Leia o bilhete do aluno e o texto de Celce-Murcia, a seguir, para responder às questões de 42 a 48.

Dear teacher,

I am writing this in the intermission between classes to tell you of my extolment for your class. Your group work rouses a deep sense of admiration and joy within me. I enjoy every step of the work in your class. It comes without speaking that your class is the best. I don’t know how to give vent to my feelings. You help me with the difficultness of English. I know other guys and I suggest them to take your class. I’m so much happy to be student of a sagely teacher such as you and getting your advices. Your help is beyond valuability.

Bye for now,

Teo

What is it about the word use in Teo’s expressive letter that does not sound quite right, even though we understand the message? It appears that he knows enough about the words to communicate, but there are gaps in his word knowledge. For example, to know a word means to know a considerable amount about its meaning; Teo uses the word intermission (a short period of time between the parts of a play, film, concert, etc.) to apply to the break between classes. He knows the literal meaning of to give vent to his feelings but misses the subtle distinction that vent is usually used with negative feelings (I vented my anger). In addition, to know a word or phrase means to know its collocations, or how it is used in combination with other words; for example, every step of the way is a recognizable collocation, every step of the work is not. Knowing your word also means to know its grammatical function (e.g., suggest is a transitive verb; advice is an uncountable noun) and its word parts (e.g., difficulty rather than *difficultness, and value rather than *valuability). Finally, knowing your word means to know its register, or a level of formality. Extolment is a noun (meaning “enthusiastic praise and admiration”), but it is very formal and infrequently used.

This letter demonstrates the enormity of the word learning task. There are many words to know and many details to be known about each word.

(Celce-Murcia, M. 2001)