Unit 7

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Semantics:
Semantic roles
and lexical relations
 Table of contents
Scheme 3

Key ideas 4
7.1. How to study this unit? 4
7.2. Introduction to semantics 4
7.3. Semantic meaning 6
7.4. Semantic features 9
7.5. Semantic roles 10
7.6. Lexical relations: Synonymy, antonymy,
homophones and homonyms, polysemy, word play,
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metonymy, collocation 12
7.7. Bibliographical references 20
7.8. Master class 21

In Depth 22

Test 255
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Semantic meaning

Semantic features

Semantic roles
Syntax Semantic roles
and lexical relations

Clause combination

Homophones Antonymy Synonymy

Homonyms Polysemy Metonymy Collocations

Morphosyntax and Semantics in the English Language

Scheme

Unit 7. Scheme
3
 Key ideas

7.1. How to study this unit?

In order to study this unit you should read:

Kreidler, C. W. (2002). Introducing English Semantics. London & New York: Routledge.
(pp. 100-110). Available at the virtual campus under the art. 32.4 of the Spanish
Intellectual Property Law.

I
n this unit we will define and describe the concepts of semantic features and
semantic roles and the way they can be used in the process of semantic analysis.
Particular attention will be given to lexical relations.

 Firstly, we will look at what the discipline of semantics studies.

 Secondly, we will define the main concepts used in semantic analysis, such as
semantic meaning, semantic features, and semantic roles.
 And finally we will examine the types and dimensions of lexical relations, such as
synonymy, antonymy, and polysemy, among others.

7.2. Introduction to semantics

T
he origins of formal semantics are widely related to the works in the field of
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philosophy of language of logicians like Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, and

Alfred Tarski. The combination of the two lines of research, logics and
linguistics, produced theories relevant to the study of human language and led to the
formal recognition of semantics as a field of linguistics. Research into semantics
shows the cultural and cognitive diversity and their influence on language. Chomsky’s

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 work and in particular his generative approach to grammar represents a turning point
in linguistics in that the studies started to focus also on how the meaning of the
sentence is derived from the meaning of its constituents.

A great variety of phenomena can arguably be included in the domain of semantics.

The systematic study and interpretation of linguistic meaning provides us with formal
tools for the analysis of natural language and better understanding of the language
learning process. Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet’s straightforward
definition of semantics as “the branch of linguistics devoted to the investigation of
linguistic meaning, the interpretation of expressions in a language system” (2000, p.
1) reflects the essence of semanticists’ concerns. Ronnie Cann provides a more
detailed definition of semantics as “the study of meaning abstracted away from those
aspects that are derived from the intentions of the speakers, their psychological
states and the socio-cultural aspects of the context in which their utterances are
made” (1994, p. 1). While Chierchia and McConnell-Ginet point to the controversy
about the role of semantics within the studies of grammar, with special interest in
the relation between syntax and semantics, Cann shows that “a further narrowing of
the term is also commonly made in separating the study of semantics from that of
pragmatics” (1994, p. 1). Looking at the nature of semantics, Cann concludes that a
semantic theory must:

1. Capture for any language the nature of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences
and explain the nature of the relation between them.
2. Be able to predict the ambiguities in the expressions of a language.
3. Characterise and explain the systematic meaning relations between the words, the
phrases and the sentences of a language.
4. Provide an account of the relation between linguistic expressions and the things they
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can be used to talk about.

Adapted from Cann (1994, p. 1)

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 Key Figures in the History of Linguistics.

Figure 1. Paul Grice (1913-1988).

Source: The British Academy.

Read further information about Paul Grice in the following link:

https://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/proc/files/111p515.pdf

7.3. Semantic meaning

I
n general terms, three disciplines are concerned with the study of meaning:
philosophy, psychology, and linguistics. Diverse approaches to meaning have
been developed within the field of logic and philosophy of language. One of the
main aims of semantics is to analyse word meaning and explain how words and their
meanings combine to make sentences and how the meanings of these words
influence the sentential meaning. The interpretation of complex combinations might
eventually lead to the need to involve also discourse and discourse analysis.
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In his influential work The Study of Language (1985, fourth edition 2010), George Yule
provides the following definition of semantics and its focus on meaning:

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 “Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. In semantic
analysis, there is always an attempt to focus on what the words conventionally mean,
rather than on what the individual speaker [. . .] might want them to mean on a particular
occasion. This approach is concerned with objective or general meaning and avoids
trying to account for subjective or local meaning. Doing semantics is attempting to spell
out what it is we all know when we behave as if we share knowledge of the meaning of
a word, a phrase or a sentence in a language.” (2010, p. 112)

Yule distinguishes between conceptual meaning and associative meaning. For him,
“conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning that are
conveyed by the literal use of a word” (2010, p. 113). He gives the word needle as an
example.

