HANOI METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

SEMANTICS ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC: SENTENCE TYPES

Student’s name : Le Thi Bich Le

Student code : 218601314
Class : NNAD2018B
Course : SEMANTICS
 Hanoi 10 / 2020

ACKNOLEDGEMENT

In the days before the start of the course English Semantics, I had no idea and uncertainty
about what the subject was and what I would learn from it. Of course, I did not expect too
much in this subject. But now, after completing 9 weeks of study, what I gained from it goes
above and beyond my expectations.
The first person I really want to thank is my teacher - Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet. She is the
biggest source of motivation for me to complete the course well. Besides helping me
understand the lesson content, she has taught me the methodology to carry out the research and
to present the research works as clearly as possible. I will have more and more better
presentations in the future. I am extremely grateful for what she affected me. I also would like
to thank her for her friendliness, humor, and enthusiasm.
I am extremely grateful to my partners who are my classmates. They gave me some advance
and helps.
To everyone thank you so much.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
I, Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 1

II, Body………………………………………………………………………………… 1
1. Theory………………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.1 Analytic sentence……………………………………………………………... 2

1.2 Contradictory sentence………………………………………………………... 2

1.3 Synthetic sentence…………………………………………………………….. 3
2. Types of sentences are used in English songs………………………………….. 4

III, Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 6
 I- Introduction

Nowadays, English is one of the most important international languages in the world. The
number who use and communicate it as the first language has been increasing day by day.
Especially, my major is English linguistics, so learning and studying English as the first
language are very important for me to have a future as best as possible. Semantics is one of
three branches in English linguistics. During the course English Semantics, I fell in love with
the topic "Sentence types". The more I research this topic the more I like it. I have found that,
although there are countless sentences in English, in terms of sentence meaning, they are one of
three types of sentences: analytic sentence, contradictory sentence and synthetic sentence.
A specific English major which I read and listen every day is music. I have always loved
listening music. I consider them to be the food for my heart and my mind. Each song has
content and its own message which is the musician and singer want to send to listeners. It is
expressed in every word and sentence. Different sentences have different contents but they are
the same sentence type in semantics. That was interesting and motivated me to choose a topic:
the types of sentences were used in English music. There are two main sections which are the
theory of sentence types in the first section and the second is types of sentences are used in
English songs.

II- Body
Before studying about the main topic, you must first understand what types of sentences are
and the criteria to distinguish them.
1. Theory
- Sentence types were classified according to truth value.
“You can understand well-formed sentences of your language without knowing their truth
value. Knowing the truth conditions is not the same as knowing the actual facts. Rather, the
truth conditions, the meaning, permit you examine the world and learn the actual facts…

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Knowing a language includes knowing the semantic rules for combining meanings and the
conditions under which sentences are true or false.” [Fromkin and Rodman, 1993: 146]
- There are three types of sentence: analytic sentence, contradictory sentence and synthetic
sentence.

1.1 Analytic sentence:

“An analytic sentence is one that is necessarily true, as a result of senses of the words in it.”
[Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 91-91]. Therefore, an analytic sentence can be judged true without
recourse to real world knowledge separate from the sense of the words contained in it.
That means an analytic is always true of meaning that only depends on senses of words in that
sentence.
For example: - All elephants are mammals
+ Sense of “elephant”: is a very large grey mammal that has a trunk (long nose) with which it
can pick thing up.
+ Sense of “mammal”: is any animal of which the female feeds her young on milk from her
own body. Most mammals give birth to live young, not eggs.
The sentence “All elephants are mammals” shows the truth according to the senses of
“elephants” and “mammals”. It is true of meaning.
- A carrot is a vegetable.
+ Sense of “carrot” is a long pointed orange root as a vegetable.
+ Sense of “vegetable” is a plant, seed, root, or pod that is used as food, especially in dishes
that are not sweet.
The truth of this sentence follows from the senses of “carrot” and “vegetable”. This sentence is
true of meaning.

