METALANGUAGE APPLIED IN ENGLISH LEXICONS HAVING SIMILAR SEMANTIC FIELD

METALANGUAGE APPLIED IN ENGLISH LEXICONS

HAVING SIMILAR SEMANTIC FIELD

I Nengah Sudipa

nengahsudipa@unud.ac.id

I.                   INTRO

             Some English lexicons have subtle difference in meaning although they belong to the similar semantic field. The materials are purposely designed to give opportunity to those who are interested in comprehending English vocabulary. Mastering the vocabulary is very crucial in improving one’s capability in English as a foreign language. The readers are able to express what they have in their mind appropriately when they know the exact meaning of a word in English even having similar semantic field.  

II.             MEANING OF CERTAIN ENGLISH LEXICONS

This part deals with the application of metalanguage discussing about how to map the meanings of certain lexicons in English. The data were taken from English Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives

2.1  MEANING OF CERTAIN NOUNS

2.1.1 JOURNEY • TRIP • TRAVEL • TRAVELS • VOYAGE • TOUR

journey

When you travel to a place that is far away or to a place that you visit regularly, you go

on/make a journey (NOT do/have): ‘You can’t go on a journey to Alaska without making

careful preparations.’ ‘The journey to work takes about half an hour by train.’ ‘If the

roads are flooded, we’ll have to make the journey by boat’

trip

When you go to a place and come back again, especially for a short visit, you go

on/make/take a trip: ‘How was your trip to San Francisco?’ ‘She’s away on a business trip

and won’t be back until Monday.’

travel

Travel (uncountable) is the general activity of moving about the world or from place to place: ‘She enjoys foreign travel immensely.’ ‘New computer technology has made air

travel considerably safer.’ A word with a similar meaning is travelling. This -ing form is

often used after verbs and prepositions: ‘I hate travelling on my own.’ ‘The job involves a

certain amount of travelling.’ (NOT ‘of travel’) In compound nouns, travel is used:

‘foreign travel’, ‘air travel’ (NOT ‘air travelling’).

travels Someone’s travels (plural) are the journeys they make (and the experiences they have) during a long visit to one or more foreign countries: ‘I accompanied the South African

team throughout their travels in Australia and New Zealand.’ ‘We filmed a lot of wild

animals on our travels.’

voyage

A voyage is a long journey in a boat or ship: ‘Heavy seas and strong winds made the

voyage from Europe very unpleasant.’

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tour

A tour is a journey that you make for pleasure during which I you visit a number or

different places within a country, region etc: ‘For our next holiday we’re going on a tenday

tour of the Lake District.’ Politicians and entertainers sometimes go on a tour as part

of their work, making a planned series of visits in order to meet people or perform: ‘The

Prime Minister will be returning on Monday from a three-week tour of Southeast Asia.’

A tour is also a short trip around a city, factory, museum etc: ‘After lunch we were taken

on a guided tour of York Minster.’

2.1.2 PRICE • COST • COSTS • CHARGE • FEE • RATE

price

The price of something is the amount of money that you must pay in order to buy it:

‘I’m interested in the car, but the price is too high.’ ‘Food prices are relatively low at

present.’

cost

The cost of something is the amount of money you must pay to buy, do, make or use

it: ‘The cost of having the car repaired was £340.’

the cost of living (fixed phrase) = the general amount that the people living in a

particular area or country have to pay for necessary goods and services: ‘In urban

areas the cost of living tends to be higher.’

costs

Your costs are the total amount of money you spend over a period of time in order

to make or produce something, or continue an activity: ‘Our costs have doubled over

the last five years as a result of the increase in oil prices.’

charge

A charge is the amount of money that you must pay for a service or to be allowed to

use something: ‘The waiter explained that the bill included a 10% service charge.’

‘There is also a small charge for delivery and installation.’

If you do not have to pay for something, it is provided free of charge: ‘The company

has offered to install the software free of charge.’

fee

A fee is (1) a charge that you must pay to be allowed to do something: ‘Most art

galleries charge an entrance fee.’ ‘Every new student has to pay a registration fee.’ (2)

(usually fees) a charge that you must pay for professional services such as those

provided by doctors, lawyers, consultants, tutors,

schools etc: ‘My parents couldn’t afford the school fees.’ ‘Last year alone, the

company paid over $12 million in legal fees.’

rate

A rate is the amount of money that you have to pay for a service or for hiring

something, especially one that is calculated on an hourly, weekly or monthly basis:

‘His hourly rate is £60.’ ‘For a five-star hotel, the rates are very reasonable.’

rental

The rental is the amount of money that you have to pay to a hire company to use

something for a fixed period of time: ‘The car rental is $45 a day and you need a

clean driving licence.’ ‘The rental on the TV doesn’t include repairs.’

See also CHEAP 1

fare

A fare is the cost of a journey on a bus, train etc: ‘How much is the train fare from

Toronto to Montreal?’ ‘She spends $20 per week on bus fares.’

