REPUBLIC OF PANAMA

UNIVERSIDAD DE PANAMÁ
EXTENSION UNIVERSITARIA DE AGUADULCE
POST ACADEMIC STUDY - DIPLOMADO 2024
GENERAL PERSPECTIVE OF LINGUISTICS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ENGLISH LINGUISTICS – MODULE 1 ACTIVITY # 2 WEEK 2
PARTICIPANT’S NAME (TEAMWORK):___________________________ DATE: JUNE 3rd TO JUNE 7th 2024

ID:______________________ 100 PTS AVERAGE: ______ GRADE:_______

FACILITATOR: OMAR ALEXIS PINZÓN FERNÁNDEZ M.A.

READING ANALYSIS:
Modulo 1: Basic Terms
SEMANTICS
STARTER
In this Activity # 2 we study the following topics:

- Utterance
- Sentence
- Proposition
- Sense and Reference
- Referring Expression
- Opaque Context
- Equative Sentence
- Predicator and Predicate

UTTERANCE

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 An utterance can be defined as “a stretch of talk, by one person, before and after
which there is silence on the part of that person.” It is a natural unit of speech or talk bounded
by the speaker’s silence. Very simply, an utterance is the act of expressing something in
words, i.e., something that a speaker utters or says. Thus, an utterance may be a single word
(hi, bye, hello) a single phrase (nice day, see you, fine weather), a single sentence, or a
sequence of sentences.

It is important to mention that an utterance is a physical event (like any other event,
such as a party or a meeting), and events are said to be ephemeral (short-lived). Similarly,
utterances are ephemeral which soon die on the wind (unless recorded or written for the
purpose of documentation or analysis). It is also noteworthy to say that an utterance is
basically spoken, but it can be written only for the purpose of analysis, description or study.
Utterances are separated from one another by silence.

Last but not least, accent (pronunciation) and voice quality (speed, pitch, tone) belong
to the utterance, not to the sentence, because these are phonetic characteristics which are
associated with speech (utterances) not with writing (sentences).

SENTENCE

A sentence is “a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language”.

Traditionally, it is defined as “a grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete
thought”. According to the OALD, a sentence is “a set of words expressing a statement, a
question or an order, usually containing a subject and a verb”.

A sentence is different from an utterance in that it is not a physical event. Unlike

utterances, sentences are permanent (long-lived). Since they are basically written, sentences
can stay for hundreds of years in good condition (in books, documents, newspapers, etc.).
Sentences are separated from each other by punctuation marks which are characteristics of
written language.

In conversations, people do not always use well-formed sentences to communicate

with others. Utterances of non-sentences are very commonly used, such as short phrases,
fragments (short broken sentences) and single words. Consider the following examples:

1. a: When did his father die?

b: in 1995
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 2. a: Do you like tea or coffee?
b: Tea, please

Semantics is not only concerned with the meaning of whole sentences, but also with
the meaning of non-sentences. But it is more convenient to begin our semantic analysis with
whole sentences because the meanings of whole sentences involve propositions.

PROPOSITION

A proposition is that part of the meaning of a declarative sentence which describes a

state of affairs. It is the basic meaning that a sentence expresses. A proposition is an
abstraction (general idea) in the mind of an individual person regardless of language, region
or accent. Propositions can be ways of capturing part of the meaning of declarative
sentences. In uttering a declarative sentence, a speaker asserts (states) a proposition. Briefly
stated, a proposition is a declarative sentence which is either true or false. True propositions
correspond to facts, but false propositions do not correspond to facts:

1. Cairo is in Africa. (true)

2. London is in Africa. (false)
The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two sentences or more express the
same or different propositions. Consider the following examples in which all the sentences are
true and express the same proposition, but in different ways as regards their grammatical
structure:

1. United States invaded Panama.

2. Panama was invaded by United States.
3. It was United States that invaded Panama.
4. It was Panama that United States invaded.
5. What United States invaded was Panamal.
6. The one that invaded Panama was United States.
It may happen that the same declarative sentence expresses or implies more than one
proposition: Maria’s friend, Tony, who is a dentist, likes apples. This sentence contains
many underlying propositions:

1. Maria has a friend.

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 2. The friend’s name is Tony.
3. Tony is a dentist.
4. Tony likes apples.
When uttering a simple declarative sentence, the speaker commits himself/herself to
the truth of the corresponding proposition, i.e., he/she asserts the proposition. But when
uttering an interrogative (question) or an imperative (command), the speaker can mention a
particular proposition without asserting its truth:

1. Peter can do it now. (declarative: proposition asserted)

2. Can Peter do it now? (interrogative: proposition mentioned/not asserted)
3. Do it now, Peter. (imperative: proposition mentioned/not asserted)
NOTE: Depending on the previous information about utterance, sentence and
proposition, do exercises (1) and (2) in the Study Section that follows the ACTIVITY # 2

SENSE

Broadly speaking, the term sense is used to refer to the meaning that a word or a phrase has
(in the dictionary). But more specifically, it is used to mean the relationships between
elements or words inside the language system, whose meaning is dependent on other
elements or words in the system. It is the position or place which a word or a phrase has in a
system of semantic relationships with other words in the language. One of these semantic
relationships is sameness of meaning (synonymy), such as almost = nearly, likely = probable,
fatigued = tired, etc. There are many words in language that have more than one sense
(meaning), e.g., bank (n.) (v.):

1. He swam to the other bank of the river. (river side)

2. She saves her money in the bank. (financial institution)
3. The plane banked suddenly to avoid a crash. (flew with one side higher than the
other) 4. They banked the fireplace with coal. (piled/filled).

There are also some expressions or words in different dialects or varieties with the
same sense: pavement, flat (BrE) = sidewalk, apartment (AmE), kid (informal) = child
(formal/neutral), brat (disapproving/slang), passed away (euphemistic) = died
(direct/neutral), etc.

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 It is worth noting that sense is an abstraction that can be entertained (thought
about/considered) in the mind of a language user. When a person understands what is said or
written, it is reasonable to say that he/she grasps (understands) the sense of the expressions
he/she hears or reads.

REFERENCE

In its broader sense or meaning, reference is the relationship between a word or a phrase and
an entity in the external world (outside language). For example, the word tree refers to an
object in the world called tree. It is to be noted that the same word can refer to different things
or people; the words tree and John can refer to unlimited number of things or people in the
world with such labels.

But in its narrower sense, reference is the relationship between a word (inside
language) and a specific object or person in the external world (outside language). For
example, Peter’s horse refers to a particular horse owned by a man called Peter. Similarly,
when the phrase: the tree in our garden is mentioned it has a unique reference since it refers
to a particular tree, namely the one in our garden. More specifically, any word that has
existence or reality in the external world (the world outside language) is said to have
reference.

There are some words in language with a variable (changeable) reference and others
with a constant (unique, unchangeable) reference. Words like, I, you, she, John, this page,
my car are said to have variable reference since their reference is determined by the context
in which they are used. The phrase the President of the Republic of Panama may refer to
different presidents when used with different temporal deixis (time-pointing context):

(a) in 2007 - refers to President Martin Torrijos Espino

(b) in 1996 - refers to President Ernesto Pérez Balladares
(c) in 2013 - refers to President Ricardo Martinelli.

Conversely, there are words in language which have unique or constant reference,
such as: the moon, the sun, the north/south pole, London, Paris, Japan, Europe, the Eiffel
Tower, etc.

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 There are also cases in which two expressions can have the same referent, i.e., they
refer to the same object or person, e.g., the morning star and the evening star, which both
refer to Venus. Another example is: the leader of the Democratic Party and the President,
when we talk about USA politics in 2014, which both refer to president Obama.

It is important to mention that every expression or word in language has sense, but not
every expression has reference. There are lots of words in language (mostly abstract words)
that have no existence or reality in the world outside language. Examples of such words are:
almost, rather, immediately (adverbs), if, but, and, which (conjunctions), at, for, by
(prepositions), a, an, the (articles), decision, idea, issue (nouns), probable, far, easy
(adjectives), etc. Conversely, words that have both sense and reference are basically
concrete nouns and proper names, such as tree, station, London, Iraq, John, Alice, etc.

It is pertinent to note here that the two terms: sense and reference were first coined
(invented) by Friedrich Frege (1848-1925); a German philosopher and mathematician.
According to him, sense and reference are two different aspects of any expression in
language.

Note: For more practice on sense and reference, do exercises 3, 4 and 5 in the Study
Section.

