PRAGMATICS MULTIPLE CHOICE

Choose the correct option

1. The preferred second part response to the request “Could you help me hold the door
please?” is:
a. Sure.
b. Sorry, I’m busy right now.
c. Wait for a moment, let me wash my hands first.
2. In the dispreferred second “Oh-eh-That’s great-but you see-I’m supposed to leave before
noon.”, the speaker’s token acceptance is:
a. Oh
b. Eh
c. That’s great
d. You see
e. I’m supposed to
3. Fill in the blanks: In a …(1)… more time and more language are used than in a …(2)…
a. (1) preferred
(2) dispreferred
b. (1) dispreferred
(2) preferred
4. Pragmatics is …
a. the study of speaker meaning
b. the study of contextual meaning
c. the study of how more gets communicated than is said
d. a, b and c
e. a and c

5. ….. is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms, how they are arranged in
sequence, and which sequences are well-formed.
a. Semantics
b. Syntax
c. Pragmatics
6. ….. is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and entities in the world;
that is, how words literally connect to things.
a. Semantics
b. Syntax
c. Pragmatics
7. ….. is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the users of those
forms.
a. Semantics
b. Syntax
c. Pragmatics
8. Among the three areas of linguistic analysis – syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, only
…… allows humans into the analysis.
a. Semantics
b. Syntax
c. Pragmatics
9. …… derives from the fact that people are members of social groups and follow general
patterns of behavior expected within the group.
a. Relative distance
b. Pragmatics wastebasket
 c. Regularity
10. Deictic expressions are also called …..
a. Deixis
b. Indexicals
c. Deictic centers
d. Distal terms
11. Examples of person deixis are ……
a. 'now', 'then'
b. 'me', 'you'
c. 'here', 'there'
12. Examples of spatial deixis are …..
a. 'now', 'then'
b. 'me', 'you'
c. 'here', 'there'
13. Examples of temporal deixis are …..
a. 'now', 'then'
b. 'me', 'you'
c. 'here', 'there'
14. Deixis is …..
a. typically interpreted in terms of the speaker's location
b. a form of referring that is tied to the speaker's context
c. generally understood as referring to some point or period in time that has the time of
the speaker's utterance at its center.
15. …… can simply indicate 'away from speaker', but, in some languages, can be used to
distinguish between 'near addressee' and 'away from both speaker and addressee'.
a. Proximal terms
b. Deictic center
c. Distal terms
16. Examples of proximal terms are ……
a. 'this', 'here', 'now'
b. ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’
c. 'that', 'there', 'then'
d. ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘him’
17. Examples of distal terms are ……
a. 'this', 'here', 'now'
b. ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’
c. 'that', 'there', 'then'
d. ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘him’
18. ……. operates on a basic three-part division, exemplified by the pronouns for first person
(‘I’), second person ('you'), and third person ('he', 'she', or 'it').
a. Spatial deixis
b. Temporal deixis
c. Person deixis
19. Honorifics are …..
a. social contrast encoded within person deixis
b. person deictic expressions which indicate higher status
c. deictic expressions used for a familiar rather than a non-familiar addressee
20. …… is/are distal form(s) in terms of person deixis.
a. First person pronoun
b. Second person pronoun
c. Third person pronouns
21. Using a third person form, where a second person form would be possible, is one way of
communicating …..
a. distance (and non-familiarity)
b. a potential ambiguity
c. deictic projection
22. An exclusive 'we' means ……
a. Only the speaker
b. speaker plus other(s), excluding addressee
c. speaker and addressee excluded
23. An inclusive 'we' means …..
a. Only the speaker
b. speaker and addressee included
c. speaker and addressee included, excluding others
24. We make more use of …… as more technology allows us to manipulate location.
a. spatial deixis
b. psychological distance
c. deictic projection
25. Deictic expressions like 'yesterday', 'tomorrow', 'today', 'tonight', 'next week' are
examples of …….
a. Spatial deixis
b. Temporal deixis
c. Person deixis
26. One basic (but often unrecognized) type of temporal deixis in English is in the choice of
…..
a. Time adverb
b. Distal term
c. Verb tense
d. Deictic center
27. An act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader,
to identify something is called ……
a. Inference
b. Reference
c. Deixis
d. Presupposition
28. Referring expressions are linguistic forms such as ……
a. proper nouns
b. noun phrases
c. time phrases
d. pronouns
e. a, b and d
f. a and b
g. a, b, c and d
h. a, b and c
29. Referring expressions designating an entity that is known to the speaker only in terms of
its descriptive properties is an/a …….. of reference.
a. attributive use
b. referential use
30. Referring expressions used to identify a physically present entity is an/a …….. of
reference.
a. attributive use
b. referential use
31. The linguistic part of the environment in which a referring expression is used is called
…..
a. Co-text
b. Context
32. Subsequent reference to already introduced referents are known as …….
a. anaphoric reference
b. cataphoric reference
33. Reference in which the interpretation requires us to identify an entity but no linguistic
expression is present, is called ……
a. anaphoric reference
b. zero anaphora (ellipsis)
c. cataphoric reference
34. Something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance is called …….
a. A presupposition
b. An entailment
35. Something that logically follows from what is asserted in the utterance is called ……..
a. An entailment
b. A presupposition
36. Constancy under negation means that …..
a. the presupposition of a statement will remain true even when that statement is
negated.
b. the presupposition of a statement will be reversed when that statement is negated.
c. the presupposition of a statement will also be negated when that statement is
negated.
37. The possessive construction in English (e.g. ‘your book’) is associated with ……
