LESSON 8 : LING 102-
SENTENCE STRUCTURES
OF ENGLISH
SEMANTICS
WHAT IS SENTENCE
SEMANTICS?
Sentence semantics examines
how the meanings of words
combine in structured ways to form
the meanings of entire sentences.
It's a subfield of linguistic
semantics and is closely tied to
syntax, pragmatics, and logic.
KEY
COMPONENTS
OF
SENTENCE
SEMANTICS
1. COMPOSITIONALITY
The principle of compositionality (aka Frege's
Principle): The meaning of a sentence is
determined by the meanings of its parts and
the rules used to combine them.
Example:
"The cat sat on the mat."
- Composed from meanings of "cat," "sat,"
"on," "mat" and how they combine
2. SYNTAX-SEMANTICS
INTERFACE
•How sentence structure (syntax) affects
interpretation.
•Different syntactic structures can yield
different meanings (e.g., ambiguity).
"I saw the man with the telescope."
Ambiguous: Who has the telescope?
3. SEMANTIC ROLES
(THETA ROLES)
•Assign roles to participants in a sentence:
Agent (doer), Theme (affected entity),
Experiencer, Goal, etc.
Example:
"Mary gave John a book."
Mary = Agent, John = Recipient, book =
Theme
4. SCOPE AND
QUANTIFICATION
•Sentences with quantifiers and negation can
be scopally ambiguous.
"Everyone didn't go."
Could mean:
1. Not everyone went (some did)
2. No one went
5. PRESUPPOSITION AND
ENTAILMENT
•Presupposition: Background assumptions
taken for granted.
Ex.: "John stopped smoking." → Presupposes
John used to smoke.
•Entailment: A sentence logically implies
another.
Ex.: "John killed the spider." → Entails "The
spider is dead."
6. MODALITY AND TENSE
Express possibilities, obligations, times.
•"She must be home." (epistemic modality:
strong belief)
•"She should be home." (deontic modality:
recommendation)
•Temporal interpretation: present, past, future
—context-dependent.
SENTENCE TYPES &THEIR
SEMANTICS
In grammar, sentence types are
categorized based on structure and
function. Understanding both helps
with sentence construction, style, and
meaning in communication.
Type by
Description Example
Structure
Simple 1 independent clause She runs fast.
Compound 2+ independent clauses I ran, and he walked.
1 independent + 1+ Because it rained, we stayed
Complex
dependent inside.
2+ independent + 1+ She slept while I read, and we
Compound-Complex
dependent both relaxed.
Type by
Description Example
Function
Declarative Statement He is tired.
Interrogative Question Are you okay?
Imperative Command Turn off the lights.
Exclamatory Strong feeling That's amazing!
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!