REFERRING EXPRESSION

A referring expression is a word that refers to somebody or something with a particular

referent in mind (the speaker's mind). For example, in the utterance: David helped me, David
is a referring expression because the speaker has a particular person in his mind. But when
saying: There is no David on this list, the speaker does not have a particular person in mind, it
may refer to any one with this name.

The same word can be a referring expression or not depending on the context in which
it is used. This is clear with indefinite noun phrases (NPs). Consider the following pairs of
examples in which sentence (a) is a referring expression, while (b) is not:

1. a. A man was in here looking for you. (a particular person in mind)

b. The first sign of a monsoon is a cloud on the horizon no bigger than a man’s
hand.

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 (no particular person/any man)

2. a. Nancy married an Italian. (a particular Italian in mind)

b. Nancy wanted to marry an Italian. (any Italian)

3. a. I was looking for a car. (any car)

b. I bought a car yesterday. (a particular car)

It is clear from the sentences mentioned above that the linguistic context often gives a vital
clue as to whether an indefinite NP is a referring expression or not, but it does not always give
a clear indication. One might say that sentences, as in (b) version, can be ambiguous (not
clearly stated or defined). Ambiguity in such cases can be resolved or cleared up by using the
adjective certain before the indefinite NP:

Nancy wanted to marry a certain Italian.

(a particular Italian in Nancy’s mind)

Whether a word is a referring expression or not is heavily dependent on: (1) the
linguistic context and (2) the circumstances of utterance. This is true with NPs, whether
definite or indefinite. Definite NPs are of three kinds: proper names (David, Nancy), personal
pronouns (he, she, they) and a longer expression (Smith’s murder, the man who killed Smith).
Definite NPs can be considered as referring expressions in utterances like the following:

1. Tony is my best friend.

2. He is a very good man. (said by a wife to her husband in a conversation about their
bank manager)
3. It’s new and luxurious. (said in a conversation between a son and his father about a
car)
4. The man who shot President Kennedy was Lee Harvey Oswald.

But, sometimes, it may happen that even definite NPs are not referring expressions:

1. If anyone challenges this strong wrestler, he will be defeated. (he refers to

anyone: no particular person in mind)
2. Every man who owns a palace must be proud of it. (it does not refer to a

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 particular palace)
3. The man who did this crime must be insane. (said by a detective after
discovering a brutally mutilated corpse, having no idea about the killer).

OPAQUE CONTEXT

An opaque context can be defined as that part of a sentence which could be made into a
complete sentence by the addition of a referring expression. For example, Steve believes
that............ robbed John’s house is an opaque context because it can be made into a
complete sentence by adding the referring expression Peter: Steve believes that Peter
robbed John’s house.

It is to be noted that opaque contexts are often introduced by certain verbs such as,
want, believe and think: John thinks that...........is a genius. By adding the referring
expression: the new doctor, the opaque context can be made into a complete sentence:
John thinks that the new doctor is a genius. Similarly, by adding the referring expression:
her parents, the opaque context Sue wants to get married when …………… come back
home can be made into a complete sentence: Sue wants to get married when her parents
come back home.

EQUATIVE SENTENCE

An equative sentence is one which is used to assert the identity of two referring expressions,
i.e., to assert that the two referring expressions have the same referent (refer to the same
person or thing). A remarkable feature of equative sentences is that the two referring
expressions can be reversed without loss of acceptability or change of meaning:

David Cameron is the British Prime Minister.

The British Prime Minister is David Cameron.

David Cameron and British Prime Minister have the same referent, i.e., refer to the same
person.

Cairo is the largest city in Africa.

The largest city in Africa is Cairo.

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Cairo and The largest city in Africa have the same identity.

But the reversal test applied above does not always function as a reliable indicator of
equative sentences. It may happen that there are some sentences which are reversible but
not equative:

What I need is a cup of tea.

A cup of tea is what I need.

In the above sentences a cup of tea is not a referring expression, because the
speaker does not have a particular cup in mind, yet the sentence is reversible.

Conversely, there are sentences which are equative, but not reversible: That is the
boy who stole the money. That and the boy who stole the money refer to the same person,
but it is unacceptable to say: The boy who stole the money is that.

