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chapters of the novel. This fact implied that a reader of the novel would encounter the word take many times during the reading process and have to deal with several
possible different meanings of the word take. This shows that the word take is a polysemous word because it is a single word, which belongs to the part of speech
verb, and has several meanings.
1. The Meanings of the Word Take in C. S’ Lewis The Last Battle
The meanings of the word take in the novel were derived based on the contexts in the novel. In interpreting the meanings, the context was not only
derived from the sentences contained the word take, but also from the preceding and succeeding sentences. In some cases, the context was derived from the whole
paragraph where the sentence occurred. The researcher found that interpreting the meanings of polysemous words was possible by analyzing them based on the
contexts. However, it was necessary to consult the dictionary as the assistant. An exception occurred when the word take came as an idiomatic expression. In this
case, consulting the dictionary whether common dictionaries or dictionaries of idioms was necessary since idioms were fixed expressions.
There were seventy 70 occurrences of the word take in the novel. However, the meanings did not come as many as the occurrences. Some of the
meanings conveyed the same sense that occurred in two possible ways. The first, some of the words take had the same expressions though happened in different
contexts. For example, the phrasal verb take in occurred several times in different contexts and had the same meaning. The second, the words take came in different
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expressions, yet the meaning was the same. For example, a verb take and a phrasal verb take in had the same meaning as
‘being captured’ in a certain context.
2. The Relations between the Meanings of the Word Take
Based on the meanings derived from the collected data, there were some meanings that conveyed the same things. It indicated that categorization of the
meanings was possible. The researcher found twelve categories by combining seemingly related meanings in the contexts in one group. The distinction of
meanings in terms of the context usage was possible for each member in one group. However, the meanings were still related so that it could be put in one
category. From the results, the meanings of the word take in the groups of Series E, Series K, and Series L were frequently occurred. The meanings in those series
related to taking prisoners, defeating and deceiving enemies, and the situations which might happen in the battle. It depicted the theme of the novel, which was
the last battle, which occurred in the story. The researcher used the meanings from the categories to figure out the
relations between the meanings of the word take. The process was taken place by applying semantic roles to the categories. The researcher found that the meanings
in twelve categories were related to each other. The feature of polysemous words is the relatedness of the meanings of a single word. Therefore, the relations
between the meanings of the word take showed its polysemous aspect. The relations were ranging from close to distant. The researcher took the meanings in
Series A as the central meaning since the process in the meaning could be denoted in the meanings in other series. The close relations were found from the derivation
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of meanings from Series A by the meanings of grasp and hold with an additional feature of possession: with an effort as in Series B, Series E, Series F; given as in
Series D, Series J, the meanings of grasp and hold with an additional feature of obtaining as in Series C, and the meanings that involved movements as in Series
G, Series H, and Series I. The distant relations were found in the meaning in Series K and Series L which derived from the meaning to obtain in Series C.
3. The Comparison of the Meanings of the Word Take with Dictionary Definitions
