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Sentences, Utterances, Propositions Guide

This document discusses sentences, utterances, and propositions. It defines a sentence as a string of words put together by grammatical rules that expresses a complete thought. An utterance is any stretch of talk by one person before and after silence. A proposition is the part of an utterance of a declarative sentence that describes a state of affairs. The document provides examples to distinguish sentences, utterances, and propositions and practices identifying them in different contexts.

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698 views2 pages

Sentences, Utterances, Propositions Guide

This document discusses sentences, utterances, and propositions. It defines a sentence as a string of words put together by grammatical rules that expresses a complete thought. An utterance is any stretch of talk by one person before and after silence. A proposition is the part of an utterance of a declarative sentence that describes a state of affairs. The document provides examples to distinguish sentences, utterances, and propositions and practices identifying them in different contexts.

Uploaded by

Putry Jessiie
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT 2: SENTENCES, UTTERANCES, AND PROPOSITIONS

Definition: A SENTENCE is neither a physical event nor a physical object. It is,


conceived abstractly, a string of words put together by the grammatical rules of a
language.

Practice: Given our conventions, say what is wrong with the following:
(a) John announced Mary�s here in his squeakiest voice
(b) �Mary thought how nice John was�

Definition: A SENTENCE is a grammatically complete string of words expressing a


complete thought.

Practice: Which of the following utterances are tokens of whole sentences (S) and
which are not (NS)?
(1) �John�
(2) �Who is there?�
(3) �Mine�
(4) �It�s mine�
(5) �Where shall I . . .?�

Practice: Write out a full sentence expressing the intended meaning more fully.
(1) Magnus: �When did Goethe die?�
Fred: �In 1832�
(2) Hostess: �Would you like tea or coffee?�
Guest: �Coffee, please�
(3) A: �Who won the battle of Waterloo?�
B: �Wellington�

Definition: An UTTERANCE is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after
which there is silence on the part of that person.

Practice: Now decide whether the following could represent utterances.


(1) �Hello�
(2) �Not much�
(3) �Utterances may consist of a single word, a single phrase or a single sentence.
They may also consist of a sequence of sentences. It is not unusual to find
utterances that consist of one or more grammatically incomplete sentence-
fragments. In short, there is no simple relation of correspondence between
utterances and sentences�
(4) �Pxgotmgt�
(5) �Schplotzenp?aaaaaaargh!�

Definition: A PROPOSITION is that part of the meaning of the utterance of a


declarative sentence which describes some state of affairs.

Practice: In each case, say whether the propositions are same or different.
(1) Harry took out the garbage
Harry took the garbage out
(2) John gave Mary a book
Mary was given a book by John
(3) Isobel loves Tony
Tony loves Isobel
(4) George danced with Ethel
George didn�t dance with Ethel
(5) Dr Findlay killed Janet
Dr Findlay caused Janet to die

Practice:
(1) In the following utterances, is any proposition asserted by the speaker?
(a) �Have you seen my toothbrush?�
(b) �Get out of here this minute!�
(c) �I�m afraid that I�ll have to ask you to leave�

(2) Would you say that the members of the following sentence pairs have the same
propositional content?
(a) Go away, will you?
You will go away

(b) Pigs might fly


I�m a Dutchman
(c) I am an idiot
Am I an idiot?

Practice: Yes or no? sentences utterances propositions


1. Can be loud or quiet
2. Can be grammatical or not
3. Can be true or false
4. In a particular regional accent
5. In a particular language

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