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Semantics KEY Minitest 2 2132 - NTC ANH - Cô gửi cả lớp

tham khảo ôn tập chuẩn bị thi cuối kỳ
english (Đại học Hoa Sen)

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Student’s name: _______________________________

Student’s code number: _______________
Class’s code number: _______________
Date of exam: _______________
Mini-Test 2 (KEYS) Mark Examiner
Course: ENGLISH SEMANTICS MSMH: ANH404DE03
Duration: 45 minutes (No material is allowed during the test time.)
I. Are the following statements true (T) or false (F)? (2 points)
_F_ 1. Steve hugged Jane is not a paraphrase of Jane was hugged by Steve.
_F_ 2. The act of asking a question is typically performed by uttering an imperative sentence.
_T_ 3. Warning, shocking, complaining, apologizing, insulting, reassuring, etc. are all things
that we do, using language.
_F_ 4. There are no border cases in which it is hard to say whether some particular verb is, or is
not, perfomative.
_F_ 5. Language cannot actually be used to do things.
_T_ 6. A given sentence always consists of the same words, and in the same order. Any change in the
words, or in their order, makes a different sentence, for our purposes.
_T_ 7. By uttering a simple interrogative, a speaker can mention a particular proposition,
without asserting its truth.
_F_ 8. A constative utterance is one that actually describes the act that it performs, i.e. it
performs some act and simultaneously describes that act.
_F_ 9. The PERLOCUTIONARY ACT (or simply the PERLOCUTION) carried out by a
speaker making an utterance reflects the intention of the speaker in making the utterance
in the first place.
_T_ 10. One sentence can generally be uttered to perform a wide variety of different acts,
depending on who utters it and where, when, and why it is uttered.
_F_ 11. A proposition is a grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete thought.

II. Fill in each blank with one appropriate word from the box. There are 5 extra inappropriate words.
physical correspond requesting equative voice propositions context
constative refer offering performative contradiction occasions gesture
1. Utterances are physical events. Utterances die on the wind. (2 points)
2. The same sentence can be uttered on different occasions to perform different acts.
3. A/ An contradiction is a sentence that is necessarily false, as a result of the senses of the
words in it.
4. Sentences in different languages can correspond to the same proposition, if the sentences
are perfect translations of one another.
5. The sentence I can’t promise that I’ll be back in time is constative.
6. ‘Accent and voice quality belong strictly to the utterance, not to the sentence.
7. A/ An equative sentence is one which is used to assert that two referring expressions have the same
referent.
8. ‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’ performs the illocutionary act of offering.
9. The same expression can be a referring expression or not, depending on the context.
10. Some acts can be performed non-linguistically, e.g. with a gesture.

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III. Choose Yes or No to answer the following questions. (2 points)

1. Is it conceivable to give the exact time, date, and place of an utterance? Yes/ No
2. Is it conceivable to give the exact time, date, and place of a sentence? Yes/ No
3. Can the same sentence be uttered on different occasions to perform different acts? Yes/ No
4. In making the utterance ‘Elvis is great’, would a speaker normally be carrying out
an act of referring, i.e. referring to some particular person? Yes/ No
5. Would one purpose of making the assertion ‘You are a fool’ be to insult or to
tease the hearer? Yes/ No
6. Would one purpose of making the assertion ‘There is a wasp in your left ear’ be
simply to describe some existing state of affairs in the world? Yes/ No
7. Is argue a performative verb? Yes/ No
8. Is condemn a performative verb? Yes/ No
Do each of the following pairs of illocutions seem appropriate sequences?
9. congratulation – apology Yes/ No
10. accusation – denial Yes/ No
In the present-day world,
11. Is it a fact that there are lions in Africa? Yes / No
Is12.
the proposition that there are lions in Africa a true proposition? Yes / No
Is13.
it a fact that the state of Arkansas is uninhabited by human beings? Yes / No
Is14.
the proposition that the state of Arkansas is uninhabited by human beings true? Yes / No
In the following utterances, is any proposition asserted by the speaker?
15. ‘Where have you been?’ Yes / No
16. ‘Take a fifteen-minute break!’ Yes / No
17. ‘She heard the door close behind her.’ Yes / No
Would you say that the members of the following sentence pairs have the same propositional content?
18. You like it, don’t you? Yes / No
You like it.
19. Pigs might fly. Yes / No
Jane has got a new car.
20. This is the house that Tom built. Yes / No
Is this the house that Tom built?