To understand the conceptual meaning of needle, let us look at the definition of

needle in the Oxford Dictionary Online.

Needle: a small thin piece of steel that you use for sewing, with a point at one end
and a hole for the thread at the other.

The word needle can also be associated to “pain”, “illness”, “blood”, “drugs”, “hard
to find”, etc., which are examples of the term associative meaning (Yule, 2010, p.
113).

In his Introduction to Semantics (1998), Charles Kreidler explores different

approaches to the study of the investigation of meaning and provides a list of ten
aspects of speaker’s semantic knowledge.
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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Aspect Examples
Henry drew a picture.
Speakers know whether something is Henry laughed.
1.
meaningful or not in their language. The picture laughed.
Picture a Henry drew.
Speakers of a language generally Rebecca got home before Robert.
agree as to when two sentences have Robert got home before Rebecca.
2.
essentially the same meaning and Robert arrived at home after Rebecca.
when they do not. Rebecca got home later than Robert.
Speakers generally agree when two
Where did you purchase those tools?
3. words have essentially the same
Use, buy, release, modify, take.
meaning – in a given context.
Edgar is married.
Speakers recognize when the
Edgar is fairly rich.
4. meaning of one sentence contradicts
Edgar is no long young.
another sentence.
Edgar is a bachelor.
Speakers generally agree when two
Betty cut a thick slice of bread.
5. words have opposite meanings in a
Bright, new, soft, thin, wet.
given context.
Synonyms and antonyms have to Street, lane, road, path, house, avenue.
have some common element of Buy, take, use, steal, acquire, inherit.
6.
meaning in order to be, respectively, One of the words in each line doesn’t
the same or different. belong.
Some sentences have double Marjorie doesn’t care for her parakeet.
7. meanings; they can be interpreted in a. doesn’t like it
two ways. b. doesn’t take care of it
Speakers know how language is used When did you last see my brother?
8.
when people interact. Ten minutes ago. Last Tuesday. Very nice.
Speakers are aware that two
a. There are tulips in the garden.
statements may be related in such a
9. b. There are flowers in the garden.
way that if one is true, the other
The truth in a entails the truth in b.
must also be true.
Andy Murfee usually drives his Datsun to
work.
Speakers know that the message There is a person named Andy Murfee.
conveyed in one sentence may Andy Murfee works.
10.
presuppose other pieces of There is a Datsun that belongs to Andy
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knowledge. Murfee.
Andy Murfee knows how to drive an
automobile.
Table 1. Aspects of speaker’s semantic knowledge. Source: adapted from Kreidler, 1998, p. 9-12.

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 7.4. Semantic features

L
inguists are interested in the speaker’s knowledge of the meaning of words
and sentences. Semantic studies are also interested in our ability to explain
the meaning of words and hence the meaning of every utterance we produce.
To understand the essence of the concept of semantic feature, we should turn to the
aspects of speaker’s semantic knowledge, as described in Table 1, and in particular
to the sixth aspect. Kreidler claims that “the common element of meaning, shared by
all but one word [. . .] is a semantic feature” (1998, p. 11, bold in original).

For Yule “the study of basic conceptual meaning might be helpful [. . . ] as a means
of accounting for the ‘oddness’ we experience when we read sentences such as the
following
The hamburger ate the boy.
The table listens to the radio.” (2010, p. 113).

These sentences are syntactically correct, but semantically wrong. The components
of the conceptual meaning of the word hamburger prevent the word from being the
subject of the verb eat. Yule describes part of the meaning of the words in these
sentences as either having (+) or not having (-) a particular feature.

hamburger boy table radio

animate - + - -

human - + - -

adult - - - -
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Table 2. Semantic features. Source: adapted from Yule, 2010, p. 113.

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 7.5. Semantic roles

T
here is an ongoing debate on the extent to which there is a direct
correspondence between syntactic structures and semantic meaning and
role. For instance, the sentences A cat is driving a Ferrari or A Ferrari is
driving a cat are syntactically correct, but semantically wrong. If we analyse the
correspondence between syntactic functions and semantic roles, we will see that the
assumed correspondence between subject (syntactic function) and agent (semantic
role) does not always apply. For example, in Peter wrote a letter, Peter is the subject
(syntactic function) and the agent (semantic role). If we passivise the direct object
letter, the resulting sentence will be: A letter was written by Peter. In it, A letter is the
subject (syntactic function) and Peter is the agent (semantic role), i.e. the syntactic
function subject does not correspond to the semantic role agent like in the first
version of the sentence.

