MID-TERM TEST

Semantics
(KEY) Ngày thi: 26.04.2024

I. Mark (√) each of the following sentences true (T) or false (F). (1.0 mark)

TRUE FALSE
1. Woman is denotatively described as [ + human], √
[ - mature] and [ + female}.
2. The connotation of a word is the core, central or √
referential meaning of the word found in a
dictionary.
3. Vietnam is a developing country is a synthetic √
sentence.
4. The pronouns in the following sentence is √
anaphoric: I like her a lot.
5. Mary thinks the present is nice is lexically √
ambiguous.
6. A dancer in His father married a dancer is not a √
referring expression because it doesn’t refer to a
particular woman.
7. The entity identified by the use of a referring √
expression such as a noun or noun phrase is the
referent of that expression.
8. The pronoun in the following sentence is deictic: √
Sam is extremely pleased with himself.
9. Hyponymy and synonymy are sense relations √
between predicates. The latter is a special,
symmetric, case of the former.
10. The sentence Buckaroo Bonzai loves his wife √
entails the sentence Buckaroo Bonzai is married.

Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học

Page 1 of 7
II. Use an appropriate word or phrase to complete the following sentences. (1.0 mark)
1. A…REFERENT.…….is an object, or an entity in the real world or in the world of
your imagination.
2. The …REFERENCE……….. of a word is the relationship between that word and
the thing it refers to.
3. When the same linguistic expression refers to different
…ENTITIES/THINGS/OBJECTS……………., it has variable reference.
4. ANALYTIC………………..sentences are sometimes referred to as linguistic
truths, because they are true by virtue of the language itself.
5. Show in the sentence Hamish showed Morag his sporran is a …PREDICATOR…
…………….
6. Some sentences are …GRAMMATICALLY/STRUCTURALLY………………….
ambiguous in that the meanings of their component words can be combined in more
than one way.
7. The relatedness of meaning found in …POLYSEMY…………………. is
essentially based on similarity.
8. The phrase an old English dictionary constitutes a case of
…GRAMMATICAL/STRUCTURAL……ambiguity.
9. Proper names can’t be used as …PREDICATORS………………………...
10. Two words are ……ANTONYMS…..if their meanings differ only in the value
for a single semantic feature.

III. Arrange the words in each group so that every word is a hyponym of the word
immediately before it. (0.5 mark)
Example: husband, human, man> human, man, husband

1. living things, creature, insect, cockroach

2. vehicle, car, sports car
3. living things, plant, tree, pine
4. bird, bird of prey, eagle
5. vegetable, salad vegetable, lettuce
6. animal, bird, fowl, turkey
7. cook, fry, stir-fry
8. animal, bear, polar bear

Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học

Page 2 of 7
 9. animal, amphibian, frog
10. drink, beer, lager
IV. Classify the following pairs as gradable antonyms(G), binary antonyms(B),
relational/converse antonyms(R/C), homonyms(H), hyponyms (HY), or synonyms(S).
(1.5 marks)
1 hide-conceal S 11 dead- alive B
2 true-false B 12 abandon-leave S
3 polite- rude G 13 told- tolled H
4 love-hate G 14 yang-yin B
5 vertical-upright S 15 answer-reply S
6 employer- employee R/C
7 doctor- patient R/C
8 arms-alms H
9 knife-cutlery HY
10 tool-hammer HY

V. Tick (√) each of the following sentences (A) for analytic, (C) for contradictory, (G)
for generic or (E) for equative, as appropriate. (1.0 mark)
A C G E
1 Mrs. Laura is my lecturer. √
2 John’s nine-year-old brother is a boy. √
3 Roses are red. √
4 A tiger is a solitary hunter. √
5 This is my father. √
6 Gentlemen prefer blondes. √
7 My watch is a device for telling the √
time.
Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học
Page 3 of 7
 8 John is the person in the corner. √
9 Puppies are human. √
10 Both of John’s parents are married to √
aunts of mine.