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rent

A Rent is the money you pay every week or month to live in or use a place that doesn’t

belong to you: ‘The rent is £500 inclusive of bills.’

2.1.3 PACKET • PACKAGE • PACKAGING • PACKING • PACK

package

a small parcel, usually sent by post: ‘Sending both packages by airmail could work out

very expensive.’

packet a box, bag, container etc with a number of things or an amount of something inside,

especially one that is sold in shops: ‘a packet of

cigarettes/biscuits/envelopes/balloons’. Another word for packet is pack, especially in

American English: ‘a pack of cigarettes’.

packaging material that is put round things that are sold in shops, especially to encourage people to buy them: ‘I wonder how much it would cost without all the fancy packaging.’

packing material that is put round things to protect them, especially from getting damaged in

the post: ‘Please remember to add an extra £2.00 per order for postage and packing.’

‘I think you should keep all the packing in case you ever want to ship the organ back to

the UK one day.’

2.1.4 JOB • DO • OCCUPATION • POST/POSITION • CAREER • TRADE • PROFESSION

job

Your job is what you do to earn your living: ‘You’ll never get a job if you don’t Have any

qualifications.’ ‘She’d like to change her job but can’t find anything better.’ Your job is

also the particular type of work that you do: ‘John’s new job sounds really interesting.’

‘I know she works for the BBC but I’m not sure what job she does.’

A job may be full-time or part-time (NOT half-time or half-day): ‘All she could

get was a part-time job at a petrol station.’ do (for a living) When you want to know about the type of work that someone does, the usual questions are What do you do? What does she do for a living? etc ‘What does your

father do?’ - ‘He’s a police inspector.’

occupation

Occupation and job have similar meanings. However, occupation is far less common

than job and is used mainly in formal and official styles: ‘Please give brief details of

your employment history and present occupation.’ ‘People in manual occupations

seem to suffer less from stress.’

post/position The particular job that you have in a company or organization is your post or position:

‘She’s been appointed to the post of deputy principal.’ ‘He’s applied for the position of

sales manager.’ Post and position are used mainly in formal styles and often refer to

jobs which have a lot of responsibility.

career

Your career is your working life, or the series of jobs that you have during your working life: ‘The scandal brought his career in politics to a sudden end.’

‘Later on in his career, he became first secretary at the British Embassy in Washington.’

Your career is also the particular kind of work for which you are trained and that you

intend to do for a long time: ‘I wanted to find out more about careers in publishing.’

trade

A trade is a type of work in which you do or make things with your hands: Most of the

men had worked in skilled trades such as carpentry or printing.’ ‘My grandfather was a

bricklayer by trade.’

profession

A profession is a type of work such as medicine, teaching, or law which requires a high

level of training or education: ‘Until recently, medicine has been a male-dominated

profession.’ ‘She entered the teaching profession in 1987.’

2.1.5 CULTURE • CUSTOM • HABIT • MANNER • MANNERS • TRADITION

culture

(1) the customs, ideas, art, etc, which are found in a particular society or group and

which make it different from another society or group: ‘Obeying your parents is a hallmark of Asian culture.’

(2) the art, music, literature, etc, that is produced by a particular society: ‘Professor

Jackson is an expert on ancient Greek culture.’ ‘The Samba is an important part of

Brazilian culture.’

custom

(1) something that the people in a particular society have done (in the same way) for

a very long time, and which they consider to be normal or polite: ‘One of their

customs is to point with the thumb, not with index finger.’ ‘According to local

custom, his body was carried to the top of a hill and cremated.’ ‘His knowledge of

Malay and Indonesian customs proved invaluable when we got to Bali.’

(2) something that a person usually does in a particular situation: ‘His custom of

making detailed preparatory drawings makes him unique amongst 18th century

British painters.’ ‘On Wednesday evening, as was his custom, he went for a long

walk.’

habit

A habit is something that a person does repeatedly, often without realizing it: ‘She has a lot of little habits that I find really irritating.’ ‘In California I got into the habit of eating with

just a fork.’

manner

 (singular) the way someone behaves towards people: ‘She impressed us all with her business-like

manner.’ ‘His cheerful face and polite manner have won him a lot of friends.’

manners (plural) the way someone behaves towards people, especially when compared with what is accepted as polite behaviour: ‘The child has very good manners and always says

thank you.’

tradition

a belief, custom or way of doing something that has been passed on from one

generation to the next: ‘The tradition was that when a man died, all his wealth and

possessions would

go to the eldest son.’

2.1.6 INDUSTRY, MILL, PLANT, WORK

industry

(1) all the people, factories, companies etc involved in a major area of production: ‘the steel

industry’, ‘the clothing industry’. (2) all industries considered together as a single thing:

‘Industry has developed rapidly over the years at the expense of agriculture.’

mill

(1) a place where a particular type of material is made: ‘a cotton mill’, ‘a textile mill’, ‘a steel

mill’, ‘a paper mill’ (2) a place where flour is made from grain: ‘a flour mill’