PREDICATOR AND PREDICATE

A predicator is a word which does not belong to any of the referring expressions (in a simple
declarative sentence), and carries the most specific information or meaning. The predicator
describes the state or process in which the referring expressions are involved. Notice the
following sentences in which the predicator is underlined:

1. Daddy is hungry. (describes the state (hunger) in which the referring expression
daddy is in)
2. John loves Mary. (describes the process (love) in which the two referring
expressions
John and Mary are involved in)
3. Janet was waiting for the bus. (describes the process of waiting in which the two
referring expressions Janet and the bus are in)

The predicator in a simple declarative sentence can be easily found by deleting the
referring expressions. The remainder, which carries the basic meaning, is the predicator. This
remainder should be carefully checked so as to delete extra words that do not contribute

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anything to the basic meaning. A series of deletions are made, for instance, auxiliaries: is,
are, was, has, had, etc., -ing, -s, ed- forms, articles and conjunctions. Study the following
examples, which show you how to find the predicator in a sentence:

Mr Smith is typing his manager’s speech. (type)

Jane bought a car two days ago. (buy)

My house is behind the supermarket. (behind) Ahmad's father is a doctor. (doctor)

Words that can function as predicators are different parts of speech, such as main
verbs (type, wait, love, buy), adjectives (red, hungry, asleep), nouns (genius, doctor,
nuisance) and prepositions (in, between, behind). Words that cannot function as predicators
include: articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, but, or, which, who) and auxiliary verbs (verb
to be: is, are, was; verb to have: has, have, had).

When analysing simple declarative sentences, two major semantic roles are revealed:
(1) the role of the predicator and (2) the role of the argument played by the referring
expression. For example, in the sentence below, the predicator is nuisance, and the
argument is Tony:

Tony is a nuisance. (predicator: nuisance/argument : Tony)

A predicate is any word (or a sequence of words) which can function as the predicator
of a sentence. For example, dusty, awake, show, in front of, wait for are predicates
because they can function as predicators in simple declarative sentences, while but, and, is
are not predicate predicates because they cannot function as predicators:

1. My house is in front of the public garden.

2. She showed me her new mobile phone.

3. The students are waiting for the bus.

We need here to make a clear distinction between the two terms; predicate and
predicator. The term predicate identifies elements in the language system. The term
predicator identifies the semantic role played by a particular word in a particular sentence. A
simple sentence only has one predicator, although it may have more than one predicate.
Thus, a predicator is similar to the grammatical term “subject” in that there is only one subject
in a simple declarative sentence. For example, the sentence 'A tall gorgeous young lady
welcomed the guests', has only one predicator (welcome), but it contains the words tall,
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gorgeous, young, lady, guests which are all predicates because they can function as
predicators in other sentences:

1. Anne is tall.
2. She is gorgeous.
3. She is young.
4. She is a lady.
5. They are our guests.

DEGREE OF A PREDICATE
The degree of a predicate is a number indicating the number of arguments (played by the
referring expressions) in simple sentences. For example, the adjective hungry is a predicate
of degree one or one-place predicate, and the verb love is a predicate of degree two or
two-place predicate:

1. The man is hungry. (The man: argument/hungry: predicate of degree one)

2. John loves Mary. (John (subj.)/Mary (obj.): arguments/love: predicate of degree two)

Generally, most predicates are of degree two (with transitive verbs as in 2 above), but
there are few three-place predicates. These are confined to some ditransitive verbs, such as
give, send, write, show which are followed by two objects: indirect and direct (respectively)
as shown by the underlined words below:

1. Mahmood gave Ahmed a book. (predicate: give- degree three/arguments:

Mahmood/Ahmed/book)
2. Tara sent her mother an email. (predicate: send-degree three/arguments:
Tara/her mother/email)
3. My friend wrote me a letter. (predicate: write- degree three/arguments: my
friend/me/a
letter)
4. Sue showed Janet the new mobile phone. (predicate: show-degree three/
arguments:
Sue/Janet/the new mobile phone).

The majority of adjectives are one-place predicates as in (1), but some

adjectives can be two-place predicates as in (2) below:
1. My father is tired. (predicate: tired/argument: my father)
2. Jack is afraid of the dog. ( predicate: afraid/ arguments: Jack, the dog)
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 Most nouns are of degree one (one-place predicates) as in (1), but there are some
nouns of degree two (two-place predicates) as in (2) and (3) below, which are mostly
relational (mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter):

1. Chomsky is a linguist. (predicate: linguist: degree one/argument: Chomsky)

2. Mr Alfred is a father of Jenifer. (predicate: father: degree two/ arguments: Mr Alfred,

Jenifer)

