Abstract. The article deals with a spectrum of issues that are connected with the fulfillment of practical assignments of the study course of General Semantics and Lexicology which are to be made by the students of Volgograd State University taking a university four-year course of Fundamental and Applied Linguistics. The author puts forward certain definite stages in the representation of a given practical task which is a part of the seminar devoted to the theoretical aspects of synonymy in the English language. The goal of the aforementioned student task is to reach educational competence while doing the university course. The author proposes a step-by-step implementation of a specific assignment and the solution a number of tasks by students. To successfully achieve this goal, students are highly recommended to consider the proposed lexical units, prove the possibility of forming a synonymic row from them, apply the method of definitional analysis, justify the choice of the dominant of the synonymic row as the most neutral unit in the stylistic plan, based on the available material, focus on the semantic features of the lexical units of the synonymic row under consideration. In the course of completing the tasks, a student demonstrates the knowledge received at the lectures, demonstrates the acquisition of the linguistic terminology of the course, learns to independently solve the assigned tasks, master the academic discourse, and draw conclusions based on the analyzed material. As a result of the completed task, the student forms the necessary competencies, which are taken into account when drawing up the curriculum of the discipline. This type of the task helps to maintain motivation in the course of mastering academic theoretical and practical knowledge, skills and abilities, contributes to a profound understanding of the dynamic processes of the lexical system of a language in general, and English in particular, teaches students to reasonably draw conclusions based on the results obtained.  

Keywords: semantics, lexicology, competence, synonymy, synonymic row, definition analysis, dominant of a synonymic row, neo-classical compounds, topical sphere.