There isn’t a universal agreement among linguists on the definition of semantic roles.
The number of semantic roles and the terminology used vary depending on the
school of thought. In this section, we draw on Yule’s definition of semantic role as
“the part played by a noun phrase, such as agent, in the event described by the
sentence” (2010, p. 294) and his classification and understanding of the different
types of semantic roles.
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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Semantic role Definition

Agent The entity that performs the action.

Theme The entity that is involved in or affected by the action.

Instrument An entity used by the agent in order to perform an action.

Experiencer An entity, usually a person, who has a feeling, perception or state.

Location Where the entity is.

Source Where the entity moves from.

Goal Where the entity moves to.

Table 3. Semantic roles. Source: adapted from Yule, 2010, p. 115-116.

Examples:

 He (agent) is going to avoid a scene (theme).

 He (agent) pulls out a pen (theme) from his satchel (source).
 He (agent) signed his name (theme) with a pen (instrument).
 I (experiencer) saw him (theme) in the pub (location).
 The government (agent) tried to explain the transactions (theme).
 He (agent) is breaking the law (theme).
 A lion called Christian (theme) was bought by John Rendall and his friend Ace
Bourke (agent) from Harrods (source).
 They (agent) took the lion (theme) to Kenya (goal).
 He (experiencer) feels tired today.
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Unit 7. Key ideas
 7.6. Lexical relations: Synonymy, antonymy,
homophones and homonyms, polysemy, word
play, metonymy, collocation

L
anguage is a complex system of signs that people use to communicate. It was
Ferdinand de Saussure in his Course in General Linguistics, based on the notes
taken from his lectures and published posthumously in 1916 by his students
Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, who first discussed the sign character of the
language. Saussure’s theory of the sign is based on a two-part model: a signifier and
the signified. Daniel Chandler gives the following example to illustrate Saussure’s
theory: “the word ‘open’ (when it is invested with meaning by someone who
encounters it on a shop doorway) is a sign consisting of:
• a signifier: the word ‘open’;
• a signified concept: that the shop is open for business” (2007, p. 15)

The signifier is often used to mean “standing for” the signified. The arbitrariness of
the relation between the linguistic sign and the object it “stands for” can be proved
by the fact that there are different strings of sounds (words) for the same extra-
linguistic object: escuela (Spanish), school (English), schule (German), école (French).
Another example of the same phenomenon is polysemy. For example:

hand: the part of the body at the end of the arm, including the fingers and thumb.
hand: a person who does physical work on a farm or in a factory (Oxford Dictionary
online).
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Another phenomenon that proves the above mentioned arbitrariness is homonymy,

e.g. bear and bare.

The relational aspect of a word is important as its meaning depends on its association
with other words. In what follows, we examine a number of phenomena that show

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 the complexity of reality and how a word does not stand for an extra-linguistic item
directly, but rather reflects our notion of that item.

Synonymy

To start with, we should bear in mind that synonyms are not words that have the
same meaning. There may be some exceptions of words that mean exactly the same,
but these cases are rare. Synonyms are words that have different shades of the same
basic meaning.

smell scent

A property of a
thing that makes it
perceptible to the
olfactory sense

odour aroma

Figure 2. Synonyms.

Examples:

 To hold something in high regard: appreciate, value, prize, esteem.

 To judge a thing with respect to its worth: estimate, appraise, evaluate, rate,
assess.
 To shoot forth light or may refer to different ways in which light is reflected from
surfaces: flash, gleam, glint, sparkle, glitter, glisten, twinkle, shimmer, glimmer,
glister.
 To combine or become combined with resulting diffusion or interpretation of
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particles, parts, or elements: blend, mix, mingle, merge.

 To look at long and attentively: stare, gaze, glare, gape, peer.

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Antonymy

Antonyms are words that belong to the same grammatical category (nouns, verbs,
adjectives, etc.) and are opposed in meaning.

Examples:

big - small
old - new
in - out
here - there

As a word can have several meanings, it can also have several antonyms, i.e. each
meaning has its own antonyms.

Example:

deep hole - shallow hole

deep knowledge - superficial knowledge

Homophones and homonyms

Homonyms are words which are different in meaning, but identical in form.
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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Homophones are words which are pronounced in the same way, but differ in spelling
and meaning.

buy by dear deer

coarse course sole soul

fair fare son sun

meat meet sight site

peace piece wear where

Table 4. Homophones.