2. Sami is the brother of Hani. (predicate: brother/arguments: Sami/Hani)

Finally, prepositions can be two-place predicates as in (1) and (2), or three-place

predicates as in (3) below:

1. My house is near the bus stop. (predicate: near: two-place/arguments: my house,

bus stop)

2. The teacher is in front of the students. (predicate: in front of: two-place/

arguments:
the teacher, the students)

3. Is Erbil between Kirkuk and Mosul? (predicate: between: three-place/arguments:

Erbil, Kirkuk, Mosul)

In this ACTIVITY 2 we have focused on the following topics:

- UTTERANCE: A stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is
silence on the part of that person.
- Utterances are physical events (ephemeral which soon die on the wind).
- An utterance is basically spoken, but it can be written or recorded for the purpose
of analysis, description or study.
- SENTENCE: A string of words put together by the grammatical rules of language.
- Traditionally, it is defined as a grammatically complete string of words expressing
a complete thought.
- A sentence is basically written. It is not a physical event. Unlike utterances,
sentences are permanent (long-lived).
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 - PROPOSITION: A declarative sentence which describes a state of affairs.
- A proposition is a declarative sentence which is either true or false. True
propositions correspond to facts, but false propositions do not correspond to facts.
- SENSE: The relationships between elements or words inside the language
system.
- REFERENCE: The relationship between a word or a phrase and an entity in the
external world (outside language). There are two types of reference:
- VARIABLE (changeable): Words like, I, you, she, John, this page, my car are
said to have variable reference since they are determined by the conext in which
they are used.
- CONSTANT (unique, unchangeable): Words in language which have unique or
constant reference, such as: the moon, the sun, the north/south pole, London,
Paris, Japan, etc.
- REFERRING EXPRESSION: A word that refers to somebody o something with a
particular referent in mind (of the speaker).
- OPAQUE CONTEXT: That part of a sentence which could be made into a
complete sentence by the addition of a referring expression.
- EQUATIVE SENTENCE: A sentence which is used to assert that the two referrin
expressions have the same referent (refer to the same person or thing).
- PREDICATOR: A word which does not belong to any of the referring expressions
and carries the most specific information or meaning.
- The predicator describes the state or process in which the referring expressions
are involved: Daddy is hungry. (describes the state of hunger) John loves Mary.
(describes the process of love)
- PREDICATE: Any word which can function as the predicator of a sentence.
- DEGREE OF A PREDICATE: A number indicating the number of arguments
(referring expressions) in simple sentences.

In this ACTIVITY 2 we are going to be acquainted with some basic notions and terms in the
study of meaning.
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 STUDY SECTION

QUESTIONS

1. Define an utterance. What may it consist of?

It is a stretch of talk by a person, before and after which there is silence on the part of the other person.
2. What is a sentence? How is it traditionally defined?
It is a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a language.
3. Do people always use well-formed sentences in conversations? What do they actually
use? Give examples. No, People normally use utterances of short phrases and fragments. For example:
a: Where are you from? B: Panama
4. Point out the differences between utterances and sentences.
Sentences carry a complete meaning while the understanding of a utterance depends on a context.
5. Is semantics only concerned with complete sentences? Explain.
No,Semantics is concerned with the meaning of the non-sentence. That is, it focuses on the study of the utterances
6. What should we begin our semantic analysis with? Why?
Starting with the sentence is more convenient because the meaning of the sentence involves prepositions.
7. Define a proposition.
It is the part of the meaning of a declarative sentence which describes a state of affairs.
8. What does a speaker assert in uttering a declarative sentence?
In uttering a declarative sentence, a speaker asserts a proposition.
9. What do true and false propositions correspond to? Provide examples.
True propositions corresponds to facts. For example, United States invaded Panama.
10. Can different sentences express the same proposition? Give examples.
yes, For example the statements can be said in different ways. For example: Panama has a canal. A canal is possessed by
Panama
11. Is it possible for the same declarative sentence to express more than one proposition?
yes, For example: Maria's friend, who is a dentist,like apples.

Provide examples.

