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GIÁO TRÌNH
NGỮ NGHĨA – NGỮ DỤNG HỌC
TIẾNG ANH
ENGLISH SEMANTICS & PRAGMATICS
COMPILED BY NGUYEN THUY NGA &
NGUYEN QUOC BAO
Ho Chi Minh City, 2008

http://www.ebook.edu.vn 2
CONTENTS
PART 1: SEMANTICS
I. DEFINITION 6
II. SENTENCES, UTTERANCES & PROPOSITIONS 6
III. SEMANTIC FEATURE / PROPERTY 9
IV. SEMANTIC / LEXICAL FIELD 11
V. REFERENCE, REFERENT, & SENSE 15
1. Definition 15
2. Types of reference 16
VI. REFERRING EXPRESSIONS 21
VII. TYPES OF MEANING 25
1. Word meaning 25
a/ Denotative meaning 25
b/ Connotative meaning 25
2. Sentence meaning 26
a/ Linguistic / literal meaning 26
• Semantic roles 27
b/ Semantic meaning & pragmatic meaning 32
c/ Non-literal meaning / Figures of speech 33
• Simile 33
• Metaphor 33

• Irony 35
• Sarcasm 35
• Synecdoche 35
• Metonymy 36
• Personification 37
• Hyperbole 37
• Euphemism 37
VIII. MEANING PROPERTIES / CHARACTERISTICS 40
1. Anomaly 40
2. Ambiguity 41
• Definition 41
• Types of ambiguity 42
• Some common forms of structural ambiguity 43
IX. MEANING RELATION 54
1. Word relation 54
• Synonym 54
• Antonym 55
• Homophone 56
• Homograph 57
• Homonym 57
• Polysemy 57
• Hyponymy 57
2. Sentence relation 60
• Entailment 60
• Contradiction 61

• Paraphrase 62
o Types of Paraphrase 62
o Ways to paraphrase a sentence 63
X. TYPES OF SENTENCE BASING ON TRUE / FALSE70
1. Analytic sentence
2. Synthetic sentence
3. Contradictory sentence
PART 2. PRAGMATICS
I. DEFINITION 78
II. SPEECH ACT 78
1. Definition
2. Components
III. SPEECH EVENT / SITUATION 80
1. Setting
2. Participants / Characters
3. Relation
4. Message
5. Tone used
IV. TYPES OF SPEECH ACT 82
1. Declarative
2. Representative
3. Expressive
4. Directive
5. Commissive
V. THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE 89

VI. IMPLICATURE 91
1. Definition
2. Types of implicature
VII. PRESUPPOSITION 103
1. Definition
2. Types of presupposition
REFERENCES 144

PART 1: SEMANTICS
I. DEFINITION
Semantics is the study of meaning in language.(Hurford & Heasley,
1983: 1)
Semantics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms
and entities in the world; that is, how words literally connect to
things. Semantic analysis also attempts to establish the relationship
between verbal descriptions and states of affairs in the world as
accurate (true) or not, regardless of who produces that description.
(Yule, 1996:4)
II. SENTENCES, UTTERANCES AND PROPOSITIONS
1. A sentence (caâu) is a string of words put together by the
grammatical rules of a language. (Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 16)
Ex:- A house was struck by lightening last night.
- Money doesn’t make happiness.
2. An utterance (phaùt ngoân) is a piece of language (a sequence
of sentences, a single phrase, or a single word) used by a
particular speaker on a particular occasion. (Hurford & Heasley,
1983: 15)
Ex:- “Hello”
- “Not much”

- “Utterances may consists of a single word, a single
phrase, or a single sentence. They may also consist of
a sequence of sentences.”
3. A proposition (meänh ñeà) is that part of the meaning of the
utterance of a declarative sentence which describes some state
of affairs. (Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 19)
Ex:- Paul turned on the TV.
- I met him at the cinema last night.
Rule: The notion of truth can be used to decide whether two
sentences express the same or different propositions. When one
sentence is true and the other is also true, they express the same
proposition. If one sentence is true while the other may be false,
they express different propositions.
True propositions correspond to reality; False propositions do
not correspond to reality.
Ex: (1) Harry took out the garbage.
Harry took the garbage out. (2 sentences; same proposition)
(2) John gave Mary a book.
Mary was given a book by John. (2 sentences; same proposition)
(3) Isobel loves Tony.
Tony loves Isobel. (2 sentences; 2 different propositions)
(It is not necessary that Tony loves Isobel)

(4) Dr Findlay caused Janet to die.
Dr Findlay killed Janet. (2 sentences; 2 different propositions)
(In the case Dr Findlay had caused Janet to die, but not
intentionally)
Exercise 1. Answer the following sentences, choosing Yes or No.
1. Does it make sense to talk of the time and place of a sentence? Yes/No
2. Does it make sense to talk of the time and place of an utterance?
Yes/No
3. Can one talk of a loud sentence? Yes / No
4. Can one talk of a loud utterance? Yes / No
5. Does it make sense to ask what language a sentence belong to?
Yes/No
6. Does it make sense to ask what language an utterance belong to?
Yes / No
Exercise 2.
1. Fill in the chart with ‘+’ or ‘-‘ as appropriate.
Utterances Sentences Propositions
Can be loud or quiet
Can be grammatical or not
Can be true or false
In a particular regional accent
In a particular language

2. Can the same proposition be expressed by different sentences?
Yes / No
3. Can the same sentence be realized by different utterances?
Yes / No
Exercise 3. Answer the following:
1. Are the followings a sentence or an utterance?
a. John sang wonderfully last night. S / U
b. “John sang wonderfully last night.” S / U
2. Can a sentence be true or false? Yes / No
3. Can an utterance be true or false? Yes / No
4. Is an utterance tied to a particular time and place? Yes / No
5. Is a sentence tied to a particular time and place? Yes / No
III. SEMANTIC PROPERTY/ FEATURE (nét nghĩa / yếu tố nghĩa)
DEFINITION
Semantic features / semantic properties / semantic components are
the smallest units of meaning in a word. (Richards, Platt & Weber,
1987: 254)

Example:
Father + human Each Assassin + human
+ male factor is + adult
+ adult a Semantic + killer
+ married Property + kill a VIP
+ having children
Bachelor + human Teacher + human
+ male + adult
+ adult + earn living
+ unmarried by teaching
1. CHARACTERISTICS
a. Primitive elements: basic primitive concepts in linguistics. They
are left undefined.
Ex: human, male, animal, color etc.
b. The same semantic feature may be found in the meaning of
different words.
Ex: Father, mother, son, daughter, teacher baby … all share the
same semantic feature [+ human].
Mother, daughter, hen, bitch, swine … all share the same
semantic feature [+female].
c. The same semantic feature may be found in words of different
parts of speech.

Ex: [+female] is part of the noun mother, the adjective
pregnant, the verb breast-feed.
[+educational] is a semantic feature of the noun teacher, the
adjective educated, the verb teach.
IV. LEXICAL/ SEMANTIC FIELD (trường từ vựng)
A semantic field or a lexical field is the organization of related words
and expressions into a system which show their relationship to one
another. (Richards. Platt & Weber. 1987:53) In other words, it is a
group of words sharing the same Semantic property.
Ex 1:
Human (B) Hypernym
Bachelor Father Mother Baby Uncle Sister
(A)Hyponyms
Hyponym (hạ danh) is a word ‘whose referent is totally included in
the referent of another term. (hypo- means below) (Finegan.
1994:165).
Hypernym (thượng danh) is a word whose referent covers all the
referents of its hyponyms. (hyper- means above).
Hyponymy

Hyponymy is one-way relation between hyponyms and hypernym so that
A (hyponym) is a kind of B (hypernym). We can say:
A bachelor is a kind of human. Not: A human is a kind of bachelor.
A boy is a kind of human. Not: A human is a kind of boy.
Ex 2:
Male (Hypernym)
Boy Brother Uncle Ram Stallion Ox Bull
(Hyponyms)
Ways of organizing related words into different lexical / semantic fields.
1. Items related by topics
a. Fruit: apples, oranges, grapes, bananas etc.
b. Clothing: shirts, pants, shorts, hats etc.
c. Color: green, red, blue, purple, pink etc.
2. Items which are similar in meaning
a. Ways of cooking: stew, boil, fry, steam, roast etc.
b. Ways of walking: limp, tiptoe, stalk etc.
c. Ways of looking: stare, peer, glance, squint etc.
3. Items grouped as an activity or a process

a. Do housework: clean the room, do washing, iron clothes
prepare the meal etc.
b. Do research: make hypotheses, collect data, analyze data, get
results, come to a conclusion.
EXERCISE 4
For each group of words given below, state what semantic property or
properties are shared by the words in group (i) and those in group (ii),
and what semantic property or properties distinguish between the
classes of (i) and (ii).
Ex: i/ widow, mother, sister, aunt, seamstress
ii/ widower, father, brother, uncle, tailor
the shared semantic property is human.
the different is: (i) => female; (ii) => male.
1. i. bachelor, man, son, paperboy, pope, uncle.
ii. bull, rooster, drake, ram, boar.
2. i. bitch, hen, doe, mare, ewe, vixen.
ii. actress, maiden, widow, woman, girl.
3. i. doctor, dean, professor, bachelor, parent.
ii. teenager, child, boy, baby, infant.
4. i. table, stone, pencil, cup, house, ship, car.
ii. milk, alcohol, rice, soup, mud.

5. i. book, temple, mountain, road, tractor.
ii. idea, love, charity, sincerity, bravery, fear.
6. i. pine, elm, ash, wiping, willow, sycamore.
ii. rose, dandelion, carnation, tulip, daisy.
7. i. book, letter, encyclopedia, novel, notebook, dictionary.
ii. typewriter, pencil, ballpoint, crayon, quill, charcoal, chalk.
8. i. walk, run, skip, jump, hope, swim.
ii. fly, skate, ski, ride, cycle, canoe, hang-glide.
Exercise 5. Put the following words into different lexical fields.
Give each group a hypernym.
Cup – hammer – glass – nails – red – jug – wineglass – blue – purple
– boxing – scissors – football – knife – plastic cup – yellow –
badminton – pink – file – weightlifting – green – run – motor-racing –
crawl – walk – black – swim – vermilion – karate.
Exercise 6. Give a hypernym to the following strings of words. Cross out
the item(s) that does / do not belong to the same lexical field as the others.
1. acquire, buy, collect, win, sell, steal, rob.
2. whisper, talk, narrate, report, tell, instruct, brief.
3. road, path, way, street, method, freeway, avenue.
4. easy-going, sociable, well-mannered, friendly, sad, elegant,
courteous, strong.
5. smell, aroma, bouquet, perfume, fragrance, scent, odor, reek.