Homographs are words that have the same spelling, but different pronunciation.

bow a weapon for shooting arrows. bow an inclination of body or head.

lead the heaviest of the base metals. lead to conduct.

a number of persons or things
row row a noisy dispute or quarrel.
arranged in a line.
a drop of fluid secreted by the
tear tear to pull or be pulled apart.
lachrymal gland.
one of the 60 parts that
minute minute extremely small.
an hour is divided into.
Table 5. Homographs.

Perfect homonyms are those that coincide in both spelling and pronunciation, but
differ in meaning.

grave a place of burial. grave serious, important.

of an animal. to drink a liquid by

the top surface of the upper part of
taking it in small amounts into the
lap the legs of a person who is sitting lap
mouth with a lot of short, quick
down.
movements of the tongue.
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great in measurement from end to to want something very much.

long long
end.
to fail to do or experience a young unmarried woman.
miss miss
something.
Table 6. Perfect homonyms.

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Polysemy

A polysemous word has several related meanings. Polysemy is inherent in the

language, for it relates to our necessity to express nuanced thoughts. Polysemy can
result from metaphorical use of some words. For example, the word deep. These are
some of the definitions which appear in Cambridge Dictionary online:

1. going or being a long way down from the top or surface, or being of a particular
distance from the top to the bottom.
2. very strongly felt or experienced and usually lasting a long time.
3. (of a sound) low.
4. showing or needing serious thought, or not easy to understand.
5. If something is deep, it has a large distance between its edges, especially between
its front and back edges.
6. (of a colour) strong and dark.

Kreidler explores some difficulties related to polysemy and homonymy and claims
that “lexicographers and semanticists sometimes have to decide whether a form with
a wide range of meanings is an instance of polysemy or of homonymy” and adds that
dictionaries recognize the distinction between the two “by making a polysemous item
in a single dictionary entry and making homophonous lexemes two or more separate
entries” (1998, p. 52). His examples for this way of distinguishing between the two
phenomena in dictionaries are the words head – one entry and bank – two entries.
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Unit 7. Key ideas
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Figure 3. The word head in Diccionario manual Vox-Harrap’s (1991), Barcelona: Bibliograf SA.

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Figure 4. The word bank in Diccionario manual Vox-Harrap’s (1991), Barcelona: Bibliograf SA.

The figure below shows how a number of connotations stick to the basic meaning,
for instance, of the word head, and some connotations are themselves the centre
(basic meaning) for other connotations, thus forming another cluster.

2a 2
3

1
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5 4
5a

Figure 4. A polysemantic word cluster.

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Metonymy

The basis of metonymy is the contiguity of two entities. Unlike the relationship of
similarity that motivates metaphor, metonymy does not imply inherent association
between the entities. From a linguistic perspective, in metonymy one word stands
for another or one word is substituted by another on the basis of association.

Some common cases of metonymy include:

 The name of material for the object
glass

 The name of the container for the contained

dish

 The name of the place for its inhabitants

The White House

 The name of the author for his work

a Shakespeare

Synecdoche is often considered as a type of metonymy:

 A part stands for the whole
head for cattle

 The whole stands for a part

society for high society
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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Collocation

Collocations are word combinations that occur frequently. They are readily available
expressions and learners of English as a foreign language often find them difficult to
use.

a heavy schedule
to hit a record
to make a decision
salt and pepper
bang on time
break a habit
catch a cold
a chilly reception

7.7. Bibliographical references

Cann, R. (1994). Formal Semantics. An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics. The Basics. London & New York: Routledge.

Chierchia, G. & McConnell, J. (2000). Meaning and Grammar. An Introduction to

Semantics. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: MIT Press.
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deep. (2017). In Cambridge Dictionary online. Retrieved from:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/deep

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 Kreidler, C.W. (1998). Introducing English Semantics. London & New York: Routledge.
hand. (2017). In Oxford Dictionary online. Retrieved from:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/hand_1?q=hand

needle. (2017). In Oxford Dictionary online. Retrieved from:

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/needle_1?q=neede

Yule, G. (2010). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

7.8. Master class

Semantics: semantic roles and lexical relations

The master class defines basic concepts and ideas in the field of semantics. It starts
with a brief overview of what semantics studies and its relation to syntax within the
field of linguistics. It also provides definitions of semantic meaning, semantic
features, and semantic roles and a variety of examples to illustrate how they relate.
The last part of the master class focuses on lexical relations in the system of language
and how they reflect the cultural and cognitive diversity of the world we live in.
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Access to the master class through the virtual campus

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Unit 7. Key ideas
 In Depth
Polysemy

Vicente, A. & Falkum, I. L. (2017). Polysemy. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics.

