Saeed 2003年版 语义学教材课后练习答案 4

4.1

A. F

B. T

C. F

Exercise 4.2

a. The train will either arrive or it won't arrive.

b. If it rains, we'll get wet.

c. Every doctor is a doctor.

d. If Albert killed a deer, then Albert killed an animal.

e. Madrid is the capital of Spain.

f. Every city has pollution problems.

Only a, c, d are analytically try.

Exercise 4.3

(1)

a. Margarita passed her driving test.

b. Margarita didn't fail her driving test.

a. entails b.

If a. is true, b. is true as well; if b. is false (i.e., if Margarita failed her driving test), a. also has to be false

(2)

a. Cassidy inherited a farm.

b. Cassidy owned a farm.

This one is a bit hard since the example is somewhat vague [you won't have examples that have this problem on the exam!]… let's think about the example in the following way. Change b. to: At some point in his live, Cassidy owned a farm.

Now, if a. is true, b. is true as well; \"inherit x\" entails that the person who inherits x owns x at least for some time; similarly if Cassidy never owned a farm, it is also the case that he could have never inherited one.

Again, do not think too much about this example, since there are complications when we think about different temporal situations.

a. entails b. (under the above conditions)

(3)

a. Cassidy inherited a farm.

b. Cassidy owns a farm.

a. does not entail b.

If a. is true, b. is not automatically true; Cassidy could have inherited a farm, and then sold it; so, he would not own a farm anymore.

(4)

a. Arnold poisoned his wife.

b. Arnold killed his wife.

a. does not entail b.

If a. is true, b. is not automatically true (poisoning does not necessarily result in death; e.g., 'He poisoned her but she survived' is not a contradiction)

(5)

a. We brought this champagne.

b. This champagne was brought by us.

a. entails b.

If a. is true, b. is true as well; if b. is false, a. also has to be false

(6)

a. Not everyone will like the show.

b. Someone will like the show.

a. does not entail b. [but b. is an implicature of a.]

If a. is true, b. is not automatically true (logically, \"not everyone\" does not entail \"someone\"; if \"not everyone will like it\" is true, it could also be true that in fact none will like it; there is however, an implicature [see also Practice Problem 20]; the Maxim of Quantity would require to use \"none\" rather than \"not everyone\" when one wants to convey that zero people will like the show)

Exercise 4.4

(1)

a. Dave is angry because Jim crashed the car.

b. Jim crashed the car.

b. is presupposed; whenever a. is true, b. is true; when a. is false (Dave is not angry because Jim crashed the car) b. is still true

[Note: The negative sentence here is actually ambiguous in a fairly complex way; don’t worry about it—in both readings, the 'because' clause is presupposed]

(2)

a. Zaire is bigger than Alaska.

b. Alaska is smaller than Zaire.

b. is entailed; whenever a. is true, b. is true; when a. is false, b. does not have to be true anymore (in fact, here b. cannot be true when a. is false; if a. is false, Zaire would be equal to or smaller than Alaska; for b. was true in that situation as well, we would arrive at a contradiction)

(3)

a. The minister blames her secretary for leaking the memo to the press.

b. The memo was leaked to the press.

[Note: the following is under the assumption that blame does not mean accuse; if blame and accuse mean the essentially the same for you (i.e., if the sentence \"He blames her for leaking the memo but she didn’t leak the memo\" is not a contradiction), no presupposition would be involved!]

b. is presupposed; whenever a. is true, b. is true; when a. is false, b. is still true.

(4)

a. Everyone passed the examination.

b. No-one failed the examination.

a. entails b.; whenever a. is true, b. is true (i.e., \"Everyone passed the examination but it's not the case that no-one failed the examination\" is a contradiation); however, if a. is false, the truth of b. is no longer maintained (i.e., if not everyone passed, it is not true anymore that no-one failed).

b. entails a.; whenever b. is true, a. is true; whenever b. is false, a. is also false.

(5)

a. Mr Singleton has resumed his habit of drinking stout.

b. Mr Singleton had a habit of drinking stout.

b. is presupposed; whenever a. is true, b. is true; when a. is false (i.e., when Mr Singleton didn't start drinking stout again) b. is still true.