6. toast, boil, fry, fresh, grill, medium, bake, roast, steam.
7. cow, dog, cat, tiger, lion, ape, human, bird, whale, chicken.
8. sing, talk, dance, speak, shout, whisper, mutter, babble.
9. at, of, in, on, under, below, near.
10.square, circular, triangular, rectangular, spherical, hexagonal,
polygonal.
V. REFERENCE – REFERENT - SENSE
1. Definition
• Reference (sở chỉ) is the relationship between language and the
world. In other words, that is the relationship between words
and the things, actions, events, and qualities they stand for.
(Hurford & Heasley, 1983: 25)
Ex: My son: refers to a person; a dog: refers to an animal. (the
speaker stablishes a relation between an expression and an object).
• Referent (vật sở chỉ) is the thing the speaker is talking about,
the object referred to.
Ex: This page (the page I am reading itself, page 15)
The cassette player (the object on the table)
• Sense (nghĩa) is the relationship between words in the language
to express the meaning.
Ex: The word ‘bachelor’ and ‘unmarried man’ have the same sense

To express the content / meaning of a word to a leaner, we may say
the word and show him an object to make him understand what the
word means. In this case we establish a relation between a word and
an object (between language and the world: reference). On the other
hand, we can also combine words together to express the meaning in
the form of a definition. We are establishing the relationship between
words in the language to express the sense.
Example: The word ‘desk’
Reference
Sense an object of a surface and four legs used
for writing
2. Types of reference.
1) Variable Reference: same expression may refer to different
objects. For example:
“My mother” (referring to the mother of the speaker) may refer to
many different ladies depending on different speakers.
“Here” in the sentence “I am here” (referring to the place where the
speaker is standing) also can refer to different places depending on
different speakers.
Some clues of Variable Reference
Desk

• Possessive adjectives: my sister, your brother, the government’s
decision… Exception: John’s hat (not a referring expression
because it refers to the hat of John only regardless the speaker).
• Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns: this, that, these, those,
… (this page, that book that car is mine…)
• Personal pronouns: I, You, He, Me, Him…
• Adverbs of place/ time: here, there, then, today, yesterday, now,
at the station,
• Articles: the boy in the corner; I want to buy a car.
2) Same Reference: different expressions refer to the same object.
Examples:
• Uncle Ho – Ho Chi Minh – Nguyen Ai Quoc - Nguyen Sinh
Cung – Nguyen Tat Thanh: all refer to the same person.
• HCM City and Saigon: both refer to the same city.
• My father is a teacher: both underlined groups of words refer to
the same person.
• We chose John leader. John and leader refer to the same
person.
• The Morning Star and The Evening Star. Both refer to the same
star.
3) Constant Reference: one expression always refers to the same
object, (regardless who is the speaker).
• Proper names, especially geographical names: John, Smith,
David, Vietnam, Laos …

• Unique things: the sun, the moon, the earth, the east, the west,
Halley’s Comet,
4) No reference: an expression which is meaningful but does not
refer to anything.
• Function words: and, but, if, almost, …
• Imaginary characters: Batman, Dragon, Superman, Snow
White, Taám Caùm, …
• The objects that do not exist now.
Ex: The king of France is bald (France does not have any king
nowadays)
The Queen of Vietnam nowadays is a Cambodian. (no VN
queen now)
Exercise 7. Answer the following questions.
1. Does the moon normally have constant reference? Yes / No
2. Does The People’s Republic of China normally have constant
reference? Yes / No
3. Does Angola normally have constant reference? Yes / No
4. Does Haley’s Comet normally constant reference? Yes / No
5. If we are talking about a situation in which John is standing alone
in the corner, can John have the same referent as the person in the
corner? Yes / No

Exercise 8
What is intended by the word mean, meaning, meant … in the
following examples, reference (R) or sense (S)?
1. When Helen mentioned “the fruit cake”, she meant that rock-hard
object in the middle of the table. R / S
2. When Albert talks about “his former friend” he means me. R / S
3. Daddy, what does unique mean? R / S
4. Purchase has the same meaning as buy. R / S
5. Look up the meaning of apoplexy in your dictionary. R / S
6. If you look out of the window now, you’ll see who I mean. R / S
7. ‘’I’m sorry to have disturbed you – when I said ‘Will you move
your chair?’, I didn’t mean you, I meant Patrick here.” R / S
8. If you look up ochlocracy, you’ll find it means government by the
mob. R / S
Exercise 9
1. Give an example of an expression that could have variable reference.
2. Give an example of an expression that always has constant reference.
3. Give an example of different expressions that having one referent.
4. Give an example of an expression that has no reference.

Exercise 10. Which of the following is a correct description of
‘reference’?
(a) a relationship between expressions and other expressions which
have the same meaning.
(b) the set of all objects which can potentially be referred to by an
expression.
(c) a relationship between a particular object in the world and an
expression used in an utterance to pick that object out.
Exercise 11. Which of the following is a correct statement about ‘sense’?
(a) All words in a language may be used to refer, but only some
words have sense.
(b) If two expressions have the same referent, they always have the
same sense.
(c) The sense of an expression is its relationship to semantically
equivalent or semantically related expression in the same language.
Exercise 12. Answer the following questions by choosing Yes or No
1. Imagine that you and I are in a room with a man and a woman,
and, making no visual signal of any sort, I say to you, “The man stole
my wallet”. In this situation, can you identify the referent of the
expression the man ? Yes / No
2. Can the referent of the pronoun I be uniquely identified when this
pronoun is uttered? Yes / No

3. Can the referent of the pronoun you be uniquely identified when
this pronoun is uttered? Yes / No
VI. REFERRING EXPRESSIONS
1. Definition: A referring expression ‘is any expression used in an
utterance to refer to someone or something particular. (Hurford &
Heasley, 1983: 35) (on the part of the speaker)
Ex: + When a speaker says, ‘My father” he has a particular person in
mind => my father is a referring expression.
+ The name Fred in the utterance “Fred hit me”, where the
speaker has a particular person in mind, is a referring expression.
+ Fred in “There is no Fred at this address” is not a referring
expression because in this case the speaker would not have a
particular person in mind.
2. Some clues of referring expression
• Possessive: my friend, Paul’s hat, …
• Demonstrative: this book, that machine, …
• Proper name: Smith, David, Vietnam …
• Personal Pronouns (only when being uttered): I, You, He, …
• Constant Reference (unique thing): the sun, the moon, the earth,
the east, the west, Halley’s Comet, …
• Past tense: helps to recognize Referring Expression
Ex: I saw a boy yesterday
I want to go fishing on the lake

My sister is a singer
Yesterday, I met a singer
I’m looking for a car to buy
I bought a car in a showroom on Nguyen Hue Street.
3. Not a referring expression
• Something general: family, society, people, …
• Representative of social classes or species: the poor, the rich, the
elephant, dogs, cats, …
• Profession/ Job: singer, teacher, lawyer, …
Ex: The singer in “The singer I admire most is SilkBlack” is a RE
because it refers to a particular person.
A singer in “My sister is a singer” is not a RE because it is a
job in general.
Note: Whether an expression is a referring expression or not is
heavily dependent linguistic context and on circumstances of
utterance.
Exercise 13
Could the following possibly be used as referring expressions?
1. John yes / no
2. my uncle yes / no
3. and yes / no

4. the girl sitting there yes / no
5. a man yes / no
6. my parents yes / no
7. send yes / no
8. under yes / no
Exercise 14. Underline the referring expressions in the following
sentences
1. A man was in here looking for you last night.
2. The first sign of the monsoon is a cloud on the horizon no bigger
than a man’s hand.
3. Forty buses have been withdrawn from service by the Liverpool
Corporation.
4. This engine has the power of forty buses.
5. Yesterday, Nancy married a Norwegian.
6. My sister also wants to marry a Norwegian.
7. John is looking for a car to buy.
8. Dick believes that a man with a limp killed Bo Peep.
9. The police officer said that a man with a limp killed Bo Peep.
10. Every evening at sunset, a swan flew over my house.
11. The man who shot Abraham Lincoln was an unemployed actor.

12. If anyone ever marry Nancy, he’s in for a bad time.
13. The poor are the ones who suffer most from the disasters all over
the world.
14. I saw a boy climb over the fence last night.
15. Don’t come near the frontier. You may be hurt by a bullet.
16. You can’t get married with such a boy!
17. My hobby is to go fishing with friends when the sun appears in the East.
18. It was thought for many centuries that the world was flat.
19. The book you gave me on Teacher’s Day was worth reading.
20. My parents expected me to send them some gift on their wedding
anniversary, but I didn’t because of my forgetfulness.
21. The parachute is a device to help people to land safely on the ground.
22. While the soldier was moving through the frontier, a bullet stroke
him on the head.
23. Nowadays, there are many TV programs very useful for children’s
education.
24. The teacher let his students come back home early because of the
coming storm.
25. Nutritionists recommended that children should eat foods from
each of the four basic groups.

VII. TYPES OF MEANING
A. WORD MEANING
1. Denotative / Descriptive / Referential meaning
The denotative meaning (nghóa sôû thò) of a word is the central
meaning of the word found in a dictionary. It is the meaning that may
be described in terms of a set of semantic features that serve to
identify the particular concept associated with the word.
It is also called descriptive because it describes an object, an event, a
state or an affair, and referential meaning as it refers us to something
in the world.
Ex: A pig: a domestic animal, 4 legs, hairy, usually raised for meat
A father: a male adult, married, having children …
2. Connotative / Social / Affective meaning
The connotative meaning (nghóa lieân töôûng) of a word is the
implied, additional meaning that the word has beyond its denotative
meaning. It shows people’s emotions and / or attitudes towards what
the word refers to. This meaning may vary from individual to
individual, and community to community. That’s why connotative
meaning is also called social or affective meaning.
Ex: + The word pig in “He is a pig” may means connotatively:

He is a pig => - Lazy
- Greedy
- Stupid
- Dirty
+ As connotative meaning, the word woman may means
positively devotion, patience, generosity …, and negatively frailty,
inconstancy, irrationality …
B. SENTENCE MEANING
1. Linguistic / literal meaning (nghóa ñen)
The linguistic meaning of a sentence depends on:
- The sum of meanings of constituent words
- The syntactic function (subject, object,...)
- The semantic role
Compare the following sentences:
(1) The lion bit the hunter.
(2) The hunter bit the lion.
(3) The hunter was bitten by the lion
To understand the meaning of the sentences, we must know the
meanings of the words ‘lion, bite, hunter’. However, we can use
exactly the same words to form different sentences with the same or
different meanings.
(1)The lion bit the hunter # (2) The hunter bit the lion
S O S O

The two sentences (1) & (2) have different meanings because the
words have different syntactic functions.
(2) The hunter bit the lion # (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion.
S O S O
The sentences (2) & (3) have different meanings although the words
have the same syntactic functions.
(1) The lion bit the hunter = (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion.
S O S O
The sentences (1) & (3) have the same meaning although the words
have different syntactic functions. What makes the meaning of the
two sentences similar or different? It is what is called semantic roles,
the third factor making up the meaning of a sentence.
SEMANTIC ROLES
a. Definition
A semantic role is the role performed by a noun phrase in relation
to the verb.
b. Types
o Agent: the one that initiates an action (person/ animal + action verb)
Ex: Paul opened the door
o Patient: the one that is affected by the action
Ex: Paul opens the door
The door opened at the first blow of wind

Paul is boiling water
Water boils at 100O
C
o Experiencer: the one that experiences a feeling/ sensation/
perception …
(person / animal + non-action verb)
Ex: Paul loves Mary
I recognize that I’m wrong
The boy wants a candy
The teacher remembers meeting me somewhere
o Stimulus: the one that causes a feeling / sensation
Ex: Paul loves Mary
I’m afraid of ghost
The book of the teacher makes me very happy
The film interests me a lot
o Recipient (the receiver): the one that receives a physical object
Ex: He gave me a book last night
o Benefactive (the benefactor): the one that benefits from an action
Ex: I do all this for you
I sent him a gift for his son

o Instrument: the one that is used to perform an action (implying
a user)
Ex: I open the door with a hammer
Paul used a key to open the door
o Cause: the one that causes an action to happen (not implying a user)
Ex: The door opened suddenly at the blow of the wind
Paul was hurt with a knife (implying someone used a knife to hurt him)
I
Paul was hurt by a knife (not implying a user of the knife)
C
o Locative: the place where an action happens
Ex: I was born in Dalat
HCM city is a good place to live
o Temporal: the time when an action happens
Ex: Yesterday, I saw you at the supermarket
Coming back to the 3 previous examples, we see:
(1) The lion bit the hunter # (2) The hunter bit the lion
S/A O/P S/A O/P
(2) The hunter bit the lion # (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion.
S/A O/P S/P O/A
The above sentences have different meanings because they have
different semantic roles although they may have the same syntactic
functions (2) & (3).

