Основы теории английского языка. Листунова Е.И. - 23 стр.

      III.
      Classify the following units according to type of word-formation
(abbreviation, cli pping, blending) and supply the corresponding full
words or word combinations.
      A.B.C., A-bomb, ad, a.m., Anzac, auto, B.A., beaut, Bros,, bus,
cab, Capt., chap., comfy, D-day, Dec., D.M., doc., dorm. Dr., Han-
ky, G.P., I.O.U., lab, laser, Lat., mike., Mon., M.P., MS, NATO,
N.Y., p., para troops, pep, perm, Ph. D., P.O.W., Prof., pub, b.r.a.,
radar, sub, tec, tend, tram, U.N.O., U.S.S.R., V-day, Wed., zoo.
       IV.
       Read the following passage.
       Compounds... usually keep the full form of both elements.but in
some cases a part of one or both words may be lost, as in PORT-
MANTEAU WORDS, or ‘BLENDED’ WORDS as they are some-
times called. Lewis Carroll had a particular aptitude for composing such
words, so we may perhaps accept his definition of circumstances which
call forth such creation. In the Preface to The Hunting of the Shark he
says: «This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words
in that poem, Humpty-Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into
one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all.
For instance, take the two words ‘fuming’ and ‘furious’. Make up your
mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you
will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline
ever so little towards ‘fuming’, you will say ‘fuming-furious’; if they
turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards ‘furious’, you will say ‘furious-
fuming’, but if you have that rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind,
you will say ‘frumious’.» «Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-
known words — ‘Under which king, Bezonian? Speak — or die!’
       Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or
Richard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not
possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that,
rather than die, he would have gasped out ‘Richiam!’»
       Of these formations Jespersen says: «Blendings of synonyms play
a much greater role in the development of language than is generally
recognized. Many instances may be heard in everyday life, most of
them being immediately corrected by the speaker, but these momen-
tary lapses cannot be separated from other instances which are of more
permanent value because they are so natural that they will occur over
and over again until speakers will hardly feel the blend as anything else
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