EXERCISES OF CHAPTER 9

SEMANTICS
QUESTION 1

What semantic feature must a noun have in order

to be used in this sentence?
The _______were discussing what to do.

[+ human]
QUESTION 2
Using semantic features, how would you explain
the oddness of these sentences?
(a) The television drank my water.
The verb ‘drink’ requires a subject with the
feature [+animate] and the noun ‘television’ has
the feature [-animate].
(b) His dog writes poetry.
 The verb ‘write’ requires a subject with the
feature [+human] and the noun ‘dog’ has the
feature [-human].
QUESTION 3

What phrase is used more often instead of

“thematic roles” and what other term is used
instead of “theme” in the semantic analysis of
noun phrases?

“thematic roles”  semantic roles

“theme”  patient
QUESTION 4

What kind of opposites can be identified via the

“negative test”?
 Non-gradable antonyms
QUESTION 5

How is the term “prototype” used in semantics?


The prototype is the characteristic instance of a
category, as in the case of “robin” being the
clearest example, or prototype, of the category
“bird” for many American English speakers.
QUESTION 6

Identify the roles of the seven noun phrases in

this sentence:
With her new golf club, Anne Marshall whacked
the ball from the woods to the grassy area near
the hole and she suddenly felt invincible.

Instrument (her new golf club), Agent (Anne
Marshall), Theme (the ball), Source
(the woods), Goal (the grassy area), Location (the
hole), Experiencer (she)
QUESTION 7

Which of the following words are co-hyponyms?

ant, cabbage, insect, plant, turnip, vegetable

‘Cabbage’ and ‘turnip’
 QUESTION 8
What is the basic lexical relation between each
pair of words listed here? 
(a) antonymy (d) hyponymy (g) hyponymy
(reversives)

(b) synonymy (e) hyponymy (h)

homophony (or
homophones)

(c) antonymy (f) antonymy (non- (i) homonymy (or

(gradable) gradable) homonyms)
 QUESTION 9

Which of the following opposites are gradable,

non-gradable, or reversive? 

(a) non-gradable (c) non-gradable (e) reversive

(b) reversive (d) gradable (f) gradable

QUESTION 10

What is the lexical relation between the English

words swallow (= a small bird) and swallow (=
make food or drink go down the throat)?


They are homonyms.

QUESTION 11

What is the hierarchical relationship in the

meanings of this set of words:
bronchitis, disease, influenza, pneumonia,
tuberculosis?

There is a superordinate (disease) and four co-
hyponyms (bronchitis, influenza, pneumonia,
tuberculosis).
QUESTION 12
Are the underlined words in these sentences best
described as examples of polysemy or metonymy?

(a) (c) (e) (g)

metonymy metonymy polysemy polysemy
(b) (d) (f)
polysemy metonymy metonymy