(1) The lion bit the hunter = (3) The hunter was bitten by the lion.
S/A O/P S/P O/A
The two sentences have the same meaning because they have the same
semantic roles although the syntactic functions are different.
Exercise 15. Identify the semantic role of the noun phrases in the
following sentences
1. The student couldn’t finish the assignment because the library
was closed.
2. The couple raced the horses through the meadow yesterday
morning.
3. The teacher was angered by the rowdy students.
4. I recall hearing my brother say that.
5. Tom lent me enough money to pay the rent.
6. At the reunion he ran into his cousin Karl.
7. The farmer went to the field before dawn.
8. The building was constructed in a commercial zone.
9. A big tree was rooted up by the storm last night.
10.I enjoy reading books in my free time.
11.The immigrants picked strawberries in the early June.
12.He never turned in his budget report on time.
13.The unlucky customer had the undercooked meat sent back to
the chef.
14.Traffic was backed up at the intersection because of the
accident.
15.I’m very glad to meet you here after so many years.
16.The book you gave me on Teacher’s Day was worth reading.
17.An unfair attitude toward the poor will contribute to the
problem of poverty.

18.After the yolk is separated from the white, it must be boiled
immediately.
19.Nutritionists recommended that foods from each of the four
basic groups be eaten regularly.
20.It was thought for many centuries that the world was flat.
21.His ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.
22.The hurricane destroyed half of the island.
23.Angela offered the job to her former rival.
24.In the morning we left San Francisco for Austin.
25.Zelda gets angry whenever Scott lies her.
26.The remains will be shipped to Cleveland on Wednesday.
27.The boy seems to be interested in the film shown at NH cinema
last night.
28.He hates being disturbed at table.
29.As the storm raged, the waves grew higher and higher.
30.He enjoys going fishing on the lake at sunset.
31.The snow melts at the morning sunshine.
32.The chickens are ready for us to eat in 5 minutes.
33.Do you like the book I sent you?
34.Acid can dissolve a corpse in 5 minutes.
35.The man who loves her must be insane.
36.Alan was sent a special gift on her birthday.
37.Many TV programs today help students to improve their study a
lot.
38.The prisoner killed the guard then disappeared into the forest.
39.The beer made from rice drinks very well.
40.Putting one hand in the pocket, he walked around the front yard.
41.Joining the club is a good way of meeting new people.
42.She wants to know if anyone has an umbrella to lend her.

43.Harold doesn’t like making speeches in font of the class.
44.Trembling with fear, she opened the letter.
45.Delayed by the bad weather, the plane arrived in Hanoi one
hour late.
46.My first job, cleaning the floor, made me exhausted.
47.The door ajar made the girl worried.
48.We watched the brown river swollen with rain.
49.A house surrounded by a large, deep ditch provides us with a
safe shelter.
50.This bed sleeps comfortably.
2. Semantic meaning & pragmatic meaning (nghĩa ngữ nghĩa &
nghĩa ngữ dụng)
a. Semantic meaning: the meaning of a sentence out of context /
context-free. It is the linguistic meaning of a sentence.
b. Pragmatic meaning: the meaning of an utterance in a particular
situation. Pragmatic meaning is context-dependent.
Ex 1: A: Would you like to go out with me?
B: I have a lot of homework to do.
I have a lot of homework to do
=> semantic meaning: the teacher gave me a lot of assignments to do
at home.
=> pragmatic meaning: I’m sorry. I’m very busy. I’m afraid that I
have to refuse your invitation.
Ex 2: Oh! It’s too noisy

=> semantic meaning: there is a lot of noise here.
=> pragmatic meaning: Please, keep silent!
3. Figures of speech / non-literal meaning / figurative meaning
A figure of speech is ‘a word or phrase which is used for special
effect, and which doesn’t have its usual or literal meaning’. (Richards.
Platt & Weber. 1987: 105)
Types of figures of speech
Simile /’s1m1l1/ (tỉ dụ): direct / explicit comparison using
comparison words (like, as) or comparison form.
Ex: He eats like a tiger (he eats as much as a tiger does.)
He is as poor as a church mouse (he is very poor)
Metaphor /’met6f6/ (ẩn dụ): indirect / implied comparison (no
comparison words)
• Dead metaphor: a metaphor which has lost its metaphoric
characteristic and become a fixed expression or idiom. Ex:
the eye of a needle; the head quarter; the foot of the
mountain; the leg of the table; the mouth of the river; the
face of the table; the back of the chair; the childhood of
the earth etc.
A dead metaphor is used naturally and unconsciously by a
native speaker of a language. Ex: đầu giường; chân ghề; mặt
trái xoan; mắt bồ câu ; trăng lưỡi liềm; etc,

• Live metaphor: a metaphor used consciously, intentionally
by a speaker with various figurative meanings. Ex: ‘He is
a pig’ may be interpreted as he is fat; he is lazy; he is
stupid; he is dirty etc. depending on the situation in which
it is used.
Usually there is a metaphor when one:
• Puts 2 different species on the same rank.
Ex: He is an old fox (a person = an animal) (he is very wicked )
He is a rock in storm (a person = a thing) (he is a strong-
minded person)
• Applies a feature of one species for another.
Ex: + Have you digested the lesson yet? ‘digest’ is a
term usually used for food, now is used for study => the
speaker compares the process of eating and digesting
food with that of learning and understanding lessons.
(Have you carefully understood the lesson yet?)
+ He apes your betters. ‘ape’, a term used for animal
is here used for a person => the speaker compares a person who
usually imitates others with an ape whose characteristic is to
imitate. (He imitates your betters.)
+ He bottled up his feelings. ‘bottle’ a term usually used
for the process of making different kinds of drink or wine
etc. is used here for feelings. (He hid / concealed his
feelings.)

Irony (mỉa mai nhẹ nhàng): Saying the opposite of one’s
thought for emphasis, for fun or mocking.
Ex: + He is so kind that he let all the housework for me to do.
(he is not kind at all)
+ He is so intelligent that no examiner has agreed to pass
him so far. (he is rather stupid. )
Sarcasm /’sa:k%z6m / (châm biếm chua cay, bất mãn): bitter
irony; sneeringly ironical remarks to hurt somebody’s feelings.
Ex: + “The more I know about human beings, the more I want to
be an animal” (Jungle Boy) (Human beings are worse than
animal!)
+ “ Oh yes, we know how clever you are!” “Well, Mr. Know-
it-all, What’s the answer this tine?”
Synecdoche /s1’nekd6ki/ (caûi dung): substitution of the whole
for the part & vice versa
Ex:+ Vietnam won the football match (VN is used to refer to
VN football team; whole for part)
+ I don’t want you to come under my roof (= my house)
(part for whole)
+ This work requires an intelligent brain (= person)
+ The war has robbed 2,000 souls of the village (= people)

Metonymy (hoán dụ): substitution of related words
Ex: The kettle is boiling. (= the water)
The disease has cut off his breath. (= his life)
Ways to identify a metonymy:
• Container – Contained (vật chứa và vật được chứa):
Ex: - Very thirsty, he gulped down the whole bottle (=
water in the bottle)
- As the teacher entered the room, the whole class stand
up (all the students in the class)
• Author – Works (tác giả và tác phẩm)
Ex: Have you read Khái Hưng yet? (= the novels of Khái Hưng)
This is not a Picasso (= a painting by Picasso)
• Profession – Means (nghề nghiệp & phương tiện)
Ex: - I live on my pen (= by writing)
- My Tyson lives on his gloves (= by boxing)
• Symbol - Reality (biểu tượng & thực tại)
• Ex: - He tries his best to win her heart (= her love)
- He succeeded to the crown. (= the royal office, … thừa kế
ngai vàng)
- He has the tongue of king. (= the talent of tasting food)

- She has an ear for music. (= the talent for learning,
appreciating… music)
• Material – Object made of it (vật chất và vật dụng)
- All our glass is kept in the cupboard. (= vessels and
objects made of glass)
- You can get our gold in the upper drawer. (= jewelry
made of gold)
Personification (nhaân caùch hoùa): Endowing an inanimate
object with human qualities.
Ex: - The leaves are dancing in the morning wind. (=
moving)
- The waves tore the ship into pieces. (= destroyed
completely)
Hyperbole /ha1’p3:b6l1/ (cöôøng ñieäu): overstatement or
exaggeration
Ex: - I’m so hungry that I can swallow a cow (= extremely
hungry)
- I’ve invited millions of people to my party (= a lot of)
- I haven’t seen you for ages. (= a long time)
Euphemism /’ju:f6m1z6m/ (uyeån ngöõ, noùi traùnh): the use
of pleasant, mild , comforting, or indirect expression for one
that is taboo, negative, offensive or too direct.

Ex: - Could you tell me where the restroom is? (= toilet)
- His father has just passed away (= died)
- Caught by a cold, he went to the fathers. (= died)
Exercise 16. Identify the type of figure of speech used in the
following sentences then give their literal meaning.
1. My hands are as cold as ice.
2. I’ll make him eat his word.
3. He is the best pen of the day.
4. She has a good head of business.
5. Their Majesty died a year ago.
6. She usually sheds floods of tears whenever she is upset.
7. We need a force of a thousand rifles.
8. You are a mist that appears for a little while and the vanishes.
9. He washed his hand out of the matter.
10.He looks as though he hasn’t had a square meal for months.
11.Who brought fire and sword into our country?
12.Why don’t you recognize the power of the purse?
13.I found the 52 pounds of books you let for me to carry. Your
kindness really moves me.
14.The man is a demon for work.
15.They organized a fleet of 50 sails.
16.She is a girl of 20 summers.
17.When you takes that course, plan to study 30 hours a day.
18.The wind howled angrily around the house all night.
19.Grey hairs should be respected.
20.Spare the rod, spoil the child.
21.Don’t live in such a sea of doubt.