12. Broadly speaking, what does the term ‘sense’ refer to?
It refers to the meaning that a word or a phrase has in the dictionary.
13. More specifically, what does the term ‘sense’ refer to?
It is used to specify the relationship of meaning between elements whose meaning is dependen on another.
14. Can certain words in language have more than one sense (meaning)? Give examples.
yes, For example, the word "play." It's time to play the piano. It's time to play a new role. In these two examples,
the word "play" refers to produce a song with the piano, and in the other sentence, it refers to engage in a role.
15. Are there words in different dialects and varieties with the same sense? Give examples.
yes, In American English, taking a person by using a car is called " a ride". In British English is called " a lift."
16. Define the term ‘reference’. Give examples.
It is the relationship between a word or a phrase and an entity in the external world. The word tree refers to an object called tree.
17. Do all words in language have sense or reference? Explain with examples.
yes, Any word that has an entity has sense. The word person refers to a human being.
18. Give examples to illustrate each of the following:

a. words with variable reference

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I, You, He, She, It
 b. words with constant or unique reference
The moon, planet earth, North, South
c. two expressions with the same referent
The leader of the Democratic Pary and the President of USA in 2014.
19. What is a referring expression? Give examples.
It is a word that refers to someone or something with a particular referent in mind. For example, David helped me. David refers
to a particular person the speaker has in mind.
20. How can the same indefinite NP be a referring expression in one sentence and not in the
other? Explain with examples. It has to do with the context for ambiguos sentences.

21. How can the ambiguity of indefinite NPs be resolved (cleared up)? Exemplify.

22. Whether a word is a referring expression or not depends on two factors. What are they?

23. Can definite NPs be referring expressions or not? Explain with examples.

24. What is an opaque context? Exemplify.

It can be defined as that part of a sentence which could be made into a complete sentence by adding a referring
expression.
25. What is meant by an equative sentence? Give examples.
It is used to assert the identity of two referring expressions. Example: David Cameron is the British Prime Minister. The British
prime minister is David Cameron.
26. A remarkable feature of equative sentences is the reversal test, but sometimes it does not
work. Explain with illustrative examples. What I need is a cup of tea. A cup of tea is what I need.
Cup of tea is not a referring expression because the speaker does not have any particular cup in mind.
27. Write sentences to illustrate the following:

a. equative and reversible Panama is a beautiful country. A beautiful country is Panama.

b. reversible but not equative What I need is a Mcdonald's combo.

A Macdonald's combo is what I need
c. equative but not reversible

28. Define a predicator. What does it describe? Give examples.

It identifies the semantic role played by a particular word in a particular sentence.
29. How can the predicator in a sentence be found? Exemplify.
We need to find the predicator in a sentence.
30. What types of words can function as predicators in sentences, and what words that
cannot? Explain. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and verbs can work as predicators, while articles,
conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs cannot.

31. What semantic roles are revealed in the analysis of simple declarative sentences? Give
examples. My house is in front of the public garden; in front is a predicator.
She showed me her new car. Show is a predicator

32. What is a predicate? It is any word which can function as the predicator of a sentence.

33. Make a clear distinction between a predicate and a predicator.

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The term predicate identifies elements in the language system while the term predicator identifies the semantic
role played by a particular word in a particular sentence.
34. Define a predicate according to traditional grammar.
A predicate is the grammatical term for the words in a sentence or clause that describe the action but not the
subject.
35. How is a predicator similar to the grammatical term ‘subjects’? Explain with examples.
There is only one subject in declarative sentences. Examples: Anne is rich.
36. What do we mean by the degree of a predicate?
It is a number indicating the number of arguments in a simple sentence.
37. Write sentences to illustrate each of the following cases:

a. one-place predicate (noun) Jose is happy.

b. two-place predicate (noun) Jose loves Marta.

c. two-place predicate (verb) Chris jumps and catches.

d. three-place predicate (verb) Maria, cries, smiles and shivers.

e. three-place predicate (preposition) Is Panama between Colombia and Costa Rica?

f. two-place predicate (preposition) Jose lives near the school.

g. one-place predicate (adjective) She is sad.

h. two-place predicate (adjective) She is bitter and sad.

EXERCISES

EXERCISE 1: Tick with + or – as appropriate.

utterance sentence proposition

1. can be loud or quiet + -
-
2. can be grammatical +
+ +
or not
3. can be true or false - + +

4. can be in a + - -
particular accent
5. can be in a + + +
particular language
6. can be described as + - -
a physical event

EXERCISE 2: Indicate whether the following pairs of sentences express the

same (S) or different (D) propositions:

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1. a. Suzan ate the apple. s

b. The apple was eaten by Suzan. s

2. a. The rat ate up the cheese. s

s
b. The rat ate the cheese up.