1.2 Contradictory sentence:

“A contradictory sentence, which is also called “A CONTRADICTION”, is a sentence that
is necessarily false, as a result of the senses of the words in it. Thus a contradiction is in a way
the opposite of an analytic sentence.” [Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 93].
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A contradictory sentence is always false of meaning because of the senses of the words in that
sentence.
For example: - This animal is a fruit
+ Sense of animal: is something that lives and moves but is not human, bird, fish or insect.
+ Sense of fruit: is the part of any plant that holds the seeds.
This sentence must be false because of the senses of “animal” and “fruit”. It is contradictory
sentence.
- Sam is older than himself
+ Sense of “older”: having lived and existed for a long time in comparison to the others of the
same kind.
+ Sense of “himself”: used to emphasize a particular man, boy, or male animal.
The senses of “older” and “himself” show that this sentence is false. It is a contradictory
sentence. In fact, Sam can be older (or younger) than somebody else, but not than himself.

1.3 Synthetic sentence:

“A synthetic sentence is one which is not analytic, but may be either true or false, depending
on the way the world is.” [Hurford and Heasley, 1984: 92].
That means depending on your experiences in real life to know it is true or false of meaning. A
synthetic sentence is false for someone or true for someone because of each person’s
experience.
For example: - John is from Ireland
There is nothing in the senses of “John, Ireland or from” which makes the sentence
necessarily true or false.
- The earth is sphere
+ Sense of “earth”: the third planet in order of distance from the sun, between the Venus and
the Mars.
+ Sense of “sphere”: an object shaped like a rounded ball.

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According to the senses of words “earth” and “sphere”, there is nothing to be sure the sentence
is true or false. Because we studied, had experiences, we must know this sentence is true of
meaning.

2. Types of sentence were used in English songs

English songs are things which I listen every day. I realized that almost sentences of the
lyrics are synthetic sentences. One of my favorite songs is “A thousand years” which was
recorded by Christina Perri.
“Heart beats fast”- the first sentence of the lyrics is a first example. Senses of the words:
“heart” is the organ in your chest that sends the blood around the body, “beat”- to hit
repeatedly, and “fast”- moving or happening quickly, or able to move or happen quickly do not
show anything to interpret that this sentence is true or false of meaning. With musician, or the
girl who is character in this story, this sentence is true. The sentence was written according to
the real status of them, a heart beats very fast and be full of emotions. For listeners, this is true
when their hearts are beating really fast and vice versa, this sentence is wrong when they have
never known about it.
One more sentence is "how can I love when I'm afraid to fall". Like the first sentence, all
senses of the main words in this sentence "how, love, when, afraid, fall" do not show anything
to be sure this sentence has truth value or not. The girl character in the song with named Bella
is afraid of getting hurt when falling in love. Those are her emotions, thoughts, and reality, so
the sentence is true for her. "But watching you stand alone, all of my doubt suddenly goes away
somehow" is also true of meaning for her. It is not because of the meaning of the words
"watching, stand alone, doubt, suddenly, goes away, somehow" but because that is the true
feeling, which was happened to her. Although she does not want to love, is afraid of being in
love, but when she sees her lover lonely, sad, all those doubts and fears disappear.
One more important sentence is "I have died every day, waiting for you". According to senses
of the words "have died, everyday", this sentence do not have truth value. Sense of "died" is to
stop living or existing and sense of "everyday" is ordinary, typical, or usual, so it's absurd for
someone to die every day. According to senses of “died” and “everyday” we know this

