Sample Mid-test on Semantics

HUFLIT
I. Do the following two English sentences mean
(approximately) the same thing/proposition
(yes/no)?
(1) a. He learns English.
b. He learns French.
(2) a. She bought a book.
b. A book was bought by her.

Key: 1no 2yes

II. Which of the following utterances are tokens
of whole sentences (S) and which are not
(NS)? Circle your choice.
(1) ‘A song is sung by her’ S / NS
(2) ‘A nice girl’ S / NS

Key: 1S 2NS
III. Do the following words refer to things in the
world? Circle your choice.
(1)Hat Yes / No
(2) On Yes / No

Key: 1yes 2no

IV. What is intended by the word mean,
meaning, etc. in the following examples,
reference (R) or sense (S)? Circle your choice.
(1)What do you mean when you say “yes”?
R/S
(2) I mean that book?
R/S

Key: 1S 2R
V. Could the following possibly be used as
referring expressions? Circle the answer of
your choice.
a) Ho Chi Minh Yes /
No
b) Under Yes / No

Key: 1yes 2no

VI. Are the following equative sentences? Circle
your choice.
(1) Ha Noi is Thang Long Yes /
No
(2) Da Nang is a big city Yes / No

Key: 1yes 2no

 VII. Analyze the predicate and predicator in the
following sentences
(1) Hai Phong is near the coast.
(2) He caught a big yellow fish.

Key: 1near>predicator
2caught > predicator big, yellow> predicates
VIII. Of what degree is the predicate in the
following sentences
(1) He helped me.
(2) They sent him the book.

Key: 1: 2 2: 3
IX. Miscelaneous questions.
1/ Give two hyponyms of HOUSE
2/ Is TRUE – FALSE binary or gradable?

Key: 1/ door – window

2/ Binary
X. Answer the following questions
with YES or NO.
1/ Is “Diamond is precious” an analytic
sentence?
2/ Are “Jack is dead” and “Jack is alive”
contradictory?

Key: 1yes 2yes

XI. Provide two paraphrases for each
of the following ambiguous sentences.
1/ I like football more than my wife.
a. __________________.
b. __________________.

Key:
a. I like football more than my wife likes it.
b. I like football more than I like my wife.
Good luck!