwin).
4. «Man», he said to Joseph, «you know 1 don’t want my boy’s life
in the hands of these white, ball-less motherfuckers» (Baldwin).

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5. It’s jusi that the bastards in the front offices w on’t hire me
(I.Shaw).
6. Let people know you are alive, for Christ’s sake (I.Shaw).
7. He w o u ld have to get Murphy to stop calling him that little punk
(I.Shaw).
8. Who could say what that gigantic manythroated «FUCK»
meant? It was a word like many other and he used it himself,
although not often. It was neither ugly nor beautiful in itself, and
its use was now so widespread that it had almost no meaning or
so many different meanings that it was no longer a valid
linguistic coin. In the voiccs of the giant choir of the young in
the film it had a primitive derision, it was a slogan, a weapon, a
banner under which huge destructive battalions could march. He
hoped that the fathers of the four students who had been shot at
Kent State would never see «Woodstock» and know that a work
of art which had been dedicated to their dead children contained
a message in which nearly half a million of their children's
contemporaries had mourned their death by shouting «Fuck» in
unison» (I.Shaw).
9. It isn’t as though marriage has to be a prison, for God’s sake
(I.Shaw).
IQ. You t\yo dizzy off-white cunts, get the fuck out of my face,
you hear? (Baldwin).
11.1 was always on that stoop, me and the other cats, and they was
always passing by, and, while I wasn’t never on no shit, they
knew some of the other cats has to be... (Baldwin).
12. You was making it with that white Jew bastard when you
should have been with your son (Baldwin).

Exercise 7. Analyze the vocabulary o f the following; Indicate the

type and function o f stylistically coloured units:

1. «You are arguing outside of my faculties of sense and rhctoric»,

says Bill «What I wanted you to do is to go to Washington and

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dig out this appointment for me. I haven’t no ideas of cultivation

and intrigue. I ’m a plain citizen and I need the job. I ’ve killed
seven men», says Bill; «I’ve got nine children; I ’ve been a good
Republican ever since the first of May; I can’t read nor write,
and I see no reason why I ain’t illegible for the office. And I
think your partner, Mr. Tucker», goes on Bill, «is also a man of
sufficient ingratiation and connected system of mental
delinquency to assist you in securing the appointment. I will
give you preliminary», says Bill, «$1,000 for drinks, bribes and
carfare in Washington. I f you land the job I will pay you SI,000
more, cash down, and guarantee you impunity in boot-legging
whiskey for twelve months. Are you patriotic to the West
enough to .xhelp me put this thing through the White-washed
Wigwam of the Great Father of the most eastern flag station of
the Pennsylvania Railroad?» says Bill (O’Henry).

2. «I always used to play out on the street of evenin’s ‘cause there

was nothin’ doin’ for me at home. For a long time I just sat on
doorsteps and looked at the lights and the people goin* by. And
then the Kid came along one evenin’ and sized me up, and I was
mashed on the spot for fair. The first drink he made me take, I
cried all night at home, and got a lickin’ for makin’ a noise. And
now - say, Tommy, you ever see this Annie Karlson? I f it wasn’t
for peroxide the chloroform limit would have put her out long
ago. Oh, I ’m lookin’ for ‘m. You tell the Kid if he comes in.
Me? I ’ll cut his heart out. Leave it to me. Another whiskey,
Tommy» (O’Hemy).

3. «...You must of done something to make a passle of enemies

here in this place, buddy, because it seems there’s sure a passle
got it in for you».
«Why, this is incredible. You completely disregard, completely
overlook and disregard the fact that what the fellows were doing
today was for my own benefit? That any question or discussion

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raised by Miss Ratched or the rest of the staff is done solely for
therapeutic reasons? You must not have heard a word of Doctor
Spivey’s theory of the Therapeutic Community, or not have had
the education to comprehend it if you did. I ’m disappointed in
you, my friend, oh, very disappointed. I had judged from our
encounter this morning that you were more intelligent - an
illiterate clod, perhaps, certainly a backwoods braggart with no
more sensitivity than a goose, but basically intelligent
nevertheless. But, observant and insightful though I usually am, I
still make mistakes».
«The hell with you, buddy».
«Oh, yes; I forgot to add that I noticed your primitive brutality
also this morning. Psychopath with definite sadistic tendencies,
probably motivated by an unreasoning egomania...» (Kesey).

4. I went up on the peak of the little mountain and ran my eye over
the contiguous vicinity. Over towards Summit he expected to
see the sturdy yeomanry of the village armed with scythes and
pitchforks beating the countryside for the dastardly kidnappers.
But what I saw was a peaceful landscape dotted with one man
ploughing with a dun mule. Nobody was dragging the creek; no
couriers dashed hither and yon, bringing tidings of no news to
the distracted parents. There was a sylvan attitude of somnolent
sleepiness pervading that section of the external outward surface
of Alabama that lay exposed to my view. «Perhaps», says I to
myself, «it has not yet been discovered that the wolves have
bome away the tender lambkin from the fold. Heaven help the
wolves!» says I, and I went down the mountain to breakfast
(O’Henry).

