Universiti Sains Malaysia Name: Alia Nadia binti Masno

School of Humanities Matric No: 139632/TESOL

Semester I 2020/2021
HET 319 Semantics (Quiz 10%). Write your answer on this sheet.

1. Decide whether each of the following is true (T) or false (F). (20 marks)
T /
F
a. Juliet loves Romeo and Romeo loves Juliet have the same proposition. T

b. The Image Theory describes meaning based on the notion of prototype. F

c. The term ‘referent’ is the object in the world that a word refers to. T

d. There is no such thing as a false proposition. F

e. All words have sense and reference. F

f. The expression Planet Venus does not have a constant reference. F

g. Michael Jackson has a constant reference. T

h. Componential analysis approaches meaning from the sentence level. F

i. The sentence It is so funny, my toes are laughing is a contradiction. F

j. The word mean can only be applied to words and sentences. T

2. For each item, underline the predicator and state its degree of predicate. 40marks)
Degree of predicate
a. The baby is fragile. One-place
b. Sam’s grandmother made dinner last night. Two-place
c. Sam smiles all the time. Two-place
d. My friend hides her jewellery in the bread bin. Three-place
e. Let’s meet tomorrow. Zero-place

3. Underline the pair(s) of utterances with the same propositional content. (20 marks)
a. ‘The rat ate the cheese’/ ‘Did the rat eat the cheese?’
b. ‘I’m starving’/‘Are you starving?’
c. ‘Switch off your mobile phone now’/‘I told you to switch off your phone.’
d. ‘Is Don crazy?’/‘Don is not crazy.’
e. ‘Lightning never strikes twice’/‘It is not the case the lightning strikes twice’

4. State the semantic relationship between each set of sentences. (20 marks)
a. She rolled up the carpet/ She rolled the carpet up. Paraphrases
b. Ben drives to work / Ben has a job. Presuppositions
c. He boiled the egg/ He cooked the egg. Synonyms
d. Lee plays the violin. / Lee plays a musical instrument. Entailment
Once completed, save the file as Quiz 1 and email to hajar@usm.my.