22.When the White House called, the ambassador came at once.
23.My dormitory room is like a cave.
24.Come to the dormitory and see what a cave I live in.
25.If you are not happy with the service, go and talk to the City Hall.
26.The princess captures the heats of the nation.
27.He has a kind heart.
28.The river ate the bank away.
29.The captain was in charge of 100 horses.
30.You can depend on Paul; he is a rock when trouble comes.
31.Life is a dream.
32.Research says that these methods are best.
33.Little Susie is a picture of loveliness in her new dress.
34.There was a storm in Parliament last night.
35.He worked and worked until he breathed his last.
36.We are tired to death of such movies.
37.His words can be trusted.
38.The boss gave her a hot look.
39.He could not bridle his anger.
40.The organization is keeping the brake on pay rises.
41.Death is laying his icy hand on the Queen.
42.The pen is mightier than the sword.
43.A camel is a ship in a desert.
44.Your charm and good looks exceed your wit.
45.With friends like you, who needs enemies.
46.You have to pay the earth for such a masterpiece!
47.Luck almost always turns back to those who dare not face
difficulty.
48.A dead leaf fell in my lap. That was Jack Frost’s card.
49.The ship plowed the sea.

50.The captain exploded with rage when the soldiers disobeyed him.
VIII. MEANING PROPERTIES / CHARACTERISTICS
1. Anomaly / non-sense
Anomaly is ‘a violation of semantic rules to create nonsense.’
(Finegan, 1993: 148)
Ex: + The toothbrush is pregnant. Literally, this sentence is
semantically anomalous because it contains a contradiction.
(toothbrush includes +thing while pregnant includes +female, a
feature that a thing can not have)
+ My brother is an only child. (The same, this sentence is
semantically anomalous because the word brother requires that an
individual must have at least one sibling while the word only excludes
this meaning).
An anomalous sentence conforms to all the grammar rules of the
language. It is grammatically correct and syntactically perfect, but
semantically anomalous because it breaks the rules of semantics.
Literally it is nonsensical, but in some context, it is understandable, of
course figuratively. In contrast, a sentence in which the words are
joined randomly has no meaning / no sense / meaningless. For
example, Ceasar is and or. This type of sentence is ungrammatical.
Here are some more examples of anomaly:
+ Colorless green ideas are sleeping furiously.
+ The sorrow is chewing my bones.
+ John frightened a tree.

+ She sliced the ideas.
+ Honesty plays golf.
+ Christopher is killing phonemes.
+ The tiger remained alive for an hour after the hunter killed it.
+ My brother is a spinster (unmarried woman).
+ The boy swallowed the chocolate and then chew it.
+ Puppies are human.
+ Jack’s courage chewed the bones.
2. Ambiguity
a. Definition. A word, a phrase, or a sentence is ambiguous when it
has more than one meaning.
Ex: A ring (may mean a phone call or an object offered as a gift to a
lover: engaging ring..)
At the bank (of a river or a financial institution)
He greeted the girl with a smile. (the boy was smiling or the girl
was smiling)
b. Types of ambiguity
Lexical Ambiguity: containing an ambiguous word (có 1 từ
dị nghĩa: cùng loại từ nhưng khác nghĩa)

Ex: She gave me a ring last night
nhẫn = wedding ring
cú điện thoại = phone call
Don’t seat on those glasses
ly = glasses for drinking
maét kính = eye-glasses
Structural Ambiguity: caused by structure
• Grouping Ambiguity: the words in the sentence can be put
into different groups.
Ex: Old men and women left.
=> [old men] & [women] left
[old] [men & women] left
Ex: An old girl’s bicycle.
=> [old girl’s] [bicycle]
[old] [girl’s bicycle]
Ex: He greeted the girl with a smile.
=> He greeted the girl with a smile
Ex: I met John going to the cinema
=> I met John going to the cinema

• Function Ambiguity: a sentence containing 1 word with
different functions.
Ex: I love Laura more than you S: … more than you love her
O: … more than I love you
Ex: Visiting relatives can be boring S: the relatives who are visiting…
O: to visit relatives …
Ex: He gave her dog meat her: determiner /modifier of dog.
her: personal pro / indirect object.
3. Some common forms of structural ambiguity
a. Grouping Ambiguity
Adj N & N Ex: Old men and women.
=> Repeat the Adj (AN & AN): Old men & old women
=> Change their positions (N & A N): Women and old men.
Adj N N Ex: A small arms factory.
=> A N PP : A small factory of arms.
=> N PP ( Prep + A + N) : A factory of small arms.
Adj N’s N Ex: A large woman’s garment.
=> A N PP : A large garment for women.
=> N PP (Prep + A + N) : A garment for large woman.

V N PP Ex: I saw the boy with a telescope.
=> PP as nominal modifier : Replace PP by Adj. C. = I saw a
boy who had a telescope.
=> PP as verbal modifier : Move PP to the beginning = With a
telescope, I saw the boy.
V N -ing P Ex: I met John going to the cinema.
=> -ing P as nominal modifier : Replace –ing P by AC = I met
John who was going to the cinema.
=> -ing P as verbal modifier : Move –ing P to the beginning =
Going to the cinema, I met John.
V N N A C Ex: There’s a cafeù in TB district
which I like.
(the AC may modify the 1st
N or the 2nd
N => change the position
of AC)
In TB district, there’s a cafeù which I like (which I like
modifies cafeù)
In TB district, which I like, there’s a cafeù ( AC modifies
district)
V Adv V Ex: Those who sold quickly made a profit.
(quickly may modify sold or made => change the position of the
Adverb)
Those who quickly sold made a profit. (quickly modifies sold)

Those who sold made a profit quickly. (quickly modifies made)
N Adv V Ex: My brother especially likes going fishing.
( especially may modifies brother or likes going fishing => change
the position of Adv)
Especially my brother likes going fishing. (= many people like
it especially my brother)
My brother likes going fishing particularly. (= my brother likes
different things especially going fishing)
b. Function Ambiguity
-ing Phrase. Ex: Visiting relatives can be boring
Visiting is a gerund => relatives is its DO and visiting relatives
is a GP / S
+ Replace Gerund by an infinitive: To visit relatives can be
boring.
Visiting is a present participle modifying relatives => visiting
relatives is a NP/S
+ Replace Present participle by an AC: The relatives who are
visiting can be boring.
Comparative form (than, as) Ex: I loves Mary more than you
Subject: add auxiliary verb => I love Mary more than you do.
Object: repeat verb => I love Mary more than love you.
Sentence Pattern: one sentence may be of two different patterns

Ex: He found Peter a helper.
Pattern 8: He found Peter a helper. => He found a helper for Peter.
IO DO
Pattern 9: He found Peter a helper. => He considered Peter as his helper.
DO OC
Adj. Pattern: Be – Adj – to Inf. Ex: The chicken is ready to eat.
S: The chicken is ready to eat food. (the chicken eats food)
O: The chicken is ready for us to eat. (we eat the chicken)
The chicken is ready to be eaten.
One word with different parts of speech
Ex: He gave her dog meat Det. modifies dog => He gave meat to her dog
Pronoun IO => He gave dog meat to her
Ex: The detective looked hard Adj (P4): hard / SC = … looked severe /
strict.
Adv (P6) hard / M / Aval = looked
carefully.
Exercise 17. Identify the type of ambiguity and give two possible
paraphrases to make the meaning clear.
1. This pen is empty.
2. Are the chicken ready to eat?
3. Do you want to try on that dress in the window?

4. This old car needs new brakes and anti-freezer.
5. Don’t sit on those glasses.
6. I understand money matters.
7. I know clever people like you.
8. The dog looked at the snake longer than the cat.
9. The police searched for the car with broken headlights.
10.I hate the hunter’s shooting.
11.Visiting relatives can be boring.
12.We need nutritious food and drink.

13.We feed the pigs in clean clothes.
14.I need the criminal lawyer.
15.I like ice-cream more than you.
16.I found a bat in the attic.
17.He gave her dog meat.
18.Leave the chairs on the veranda.
19.I met a man with a dog that had fleas.
20.Oh, that’s just a crazy lawyer’s idea.
21.The FCC intends to eliminate sex and race bias in TV
advertising.

22.You should eat more nutritious food.
23.He considered the applicant hard.
24.I found her a doll.
25.They watched the hunter with the binoculars.
26.She spied the dog on the corner.
27.Joan is easy to please.
28.Molly told Angela about herself.
29.She gave him a ring last night.
30.The car coasted into the garage with the lights on.

31.The dog bit several people in the crowd.
32.Tristan left directions for Isolde to follow.
33.She can’t bear children.
34.It takes a good ruler to make a straight line.
35.He saw that petrol can explode.
36.Is he really that kind?
37.They are cooking apples.
38.This is not a Raphael’s painting.
39.The policeman is talking about Mr. Thompson’s murder.

40.My grandfather is a small farmer.
41.He is a poor student.
42.The guard turned out a drunkard.
43.I am getting her socks.
44.The man gave the library books.
45.It was a little pasty.
46.He accepted Wednesday.
47.Thorn taught himself during his young manhood.
48.The doctor made them well.

49.She taught the group singing.
50.Our spaniel made a good friend.
51.The judges designated the girl winner.
52.Mary called her mother.
53.My father is a foreign language teacher.
54.My friend is an old car enthusiast.
55.The rabbit also enjoys our lettuce.
56.The members only are allowed to buy beer.
57.I gave her an old girl’s bicycle.

58.He promised to call me at 10 o’clock.
59.Paula is a girl hunter.
60.She is a baby sitter.
61.I found a book on HN station.
62.Everyday passengers enjoy a meal like this.
63.I considered those errors.
64.It was a plot to sell industrial secrets worth millions to the ABC
company.
65.He passed the hammer and saw through the window.