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Exercise 8. Observe the dialectal peculiarities in the following

example:

«That’s so, my Lord. I remember having tae du much the same

thing, mony years since, in an inquest upon a sailing-vessel ran
aground in the estuary and got broken up by bumping herself to
bits in a gale. The insurance folk thocht that the accident wasna
a’togither straightforwards. We tuk it upon oorselz tae demonstrate
that w i’ the wind and tide setti’ as they did, the boat should ha’
been well-away fra’ the shore if they started at the hour they
claimed tae ha’ done. We lost the case, but I ’ve never altered my
opeenion» (Sayers).

Exercise 9. Consider the lexical peculiarities o f the following

abstracts paying special attention to interaction o f different types
o f vocabulary:

1. We were down South, in Alabama - Bill Driscoll and myself -

when this kidnapping idea struck us. It was, as Bill afterward
expressed it, «during a moment of temporary mental
apparition»; but we didn’t fmd that out till later (O ’Henry).
2. Philoprogenitiveness, says we, is strong in semi-rural
communities; therefore, and for other reasons, a kidnapping
project ought to do better there than in the radius of newspapers
that send reporters out in plain clothes to stir up talk about such
things (O’Henry).

Exercise 10. Analyze the vocabulary o f the following abstract;

determine the type and the functions o f stylistically coloured
lexical units:

...«I got a nice little Indian girl down in Torreon», began the
other man. «Say, it’s a crime. Why, she don’t even care if 1 marry
her or not! I-»

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«That’s the way with 'em», broke in the other. «Loose!

That’s what they are. I ’ve been in the country seven years».
«And do you know», the other man shook his finger severely
at me. «You can tell all that to a Mexican Greaser and he’ll just
laugh at you! That’s the kind of dirty skunks they are!»
«They’ve got no pride», said Mac, gloomily.
«Imagine», began the first compatriot. «Imagine what would
happen if you said that to an American!»
Mac banged his fist on the table. «The American Woman,
God bless her!» he said. « If any man dared to dirty the fair name of
the American Woman to me, I think I ’d kill him». He glared
around the table, and as none of us besmirched the reputation of
the Femininity of the Great Republic, he proceeded. «She is a Pure
Ideal, and we’ve got to keep her so. I ’d like to hear anybody talk
rotten about a woman in my hearing!»
We drank our Tom-and-Jenies with the solemn righteousness
of a Convention of Galahads.
«Say, Mac», said the second man abruptly. «Do you
remember them two little girls you and I had in Kansas City that
winter?»
«Do I?» glowed Mac. «And remember the awful fix you
thought you were in?»
«Will I ever forget it!»
The first man spoke. «Well», he said, «you can crack up your
pretty senoritas all you want to. But for me, give me a clean little
American girl!»... (J.Reed. Mac-American).

Test No 2: Stylistic Lexicology

I. Archaisms may be used in a literary text
a) to show that the speaker is attached to usage of unusual words;
b) to create the historic atmosphere;
c) to produce humorous effect.
2. Terms belong to
a) super-neutral vocabulary;

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b) the bulk of neutral words;

c) sub-neutral vocabulary.
3. I f bookish words are used in the colloquial context
a) they elevate the speech;
b) they produce humorous effect;
c) they characterize the speaker as a well-educated person.
4. The sentence «Philoprogenitiveness, says we, is strong in semi-rura.
communities...» contains
a) an archaic word;
b) an archaic word and the collocation typical of the uncultivated
speech;
c) a bookish word and the collocation typical of the uncultivated
speech.
5. Poetic words are used in poetic diction
a) due to the poetic tradition only;
b) to create the romantic atmosphere;
c) to produce the effect of elevation;
d) to comply with the poetic tradition and to create romantic
atmosphere.
6. Jargon words are used within a certain professional group
a) to facilitate the communication;
b) to show that the speaker also belongs to this group;
c) to stress the informal character of communication.
7. Jargon words and slang words
a) are characterized by the same degree of degradation;
b) differ in their degree of degradation.
8. Slang is used
a) to show that the speaker shares the same ideas as are possessed by
his communicants;
b) to make speech more expressive;
c) to produce humorous effect,
9. In the sentence «Ain't it awful, Sam?» the underlined word is used
a) for the sake of characterization;
b) to produce humorous effect;
c) to make speech expressive.
10. Vulgar words are subdivided into
a) lexical vulgarisms and semantic vulgarisms;
b) lexical vulgarisms and stylistic vulgarisms;
c) semantic vulgarisms and stylistic vulgarisms.

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