Semantics test

I. Mark (√) each of the following sentences true (T) or false (F).

TRUE FALSE

1. The relatedness of meaning found in polysemy is essentially √

based on similarity.

2. Both of John’s parents are married to aunts of mine is in a √

sense contradictory, describing an impossible situation.

3. If two words look alike, they are called homophones. √

 Homophones = sound alike, not looklike
4. Fred in ‘There’s no Fred at this address’ is not a referring √
expression.

5. And has sense in the same way that cat has sense. √

6. Herod gave a nice present is not an elliptical sentence. ( câu √

rút gọn )

7. In general, adjectives and verbs can be used as referring √

expressions.

8. The presence of a predicate in a referring expression helps the √

hearer to identify the referent of a referring expression.

9. Hyponymy and synonymy are sense relations between √

predicates. The latter is a special, symmetric, case of the
former.

10. If two expressions have the same referent, they always have √
the same sense.

II. Use an appropriate word or phrase to complete the following sentences.

1. A man can be used as a referring expression or a non-referring expression, depending on
the …use of the indefinite article/ context ……………..……………….
2. ……Synonym…are two or more forms with very closely related meanings, which are
often, but not always intersubstitutable in sentences.
3. When the same linguistic expression refers to different referents, it has ………
different…………… reference.
4. The sense of man…..includes……… the sense of human.
5. Offer in the sentence I was offered a job is a ……two……-place predicate.
6. Some sentences are …………lexically….…… ambiguous in that the meanings of their
component words can be combined in more than one way.
 7. …………….Binary……………………. antonyms are predicates which come in pairs
and between them exhaust all the relevant possibilities.
8. The term ……homonymy………..…………….is used when one form (written or
spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings.
9. Proper names can’t be used as …………predicates………..………………………….
10. …Reference……………………….…. is the relation between linguistic expressions
and entities, situations or properties in the outside world.

III. Arrange the words in each group so that every word is a hyponym of the word
immediately before it.
Example: husband, human, man> human, man, husband
1. creature, living things, dog, animal > living being, creature, animal, living things,
dog
2. entity, student, freshman, person > entity, person, student, freshman
3. product, tool, thing, garden tool > thing, product, tool, garden tool
4. plant, pine, living things, tree > living things, plant, tree, pine
5. coffee mug, mug, drinking vessel ( vật để uống nước) > drinking vessel, mug, coffee
mug
6. carrot, plant, living things, vegetable > living things, plant, vegetable, carrot
7. cook, sauté, fry > cook, fry, saute
8. green vegetable, cabbage, vegetable > vegetable, green vegetable, cabbage
9. product, saw, hacksaw, tool > product, tool, saw, hacksaw
10. thing, building, structure, house > thing, structure, building, house

IV. Classify the following pairs as gradable antonyms (G), binary antonyms (B),
relational/converse antonyms (R/C), homonyms (H), hyponyms (HY), or synonyms (S).