IX. MEANING RELATION
1. WORD RELATION: the relation between the meanings of two words.
Synonymy: Two words of the same or almost the same
denotative / referential meaning.
Test: A= B
Ex: broad = wide; movie = film; deep = profound;
buy = purchase
However, these words differ in their connotative / social / affective
meaning. For example, film is usually British, referring to classic
movies or art movies; meanwhile, movie is American.
Partial Synonym: a word that share one of the meanings with another.
Ex1: There are different ways / methods to do this.
But: To go to BH, there is only one way (not method)
Ex2: You have my deep / profound sympathy
But: This river is very deep.
Ex3: This cheese is ripe / mature enough for us to eat.
But: This fruit is ripe enough (not mature)
The boy is mature enough (not ripe)
Ex4: We can fill this container with soil / earth.
But: The rocket fell back to earth (not to soil)

Antonymy: Two words of opposite meaning.
Types of Antonym:
• Gradable Antonym
Two words are ‘gradable antonyms if they are at opposite
ends of a continuous scale of values (Hurford & Heasley.
1983:118). In other words, there are intermediate grades /
levels between the two extremes. For example,
Hot <= warm <= lukewarm <= cool <= cold
Love <= be fond of <= like <= be indifferent <= dislike <= hate
Test: very/ how? + Adj/ Adv much / very much / how
much+ Verb
Ex1: Old # Young => How old is he? – He is very old
Ex2: Love # Hate => How much do you love her? – Very much!
• Complementary / Non-gradable / Binary Antonym
Two words are complementary antonyms when they exclude each
other. In other words, ‘if one word is applicable, then the other cannot
be.’ (Hurford & Heasley. 1983:114)
Test: A = not B (and vice versa)
Ex1: alive # dead => alive = not dead
Ex2: open # close => close = not open
Ex3: fail # pass => fail = not pass

• Relational Antonym / Converses:
Two words are relational antonyms when they describe the same
relationship but they are mentioned in the opposite order. (Hurford &
Heasley. 1983:116)
Test: if A is … of B; then B is … of A
Ex1: husband # wife => If A is husband of B; then B is wife of A.
Ex2: teacher # student => If A is the teacher of B; then B is a
student of A.
Ex3: buy # sell => If A sells a car to B; then B buys the car from A.
There are other words which are mutually opposite or incompatible,
but they cannot be put into one of the three types above. They form a
system called system of multiple incompatibility or oppositions. These
systems may have two or many members. For example:
Ex1: Season system: Spring – Summer – Autumn – Winter.
Ex2: Physical state system: Solid – Gas – Liquid.
Ex3: University student system: Freshman – Sophomore – Junior – Senior.
Ex4: Primary element system: Earth – Air – Water – Fire.
Homophone: words of the same sound, different spellings, and
different meanings
Ex: you – ewe meat – meet flour – flower
our – hour too – two meat – meet

Homograph: words of the same spelling, different sounds,
different meanings
Ex: a present /’preznt/ – to present /pr1’zent/
the lead /led/ – to lead /li:d/
the wind /w1nd/ – to wind /w@1nd/
Homonym: words of the same sound, same spelling, different
meanings.
Ex: bank (n): ngaân haøng – bank (n): bôø soâng
bear (n): con gaáu – bear (v): mang, chòu
fine (adj): toát ñeïp – fine (n) tieàn phaït
Note: There is no relation between the meanings of homonyms.
Polysemy: one word with different but related meanings.
(There is something common among the meanings)
Ex: fork for eating
for gardening
of a road all share the same form of a fork
of a river
Hyponymy: The one way relationship between hyponyms and
hypernym (see lexical field). For example:
Human (B) Hypernym

Bachelor Father Mother Baby Uncle Sister
(B)Hyponyms
Test: A (Hypo) is a kind of B (Hyper)
Ex: A bachelor is a kind of human
A baby is a kind of human
Exercise 18 Identify the relation between the words in the following pairs
1. Same – Different 2. Dead – Alive
3. Love – Hate 4. Married – Unmarried
5. Hot – Cold 6. Buy – Sell
7. Liquid – Gas 8. Male – Female
9. Conceal – Reveal 10. Boy – Girl
11. Movie – Film 12. Rose – Flower
13. Bank (of a river) – Bank (for money)14. Meet – Meat
15. Oak – Tree 16. A bear – To bear
17. Own – Belong to 18. Clever – Stupid
19. Close – Next to 20. Flourish – Thrive
Hyponymy

21. Flog – Whip 22. Casual – Informal
Exercise 19. Decide whether the following words with their different
meanings are homonymy or polysemy.
1. Grass: herbage for grazing animals; marijuana
2. Leech: a bloodsucking worm; a hanger-on who seeks advantage
3. Range: a cooking stove; a series of mountains
4. Key: an instrument to open a clock an answer sheet for a test
5. Reel: a spool for photographic film round device at the butt end
of a fishing rod to the line.
6. Race: the act of running competitively; People belonging to the
same genetic group
7. Bark: of a dog of a tree
8. Fork: in a road an instrument for eating
9. Tail: of a coat of an animal
10. Steer: a young bull to guide
11. Lip: of a jug of a person
12. Punch: a blow with a fist a kind of alcoholic drink
Exercise 20. Are the following pairs converses?
1. Buy – Sell yes / no 2. Borrow – Lend yes / no
3. Give – Take yes / no 4. Come – Go yes / no

5. Give – Receive yes / no 6. Own – Belong to yes / no
7. Teacher – Student yes / no 8. Father – Mother yes / no
9. Uncle – Aunt yes / no 10. Landlady – Tenant yes / no
Exercise 21. Decide whether the following pairs of antonyms are
complementary, gradable, or relational.
1. Good – bad 2. Expensive – Cheep
3. Parent – Offspring 4. Beautiful – Ugly
5. False – True 6. Pass – Fail
7. Hot – Cold 8. Legal – Illegal
9. Larger – Smaller 10. Poor – Rich
11. Fast - Slow 12. Asleep – Awake
13. Husband – Wife 14. Rude – Polite
15. Below – Above 16. Grandparent – Grandchild
2. SENTENCE RELATION: The relation between the meanings of
two sentences.
Entailment: A sentence A entails a sentence B if the truth of B
follows necessarily from the truth of A. (Hurford & Heasley.
1983:107)

Test: A is true B is true
A entails B
Ex: I bought some roses I bought some flowers
John ate my biscuits Someone ate something
Paul killed Bill Bill died
However,
He eats all my roses  He eats all my flowers
He did not eat my roses  He did not eat my flowers
I saw a mouse I saw an animal
I saw a big mouse I saw an animal
But, I saw a big mouse # I saw a big animal (not entailment of
any direction)
Contradiction: 2 sentences are contradictory if it is impossible
for them both to be true at the same time and of the same
circumstances. (Hurford & Heasley. 1983:119) In other words,
they contradict / exclude each other.
Ex: I am a bachelor & I am a father
This ant is alive & This ant is dead
John killed Bill & Bill is still alive
Mary is my sister & I am the only child in the family
one-way relation

Paraphrase: A paraphrase of a sentence is a sentence which
expresses the same proposition as another sentence. (Hurford &
Heasley. 1983:114)
A paraphrase of a sentence is another sentence that has virtually
the same meaning. (Peccei, 1999:3)
Sentences are paraphrases if they have the same meaning (except
possibly for minor differences in emphasis. (Fromkin & Rodman,
1993: 132)
Types of paraphrase
• Lexical: Paraphrases that contains synonyms (same
structure, different words but synonyms)
Ex: I’m very happy to see you
I’m very glad to see you
The house was concealed by the trees
The house was hidden by the trees
• Structural: Two sentences of different structure but same
meaning. The difference in structure is not enough to
change the meaning.
Ex: The lion bit the hunter
The hunter was bitten by the lion
Paul opened the door with a key

Paul used a key to open the door
SOME WAYS TO PARAPHRASE A SENTENCE
a) Voice: Active Passive
Ex: The mother bought her daughter a dress
The daughter was bought a dress by her mother.
A dress was bought for the daughter by her mother.
Notes:
• Only transitive verbs can be put into passive, but not any
transitive verb can.
• Give –type verbs (give, buy, offer, send, show, lend, hand,
throw, etc.) have two ways of transforming into passive.
Ex: She gave him a book He was given a book
A book was given to him
• Explain-type verbs (explain, deliver, introduce, describe,
read, write, sing ) have only one way of transforming into
passive.
Ex: The teacher explained the lesson to the students
The lesson was explained to the students
Not: The students were explained the lesson.
b) Modifier - Adjectival (Modifier of a noun -> Nominal
Modifier) Phrase Clause

The woman who is wearing a blue dress is my teacher.
AdjC/M/Ajal
wearing a blue dress
Pres PP/M/Ajal
in a blue dress
PP/M/Adjal
dressed in blue
PastP/M/Ajal
c) Modifier - Adverbial (Modifies the other parts of speech
except Noun)
• Phrase Clause
Ex: I hate to be disturbed at table
PP/M/Aval
while I was eating
AdvC/M/Aval
I don’t like to be disturb while having meal
PP/M/Aval
• Change the position of Aval:
Ex: I study English to get a good job
InfP/M/Aval
In order to get a good job, I study English
InfP/M/Aval
d) Simple Complex Compound basing on the
relationship between the two sentences.
• “in” maëc treân ngöôøi
• “with” mang, xaùch, ñoäi, ñeo, gaùnh, vaùc
• “with” ñaëc ñieåm veà theå lyù
• “of” tuoåi taùc, tính tình

Relationship among different linking units
Type Preposition Coordinate
Conj.
Subordinate
Conj.
Transition
Words
Cause-
Effect
Because of;
due to
for (cause);
so (result)
because; since;
as …
Therefore,
Opposition/
Concession
In spite of;
despite
but; though;
although;
even though
however; yet
nevertheless
Condition with; without;
in case of
or if; even if
unless
otherwise
Note:
• A simple sentence usually needs a preposition and a noun /
pronoun / noun phrase
• A complex sentence requires a subordinate conjunction
and a subordinate clause
• A compound sentence needs a coordinate conjunction
preceded by a comma, or a semi-colon followed by a
transition word and a comma
Ex1: It rains heavily. I stay at home.
• Simple
Due to heavy rain, I stay at home.
PP/M/Aval
• Complex

Since it rains heavily, I stay at home.
AvC/M/Aval
• Compound
It rains heavily, so I stay at home.
It rains heavily; therefore, I stay at home.
Ex2: You are beautiful. Nobody can deny it (replacing the previous sentence)
Pr/DO/Nal
• Simple
Nobody can deny your beauty
NP/DO/NAl
Everybody admits your beauty
NP/DO/Nal
• Complex
Nobody can deny that you are beautiful.
NC/DO/Nal
Everybody admits that you are beautiful.
NC/DO/Nal
It’s undeniable that you are beautiful.
NC/S/NAl
You are so beautiful that no body can deny.
AvC/M/Aval
• Compound
You are beautiful, and nobody denies it
e) Formal Subject Real Subject
Ex: To understand you is difficult It’s difficult to understand you.

f) Inf Gerund
Ex: To come late disturbs everybody Coming late disturbs everybody
Seeing is believing To see is to believe
Note: An infinitive is usually used for something general or particular
while a gerund is used for something general. To talk about
something particular, we should use a possessive word.
Ex: Your being late / John’s being late annoys everybody.
g) Adjective Patterns
• Be –Adj – to inf. (Pat. 1)
• Be – Adj – PP – to inf (Pat. 2)
• Be – Adj – that clause (Pat. 3)
Ex1: Pat. 1: I am very happy to see you.
Pat. 2: It is very happy for me to see you.
Pat. 3: I am very happy that I see you.
Ex: It is very cold outside. Nobody can go out.
Pat. 1: It is too cold outside to go out
Pat. 2: It is too cold outside for us (/anybody) to go out
Pat. 3: It is so cold outside that nobody can go out

h) Inversion
• Negative/ Semi-negative: not only, never, no sooner, in no
circumstances,…
• Semi-negative words: hardly, rarely, seldom, …
I not only love you but also want to marry you
=> Not only do I love you but also want to marry you
He does not come home until he gets what he wants
=> Not until he gets what he wants does he come home
• Only, So, …
I only marry you when you graduate from University
=> Only when you graduate from University, do I marry you
You are so nice that nobody can help loving you
=> So nice are you that nobody can help loving you
• Adverb for emphasis: here, there ….
If the subject is a noun -> inversion ; If the subject is a
pronoun -> no inversion
The wall came down with a crash
=> Down came the wall with a crash!
But: Down it came with a crash. (no inversion)

