Semantics: a coursebook, second edition

(c)
Cats never live more than 20 years
T / F / D
(d)
Bachelors cannot form lasting relationships
T / F / D
(e)
Cats are not vegetables
T / F / D
(f)
Bachelors are male
T / F / D
(g)
No cat likes to bathe
T / F / D
(h)
Bachelors are lonely
T / F / D
(2) Were you able to assign T or F to all the above sentences?
Yes / No
(3) Which of the above sentences do you think ANY speaker of English
could assign T or F to?
..........................................................................................................................
(4) Which of the sentences in (a)–(h) above would you say are true by virtue
of the senses of the words in them?
..........................................................................................................................
(5) Which of the sentences above would you say might be true or false as a
matter of fact about the world?
..........................................................................................................................
Feedback
(1) (a) T (b) T (c)–(d) Actually we, the authors, don’t know the answers for 
these sentences. (e) T (f) T (g)–(h) We don’t know the answers for these,
either. (2) Perhaps you were; we weren’t. (3) (a),(b),(e),(f) (4) (a),(b),(e),(f)
(5) (c),(d),(g),(h)
Comment Sentences (a),(b),(e),(f) are analytic. Sentences (c),(d),(g),(h) are synthetic.
Practice Here are some more sentences. Circle A for analytic, or S for synthetic, as
appropriate. For some, you will have to imagine relevant situations.
(1) John’s brother is nine years old
A / S
(2) John’s nine-year-old brother is a boy
A / S
(3) Sam’s wife is married
A / S
(4) Sam’s wife is not German
A / S
(5) My watch is slow
A / S
(6) My watch is a device for telling the time
A / S
Feedback
(1) S (2) A (3) A (4) S (5) S (6) A
Comment Analytic sentences are always true (necessarily so, by virtue of the senses of the
words in them), whereas synthetic sentences can be sometimes true, sometimes
false, depending on the circumstances. We now come to contradiction.
PA RT   T H R E E
. . . to  sense
96

U N I T   9
Sense properties and stereotypes
97
Definition A CONTRADICTION is a sentence that is necessarily FALSE, as a result of
the senses of the words in it. Thus a contradiction is in a way the opposite of
an analytic sentence.
Example This animal is a vegetable is a contradiction.
This must be false because of the senses of animal and vegetable.
Both of John’s parents are married to aunts of mine is a contradiction.
This must be false because of the senses of both parents, married, and aunt.
Practice Circle the following sentences A for analytic, S for synthetic or C for
contradiction, as appropriate. For some you will have to imagine relevant
situations.
(1) That girl is her own mother’s mother
A / S / C
(2) The boy is his own father’s son
A / S / C
(3) Alice is Ken’s sister
A / S / C
(4) Some typewriters are dusty
A / S / C
(5) If it breaks, it breaks

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