1 manly-virile S 11 fixed- loose G

2 long-short G 12 obey-disobey B

3 long-extended S 13 rye-wry H

4 employer-employee R/C 14 yang-yin B

5 meat-beef HY 15 go down-descend S

6 lend- borrow R/C

7 husband-wife R/C

8 arms-alms H

9 mug- beer mug HY

 10 slow-fast G

V. Tick (√) each of the following sentences (A) for analytic, (S) for synthetic or (E) for
equative, as appropriate.

A S E

1 Mrs. Laura is my lecturer. √

2 John’s nine-year-old brother is a boy. √

3 Sam’s wife is not German. √

4 Sam’s wife is married. √

5 This is my father. √

6 My watch is slow. √

7 If it breaks, it breaks. √

8 That man who walks fast is my brother. √

9 My watch is a device for telling the time. √

10 George Washington was the first president. √

VI. Which of the semantic relations (paraphrase (P), entailment (E), contradiction (C) is
exemplified in each of the following sentences?
Example: That man is a woman. > C (contradiction)
1. My brother is jealous of me because I am an only child. > Contradiction
2. Nobody goes to the restaurant because it’s too crowded. > Contradiction
3. Alan lives in Hanoi. Alan lives in Vietnam. > Entailment
4. He has tons of stuff to throw away. He needs to get rid of a lot of junk. > Paraphrase
5. Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay, and they can consume 75 pounds of food a day. A
giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of Acacia leaves and hay daily. > Paraphrase
6. Elisa plays the guitar. Someone plays a musical instrument. > Entailment
7. Jack put off the meeting. Jack postponed the meeting. > Paraphrase
8. Jack swims beautifully. Jack swims. > Entailment
9. Let me say again: I never repeat myself. > Contradiction
10. Children may feed animals. Children have permission to feed animals. > Paraphrase
[Link] by paraphrasing two meanings of each of the following sentences.
Example: I’m selling five day old chicks.
a) I’m selling five day-old chicks.
b) I’m selling five-day-old chicks.

1. The people who saw the movie frequently praised it.

1a) The movie was seen which the people frequently praised it.
1b) What the people did was see the movie frequently praised it.
2. The hostess greeted the girl with a smile.
2a) The hostess smiled while greeting the girl.
2b) The girl was greeted with a smile by the hostess
3. The architect gave the secretary a rise after she typed the report.
3a) The architect had given secretary a rise before she typed the report.
3b) The secretary typed the report, so the architect gave her a rise
4. He stood watching the fireworks in the backyard.
4a) It was the fireworks that he stood watching in the backyard.
4b) He watched fireworks that were in the backyard.
5. We were late but the coach was late too.
5a) We were late, and the coach (bus/train) was also delayed.

5b) Both we and the coach were late.

VIII. Briefly explain the following questions.

1. Is there something odd about the following sentences?

The television drank my water
His dog wrote poetry.
…… These are semantically odd because non-human objects or animals typically cannot
perform human actions like drinking water or writing poetry………………………..
2. Is John in ‘John is my best friend’ a referring expression?
…………… Yes, it refers to a specific person……………………………………
3. Are there any referring expressions in ‘A dog is an animal’?
No. “A dog” is used generically here to talk about dogs in general, not a specific dog
……………….
4. Do the following words refer to things in the world?
near, nice, go, the, and, probable, but …
No. Words like near, nice, go, the, and, probable, but do not refer to specific entities.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. Can different expressions have the same referent?
…… Yes, e.g., “the morning star” and “Venus”.…………………………………………..
IX. Circle the answer of your choice.
1. This city is a big city has
a. one referring expression c. one predicator
b. no predicator d. (a) and (c)
2. The smallest units of meaning in a word are called
a. distinctive features c. semantic features
b. binary features d. phonetic features
3. Pigeon and pidgin are
a. homographs
b. hyponyms
c. homophones
d. antonyms
4. The referent of a referring expression is
a. the thing picked out by the use of that expression on a particular occasion of
utterance
b. an object which is held to be very typical of the kind of object which can be
referred to by an expression containing the predicate
c. a list of characteristics
d. the part of meaning of a word or a phrase
5. Which of the following sentences is true by virtue of the senses of the words in it?
a. John is a fool.
b. No cats like to bathe.
c. A banana contains vitamins A and C.
d. A cat is an animal.
6. The pronouns he, she, we, you usually have
a. constant reference c. no reference
b. variable reference d. all of the above
7. The pronoun he in President Nam believes that he is invincible is
a. anaphoric c. deictic
b. cataphoric d. (a) and (c)
8. Settle in The snow didn’t settle is
 a. a zero-place predicate c. a two-place predicate
b. a one-place predicate d. a three-place predicate
9. Mary and herself in Mary is different from herself have
a. constant reference c. the same referent
b. the same sense d. different referents
10. Is in Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam is used to express
a. the relationship between two predicates that have the same sense
b. the identity of the referents of two referring expressions
c. the relationship between entailment and paraphrase
d. the relationship between an argument and a predicator

The End