Section 6-7 EXERCISES


1. Classify the following utterances by use. Do any of them belong to any of the classes of sentence defined here syntactically?

a.Amen.
b.Hallelujah!
c.What a sight.
d.Wow!
e.Pfew (or Whew)
f.In God we trust.
g.So long.

2. Classify the following sentences syntactically. Tell whether each is affirmative or negative. If the sentence is interrogative, indicate which of the subclasses it belongs to.

a.Be fair and truthful, yet strict and firm.
b.We cannot consecrate this ground.
c.Why wait for the government?
d.On the top of which mountain was it erected?
e.Will everyone please not cry?
f.I declare this my last will.

3. Name five ways in which an assertion by use of a declarative sentence may fail to hold in a given situation. Are these the felicity conditions? Make sure these ways are valid for any declarative sentence according to the conceptualization in ¶6-5-1.

4. Might any of the sentences in 2 have a form that would not normally or necessarily reflect its use? Point out alternative interpretations and tell what semantic transformations would describe the discrepancy.

Answers