The bus comes there
=> There comes the bus
But: There he comes! (no inversion)
i) Opposition (although, though …)
However + Adj/Adv
Adj/Adv + A
Whatever + N
Although you try very hard, you can never win her heart.
=> However hard you may try, you can never win her heart
Although you earn a lot of money, you can never satisfy her
needs
=> Much as you may earn, you can never satisfy her needs
Although he is very poor, he lives happily
=> Poor as he is, he lives happily
j) Condition: should, were, had
If there should be something wrong (with the TV), call me
=> Should there be something wrong (with the TV), call me
If I were/ was (informal) you, …
=> Were I you, …

If I had been here yesterday,…
=> Had I been here yesterday, …
X. TYPES OF SENTENCES BASING ON TRUE / FALSE
• Analytic: always true because the sentence includes the answer
Ex: A cat is an animal
A rose is a kind of flowers
• Synthetic: may be true or false depending on the reality
Ex: Cats can live till 20 years
• Contradictory: always false (containing 2 words that
contradict each other)
Ex: My father is a bachelor
My aunt is a man
Exercise 22
Identify the following sentences as A (analytic); S (synthetic); or C
(contradictory)
1. Cats are animals A / S / C
2. Bachelors are unmarried A / S / C
3. Cats never live more than 20 years A / S / C
4. Bachelors cannot form lasting relationships A / S / C

5. Cats are vegetables A / S / C
6. Bachelors are female A / S / C
7. No cats like to bathe A / S / C
8. Bachelors are lonely A / S / C
Exercise 23
In the following sentences, write a C by the contradictory sentences
and an F by the sentences that are false due to the circumstance.
1. My aunt is a man
2. Witches are wicked
3. My brother is an only child
4. The evening star isn’t the morning star
5. The evening star isn’t the evening star
6. Babies are adults
7. Babies can lift one ton
8. Puppies are human
9. My bachelor friends are all married
10. My bachelor friends are all lonely

Exercise 24 Identify the relations of the following pairs of sentences
as P (paraphrase); E (entailment); or C (contradiction)
1. a/ John is the parent of James
b/ James is the child of John P / E / C
2. a/ John is the parent of James
b/ James is the parent of John P / E / C
3. a/ My father owns this car
b/ This car belongs to my father P / E / C
4. a/ Some countries have no coastline
b/ Not all countries have a coastline P / E / C
5. a/ No one has led a perfect life
b/ Some people have led a perfect life P / E / C
6. a/ I ran to the house
b/ I went to the house P / E / C
7. a/ The house was concealed by the trees
b/ The house was hidden by the trees P / E / C
8. a/ It is hard to lasso elephants
b/ Elephants are hard to lasso P / E / C
9. a/ John murdered Bill

b/ John did not kill Bill P / E / C
10.a/ John murdered Bill
b/ Bill was murdered by John P / E / C
11.a/ I saw Terry at the anniversary party
b/ It was Terry that I saw at the anniversary party P / E / C
12.a/ Jules is Mary’s husband
b/ Mary is married P / E / C
13.a/ Vera is an only child
b/ Olga is Vera’s sister P / E / C
14.a/ It is 50 miles to the nearest service station
b/ The nearest service station is 50 miles away P / E / C
15.a/ My cousin Brian teaches at the community college for a living
b/ My cousin Brian is a teacher P / E / C
Exercise 25. What is the relationship between the A sentences and the
B sentences below?
A B
Henry was not chewing a tulip
David did not steal a pound of beef
Henry was not chewing a flower
David did not take a pound of beef
Denis did not get savaged by a sheep David did not get savaged by an animal

A B
Henry chew up all my tulips
All Denis’s sheep have foot-rot
Henry chew up all my flowers
All Denis’s animals have foot-rot
Exercise 26. What are the relations between the following sentences?
A B
John saw a big mouse
A tall pygmy came in
We went in a small bus
John saw a big animal
a tall person came in
We went in a small vehicle
Exercise 27. Look at the following sentences and choose C (correct)
or I (incorrect)
1. John cooked an egg entails John boiled an egg C / I
2. John boiled an egg entails John cooked an egg C / I
3. I saw a boy entails I saw a person C / I
4. John stole a car entails John took a car C / I
5. His speech disturbed me entails his speech deeply disturbed me
C / I
Exercise 28. Paraphrase the following sentences
1. To stay objective in such a situation is really hard.
2. This exercise is a piece of cake for us.

3. He is blamed for not keeping his words.
4. This task is more demanding than the previous one.
5. I met John at the cinema last night.
6. My pencil no longer has an eraser.
7. I bought my sister a dress on her birthday.
8. They loaded hay onto the truck.
9. She is so nice that nobody can help loving her.
10. You are beautiful. Nobody can deny it.
11. To finish this work within an hour is not easy at all.

12. If only I studied more math…
13. She hurried out the door, already late for the meeting.
14. To find everything ready was really a pleasant change.
15. Justin spent a year in Spain and came back speaking Spanish
fluently.
16. At the snack-bar; that’s where you can get a good hamburger.
17. I couldn’t go to the game without a ticket.
18. There are few part-time jobs now available for students.
19. Cindy is a wonderful friend, so thoughtful and sincere.
20. Such an enormous crowd has rarely been at the airport.

21. You are not in any circumstances to reveal the source of
information.
22. They were so upset that they could hardly speak.
23. Most of the exam papers were easy enough for all the students to
answer.
24. He plays the violin so well that he could perform at a concert.
25. I would have visited you, but I didn’t know that you were at home.

PART 2: PRAGMATICS
I. DEFINITION
Semantics and Pragmatics
Semantics is the study of language meaning. In other words, we
study “the relationships between linguistic forms (language) and
entities in the world (Yule, 1996: 4). This meaning is the meaning
expressed by the words in the sentence which is out of context
(context-free) and is called semantic meaning or linguistic meaning /
literal meaning.
Pragmatics, on the contrary, is the study of language use. In other
words, it is “the study of the relationships between linguistics form
(language) and the users of those forms (Yule, 1996: 4). This
meaning is the meaning that a speaker wants to convey through an
utterance in a particular context (context-bound) and is called
pragmatic meaning or speaker meaning.
Pragmatics is thus the study of speaker meaning or the study of
contextual meaning (Yule, 1996: 3).
II. SPEECH ACT haønh vi ngoân töø)
1. Definition
Speech acts are actions performed via utterances. In English, speech acts
are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint,
compliment, invitation, promise, or request… (Yule, 1996: 47).

People do not only produce utterances containing grammatical
structures and words, but they perform actions through those
utterances. For example, when a boss tells an unwanted guest, “The
door is right behind you!” he does not want to make a statement about
the location of the door, but he uses the utterance to perform the act of
putting the guest out of his room.
2. Components of a speech act
The action performed through an utterance (speech act) consists of 3
related acts:
a. Locutionary act: the act of making an utterance, of
producing a meaningful linguistic expression.
b. Illocutionary act: the intention / purpose of the speaker
when making an utterance (also known as the illocutionary
force of the utterance)
c. Perlocutionary act: the effect of the utterance on the hearer
(also known as the perlocutionary effect) (Yule, 1996: 48-
49).
Ex: (1) -“ Oh, it’s very cold in here!”
• Locutionary act: the act of making the utterance “Oh, it’s very
cold in here”
• Illocutionary act: the speaker wants someone to close the door
and windows.
• Perlocutionary act: someone goes to close the windows and
door.

Of these three acts, the most discussed is illocutionary act. The term
‘speech act’ is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only the
illocutionary force of the utterance. The illocutionary force of an
utterance is what it ‘counts as’. The same locutionary act, as shown
in (1) above, may count as a statement, a complaint, a request,… This
depends on the situation in which the utterance is made.
III. SPEECH EVENT / SITUATION
A speech event / situation is a particular circumstance surrounding
the utterance in which the speaker normally expects that his or her
communicative intention will be recognized by the hearer. In many
ways, it is the nature of the speech event that determines the
interpretation of an utterance as performing a particular speech act.
Components of a speech event / speech situation
1. Setting: time + place
2. Participants: people involved in a speech event ( Speaker, Hearer)
3. Role relationships: the relationship between speaker & hearer.
4. The message: what is conveyed.
5. The key: tone, manner, spirit (irony, humor, seriousness …)
It is the speech situation that helps to identify the illocutionary act of
the speaker (what the speaker wants).
Ex: “There’s a piece of fish on the table.”

Situation 1:
At noon, a girl comes home from school late. All the family have had
lunch. Entering the house, she addressed her mother,
“- Mom, I am very hungry. Is there something to eat?
- There’s a piece of fish on the table.”
The mother wants to reassure the daughter that her lunch has not
been forgotten and suggests her having fish for lunch.
Situation 2:
At 10:00, the mother comes home from the market. She puts her bag
on the table in the kitchen and tells her daughter, “Mary, there’s a
piece of fish on the table.”
The mother wants her daughter to prepare the lunch.
Situation 3:
A couple enter a restaurant. They come to a table in a corner to take a
seat, but on the table, there’s some fish left. They tell a waiter,
“There’s a piece of fish on the table!”
They complain to the waiter that the table has not been cleaned
properly and want him to clean it.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH ACT
Direct speech act: When there is a direct relationship between a
structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. (the intent of the
speaker is expressed directly, overtly).