a. Factive presupposition
b. Existential presupposition
c. Lexical presupposition
d. Structural presupposition
38. In any definite noun phrase, the …… is assumed.
a. Factive presupposition
b. Lexical presupposition
c. Existential presupposition
d. Structural presupposition
39. The statement “I didn’t realize that he was a policeman.” has a/an …… presupposition.
a. Factive
b. Lexical
c. Existential
d. Structural
40. “She’s complaining again.” >> “She complained before.” is an example of a/an ……
presupposition.
a. Factive
b. Existential
c. Lexical
d. Counterfactual
41. The question “Where did he attend college?” has a/an ……. presupposition.
a. Factive
b. Lexical
c. Existential
d. Structural
42. The statement “They pretended to be surprised by the news.” has a ……. presupposition.
a. Factive
b. Lexical
c. Non-factive
d. Counterfactual
43. The statement “We imagined that we were rich” has a ……. presupposition.
a. Factive
b. Lexical
c. Counterfactual
d. Non-factive
44. The statement “If I knew her, I would warn her about his shady dealing.” has a …….
presupposition.
a. Factive
b. Lexical
c. Counterfactual
d. Non-factive
45. The additional conveyed meaning beyond the literal sense of what is explicitly stated is
called a/an ……
a. presupposition
b. implicature
c. entailment
d. tautology
46. The conversational maxim of …….. requires you to make your contribution as
informative as is needed (for the current purposes of the exchange).
a. quantity
b. quality
c. relation
d. manner
47. The conversational maxim of …….. requires you to make your contribution one that is
true and not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
a. quantity
b. quality
c. relation
d. manner
48. The conversational maxim of …….. requires you to be relevant.
a. quantity
b. relation
c. quality
d. manner
49. The conversational maxim of …….. requires you to be perspicuous and avoid ambiguity.
a. relation
b. quality
c. manner
d. quantity
50. The conversational maxim of …….. requires you to be orderly and avoid prolixity.
a. relation
b. quality
c. manner
d. quantity
51. Markers such as “as far as I know”, “I guess”, “I may be mistaken, but” are hedges for
the maxim of ……
a. relation
 b. quality
c. manner
d. quantity
52. Markers such as “as you may know”, “to cut a long story short” are hedges for the maxim
of ……..
a. relation
b. quality
c. manner
d. quantity
53. Markers such as “Oh, by the way”, “anyway” are hedges for the maxim of ……..
a. relation
b. quality
c. manner
d. quantity
54. The question “This may sound a bit dumb, but what time do we need to be here
tomorrow?” contains a hedge for the maxim of ……..
a. quantity
b. quality
c. relation
d. manner
55. The statement “I don’t know if this is important, but the authors’ names are not in the
alphabetical order.” contains a hedge for the maxim of ……..
a. Quantity
b. Relation
c. Quality
d. Manner
60. The statement “This may be a bit confused, but I remember being in a
car.” contains a hedge for the maxim of ……..
a. Quantity
b. Relation
c. Quality
d. Manner
61. The statement “I'm not sure if this makes sense, but all the mails haven’t been sent yet.” contains a
hedge for the maxim of ……..
a. Quantity
b. Manner
c. Relation
d. Quality
62. When no special knowledge is required in the context to calculate the additional conveyed meaning, it
is called a ………… implicature.
a. scalar
b. generalized conversational
c. conversational
d. particularized conversational
63. From the statement “I like a few of the courses on offer this year.”, what type of implicature can be
drawn?
a. scalar
b. generalized conversational
c. conversational
d. particularized conversational
64. From the statement “I sometimes go to the beach in summer.”, what type of implicature can be
drawn?
a. generalized conversational
b. scalar
c. conversational
d. particularized conversational
65. From the statement “This should be stored in a cool place.”, what type of implicature can be drawn?
a. generalized conversational
b. conversational
c. particularized conversational
d. scalar
66. When special knowledge of a particular context is required to calculate the additional conveyed
meaning, it is called a ………… implicature.
a. scalar
b. generalized conversational
c. particularized conversational
d. conversational
67. When an expression contains specific words which has additional conveyed meanings, what type of
implicature can be drawn?
a. generalized conversational
b. conversational
c. particularized conversational
d. conventional
68. The circumstances surrounding the utterance, including other utterances, are called the ………
a. speech act
b. performative hypothesis
c. speech event
d. illocutionary force
69. The term 'speech act' is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only ……… of an utterance.
a. illocutionary act
b. locutionary act
c. perlocutionary act
d. preparatory act
70. The most obvious device for indicating the illocutionary force is ……..
a. felicity conditions
b. a performative verb
c. word order, stress, and intonation
d. speech events
71. In this verdict by a judge “We find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder.”, the type of speech
act is ……..
a. representative
b. expressive
c. directive
d. declaration
72. Mary said to Tim in their Maths class “Maths doesn’t have much real-life application.”. The type of
speech act in Mary’s statement is ……
a. representative
b. expressive
c. commissive
d. declaration
73. Charlotte told Jim on his graduation day “I’m so proud of your achievements, my darling.”. The type
of speech act in Charlotte’s statement is ……
a. directive
b. representative
c. expressive
d. declaration
74. If a conversation has active participation with relatively fast speaking rate, frequent overlap and
almost no pausing between turns, the conversational style is ……….
a. high alignment style
b. high involvement style
c. high agreement style
d. high management style
75. Tina shouted to her sister from the kitchen “Could you come and lend me a hand, please?”, the type of
Tina’s speech act is ……….
a. commissive
b. directive
c. representative
d. expressive