Agustín Vicente and Ingrid Falkum describe the main characteristics of polysemy.
They argue that although polysemy is relevant for compositional semantics and for
the semantics-pragmatics divide, it hasn’t received enough attention. They examine
some of the questions that linguists have been concerned with and provide a brief
history of theories related to polysemy. The authors also define and delimit the
different types of polysemy.

Access to the document through the virtual campus or following this link:
http://linguistics.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/a
crefore-9780199384655-e-325
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Unit 7. Specially recommended
 The Cognitive Nature of Metonymy and its Implication for English Vocabulary
Teaching

Guan, J. (2009). The Cognitive Nature of Metonymy and its Implication for English
Vocabulary Teaching. English Language Teaching 2 (4), 179-183.

In this article, Jialing Guan focuses on the cognitive nature of metonymy. The author
explores the meaning extension and lexical conversion of vocabulary from the
perspective of metonymy. Understanding the metonymic motivation of a word opens
up new possibilities for teaching vocabulary creatively.

This article is available at UNIR virtual library

What is meaning? Semantics, semiotics, logic, and the meaning of words

This short video looks at “meaning”, and in particular the meaning of words. It also
shows how semantics, semiotics, and logic deal with this issue. The video provides
simple definitions of some basic concepts, such as: sign, context, and nonverbal
communication, and points to the importance of studying semantics.
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Access to the video through the virtual campus or the following website address:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZDkp8dUWyw

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Unit 7. Specially recommended
 Clinical Linguistics

Cummings, L. (2017). Clinical Linguistics. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics.

Louise Cummings focuses on a branch of linguistics known as clinical linguistics, a

discipline that studies language disorders. As language disorders prevent fluent
communication, they are also viewed by the author as communication disorders. A
person with impaired language skills will find it difficult to study a second language,
which means that theoretical knowledge of language disorders will provide teachers
of English as a foreign language with conceptual tools and increase their capacity to
manage problems related to this phenomenon.

Access to the article through the virtual campus under the article 32.4 of the
Spanish Intellectual Property Law

Semantics – The Study of Meanings That Are Unconsciously Understood

This website provides definitions of some basic concepts semantics deals with. The
authors give examples of “semantic features” and explore several ways in which
words are semantically related to other words. The authors also give some essential
information about pragmatics and discourse analysis. To sum up, it is a short
introduction to basic semantics.
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Access to the webpage through the virtual campus or following this link:
http://www.linguisticsnetwork.com/more-on-semantics/

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Unit 7. In Depth
 Test
1. Choose the correct answer.
A. Semantics studies the meaning of words, phrases and sentences and explain
the nature of the relation between them.
B. Semantics seeks to predict the ambiguities in the expressions of a language.
C. Both A and B are correct.

2. If we assume that in the pair of sentences: (a). Victoria is Jim’s teacher and (b). Jim
is Victoria’s student the first sentence is true, the second sentence is:
A. True.
B. False.
C. The truth of the first sentence does not determine the truth of the second.

3. The sentence My cat is going to study Marketing in Canada next year is

A. Syntactically correct.
B. Semantically wrong.
C. Both A and B are correct.

4. Choose the correct answer. Box in box of matches and box in He has boxed against
the world boxing champion
A. are homonyms.
B. are two different meanings of the same word (synonymy).
C. Both A and B are correct.
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5. Indentify the semantic roles in the sentence I saw Turner’s “The Slave Ship” in
Boston.
A. Turner’s “The Slave Ship” is the theme.
B. Boston is the goal.
C. Both A and B are correct.

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Unit 7. Test
 6. Choose the correct answer. When some of the meanings of a word can become
the centre or basic meaning for the formation of new meanings, the phenomenon
is called
A. Synonymy.
B. Antonymy.
C. Polysemy.

7. The following pair of words: blunt – sharp, simple – complicated, strength –

weakness, temporary – permanent are examples of
A. Synonymy.
B. Antonymy.
C. Both A and B are wrong.

8. Choose the correct answer. The expression make progress is an example of

A. Polysemy.
B. Synonymy.
C. Both A and B are wrong.

9. In the sentence I am going by the 8.30, i.e. by the train which leaves at 8.30, the
use of the hour for the train is
A. Collocation.
B. Metonymy.
C. Synonymy.

10. Choose the correct answer. The expressions hard-earned money, make
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progress, and take a risk are examples of

A. Synonymy.
B. Collocations.
C. Both A and B are wrong.

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Unit 7. Test