HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION
FINAL TEST -- SEMANTICS
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Semantics – Academic year: 2021-2022
Duration: 75 minutes
Invigilator 1 Invigilator 2
Test date: 11 June 2022
The test consists of 4 pages.
Marks and Signatures
Marker 1 Marker 2
Student’s name: ………………………………...
Student’s ID:………………………………........
Ordinal number: …………… Room: …………
ANSWER KEY
Part 1: Compare the following terms and give one example for each term to illustrate.
a. constant reference / variable reference
Constant reference: Expressions which in normal everyday conversation never refer to different
things have constant reference.
Variable reference: The same expression can be used to refer to different things.
Examples may vary.
b. entailment / paraphrase
Entailment: Entailment is the relationship that applies between two sentences where the truth of
one implies the truth of the other because of the meanings of the words involved.
OR
A proposition X ENTAILS a proposition Y if the truth of Y follows necessarily from the truth of
X.
One-way entailment comes from the hyponymic relations between words. Two-way entailment
is mutual since the truth of either sentence guarantees the truth of the other.
Paraphrase:
A sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence is a PARAPHRASE of that
sentence (assuming the same referents for any referring expressions involved).
Paraphrase is symmetric (two-way) entailment.
Examples may vary.
c. analyticity/syntheticity
Analyticity:
An ANALYTIC sentence is one that is necessarily TRUE, as a result of the senses of the words
in it.
Syntheticity:
A SYNTHETIC sentence is one which is NOT analytic, but may be either true or false,
depending on the way the world is.
Examples may vary.
Part 2: INTERPRET the meaning of the following sentences and identify the kind of
FIGURES OF SPEECH used.
1. The loss of a friend is a dark cloud over one’s life.
Metaphor: The loss of a friend is a very sad event in one’s life.
2. Their next strategy is to expand their business to less developed countries.
Euphemism: Their next strategy is to expand their business to poor countries.
3. That shop has always treated me well.
Metonymy: “Shop” stands for “the people working in it”.
4. I cannot live without your love.
Hyperbole/Overstatement/Exaggeration: I love you very much.
5. The flowers nodded their heads cheerfully.
Personification: The flowers moved about in the wind looking as if they were cheerful
and happy.
6. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
Hyperbole. Nothing will erase the evil that has been done (Macbeth) // The hand is too
dirty to be cleaned.
7. Oh, fantastic! Now I cannot attend the party I had been waiting for 3 months.
Irony: It is not fantastic at all because I had been expecting the party for such a long
time.
8. We are all like swimmers in the sea of life.
Simile: People living in life are compared to /with swimmers struggling to swim in the
sea.
9. There are too many mouths to feed.
Synecdoche: “mouths” [+part] in this sentence is substituted for “people” [+whole]. This
sentence means There are too many people to feed.
Part 3: Explain the AMBIGUITY in each of the following sentences by providing TWO
SENTENCES that paraphrase its two meanings.
1. He promised to call at ten o’clock.
Structural ambiguity: the modifying function of the adverb phrase “at ten o’clock” in the
sentence can be interpreted in two following ways:
At ten o’clock, he promised to call. or even better: He promised at ten o’clock that he
would call.
He promised that at ten o’clock he would call.
2. I found him a very good student.
Structural ambiguity: the structure of the sentence can be interpreted in the two following
ways:
I found a very good student for him.
I found that he was a very good student.
3. I saw what he was talking about.
Lexical ambiguity : the meaning of the word “saw” can be interpreted in the two following
ways :
saw = noticed (with my eyes)
I observed what he was talking about.
saw = understood
I understood what he was talking about.
4. We fly over a million people.
Lexical ambiguity: Over is lexically ambiguous. It can mean “above”, and it can also mean
“more than”, and both meanings are possible interpretations of this sentence.
We fly above a million people.
We carry more than a million people with our flights.
Part 4: Identify the lexical sense relation between each pair of capitalized words in the
following sentences.
1. DEBUT / BEGINNING
a. He started as an actor, making his DEBUT as a director in 1990.
b. She sat down and read the book straight through from BEGINNING to end.
SYNONYMY
2. TAIL / TALE
a. The dog greeted us, wagging its TAIL.
b. He told a fascinating TALE about his life in India.
HOMOPHONY
3. DRIVE / DRIVE
a. I DRIVE my daughter to school in a red sports car every day.
b. They used dogs to DRIVE the sheep into a pen.
POLYSEMY
4. FOLLOW / PRECEDE
a. She FOLLOWED me into the kitchen.
b. John Adams PRECEDED Thomas Jefferson as president.
RELATIONAL ANTONYMY
5. SPARKLE / GLITTER
a. The snow SPARKLED in the sunlight.
b. His dark eyes GLITTERED with anger behind his glasses.
SYNONYMY
6. VIRTUE / WISDOM
a. As a politician, he always emphasized the VIRTUES of compromise and conciliation.
b. I tend to doubt the WISDOM of separating a child from its family whatever
the circumstances.
HYPONYMY
7. CLEVER / STUPID
a. Charlie has a CLEVER idea for getting us out of our present difficulties.
b. He now thinks that retiring early was a STUPID thing to do.
GRADABLE ANTONYMY
8. STEER / STEER
a. He STEERS the boat slowly toward the busy quay.
b. STEERS may be dehorned at a young age to make them easier to transport and safer to
work around.
HOMONYMY
9. MINUTE / MINUTE
a. I’ll be back in a MINUTE.
b. The documentary showed an eye operation in MINUTE detail.
HOMOGRAPHY
10. EXHALE / INHALE
a. She held her breath for a moment and then EXHALED.
b. She became ill shortly after she INHALED the fumes.
BINARY ANTONYMY
-THE END-