VI. Which of the semantic relations (paraphrase (P), entailment (E), contradiction (C)
is exemplified in each of the following sentences? (0.5 mark)
Example: That man is a woman. > C (contradiction)

1. Sam is older than himself. > C

2. Paul borrowed a car from Sue. Sue lent a car to Paul.> P
3. Alvin is Mary’s husband. Mary is married. > E
4. He needs to throw a lot of things. He has a lot of stuff to get rid of. > P
5. Cats drink cream. Cream is drunk by cats. > P
6. Alfred saw a bear. Alfred saw an animal. > E
7. Mary climbed through a square hole in the roof. Mary climbed through a rectangular
hole in the roof. > E
8. Robin is a man. Robin is human. > E
9. All misers waste money. > C
10. The nearest service station is 50 miles away. It is 50 miles to the nearest service
station. > P

VII. Explain by paraphrasing two meanings of each of the following

sentences. (2.0 marks)
Example: I’m selling five day old chicks.
a) I’m selling five day-old chicks.
b) I’m selling five-day-old chicks.

1. John passed the hammer and saw through the window.

1a) John passed the hammer and the saw through the window.
Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học
Page 4 of 7
 1b) John passed the hammer and he saw through the window.
2. She’s standing near the bank.
2a) She’s standing near the bank of the river.
2b) She’s standing near the bank building/ the bank where people deposit and
withdraw money.
3. They fed her dog biscuits.
3a) They fed dog biscuits to her.
3b) They fed biscuits to her dog.
4. Because of the cold, I had to put on a warm coat.

4a) Because of the cold weather, I had to put on a warm coat.

4b) Because I had the flu/ a cold, I had to put on a warm coat.
VIII. Circle the answer of your choice. (1.0 mark)
1. Rupert took off his jacket has
a. one referring expression c. two predicators
b. two arguments d. one three-place predicate
2. The smallest units of meaning in a word are called
a. distinctive features c. semantic features
b. binary features d. phonetic features
3. The relationship between the sentences I detest semantics and I am not fond of
semantics is that:
a. They are paraphrases of each other.
b. The first entails the second.
c. The second entails the first.
d. The first is a hyponymy of the second.
4. The referent of a referring expression is
a. the thing picked out by the use of that expression on a particular occasion of
utterance
b. an object which is held to be very typical of the kind of object which can be

Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học

Page 5 of 7
referred to by an expression containing the predicate
c. a list of characteristics
d. the part of meaning of a word or a phrase
5. Which of the following statements seems to express this semantic relationship between fly
and insect correctly?
a. The sense of fly includes the sense of insect.
b. The sense of insect includes the sense of fly.
c. The sense of fly is identical to the sense of insect.
d. The sense of insect excludes the sense of fly.
6. Say which of the following predicates are two-place predicates.
a. bigger, in, come c. eat, on, similar
b. smaller, between, attack d. see, give, near
7. The phrase the sun is normally used as
a. a predicator c. an expression with constant reference
b. a non-referring expression d. an expression with variable reference
8. Cinderella watched the colourful ball is a lexically ambiguous sentence because the
ambiguity is caused by
a. polysemy c. homonymy
b. hyponymy d. synonymy
9. Mary and herself in Mary is different from herself have
a. constant reference c. the same referent
b. the same sense d. different referents
10. Is in Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam is used to express
a. the relationship between two predicates that have the same sense
b. the identity of the referents of two referring expressions
c. the relationship between entailment and paraphrase
d. the relationship between an argument and a predicator

Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học

Page 6 of 7
IX. Briefly explain the following questions. Each student has 3 questions. Please choose
your correct ordinal number from the student list. (1.5 marks)
Your answers
1)…………………………………………………………………………………..

2)…………………………………………………………………………………

3)………………………………………………………………………………….

Đáp án giữa kỳ môn: Ngữ Nghĩa Học

Page 7 of 7