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sentence is a contradiction but it has one more side- “waiting for you”. Sense of “waiting” is a
period of time when you stay in one place until someone comes or something happens or until
you can do something and sense of “died” and every day” do not show that the full sentence is
true or false. With Bella, it's true. The hopeless waiting for her lover made her die every day.
That death is something she has endured every day. That is 3 sentences representing all the
sentences in the lyrics which are synthetic sentences.
Other song I'm going to mention now is “Nothings gonna change my love for you”. The
song, which is performed by singer George Benson, is about strong love of a man for his lover.
Like song “A thousand years”, “Nothing gonna change my love for you” has all sentences of
the lyrics are synthetic sentences. Here are a few sentences representing for all sentences of the
lyrics.
The first sentence is “If I had to live my life without you near me, the days would all be empty,
the nights would seem so long”. There is nothing in the senses of the words "had to (a phrase
verb, like must), live (to be alive, have a life), without (not having or doing something, or lack
something), near (not far away in distance), day (the time that you actually spend at work or at
school), empty (not containing any things or people), night (the part of every 24-hour period
when it is dark), long (continuing for a large amount of time) which makes the sentence is true
or false. The sentence represents a clear statement about man's feeling without his lover in his
life. That might be what the author did and experienced. Based on those memories, the
musician wrote the song, so for him, the above sentence is true. And maybe for whoever has or
had those feelings, the above sentence is completely true and vice versa.
The second sentence is "it might have been in love before, but it never felt this strong". Senses
of the words "might, have been, in love, before, never, felt, this strong" do not show any
meaning to know if this sentence is true or not. Of course, this is true for the musician and the
male character because it is their feeling and experience.
And the other one is "Nothing's gonna change my love for you". With senses of the words
“nothing, gonna, change, my love, for”, there is nothing showed to know the truth value of this
sentence. Like the previous two sentences, this sentence is based on the author's thoughts,

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feelings, and experiences, so it holds true for him. And for the listeners, if they also have the
same experience and feeling, then this sentence will be true and vice versa.
Both two songs are about love. They are written from the composer's thoughts, feelings and
practical experiences. Music, especially about love, must come from emotions, from practical
experiences, and from the heart to enter the heart.
Another is a song on a different theme that is about friendship. This is also one of the
songs I listen to everyday which is “A gift of a friend”. Most sentences of this lyric are
synthetic sentences. Some of the following featured lyrics in the song represent the full lyrics.
The first sentence is the first verse of the chorus: "The world comes to life and everything's
bright". The world is beautiful and alive because of the perceptions and experiences of each
person. This sentence is true or not that does not depend on the senses of the words "world,
come, to life, everything, bright". Or other sentence in the song is "That helps you to find the
beauty you are when you open your heart and believe in a gift of a friend". Senses of the words
"helps, find, beauty, open" show the true value of this sentence? Of course, there is nothing. It
only has truth value when you rely on your own experience to know true or false.
As I mentioned above, almost of the sentences in the lyrics are synthetic sentences, however
there are still a few sentences of the type of analytic sentence or contradictory sentence. For
example, in the song "Back to December" which was recorded by Taylor Swift, there is a line
saying "I go back to December all the time". Senses of the words "go back" (to return),
"December" (a specific time in a year which is the twelfth and the last month of the year) show
that sentence is false. You can return to any place but cannot go back in time. Time never goes
back.

III- Conclusion
In conclusion, there are 3 types of English sentences which are analytic sentence,
contradictory sentence and synthetic sentence and in the lyric, synthetic sentence is used the
most sentence type. If only basing on the senses of the words in the sentence, we know the
sentence is correct or false, it is an analytic sentence or a contradictory sentence. The sentence
is true, it has the truth value then measure is analytic sentence, and in contrast, if it is not truth

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value, it is false then it is contradictory sentence. A synthetic sentence which has truth value or
not, you have to base on your own real experience. Each the lyrics have a message, a story of
its own. It is all the musician's own memories, experiences and emotions. If a song is composed
basing only on the senses of the words in that song to understand the meaning, the song will be
very boring, and not enter the heart of audiences.

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 REFERENCES
1. Sentence types https://public.wsu.edu/~gordonl/S05/256/sententialsemantics.htm
2. Lyrics song A thousand years https://www.lyricinterpretations.com/christina-perri/a-
thousand-years
3. Lyrics song Nothings gonna change my love for you
https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/g/george_benson/nothings_gonna_change_my_love
_for_you.html
4. https://www.voca.vn/blog/loi-dich-bai-hat-nothings-gonna-change-my-love-for-you-380
5. Lyrics song Gift of a friend
https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/demi_lovato/gift_of_a_friend.html
6. Course book English Semantics – To Thanh Minh