Indirect speech act: When there is an indirect relationship between
a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act.
Ex: a. Keep silent! (imperative structure; ordering / requesting
function: Direct)
b. It is getting noisy! (statement structure; requesting function:
Indirect)
c. Do you drink tea? (interrogative structure; questioning
function: Direct)
d. Would you like some tea? (interrogative structure; offering
function: Indirect)
IV. TYPES OF SPEECH ACT
1. Declaratives: the speech acts that change the world via their
utterance (blessing, announcing, arresting, naming, marrying, firing,
dismissing,…)
Ex: a. Priest: “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
(announcement)
b. Referee: “You’re out!” (announcement)
c. Jury Foreman: “We find the defendant guilty.” (announcement)
2. Representatives: the speech acts that state what the speaker
believes to be the case or not (statement, assertion, conclusion,
description, claim, report, hypothesis,…)
Ex: a. The earth is flat.
b. Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts. (statement)

c. It was a warm sunny day. (statement)
d. We will have a 3-day holiday. (the leader of the class: report)
e. The robber might have escaped by the window. (hypothesis)
3. Expressives: the speech acts that state what the speaker feels
(statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow, greetings,
apologies, congratulations, condolences, thanks, wish, complaint,
compliment, leave taking, saying goodbye, admiration, irony,
mocking, …)
Ex: a. I’m really sorry.
b. Congratulations! (congratulation)
c. Oh, yes, great, mmmm ! (joyful approval)
4. Directives: the speech acts that speakers use to get someone else
to do something (orders, commands, requests, suggestions, asking,
advice, giving permission, giving way, warning, offer, complaint,
threat, urge, challenge, invitation,…)
Ex: a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black.
b. Would you like a cup of coffee? (offer)
c. I can’t stand the fans! (indirect request)
5. Commissives: the speech acts that speakers use to commit
themselves to some future action (promises, vow, threats, refusals,
acceptation, offers, …)
Ex: a. I’ll be back. (promise)

b. I won’t do it again. (promise)
c. I want to, but I have to finish this report right now. (refusal)
Exercise 29. Identify the illocutionary act (speaker’s intent) of the
following utterances and decide whether it is a direct or indirect
speech act.
1. May I talk to Mary? =>
2. Clean up this mess. =>
3. I’m very thirsty. =>
4. There’s a good film on at NH cinema. =>
5. Would you mind opening the window? =>
6. Do you have to stand in front of the TV? =>
7. Do you have a minute?
What’s up?
I can’t start the machine. =>

8. Turn on the fans, please. =>
Exercise 30. Give a possible situation for the following utterances,
then identify the illocutionary acts and classified them into different
types of speech act.
1. Clean up this mess.
2. I’m very thirsty.
3. There’s a good film on at NH cinema.
4. Would you mind opening the window?
5. Do you have to stand in front of the TV?
6. I love you so much.
7. Do you have a minute? – Yes? - I can’t start the machine.

8. Out!
9. What a nice girl!
10. I’ll see you later.
11. Oh, it’s too hot in here.
12. I wish I were you!
13. This bag is too heavy. I can’t carry it.
14. The gun is loaded.
15. There’s a piece of fish on the table.
16. Would you like a cup of tea?

17. After you, Madam.
18. I’m awfully sorry. I wasn’t at the meeting this morning.
19. You can play outside for half an hour.
20. You cannot bring the food into the classroom.
21. Have a good day.
22. Hi, John. Nice to meet you.
23. Mr. John, you are arrested.
24. The robber might have escaped by a helicopter.
25. If you’ll wait for a minute, I’ll see if the boss could see you.
26. Why don’t you ask her for help?

27. If you come late one more time, you’ll be sacked!
28. I’ve never really got on with my noisy neighbor.
29. I’m sorry. I really don’t understand what you mean.
30. I have to finish this report right now.
31. I don’t know why she behaved so strangely.
32. If you smoke in here, you’ll be fined.
33. This is a non-smoking room Sir.
34. May you be happy for ever.
35. The light went out. We can do nothing at home now.

36. We are going to have a 3-month vacation!
37. Tony, don’t you know what time it is now?
38. You are so beautiful in that purple dress!
39. I’d love to give you an open-book exam, but we have to follow
the regulations of the school.
40. I love you, but I haven’t graduated from the university yet.
V. THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE
Conversation to be effective needs the cooperation of the speaker and
the hearer. In other words, successful conversation proceeds
according to principles called Cooperative Principles. According to
this principle, we interpret language on the assumption that the
speaker is obeying 4 maxims (sub-principles) as shown in the
following:
The maxims
Quantity (informativeness)

• Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the
current purposes of the exchange)
• Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
Quality Try to make your contribution one that is true.
• Do not say what you believe to be false.
• Do not say what for which you lack adequate evidence.
Relation Be relevant. (Relavance)
Manner Be perspicuous.
• Avoid obscurity of expression.
• Avoid ambiguity.
• Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
• Be orderly. (Yule, 1996: 37 following Grice 1975)
Exercise 31. Are the following conversations cooperative? Which
maxim is violated?
1. - Policeman at the front door: “Is your father or mother at home?”
- Small boy (who knows that his father is at home): “Either my
mother’s gone out shopping or she hasn’t.”
2. - Traffic garden to motorist parked on double yellow line: “ is this
your car?”
- Motorist (looking at the black clouds): “ I think it’s going to rain.”

3. - Customer in stationery shop: “Could you tell me where I could
buy some felt-tip pens?”
- Shop girl( who knows she has felt-tip pens in stock): “ Yes, you
could get some at Woolworths, down the street.”
4. - Mother: “Now tell me the truth. Who put the ferret in the
bathtub?”
- Son (who knows who did it): “Someone put it there.”
VI. IMPLICATURE (hàm ngôn)
1. Definition
Implicature is used by Grice (1975) to account for what a speaker
can imply, suggest, or mean, as from what the speaker literally
says. Implicature is an additional conveyed meaning.
Ex: - Students: “Sir, how are our final exams?”
- Teacher: “Few of you passed.”
Implicature: Not many / most of you passed. (many of you failed)
2. Types of Implicature
a. Conversational implicature
An implicature based on the assumption that the participants respect
the cooperative principles.
Ex 1: A: “I hope you brought the bread and the cheese.”
B: “ I brought the cheese.”

Implicature: B did not bring the bread (quantity / informativeness maxim)
Ex 2: A: “ Is the boss in?”
B: “ The light in his office is still on.”
Implicature: The boss is still in the office (relation / relevance maxim)
b. Scalar implicature
An implicature based on scales: when any form in a scale is
asserted, the negative of all forms higher on the scale is implicated.
• Quantity scale: No one – Few – A few – Some – Many – Most
– All
• Frequency scale: Never – Rarely – Seldom – Sometimes –
Often – Usually – Always.
• Possibility scale: Possible – probable – Almost certain –
Certain.
Ex 1: “Some students visited me yesterday”
Implicature: Not many / Not all … visited me yesterday
Ex 2: “ I seldom go swimming at KyDong swimming pool.”
Implicature: I do not often / always go swimming at KD swimming pool.
3. Conventional implicature
An implicature based on the convention associated with specific words.
Ex 1: “I tried my best to get the ticket.”
Implicature: I didn’t get the ticket (tried conventionally implicates failure)

Ex 2: “ The teacher hasn’t come yet.”
Implicature: The teacher is expected to come later. (yet implicates to
be true later)
Ex 3: “Even the President came to the party.”
Implicature: That the President came to the party is out of expectation.
(even implicates contrary to expectation.
Exercise 32
Give a possible implicature of B’s utterance in each of the following situations.
1. A: “Did you buy salt?”
B: “I tried to.”
Implicature:
2. A: “Do any of John’s daughter speak a foreign language?”
B: “Mary speaks French.”
Implicature:
3. A: “Did many students visit you last weekend?”
B: “Some of the students came.”
Implicature:
4. A: “You and Jim must come to my house some evening.”
B: “Yes, we’d like to.”

A: “ Of course, you two don’t drink, do you?”
B: “Well, we don’t not drink.”
Implicature:
5. A: “Do you love me?”
B: “I’m quite fond of you.”
Implicature:
6. A: “Was there a fiddler at the bar last night?”
B: “ There was a man scraping a bow across a violin.”
Implicature:
7. A: “Do you like my new carpet?”
B: “The wallpaper’s much better.”
Implicature:
8. A: “Do you go to swimming pool everyday?”
B: “ Rarely.”
Implicature:
9. A: “How are Mr. John’s daughters?”
B: “ The youngest is OK.”
Implicature:

10.A: “My car’s broken down.”
B: “There is a garage round the corner.”
Implicature:
11.A: “What subjects is Jack taking?”
B: “He’s not taking Linguistics.”
Implicature:
12.A: “Have you brushed your teeth and tidied your room?”
B: “I’ve brushed my teeth.”
Implicature:
13.A: “Who was that man you were talking to?”
B: “That was my mother’s husband.”
Implicature:
14.A: “Has Betty gone to bed?”
B: “Her desk lamp is still on.”
Implicature:
15.A: “Let’s try the new Arab restaurant round the corner.”
B: “I’m a vegetarian.”
Implicature:

16.A: “Meet me at Piccadilly Circus at midnight”
B: “I’ll bring a bodyguard in that case.”
Implicature:
17.A: “Do you use your local swimming pool very much?”
B: “The salt water hurts my eyes.”
Implicature:
18.A: “How much do I owe you now?”
B: “I’ll have to get my calculator.”
Implicature:
Exercise 33. Choose the one that is the best implicature for the
following situations.
1. - Did you hear that Jeff has passed his oral exam?
- Finally.
a. Jeff agreed to take the oral exam again.
b. Jeff passed the oral exam and went on a vacation.
c. It took Jeff a long time to pass his oral exam.
d. Jeff didn’t take the oral exam.
2. - How do you like the new librarian at the information desk?
- You mean Ron? He’s been here as long as I have!

a. He has been waiting for Ron for a long time.
b. Ron is not a new librarian .
c. Ron did a lot of work for the man.
d. He needs to collect some information from Ron.
3. - Mary is going to give me a ride to the party.
- How could she? She doesn’t have her license yet.
a. Mary is going to the airport.
b. Mary is not going to the party.
c. Mary is not very kind.
d. Mary should not be driving.
4. -Would you like me to call a night escort?
- If possible.
a. She doesn’t need an escort.
b. She will call a night escort by herself.
c. She would like the man to get a night escort for her.
d. She’s afraid the man won’t help her.
5. -Do you accept credit card?
- Only if the charge is more than $15.

a. The fee for charging is more than $15.
b. He cannot use a credit card if he spends less than $15.
c. The store does not accept credit cards.
d. She cannot accept cash.
6. - I hope I can still register for the speech class.
- I heard there was a long waiting list.
a. The woman has to wait in line to register.
b. It may be too late for the woman to get into the speech class.
c. The woman needs to take another class before registering for
this class.
d. The woman should go by herself to sign up for the class.
7. - Dr. John, is it possible for the exam to be an open book exam?
- Well it would be OK with me, but we have to follow the
department regulations.
a. Students can bring their books to the exam.
b. Dr. John will be the next department chair.
c. Dr. John will probably not give an open book exam
d. It’s up to the students
8. - Could you take my phone calls for me while I am away?

- Sure, when will you be back?
a. He does not know how to take care of the phone.
b. He’s going to leave too.
c. He will answer the telephone for the woman.
d. He is coming back soon.
9. - Shall we sit here and talk?
- There is no better place than here.
a. It ‘s not a good place or time to talk.
b. I’m thinking about making this place better.
c. This is a good place for a conversation.
d. You’d better leave this place now.
10.- Maria, why did you get up so early today?
- I thought someone was coming over.
a. She was expecting someone to visit.
b. She didn’t like to get up early.
c. She got up early and went out.
d. Someone called her early in the morning.

11.- Usually Jim washes his car himself.
- Yeah, but this time he took his car to the carwash.
a. Jim washed his friend’s car.
b. Jim’s was not very well cleaned.
c. Jim didn’t wash his car this time.
d. Jim once had a job washing cars.
12.- I was hoping to take this class last fall.
- Me too, but we’re lucky to get in now.
a. The school offers more classes now.
b. This is a small section.
c. It’s difficult to get into this class.
d. Last fall the class was better.
13.- Bob, you’d better get down to the museum tomorrow if you want
to see the exhibit.
- Yeah, I don’t want to miss it again.
a. I will sit down and rest.
b. I will pay the money.
c. I will take the boat tour.
d. I will visit the exhibit.

