Exercise Presupposition or entailment: Difference between revisions
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<quiz display=simple> | <quiz display=simple> | ||
{ | {Is the '''B''' sentence a presupposition or an entailment of the '''A''' sentence? | ||
|type="()"} | |type="()"} | ||
| presupposition | entailment | | presupposition | entailment | ||
+- Where is the man with the megaphone? | +- '''A''': Where is the man with the megaphone? '''B''': There is a man with a megaphone. | ||
|| | || Questions never have entailments, only assertions do. Also: A definite NP presupposes the existence (and uniqueness) of an individual with the described property. | ||
|| The | -+ '''A''': At least three students solved the problem. '''B''': At least two students solved the problem. | ||
+- Queen of England attended a cooking workshop. | || The inference disappears if we negate '''A''', i.e., ''It is not true that at least three students solved the problem.'' does not allow us to infer '''B'''. | ||
|| | +- '''A''': The Queen of England attended a cooking workshop. '''B''': There is a queen of England. | ||
-+ My dog Richard was killed in a car accident. | || Negation test: The '''B''' sentence can also be inferred from the negation of the '''A''' sentence (''The Queen of England did not attend a cooking workshop.''). Also: A definite NP has an existential presupposition. | ||
|| The | -+ '''A''': My dog Richard was killed in a car accident. '''B''': My dog Richard is dead. | ||
|| The negation test does not work here: The negation of '''A''' (''My dog Richard was not killed in a car accident.'') does not allow us to infer '''B'''. However, '''B''' is not cancellable: We cannot, without creating a contradiction, continue '''A''' by ''but, in fact, Richard isn't dead.'' | |||
</quiz> | </quiz> | ||
Latest revision as of 23:12, 8 September 2013
The following material is an adapted form of material created by student participants of the project e-Learning Resources for Semantics (e-LRS).
Involved participants: Katharina, Caterina, Daniela, Eva
Presupposition or entailment?