IV. State whether the following utterances are performative (P) or constative (C). (1 point)
_C_ 1. ‘You can request for some help.’
_P_ 2. ‘I bet you can’t beat my computer at chess.’
_C_ 3. ‘I doubt that it was what he wanted.’
_P_ 4. ‘I apologize to you for being so late.’
_C_ 5. ‘It feels so good to be home.’
_P_ 6. ‘We hereby thank you for the compliments you have paid us.’
_C_ 7. ‘She has promised to do all that she can to help.’
_C_ 8. ‘Readers are thought to have known the regulations.’
_P_ 9. ‘I congratulate you on your exam results.’
_P_ 10. ‘I challenge you to beat the speed record.’

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V. State whether the following statements are analytic (A), contradictory (C) or synthetic (S).
(1 point)
_A__ 1. Either he is wrong or he is right. (1
point)
_S__ 2. Mount Everest is the highest in the world.
_A__ 3. If the cat is dead, it is not alive.
_S__ 4. Some turtles only eat animals, such as insects, worms, and small fish.
_C__ 5. My aunt is a man.
_A__ 6. A triangle is a three-sided figure.
__S_ 7. Jenny is not Jack’s sister.
_A__ 8. If everyone is here, no one isn’t here.
_S__ 9. Tokyo is the capital of Japan.
_C__ 10. Siblings are not relatives.
VI. For each of the following situations, identify both the sentence type (from among declarative,
imperative, or interrogative) of the utterance and the act (from among asserting, asking, or ordering)
carried out by the utterance. The first one is done as example. (1 point)
(1) Biology teacher: ‘Note that the female cell has two X-shaped chromosomes.’
Sentence type: imperative Act: asserting
(‘The female cell has two X-shaped chromosomes.’)
(2) The Duke of Omnium, to his butler, who sees to his every need: ‘It’s cold in here, Hives.’
Sentence type: declarative Act: ordering (‘Close the windows.’)
(3) Passenger to an employee of American Airlines: ‘When's the next flight to Chicago?’
Sentence type: interrogative Act: asking
(4) Mother to child who is eating untidily: ‘Look at the mess you’ve made under your chair.’
Sentence type: imperative Act: asserting (‘You’ve made a mess under your chair.’)
(5) Lady at ticket office in railway station: ‘I’d like a day return to London, please.’
Sentence type: declarative Act: ordering
(6) Speaker at a meeting on a hot political issue: ‘Is it right to allow skateboarding on our
sidewalks?’
Sentence type: interrogative Act: asserting (‘It is not right to allow skateboarding ...’)

VII. Identify the illocution of each of the given utterances, which is underlined, in two
different situations (1 point):
1. ‘Why don’t you study French?’
SITUATION 1:
Roy: Why don’t you study French? (= câu hỏi)
Roy’s friend: Because I don’t have time for it right now. (= câu đáp, câu trả lời)
Roy performs an illocutionary act of asking.
SITUATION 2:
Roy: Why don’t you study French? (= You should study French.)
Roy’s friend: That’s what I thought, too.
Roy performs an illocutionary act of making a suggestion. (gợi ý)

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2. ‘We’re running out of time.’

SITUATION 1:
Ann: How much time have we got for the project?
Karen: We’re running out of time.
Karen performs an illocutionary act of asserting. (xác nhận, khẳng định)

SITUATION 2:
Janet: Our oral presentation is not as well-prepared as it should be
Mary: We’re running out of time. (= You should accept it.)
Mary performs an illocutionary act of making a suggestion. (gợi ý)

END OF THE TEST

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