3. a. The dog chased the cat. s

b. The cat chased the dog. s

4. a. This machine is easy to operate. s

b. It is easy to operate this machine. s

5. a. My mother cooked the food. s

b. My mother had the food cooked. s

s
6. a. John killed Nancy.

b. John caused Nancy to die. s

EXERCISE 3: Say whether each of the italicized words shows sense or reference.

1. If you look outside, you know who l mean. reference

2. Please tell me what 'fantastic' means. sense

3. Look up the meaning of this word in your dictionary. sense

4. To some people money means happiness. reference

5. When he was talking about true friends, he meant you. reference

6. The word 'smart' means 'intelligent'. sense

EXERCISE 4: Mark the words or phrases that indicate sense with (S) and those that indicate
reference with (R).
s s r
r r s
1. The Nile; my car; happiness; in order to; by the way; that book
s s r s r
r
2. because; when; tree; Africa; idea; the door
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 s r s r r s
3. probably; university; above; the bird on the tree; problem

EXERCISE 5: Which of the underlined expressions has a constant reference

(CR), and which has a variable reference (VR)?

cr
vr
1. Japan is a big industrial country.
vr
2. The president gave a speech yesterday.
cr
3. Life is impossible on the moon.
vr
4. My car is new.
vr vr
5. You don’t know him.
cr cr
6. Cairo is in Africa.

EXERCISE 6: Indicate whether the underlined words are referring expressions

or not. Answer with (Yes) or (No).

1. The book is on the table. yes

2. He gave me the book l asked for. yes

3. Suzy came to our party last night. yes

4. There is no Suzy on this list. no

5. My parents are so kind to me. tes

6. Parents are kind to their children. no

7. A student was in here looking for you. yes

8. A student is a person who is studying at a college or university. no

9. She is a very polite young lady. (Used in a conversation between two employees

about their company secretary) yes

10. If you annoy a girl, she will be angry and nervous. no

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EXERCISE: 7 Point out the predicator in the following sentences. The first one

has been done for you:

1. Mr. Smith is typing his wife’s speech. (type)

2. Paris is in Europe. in
(...................)
between
3. Erbil is between Kirkuk and Mosul. (...................)
4. The fish swims. swims
(...................)
5. Einstein was a genius. (...................)
genius

6. My friend’s car is red. (...................)

red
cooked
7. Mother has cooked the food. (...................)
hungry
8. My father is hungry. (...................)
library
9. This is a library. (...................)
secretary
10. His sister is a secretary. (...................)

EXERCISE 8: Point out the predicator and argument(s) in the following

sentences:
1. Tony is a car mechanic.
car mechanic tony
(predicator:.........../argument:........................)
2. John showed Cathy his new car.
showed john, cathy, his new car
(predicator:............/argument:.......................)
3. Ahmed is pleased with his success.
pleased Ahmed/ with his success
(predicator:.............../argument:.....................)
4. My house is behind the hospital.
behind My house, the hospital
(predicator:................/argument:.....................)
5. The classroom is dusty.
dusty tThe classroom
(predicator:................/argument:......................)
6. Chicago is between Los Angeles and New York.
between Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
(predicator:................./argument:.....................)

EXERCISE 9: What degree are the predicates in the following sentences?

Underline the predicate, mention its type and point out the arguments.
Example: This food is smelly.
(smelly (adj.)/degree one predicate/argument: food)

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1. Jimmy is an actor. actor(noun)/ degree one predicate/ argument:Jimmy

2. William married Suzan. married(verb)/degree second predicate/ argument William and Suzan
3. Baghdad is between Basra and Mosul. between (preposition) degree third/ argument: Baghdad, Basra and
Mosul.
4. Jane is Kim’s mother. mother(noun)/ degree third predicate/ argumment: Jane, kim, mother
5. My father sold his car. sold( verb)/ degree second predicate/ argument My father, his car
6. Ali gave his friend a book. gave(veb)/ degree third predicate/ argument Ali, his friend, a book
7. Peter is a fool. Fool( adjective)/ degree second/ argument Peter, fool.
8. This food is tasty. Tasty( adjective) degree firs predicate/ argument food

9. Sara is jealous of Tara. jealous( adj)/ degree third predicate/ argument Sara, jealous, Tara

10. His office is behind the local cinema. Behind( preposition)/ degree third predicate/ argument cinema

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