14.- Do you usually drink so much water?
- Only after this much exercise.
a. He drinks a lot of water during the day.
b. He doesn’t usually drink so mush water.
c. He has never been so thirsty.
d. He likes soft drinks more than water.
15.- Hi, how’s it going?
- OK, but I can’t stand all the homework.
a. He is tired of standing up all day.
b. He is finishing his homework.
c. He has a lot of school work.
d. He has been working at home.
16.- Do you carry containers for a microwave oven?
- Umm … check the grocery store next to the gas station to see if
they have any.
a. This grocery store does not accept checks.
b. Check your shopping list while you are shopping.
c. This store doesn’t have what he wants.
d. Check to see if the grocery store is next to the gas station.

17.- Mr. Blake misread the bus schedule.
- So he was not able to get there in time.
a. He used the wrong bus schedule.
b. He’s going to get a bus schedule.
c. He likes to ride a bus.
d. He missed the bus.
18.- John has his hair cut every two weeks.
- But Peter has his hair cut every month.
a. John has his hair cut every month.
b. John has his hair cut twice as often as Peter does.
c. John had a hair cut two weeks ago.
d. This month Peter hasn’t had his hair cut.
19.- Pat, are your parents still supporting you?
- I’m on my own now.
a. She is financially independent now.
b. She needs a financial advisor.
c. She applied for a job last year.
d. She’s happy with her financial plan.

20.- How often do the buses run?
- Every half hour on weekdays, but I’m not sure about weekend.
a. The woman should check the bus schedule.
b. The buses stop running on Fridays.
c. The bus doesn’t stop at the corner.
d. The schedule on the corner is out-of-date.
VII. PRESUPPOSITION
1. Definition
A presupposition is:
-‘what a speaker or writer assumes that the receiver of the message
already knows’ (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 228)
-‘anything the speaker assumes to be true before making the
utterance.’ (Pecci, 1999: 19)
2. Types of presupposition
a. Existential presupposition: assumes the existence of the
entities named.
Ex:
• Mary’s dog is cute >> (presupposes) Mary has a dog (the
dog exists)
• Your car is nice >> You have a car.

b. Factive presupposition: assumes some thing to be a fact (usually
with the verbs as know, realize, regret, be aware of, be glad …)
Ex:
• We regret telling him the news >> We told him the news
• She didn’t realized he was ill >> He was ill.
• I wasn’t aware that she was married >> She was married.
• It is odd that he left early >> He left early.
• I’m glad that it’s over >> It’s over.
c. Lexical presupposition: the use of some words conventionally
assumes the understood meaning.
Ex:
• He stopped smoking >> He used to smoke.
• They started complaining >> They weren’t complaining before.
• You’re late again >> You were late before.
d. Structural presupposition: the use of some structures assume
something to be true.
Ex:
• When did he leave? >> He left.
• Where did you buy the bike? >> You bought the bike.
• When did she get married? >> She got married.
e. Non-factive presupposition: one that is assumed not to be true
(the verbs like: dream, imagine, pretend,…)

Ex:
• I dreamed that I was rich >> I was not rich.
• We imagined we were in Hawaii >> We were not in
Hawaii.
• He pretends to be ill >> He is not ill.
f. Counter-factual presupposition: what is presupposed is not
only not true, but is the opposite of what is true (contrary to facts)
Ex: If you were my friend, you would have helped me >> You
are not my friend.
Exercise 34: Give a possible presupposition for the following utterances.
1. I wish I were rich.
2. How was your wedding?
3. I remember posting your letter.
4. I won’t do it again.
5. Where did you see that film?

6. Try to give up smoking.
7. What subjects are you taking?
8. John’s cat is missing.
9. The garage on the corner is still open.
10.He pretends to be ill.
11.He tried to catch the train.
12.Had I been here yesterday.
13.Have some more tea.
14.The film was terrible.

15.You shouldn’t have seen that film.
16.My former sweat heart has just left for America.
17.I regret saying ‘no’ to your request.
18.Who broke the vase?
19.I’m going to apply for a job.
20.My sister is coming back to VN next week.
21.They are happy with the results of the final exam.
22.How fast was the car going when it ran the red light?
23.I imagined that you were ill.

24.Where is the car you took from John’s house?
25.Then you can give Monica a lift.
26.My neighbor is a widow.
27.Imagine you are a teacher.
28.When I get married, I will invite all of you.
29.Suppose you were a teacher.
30.They act as if they were my parents.
31.I regret sending that letter to you.
32.She keeps complaining like an old woman.

33.It’s a shame that you lie again.
34.It is going to be hot for some more weeks.
35.Have you seen John’s new car?

PART II
PRAGMATICS
I. DEFINITION
Syntax, semantics and pragmatics
Syntax is the study of the relationship between linguistic forms,
how they are arranged in sequence, and which sequences are
well-formed.
Semantics is the study of the relationship between linguistic
forms and entities in the world; that is how words literally
connect to things. This meaning is the meaning expressed by the
words in the sentence which is out of context (context-free) and is
called semantic meaning or linguistic meaning / literal meaning.
Pragmatics is the study of language use. In other words, it is “the
study of the relationships between linguistics form (language) and the
users of those forms (Yule, 1998). This meaning is the meaning that a
speaker wants to convey through an utterance in a particular context
(context-bound) and is called pragmatic meaning or speaker meaning.
Pragmatics is thus the study of speaker meaning or the study of
contextual meaning (Yule, 1998)
There are the four areas that pragmatics is concerned with.
Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning.
Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning.
Pragmatics is the study of how more gets

communicated than is said
Pragmatics is the study of the expression of relative
distance.
II. SPEECH ACT — SPEAKER MEANING
1. Definition
Speech acts are actions performed via utterances. In English speech
acts are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology,
complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request. These
descriptive terms for different kinds of speech acts apply to the
speaker's communicative intention in producing an utterance.
2. Components of a speech act
On any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance will
consist of these related acts listed below.
The locutionary act, which corresponds to the utterance of a
sentence with a particular meaning.
The illocutionary act, which reflects the intent of the
speaker in uttering that sentence (to praise, criticize, warn,
ask, assert, demand, order, apologize, or threaten). The
purpose of the speaker, or illocutionary intent, is meaningful
and will ordinarily be recognized by hearers (or readers),
whether it is directly expressed or indirectly expressed.
And the perlocutionary act, which: involves the effect that the
speaker has on his or her addressees in uttering the sentence.

Utterances
I'll keep you in
after class
It’s hot here Would you like a
cup of coffee?
locutionary act Literal
meaning
I make
you stay
in school
later than
usual
Warm
temperatur
e of the
classroom
illocutionary
act
The social
function of
the utterance
a
warni
ng
A request to
turn down
the heat
A
complaint
An offer
perlocutionary
act
The result or
effect
silencing the
students
action of
turning down
the themostat
A request is
ignored
Causing the
hearer to think
that the speaker
is more generous
than he thought
3. Speech event
Speech events are circumstances surrounding the utterance in which
the speaker normally expects that his or her communicative intention
will be recognized by the hearer. In many ways, it is the nature of the

speech event that determines the interpretation of an utterance as
performing a particular speech act.
Components of a speech event / speech situation
1. Setting: time + place
2. Participants: people involved in a speech event ( Speaker, Hearer)
3. Role relationships: the relationship between speaker & hearer.
4. The message: what is conveyed.
5. The key: tone, manner, spirit (irony, humor, seriousness …)
It is the speech situation that helps to identify the illocutionary act of
the speaker (what the speaker wants).
Ex: “There’s a piece of fish on the table.”
Situation 1:
At noon, a girl comes home from school late. All the family have had
lunch. Entering the house, she addressed her mother,
“- Mom, I am very hungry. Is there something to eat?
- There’s a piece of fish on the table.”
The mother wants to reassure the daughter that her lunch has not
been forgotten and suggests her having fish for lunch.

Situation 2:
At 10:00, the mother comes home from the market. She puts her bag
on the table in the kitchen and tells her daughter, “Mary, there’s a
piece of fish on the table.”
The mother wants her daughter to prepare the lunch.
Situation 3:
A couple enter a restaurant. They come to a table in a corner to take a
seat, but on the table, there’s some fish left. They tell a waiter,
“There’s a piece of fish on the table!”
They complain to the waiter that the table has not been cleaned
properly and want him to clean it.
4. Direct and Indirect Speech Act
Direct speech act: When there is a direct relationship between a
structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. (the intent of the
speaker is expressed directly, overtly).
Indirect speech act: When there is an indirect relationship between
a structure and a function, we have an indirect speech act.
Ex: a. Keep silent! (imperative structure; ordering / requesting
function: Direct)
e. It is getting noisy! (statement structure; requesting function:
Indirect)
f. Do you drink tea? (interrogative structure; questioning
function: Direct)

g. Would you like some tea? (interrogative structure; offering
function: Indirect)
5. Speech Act Classification
One general classification system lists five types of general
functions performed by speech acts: declarations, representatives,
expressives, directives, and commissives
1. Declaratives: the speech acts that change the world via their
utterance (blessing, announcing, arresting, naming, marrying,
firing, dismissing,…)
Ex:
a. Priest: “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
(announcement)
b. Referee: “You’re out!” (announcement)
c. Jury Foreman: “We find the defendant guilty.”
(announcement)
2. Representatives: the speech acts that state what the speaker
believes to be the case or not (statement, assertion, conclusion,
description, claim, report, hypothesis,…)
Ex:
a. The earth is flat.
b. Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts. (statement)
c. It was a warm sunny day. (statement)
d. We will have a 3-day holiday. (the leader of the class: report)

e. The robber might have escaped by the window.
(hypothesis)
3. Expressives: the speech acts that state what the speaker feels
(statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow,
greetings, apologies, congratulations, condolences, thanks,
wish, complaint, compliment, leave taking, saying goodbye,
admiration, irony, mocking, …)
Ex:
a. I’m really sorry.
b. Congratulations! (congratulation)
c. Oh, yes, great, mmmm ! (joyful approval)
4. Directives: the speech acts that speakers use to get someone
else to do something (orders, commands, requests, suggestions,
asking, advice, giving permission, giving way, warning, offer,
complaint, threat, urge, challenge, invitation,…)
Ex:
a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black.
b. Would you like a cup of coffee? (offer)
c. I can’t stand the fans! (indirect request)
5. Commissives: the speech acts that speakers use to commit
themselves to some future action (promises, vow, threats,
refusals, acceptation, offers, …)
Ex:
a. I’ll be back. (promise)

b. I won’t do it again. (promise)
c. I want to, but I have to finish this report right
now. (refusal)
Exercise 29. Identify the illocutionary act (speaker’s intent) of the
following utterances and decide whether it is a direct or indirect
speech act.
1. May I talk to Mary? =>
2. Clean up this mess. =>
3. I’m very thirsty. =>
4. There’s a good film on at NH cinema. =>
5. Would you mind opening the window? =>
6. Do you have to stand in front of the TV? =>
7. Do you have a minute?
What’s up?
I can’t start the machine. =>

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