Tên thành viên nhóm 5:

1. Hoàng Thị Mỹ Duyên

2. Đặng Phương Nghi

3. Ngô Khánh Vy

4. Nguyễn Phương Thảo

5. Võ Thị Thanh Thảo

Unit 5 Study Guide and Exercises

1. You should understand these terms and concepts from this unit:
1. Predicator
The PREDICATOR of a simple declarative sentence is the word (sometimes a
group of words) which does not belong to any of the referring expressions
and which, of the remainder, makes the most specifific contribution to the
meaning of the sentence. Intuitively speaking, the predicator describes the
state or process in which the referring expressions are involved.
( Source: Semantics-a-coursebook page 47)
 Example:
Mary is nice (nice is the predicator and describes the state)
nice is also a predicate (because it functions as the predicator of this sentence)
2. Predicate
A PREDICATE is any word (or sequence of words) which (in a given single
sense) can function as the predicator of a sentence.
( Source: Semantics-a-coursebook page 48)
 Example: the example of Predicator.
3. Ellipsis (elliptical)
Ellipsis is when words are deliberately left out of a sentence, though the
meaning can still be understood.
 For example, you may say ‘He’s leaving but I’m not’ instead of saying ‘He’s
leaving but I’m not leaving’
 A verb phrase ellipsis omits an entire phrase that’s anchored by a verb. For
instance: “I went to the park, but Jim did not”. We know that the thing Jim
did was “went to the park”, but we omit it as part of this elliptical
construction. The meaning of the sentence remained same.
(Source: Longman dictionary).
4. Identity relation :This is the relation found in equative sentences (Unit 4, p.
42). In English, the identity of the referents of two difffferent referring
expressions is expressed by a form of the verb be.
( Source: Semantics-a-coursebook, Comment, page 53)
 Example: Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of UK in 2000.
5. Argument: an argument is an expression that helps complete the meaning of a
predicate, the latter referring in this context to a main verb and its auxiliaries.
 Example:
Lan visits the museum
Lan is an argument
visit is a predicator
museum is an argument
6. Degree of a predicate
The DEGREE of a predicate is a number indicating the number of arguments
it is normally understood to have in simple sentences.
( Source: Semantics-a-coursebook page 50)
 Examples:
one-place: She is happy. “She” is an argument and “happy” is one-place predicate
which has the function as an adjective.
three-place: The museum is between the church and the school. “The museum”,
“the church”, and “the school” are arguments; and “between” is a three-predicate
which has the function as preposition.

2. Indicate the arguments and predicator(s) in each sentence:

a.John is a linguist.
Argument: John
Predicator: linguist.
b.John loves Mary.
Arguments: John, Mary
Predicator: love
c.Mary loves John.
(Are arguments ordered? Yes)
Arguments: Mary, John
Predicator: love
d.John gave Mary a ring
Arguments: John, Mary, a ring
Predicator: give
e. Chicago is between Los Angeles and New York.
Arguments: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York.
Predicator: between.
f .Jane is Mary’s mother
1/ Be expresses the identity relation
Arguments: Jane, Mary’s mother.
Predicator: is
2/ Mother is a relational predicate.
Arguments: Jane, Mary’s
Predicator: mother
g. Jones is the Dean of the College
1/ Be expresses the identity relation
Arguments: Jones, the Dean of the College.
Predicator: is.
2/ Dean (of) is a relational predicate
Arguments: Jones, the College.
Predicator: the Dean of
h. John stood near the bank.
(How should the ambiguity be handled? Bank is homonymous)
Arguments: John, the bank
Predicator: stand
i.Ed is a fool.
Arguments: Ed
Predicator: fool
j. Ed is foolish.
Argument: Ed
Predicator: foolish
3. Indicate the degree of the predicates used as predicators in each sentence
in item 2 above
 2a: a linguist - one place
 2b, c: love - two-place
 2d: give - three-place
 2e: between - three-place
 2f: is - two-place, or mother - two-place
 2g: is - two place, or Dean (of) - two-place
 2h: stand (near) - two-place
 2i: a fool - one place
 2j: foolish - one-place.

4. How does the concept of predicate in the semantic sense differ from the
concept of grammatical predicate? Does one seem to be more revealing than
the other?
-The traditional notion of the grammatical predicate of a sentence refers
to everything in the sentence other than the subject.
- For example, the grammatical predicate in the sentence Mary wrote a novel is
the phrase wrote a novel. A semantic predicate is the expression in a sentence
that can function as the predicator of the sentence, and seems to be more relevant
to the semantic analysis of the sentence than the grammatical predicate.

5. In this unit we said that the prepositions from and of in the two-part
adjectives different from and afraid of "are not themselves predicates...[and
that they] are relatively meaningless linking particles". Do you agree with
this statement? Consider a sentence such as The letter is from my uncle
before reaching a conclusion.
Answers may vary.
The point being made here is that in the system developed in the text we have to
choose the most prominent non-referring expression as the predicator of the
sentence, since we have asserted that there is only one predicator per sentence.
But sometimes a word such as the preposition “from” might serve as the
predicator itself, as in “The letter is from my uncle”. So, whether prepositions are
predicates or not may be a matter of degree and depend on particular
circumstances.

6. What are the functions of the verb be in these sentences (i.e. does it
function as an identity predicate or as a grammatical device for linking a
non-verbal predicate to its first argument). Do all instances of be carry tense?

In 6a-d all uses of be are tensed.

a. Mary is happy. Linking function
b. A tulip is a flower. Linking function
 c. George W. Bush is the U.S. President. Identity predicate
d. God is. Identity predicate
There is a potential problem with 6d, since there is no explicitly-stated
referring expression with which God is asserted to be identical.

7. Does it make sense to say that the verb be has a meaning of its own,
independent of whether it is used as a linking device or as the identity
predicate? Speculate about what it could mean, and don't be concerned if
your answer is quite abstract. Many lexical items in the world's
languages have very abstract meanings.
Answers will vary.
Recently, cognitive semanticists have suggested that be is meaningful in all its
uses, but that its meaning is highly abstract, signifying something like a
maximally abstract process that is construed as unchanging over time (i.e. as a
maximally imperfective process). Some students might suggest this kind of
potential meaning for be.

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